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IT Vs. the Permanent Energy Crisis
snydeq writes "Organizations looking to remain profitable in the face of escalating energy costs may lean even harder on IT to achieve energy efficiencies in the years to come, InfoWorld reports. But instead of limiting IT's efficiency role to the datacenter, companies will tap IT's vast knowledge of company networks, equipment, and work processes to uncover efficiencies across the organization, in some cases tipping facilities management into IT. 'There is a lot IT can do to fix its own 2 percent [of the company's carbon emissions] and make it more efficient, but the big opportunity for IT is to take a leadership role in tackling that other 98 percent across the business,' says one analyst. And by taking charge of the organization's energy strategy now, IT will be in prime position to alter its relationship with management and reap benefits in the boardroom in the years ahead, analysts contend."
Quite seriously - run some optical tube skylights (like this, they come in a wide variety of options) into your working areas. FAR too many companies are wasting energy powering internal lighting when the sun's out. You can always turn on the lights *if* you need them due to a storm.
As an added bonus, you'll start to eliminate health problems - daytime-constant lighting has been proven to mess with your internal cycles and messes up peoples' sleeping patterns, a large part of why sleep disorders are so prevalent in developed countries.
New Belgium, imo the best brewing company in the Unites States, already has those. They also compost their waste and collect the methanol it produces, then burn it to provide 10% of their power needs. The rest of their power comes from wind (i.e. they pay extra for their electricity, at rates that make the local wind power profitable, and that money goes to building more wind generation). What else would expect from a company with a bicycle in its logo?
"I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
Better than that: http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/246/ The optical fibers block most of the IR.
Look Out Above!
Most cheap ass computers comes with power supplies going at full capacity + cheap screens will likely send your power usage above the 300W, doing that 8 hours a day from home is far from negligible.
You'll find that most computers draw about 100W while working, and displays generally power down to 5W or less when left alone. Don't believe me? use killawatt or an ammeter and check it out yourself.
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
It helps them to visualize numbers and visualize the processes of arithmetic.
Probably an education emphasizing the use of wetware a little more would lead to the creation of more visionaries in the 'Westen World'. Yes, I know, old stuff (Computer Power and Human Reason by Joseph Weizenbaum, 1976).
CC.
TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
"Here's one idea: Upgrade the server room AC to use heat pumps that can put the heat back into the building where it's needed."
Sigh. Do you even know what a heat pump is?
ALL cooling units are basically "heat pumps" - taking heat from one place and rejecting it to another. So, you are suggesting that the heat pumped away from the server rooms be pumped back into the building for heating. No problem with existing equipment - a lot of it is water cooled.
But wait.
Most office type buildings require cooling all year round - people and office machines put out a LOT of heat. In winter, they require heat at the perimeters, but it's hard to get 140F water out of anything but a boiler. And since the heating water return is about 120F, that would require the condenser water for the heat pump to be above that temp. And if you told Liebert that you wanted an AC unit that rejected heat to 130F condenser water, you'd be laughed at.
You need to obey the Laws of Thermodynamics whether you live in the Simpsons house or not.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
You are correct that the heat is not a waste product and should be dealt with accordingly. I've re-ducted the 'waste' heat from our company's servers to help heat the rest of our building during most of the year.
Here's an article I wrote about the effort: http://www.djc.com/news/en/11202007.html
Next week, the EPA is even giving us a national award for the effort.
No, I *don't* know what a heat pump is. I just size and specify them for commercial projects. Maybe you need to be a little less pedantic and understand that, outside of college, there is a practical difference between a "heat pump" and a "straight cool" DX* system.
Specifically, a "Heat Pump" is a device that is designed to be reversible through control settings, as opposed to a "straight cool" unit which, while it might be PHYSICALLY reversed, is not designed to be.
Heat pumps are also designed and rated to operate under different conditions. For example, your window AC unit is not likely designed to operate with an indoor ("evaporator") temp below about 50F and the outdoor ("condenser") temp below about 80F. A heat pump will be designed to operate comfortably at LEAST to an evaporator temp of 10F (most modern units are good enough to handle 0F).
So yeah, thermodynamically they're the same but mechanically... not so much.
Also, you're an idiot if you think that:
1) It hasn't been done before. Daikin's 3-pipe "Heat Recovery" system is one example I have a lot of experience with. One outdoor condenser can operate multiple indoor fancoil units in a mix of heating and cooling modes simultaneously, using the reject heat from the cooling units as a source for the heating units with the balance of the heat/cool load handled by the outdoor coil. (I'm not a rep or otherwise affiliated with Daikin, BTW)
2) All building heat is water, which you seem to imply by jumping directly into water temps. Hot air heating is very popular and very economical. Though hydronic heating certainly has its advantages you are unlikely to encounter any in low-rise, finely divided spaces like office buildings or large open-plan spaces like cube farms or warehouses. It's all forced air.**
3) That a heat pump system can't or won't produce water at over 130F. Obviously we try to avoid that in cooling applications because it reduces efficiency (and with cooling towers promotes bacteria growth) but it'll happen if you set it up that way.
I'd also like to know where you live that boilers run 140F to 120F. Around here where it actually gets cold we run 180F to 160F standard. Modern cast iron boilers can handle 30F dT (180 to 150) for better efficiency, and condensing steel boilers can easily handle return temps as low as 100F.
=Smidge=
* That's "DX" as in "Direct eXpansion" - another industry term you're likely to encounter. Opposed to "water-source heat pump" or "water-cooled condenser."
** Radiant heat flooring is, of course, a notable exception... And very nice if you're willing to pay for it. Only practical in new construction for obvious reasons.
Mythbusters covered this. The startup current spike lasts for milliseconds, and is still quite small. So unless you plan to keep the light off for only a fraction of a second, you're saving energy.
There might have been some modicum of truth behind this back when fluorescent lamps had thermal delay starters (even then we're talking seconds of operating energy, not even minutes), but anything newer than the 1970's will be efficient enough to not make a difference. Turn the light off.
=Smidge=