ENERGY SAVING COMPUTERS

Even the most energy-hungry home computer doesn't make much of a dent in the monthly electric bill. If you ran a desktop computer and monitor at full power for eight hours every day, it would add $30 to your annual energy costs [source: myGreenElectronics].
But imagine that you owned a business with hundreds of employees. Now imagine all of those desktop computers crowded into an office, plus the servers and storage units crammed into IT rooms. Not surprisingly, those computers eat up a lot of energy, accounting for up to 70 percent of a company's energy bill. Computers also create heat and force the air conditioning to work even harder to keep the office cool.
Recently, several computer makers have introduced machines designed specifically to lower the energy costs of small and large businesses. One is the Earth PC and Earth Server by Tech Networks of Boston. These new PCs come with a patented power management system that keeps machines running as lightly as possible in standby mode. They also come with 80 Plus-certified power supplies which keep them cool and lower air conditioning bills by 33 percent in the process.




The Cranberry SC20
The Cranberry SC20 smart client computer

The Cranberry SC20 is another new energy-conserving computer marketed toward businesses. The Cranberry isn't exactly a PC. Instead, it's something in between a full-fledged PC and what's known as a thin client. Thin clients are pared-down computer terminals that run all of their applications from a central server. Thin clients don't have hard drives and can't run their own native applications. The Cranberry is called a "Smart Client" because it's slim (the size of a paperback book), yet it can run its own software, be controlled locally and includes standard ports for connecting digital cameras, speakers and other devices. Because the applications reside on the Internet rather than on the machine, this is a form of cloud computing.
But the impressive thing about the Cranberry is that it uses just 10 percent of the power of a standard PC. That's because it has no moving parts (no fans or hard drive) and is powered by an extremely efficient microprocessor. The Cranberry consumes a mere 9 watts compared to a standard PC which burns through 175 watts [source: Cranberry].




The Mac Mini
The Mac Mini­

The Mac Mini is another desktop computer touted for its energy efficiency. The Mini is a tiny 6.5-inch (16.5-cm)-square, white box with a built-in CD/DVD drive and the standard input/output jacks for USB and Firewire devices. But since it's stuffed with highly efficient notebook computer guts -- and has an external power supply -- it runs quiet and cool at only 25 watts. The latest Mac Mini meets Energy Star 4.0 standards and earned an Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) Silver rating.
In terms of computer monitors, smaller LCD monitors are more energy efficient than CRT monitors of the same size -- some reports say 66 percent more efficient [source: flatpaneltv.org]. LCD monitors also give off less heat than CRTs and help save money on that air-conditioning bill.

Bloom Boxes: A Zero Emission Energy Source Just Check out their customers

How Does the Bloom Box Energy Server Work?

The Bloom Energy Server is made out of fuel cells, or electrochemical cells. A single fuel cell consists of an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte stuck between the two. As fuel flows in through the anode side and an oxidant comes in over the cathode, a reaction is triggered that causes electrons to move into the fuel cell's circuit, producing electricity.

  • The Bloom Energy Server isn't actually a server. In actuality, it's a distributed power generator. Each "server" produces 100 kW of power, consists of thousands of fuel cells, costs between $700,000 and $800,000, and pays for itself in three to 5 years based on an energy cost of 8 to 9 cents per kW hour.
  • There are many different types of fuel cells. Some of the more popular ones include methanol fuel cells, hydrogen fuel cells, and zinc-air batteries. The Bloom Energy Server consists of solid oxide fuel cells, which are attractive because they can be made out of low-cost materials with high energy efficiencies.
  • The cells can run on a variety of fuels, including traditional fuel, natural gas, biomass gas, landfill gas, and ethanol.
  • Until now, technical challenges have stopped solid oxide fuel cells from being commercialized, but the company's cells ("sand" baked into ceramic squares that are coated with green and black inks) supposedly have overcome most of the issues. Bloom's Web site has a great animation showing how solid oxide fuel cells work.


  • One of the biggest problems with solid oxide fuel cells is their temperature requirement--the ceramic squares only become active at extremely high temperatures (up to 1800 F). That means Bloom's cells will have to prove that they can remain durable under the stress--already, the company has had to come out to replace cells at eBay's installation, which has been running for just 7 months. In general, Bloom expects that its fuel cell stacks will have to be switched out twice during the device's 10 year lifespan.
  • Bloom's device generates electricity at 50% to 55% conversion efficiency. In comparison, solar generally produces power at between 10% to 15% efficiency. But unlike solar panels, the Bloom Energy Server produces CO2 as a byproduct. According to the Energy Collective, "CO2 emissions when running on natural gas would be just under 0.8 pounds/kWh, which compares favorably to electricity from central station coal-fired plants (2 lbs/kWh) or natural gas plants (roughly 1.3 lbs/kWh) and the national average for on-grid electricity (around 1.3-1.5 lbs/kWh)." If the box runs on landfill gas or biogas, it produces net zero carbon emissions.
  • Eventually, Bloom hopes that a scaled-down version device can be used in homes. A residential Bloom Box would produce 1 kW of power and cost approximately $3,000. But that probably won't happen for at least 10 years.


Some websites to read further:

  1. http://theweek.com/article/index/200144/What_is_the_Bloom_Box_anyway
  2. http://gm-volt.com/2010/02/28/the-bloom-box/

FOOD AND ENERGY CONSERVATION- WHAT’S THE LINK?


                                                                 
                                                                            
    

It is a very common misconception among a lot of people that energy conservation is only limited to buying new gadgets that consume less amount of electricity. A lot of people don’t see the big picture.  For a lot of us, very less thought is given to how a simple change in our attitudes towards some simple tasks can result in a mammoth effort towards energy conservation. Many of us do not realize that lower consumption and more planning will go a long way in helping energy conservation and will also save us money in the process.
We live in an age of consumerism. People get attracted to some widely advertised products and buy it at the first possible whiff of a good offer. Whether or not they actually need the product they buy may come as a second thought. This is especially true of food articles. When we are home, we stuff the food articles that we buy on a shopping spree into the back of a fridge. A lot of times it may happen, that we forget about something and by the time we get it out of fridge to eat it, it has become stale or has overreached its expiry date. Then we are forced to throw it away.



                                                                                     
                                                          

How much energy and money could we have saved by buying only what is required?
This is only at home. You would have to be blind to not realize the amount of food that goes to waste in the mess right here in the campus. Upon request, I got some statistics from last year of the daily food wastage in A-mess. Just get a hold of this. On 9th October 2009, 14 kg of food got wasted in breakfast, 75 kg in lunch, 20 kg in snacks and 71 kg in dinner. All in all, 185 kg of food got wasted that day. This was pretty much the case for all the days that the mess administration conducted a weighing of the wasted food. There was no bio-gas facility in the campus then, and there is none even now, which means that all this food goes straight to the dumping pit.  And talking about the environmental cost of food, let us take bread as a simple example. It takes fertilizers to make crops grow. Those fertilizers are produced from crude oil derivatives. It takes oil to drive the giant machines that cut and clean the crop. It takes energy to build and operate the machines that separate the grains and chaff. Then, machines are used to grind the grains, process the flour and bake the bread. Then again, energy and more materials for packing, then transport.
Conclusion: One kg bread takes about 4.4 MJ energy to just produce and transport to average consumer home. That comes to about 1 million calories of energy. If the bread is thrown away, then there is additional energy to transport it as trash. This means wasted money, wasted energy and wasted environmental resources.

Don’t we know that people die of hunger in this country? Don’t we know that we are wasting money, energy and precious environmental resources when we waste food? The answer to all these questions, is definitely a yes. Even then, why do we continue to be so indifferent? It's all in the attitude-a highly irresponsible one! It's time to grow up and become more responsible towards the nature of our actions and its consequences.  

                                                           
                                                                             
           

I came across an article in the internet recently.  They suggested some good methods to reduce our ‘tendency’ to waste food. Here are some of the things that we can do:

1. Start keeping track – First step of changing anything is being aware of it fully. When you buy food, keep track of it. When you eat food, make a note somewhere. When you throw away food, make a note. Do a food balance sheet somehow. This will help you identify a lot of bad habits.


2. Plan food- This is easier said than done, but still worth trying. Even if you come up with a plan with one good point, it is worth it in the long run.



3. The Toyota solution- Buy just in time. Do not buy a bulk of food in advance. Buying in bulk might save you some money in the food price. But your preferences change, your get bored, something else comes up. So you end up wasting food you bought and the savings go down the drain. So if possible, buy only two or three days worth of food at a time and buy that well planned. Decide how many lunches you will eat and what you will eat for each lunch, etc.



**One thing that would be relevant to our life in the campus would be to take just enough food on our plates in the mess. There’s no need to pile on food on our plates. It would take less than 2 minutes to go and get a second helping if you require more food.


All of us know this as highly educated individuals should. Yet, we remain indifferent.  Don’t you think that it’s a far better habit than throwing away the food?


As I said at the outset of this article, a little change in our attitude will go a long way in helping the cause of energy conservation.

A Prayer





Help us to harness
the wind,
the water,
the sun,
and all the ready
and renewable
sources of power.

Teach us to conserve,
preserve,
use wisely
the blessed treasures
of our wealth-stored earth.

Help us to share
your bounty,
not waste it,
or pervert it
into peril
four our children
or our neighbors
in other nations.

You, who are life
and energy
and blessing,
teach us to revere
and respect
your tender world.

Blackle-an energy efficient version of google



Welcome Blackle to your PCs!!
Here's an energy efficient search engine which doesn't compromise on functionality, and at the same time, makes you aware of the amount of energy you save each time you use it.

Blackle was created by heap media  to remind us about the significance of 'small' steps we can take to save energy in a 'big' way. It's searches are powered by Google custom search.

If you were wondering about how Blackle saves energy, then here is how it goes about it:
The screen is predominantly black when one uses Blackle. It's a proven fact that image displayed is primarily a function of the user's colour settings and desktop graphics and also the size of open application windows. A given monitor requires more energy to display a white (or light) screen than a black(or dark)one.

In January 2007, a blog post titled 'Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-Hours a year' proposed the theory that a black version of Google would save a fair bit of energy owing to the popularity of the search engine. Since then there has been skepticism about the significance of energy savings that can be achieved and cost in terms of readability of black web pages.

What do we make of all this?
A moment's thought reveals that there is value in this concept because it is firmly rooted on the philosophy that even small steps taken to save energy add up over time and this goes a long way in fulfilling our social responsibility and moral obligation towards saving our planet, for it saves us!
So friends, let's switch to Blackle and help save energy for a better tomorrow!  


Global warming





The sun, its rays, now scorch my gaze,
The stratosphere’s depleting.
The hail, it falls like acid balls
And kills the air we’re breathing.
The winters surrender to heat,
The springs cut short before we meet,
Our fields are barren of its wheat
Because our earth is dying.

The breaking dawn, it brings upon
Each day a silent warning.
Instead of fog, we see the smog
In which the city’s bathing.
The dry and burning winds, they blow
And filled with dross, the rivers flow,
And as our populations grow
The earth, our home, is dying.

As though a dream, the oceans seem
To lose the war that’s raging,
It is with grief, each coral reef, 
I hear, is disappearing.
With ocean levels on the rise,
The wells and ponds, they breed more flies,
We fail to heed to natures cries
And our earth is dying.

The caps of snow, they melt and flow,
The permafrost is thinning,
The oceans wide, they hide inside,
The life that we are killing.
The lakes, they dry up at the shore
And leave our gullets parched and sore,
The trees have lost the fruit they bore
Because the earth is dying.

The barren lands and desert sands
Unchecked, are fast expanding.
Our cars and vans and aerosol cans
Invite this global warming.
The birds, extinct, can’t take to flight
In skies of ultraviolet light,
Against the dust and smoke we fight 
Because the earth is dying.

But for our earth, and all she’s worth,
And all she has been giving,
I pray, someday, we’ll find a way
That won’t leave us lamenting.
If only we could do our best
To put this endless war to rest
And put our talents to the test
To save our earth from dying