There is no magic in the private sector that automatically renders any enterprise there to be more efficient.
Competition, plain and simple. No magic to it whatsoever. You can compete with any private enterprise in the world. You cannot, however, compete with the government. If you're a private enterprise, and a better, more efficient offering comes along, people will vote with your dollars. There is nothing to shut the tap off for the government if they're making poor decisions spending your money (except you perhaps leaving said government/country).
If the ambient air outside is below 80F, you're drawing it in and cooling equipment, and then exhausting it directly outside away from the inlet, you're not going to overheat your datacenter. And if the temperature *is* rising, you're not exchanging air fast enough.
Most servers are now warranty rated to have incoming air at 95F. There is no point to air condition DC air (probably still need to dehumidify it though) instead of just bringing inside air in and venting the hot air, unless the ambient outside temp is above 80F.
A contract such as this is quite common in business. If you're a private health care provider and prefer not to enter into such a contract, you're free to make way for providers who will.
In future, it won't be enough to let a consumer make the decision on when to consume and encourage him with discounts in low peak hours. The model should be that for those loads where "time doesn't matter" we (the consumer) can indicate our constraints and then the electricity company will work within those boundaries. Of course, the more lenient the consumer is, the better rate he gets.
Actually, it's quite the opposite. As a time of day electricity user, my utility sends me a forecast of power costs for the next day broken up by hour, and I can plan my energy use accordingly. So, in the future, you'll be able to tell devices in your home above what cost threshold they shouldn't run (with the devices fetching the current and predicted cost of power via a web service). So you work around the energy company and their constraints based on the market price of power in your area.
Columbia is accustomed to reducing power to 85 percent and sometimes 60 percent. In the following days, however, BPA asked the nuclear [note: I added "nuclear" for context] plant operators to go down to just 22 percent. “This year was extraordinary because it all came so heavy and so fast,’’ Mr. Milstein said.
The incentive is you pay for electricity to fuel your vehicle, which should be much cheaper than what gasoline/diesel in the US actually costs without subsidies ($8-12/gallon).
Sort of. What happens is the power company almost gives away the power between midnight and 5am to industrial customers and large cities with *lots* of street lights. Nuclear power plants in particular run extremely poorly at anything under 90% of what they're rated to run at, whereas natural gas generators, hydro, etc can be scaled forward and back.
I definitely fail to see how the VA's mission could be done better by the private sector
Easily. You set performance targets and financially penalize organizations who fail to meet those targets. I'd consider it similar to how the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation works with grants.
I think you're confusing issues. I have no problem with government regulation. I think it's essential. The free market cannot operate unregulated without horrible consequences (Enron, Lehman Brothers, and so forth). I'm saying that, due to how government operates, when it's tasked with doing something, it's extremely inefficient.
Also, may I add, I have no problem with how a private business runs itself. It's their money. As a US taxpayer, I have a great deal of interest in both how it's spent and getting the most bang for each dollar spent. Something else the government could benefit from: "brutal transparency"
Stereotypes such as those you've trotted out don't add to an intelligent discussion.
I'll agree with this. My anecdote is only that, and not data. Let's roll through government agencies that have less than spectacular results, shall we?
Minerals Management (Gulf Oil Disaster) the VA (with regards to the complete lack of care provided to returning soldiers) FEMA (Katrina/New Orleans) the TSA (instituted as merely security theater) NASA ($500 million per shuttle launch, yet the total cost SpaceX spent to develop their lift vehicle) the USPTO (and their utter incompetence at properly vetting patent applications for prior art) the USPS (who is bleeding money, but congress hamstrings them against making the needed service cuts)
I could continue. But, I'm sure my list speaks for itself. Government has it's place, I completely believe that. Unfortunately, after working for the government, I simply have more faith in private organizations that don't accept/promote mediocrity. Call it "ruthless efficiency". It's something the government simply can't do.
There is no such thing as a truly man rated solid booster. They can put on their manager hat instead of their engineer hat and ram it thru for political reasons, but that doesn't make it true or safe.
But of course there is! As long as you can extinguish the combustion process, you'll be fine!
/kidding //huge fan of the Merlin engines ///would fly Dragon any day
I worked at FNAL (DOE Lab) for a year on an LHC detector project. Same deal, except that instead of things changing all the time, you have people who have been there for 30 years who don't want to change at all. Virtualization? The Devil's Work! Puppet? Not Invented Here. Everyone just burning days until retirement. Give me the private sector any day over gov (props to SpaceX, Mars Or Bust).
Slashdot Mirror
There is no magic in the private sector that automatically renders any enterprise there to be more efficient.
Competition, plain and simple. No magic to it whatsoever. You can compete with any private enterprise in the world. You cannot, however, compete with the government. If you're a private enterprise, and a better, more efficient offering comes along, people will vote with your dollars. There is nothing to shut the tap off for the government if they're making poor decisions spending your money (except you perhaps leaving said government/country).
So it would be the same as being in an orbit near the Van Allen belts where charged particles are trapped?
Is this radiation from the solar wind? Or from some other source?
If the ambient air outside is below 80F, you're drawing it in and cooling equipment, and then exhausting it directly outside away from the inlet, you're not going to overheat your datacenter. And if the temperature *is* rising, you're not exchanging air fast enough.
Most servers are now warranty rated to have incoming air at 95F. There is no point to air condition DC air (probably still need to dehumidify it though) instead of just bringing inside air in and venting the hot air, unless the ambient outside temp is above 80F.
http://www.google.com/search?q=healthcare+performance+targets
http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/20001102napkin5.asp
That's it folks. Thread is over. Thanks blind biker. Someone shut the lights out on the way out to the next thread.
I'm not aware of any business I *have* to work with, except perhaps my gas/electric company.
A contract such as this is quite common in business. If you're a private health care provider and prefer not to enter into such a contract, you're free to make way for providers who will.
Note that they also have a large amount of wind power coming online shortly.
A customer can choose not to do business with said business. I cannot choose not to pay taxes to the US government.
In future, it won't be enough to let a consumer make the decision on when to consume and encourage him with discounts in low peak hours. The model should be that for those loads where "time doesn't matter" we (the consumer) can indicate our constraints and then the electricity company will work within those boundaries. Of course, the more lenient the consumer is, the better rate he gets.
Actually, it's quite the opposite. As a time of day electricity user, my utility sends me a forecast of power costs for the next day broken up by hour, and I can plan my energy use accordingly. So, in the future, you'll be able to tell devices in your home above what cost threshold they shouldn't run (with the devices fetching the current and predicted cost of power via a web service). So you work around the energy company and their constraints based on the market price of power in your area.
Here is the graph from my provider:
https://il.thewattspot.com/login.do?method=showChart
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/sudden-surplus-calls-for-quick-thinking/
Columbia is accustomed to reducing power to 85 percent and sometimes 60 percent. In the following days, however, BPA asked the nuclear [note: I added "nuclear" for context] plant operators to go down to just 22 percent. “This year was extraordinary because it all came so heavy and so fast,’’ Mr. Milstein said.
What's the incentive?
The incentive is you pay for electricity to fuel your vehicle, which should be much cheaper than what gasoline/diesel in the US actually costs without subsidies ($8-12/gallon).
http://www.google.com/search?q=time+of+day+metering
Is there a dummy load set up somewhere?
Sort of. What happens is the power company almost gives away the power between midnight and 5am to industrial customers and large cities with *lots* of street lights. Nuclear power plants in particular run extremely poorly at anything under 90% of what they're rated to run at, whereas natural gas generators, hydro, etc can be scaled forward and back.
THIS. A lot of us work network operations (or own networks). Publish the IP, and let the tubes work for you.
I definitely fail to see how the VA's mission could be done better by the private sector
Easily. You set performance targets and financially penalize organizations who fail to meet those targets. I'd consider it similar to how the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation works with grants.
I think you're confusing issues. I have no problem with government regulation. I think it's essential. The free market cannot operate unregulated without horrible consequences (Enron, Lehman Brothers, and so forth). I'm saying that, due to how government operates, when it's tasked with doing something, it's extremely inefficient.
Also, may I add, I have no problem with how a private business runs itself. It's their money. As a US taxpayer, I have a great deal of interest in both how it's spent and getting the most bang for each dollar spent. Something else the government could benefit from: "brutal transparency"
Stereotypes such as those you've trotted out don't add to an intelligent discussion.
I'll agree with this. My anecdote is only that, and not data. Let's roll through government agencies that have less than spectacular results, shall we?
Minerals Management (Gulf Oil Disaster)
the VA (with regards to the complete lack of care provided to returning soldiers)
FEMA (Katrina/New Orleans)
the TSA (instituted as merely security theater)
NASA ($500 million per shuttle launch, yet the total cost SpaceX spent to develop their lift vehicle)
the USPTO (and their utter incompetence at properly vetting patent applications for prior art)
the USPS (who is bleeding money, but congress hamstrings them against making the needed service cuts)
I could continue. But, I'm sure my list speaks for itself. Government has it's place, I completely believe that. Unfortunately, after working for the government, I simply have more faith in private organizations that don't accept/promote mediocrity. Call it "ruthless efficiency". It's something the government simply can't do.
There is no such thing as a truly man rated solid booster. They can put on their manager hat instead of their engineer hat and ram it thru for political reasons, but that doesn't make it true or safe.
But of course there is! As long as you can extinguish the combustion process, you'll be fine!
So what you're saying is that we have to de-monopolize the last mile =) Space travel challenges, meet our Broadband challenges.
I worked at FNAL (DOE Lab) for a year on an LHC detector project. Same deal, except that instead of things changing all the time, you have people who have been there for 30 years who don't want to change at all. Virtualization? The Devil's Work! Puppet? Not Invented Here. Everyone just burning days until retirement. Give me the private sector any day over gov (props to SpaceX, Mars Or Bust).