This week, conventional thinking on data center growth was debunked, a massive wind power project was set to be deployed, and the Department of Energy dedicated $50 million to the SUNPATH program. There were also electrifying developments in EVs and an expansion in the compressed natural gas business.
According to an independent report performed by Stanford University Consulting Professor Jonathan G. Koomey, Ph.D., data center electricity usage hasn’t grown as explosively as expected in the past five years. From 2005 to 2010, electricity use rose about 36 percent in the United States, and 56 percent worldwide—as opposed to from 2000 to 2005, when data center electricity use doubled.
Power Distribution, Inc. (PDI) announced the launch of PDI PowerMap.”PowerMap streamlines the process of collecting power consumption stats from hundreds of servers, while bringing power management right in line with today’s preferred method of accessing data – mobile devices,” said Dave Mulholland, vice president of Marketing, Service, PDI.
Zurich-based ABB has clinched an order worth around $1 billion to supply a power link connecting offshore North Sea wind farms to the German mainland grid. The contract is from the Dutch-German cross-border grid operator TenneT.
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced a $50 million investment over two years for the SUNPATH program— aimed at reclaiming the nation’s competitive edge in solar manufacturing.
If you’re the owner of a Nissan Leaf electric car, in the near future, you might be able to power your house with your car in an emergency, or to save money and shrink your carbon footprint. Nissan says the Leaf can actually feed power from its lithium-ion battery back into a family home and run appliances for up to two days during power outages. The project, called “Leaf to Home,” was unveiled on August 2.
Have you met Plug boy and his friends yet? They “live” on a new gaming website that was launched on August 1 by the Nissan Motor Co. At The Planet Zero – targeted by Nissan at a high school and college-age demographic – users can experience a zero-emission society. It’s playful way to introduce a whole new generation of novice and prospective drivers to the value and benefits of EVs, from the Japan-based automaker that launched the all-electric Leaf in the United States last December.
Infrastructure Developments Corporation (IDVC) has recently expanded its compressed natural gas (CNG) business into Virginia, in line with the state’s initiatives to convert public vehicles to CNG. IDVC will focus on both the conversion of vehicles to CNG and the construction of CNG refueling stations.
While carbon dioxide remains the undisputed chief offender behind recent climate change, other greenhouse gases – methane, ozone-depleting substances, and nitrous oxide – also measurably contribute to the crisis. A new study, conducted by scientists Stephen Montzka, Ed Dlugokencky, and James Butler of NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado – and published online this week in Nature – shows that taking active steps to reduce emissions of those other gases could slow down anticipated changes in the environment.
Eons ago when the Earth was formed, our moon had a clumsy sibling. They crashed into each other, in a “Big Splat” – and the rest is history. Erik Asphaug, a planetary scientist at the University of California-Santa Cruz and his colleague, Martin Jutzi, now of the University of Berne, have created a computer model showing that the Moon’s current landscape can be explained by a collision with a sister moon about one-thirtieth the Moon’s mass. The collision, they said was, “like a pie in the face.”
NASA’s latest sortie into the solar system is set to become the most distant probe ever powered by the Sun. The robotic explorer Juno – scheduled for takeoff from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Friday, August 5 – is a solar-powered, windmill-shaped spacecraft. And to show just how neoteric NASA has become, the agency invited 150 followers of its Twitter (News - Alert) account to a two-day Tweetup, August 4 through August 5, to share their prelaunch experiences via the social networking site
Only one in 20 auto industry professionals is “very confident” that vehicle manufacturers already have the structural components they will need to meet new 2025 fuel economy standards, according to a recent WardsAuto and DuPont Automotive survey . What’s more, 77 percent of respondents believe the new CAFE standard for cars and light trucks will fundamentally change how vehicles are manufactured in the United States.
Employees at GE Industrial Solutions are among the company’s power elite: Since May, the facility where they work in Fairfield, Connecticut, has offered six Level 2 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations –powered by on-site solar generation and linked to the grid. The 216-foot by 40-foot GE EV Solar Carport can fully charge up to 13 EVs per day, and will deliver 125 MW hours via 100 kW DC power.. The solar panels on the carport roof also will power all the lighting in the parking lot, to offset an additional $10,000 in energy costs annually.
Advanced Personnel Systems (APS), a provider of solutions for on-demand technology and recruitment data management, announced that its SmartSearch version 15 talent acquisition and staffing management software will be available with upgraded paperless document management capabilities.
Finally, DaVita Inc., a provider of kidney care services announced that it is collaborating with WM Healthcare Solutions, Inc., a subsidiary of Waste Management, Inc., and BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) to help a drive the launch of a dialyzer recycling pilot in 106 DaVita dialysis clinics across Southern California.
Cheryl Kaften is an accomplished communicator who has written for consumer and corporate audiences. She has worked extensively for MasterCard (News - Alert) Worldwide, Philip Morris USA (Altria), and KPMG, and has consulted for Estee Lauder and the Philadelphia Inquirer Newspapers. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
