The Power Crisis
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The Power CrisisWe're going through a reexamination of our hosting facilities, looking to cut some costs and possibly buy more service. As I'm visiting various colocation facilities around Denver, one of the interesting things I saw at one place was a lack of UPS equipment. This was a smaller company, but I was nervous about the fact that they didn't have any power equipment.
Their reasoning? Apparently the building they are located in downtown is fed by three power grids and has had
I bet people in New York never thought they'd be without power for 8 days. Or that MySpace.com would be down for 12 hours and they're in a data center!! And a friend says he can get me a good deal on a cabinet in CA. Is that with or without power?
We use more and more electricity around the world. Not just with servers, but also with the tremendous cooling required in data centers. Whether you agree with how we generate electricity or not, the fact is the modern world needs more power and I'm not sure that we're equipped to continue to meet the demands over the next few decades.
I'd like to see us build a more efficient, fault tolerant power system, and one that's based on renewable technologies as a good portion of the source. Especially as I don't see the demand decreasing and much of our power grid is based on older technology.
Steve Jones
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You should check out data centers in central Iowa. We have an extremely stable power system and the power companies have made large investments in wind mills for power generation.
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Wouldn’t it be a good idea if all newly built office blocks / apartments were required to fit solar panels to the roof / external areas so the block could in essence generate a little of the power it consumers? I realise it could only be a very tiny amount but if all new buildings did this then it would at least ease the burden on the national grid a little all over the country.
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I hope the Denver guy doesn't pop his OWN circuit! All the power grids in the world can't help that... -
Regardless of how many suppliers you have, if your switchboard blows up (as ours did recently) you won't get any power into the building at all.
In short, there's a heap of *internal* reasons for a UPS.
S.
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Solar grids or small wind generators for those areas with more prevailing wind conditions.
There seems to be an overall lack of wind generator technology designed for use on homes in urban areas.
Electricity generation could be distributed to the home level with adequate designs. This would take a huge burden off the grid/utilities.
There is, unfortunately, no economic incentive on the part of the government or the monopoly utilities to relenquish control of their product.
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Renewable energy; what a great idea. Just keep talking it up, eventually this will beome mainstream.
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Their reasoning? Apparently the building they are located in downtown is fed by three power grids and has had < 1 minute of downtime in 5 or 6 years. I guess that's possible and even if it is, does that mean it won't lose power in the future?
Their reasoning? Apparently the building they are located in downtown is fed by three power grids and has had < 1 minute of downtime in 5 or 6 years. I guess that's possible and even if it is, does that mean it won't lose power in the future?
... and whats the only double positive in the English language that has a negative meaning ???
Yeah - Right !
Steve, I work in a healthcare facility at the primary location (we have 17 satellites). We are fed by 2 separate power grids. At our primary location there has not been an occasion in the last 20 years when both grids are down. However, even with generators and UPSs we still have had issues when one grid fails (gotta love lightning). It has not wreaked much havoc in the data center either with servers or SANs. Most of the issues are in wiring closets scattered all over the complex where all of the network gear is. Some closets have generator (red) outlets and some do not. All closets have individual UPSs. But we still have issues and its with conenctivity.
My personal advice on a new colocation facility without UPS power is "run and don't look back!"
RegardsRudy KomacsarSenior Database Administrator"Ave Caesar! - Morituri te salutamus."
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My advice is don't wait for the government to do anything - it moves far too slow. It wasn't the goverment that put a PC on every desktop (certainly it wasn't the monopoly of IBM!) Nor did the government build the internet. It took commited people who were willing to spend the money in the early days of the change. I still remember waiting until PCs were "affordable", and paying just $3,000 for a system that a year later cost $1,600 (for a better one, of course). Remember when disk space for a PC was $1,000 per gig?
Two years ago I chose to spend the money (approx $22,000) to put a 3 KwH solar photovoltaic system (grid-tied) on the roof of my home. Payback period is 20 to 30 years, depending on energy costs and other possible sources of income (like green tags). But the value of the house went up by the same amount, too.
If you want to learn more about renewable energy, I recommend http://www.ases.org , the website of the American Solar Energy Society. And October 7 is the National Solar Tour, where you can visit local homes in your area to view working renewable systems and talk to the people who live with them. If you're in the Seattle area, try http://www.solarwashington.org/Tour/SolarTour.htm where you can also look at pictures of "working" sites. And yes, one of them is mine. I'll be on the Solar Tour as well, so if you're in the area, come on by!
Here there be dragons...,Steph Brown
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our plant has UPS (a room full of batteries on racks) and a generator. Alas a while back a battery blew in the UPS room when power went out and the data room still went dark. Of course replacements have been made and tested by pulling the plug again. As long as fuel can be delivered, this site can run indefinitely (also we have a contract to move everything offsite if the building is destroyed).
Solar is nice for home use, but few sites that are primarily data centers can have the resources (sufficient panels) or space for sufficient panels to actually power racks of servers (especially at night)
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-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
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This below article looks promising. As usual Scientific American is my source.
ENERGYA Power Grid for the Hydrogen Economy Cryogenic, superconducting conduits could be connected into a "SuperGrid" that would simultaneously deliver electrical power and hydrogen fuel By Paul M. Grant, Chauncey Starr and Thomas J. Overbye "....SuperGrid connections to these new power plants would provide both a source of hydrogen and a way to distribute it widely, through pipes that surround and cool the superconducting wires. A hydrogen-filled SuperGrid would serve not only as a conduit but also as a vast repository of energy, establishing the buffer needed to enable much more extensive use of wind, solar and other renewable power sources. And it would build the core infrastructure that is a prerequisite if rich economies are to move away from greenhouse-gas-emitting power plants and vehicles...."
<a href="Scientific'>http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00003872-159C-1498-959C83414B7F0000&ref=sciam">Scientific American: A Power Grid for the Hydrogen Economy [ ENERGY ]</a><br>Cryogenic, superconducting conduits could be connected into a "SuperGrid" that would simultaneously deliver electrical power and hydrogen fuel
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Capstone MicroTurbine™ systems
I like this solution for high tech power:
http://www.capstoneturbine.com/
Check it out!
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Hmm, interesting article in S.A., but by its own admission the concept relies heavily on nuclear (non-renewable) energy, and it does not address the "cost" of super-cooling this new grid. And the main problem they are trying to solve is the heat (and thus line sagging) caused by moving large amounts of electricity from one area of the country to another to meet peak demand. Lets face it - peak demand occurs mostly during daylight hours, which is when solar is producting the most. The great east coast black-out was caused by high usage of air conditioning because of "too much" sun! If the local areas invovled had solar on even 1/4 of the structures, that outage would not have happened. I'm still a fan of producing the energy where it is used, rather than building "nuclear clusters" away from the population centers - that just doesn't make sense (do the math - use more power to refrigerate in order to move power....) And don't get me started on the nuclear waste issue; that one REALLY doesn't add up.
I don't think we'll find a "single solution" to our energy needs, but there are solutions available that don't require a $1 trillion investment.
Here there be dragons...,Steph Brown
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"The great east coast black-out was caused by high usage of air conditioning because of "too much" sun!"
Actually the black out was caused by faulty equipment, both electrical and computer and some human errors, not by the lack of power or some supposed 'over use of power.
https://reports.energy.gov/BlackoutFinal-Web.pdf
"...the major events—electrical,
computer, and human—that occurred as the
blackout evolved on August 14, 2003, and identifies
the causes of the initiation of the blackout.
The period covered in this chapter begins at 12:15
Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on August 14, 2003
when inaccurate input data rendered MISO’s state
estimator (a system monitoring tool) ineffective.
At 13:31 EDT, FE’s Eastlake 5 generation unit tripped
and shut down automatically. Shortly after
14:14 EDT, the alarm and logging system in FE’s
control room failed and was not restored until
after the blackout. After 15:05 EDT, some of FE’s
345-kV transmission lines began tripping out
because the lines were contacting overgrown trees
within the lines’ right-of-way areas."
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/hepg/Blackout.htm
For some 'enlightening' info on this event.
Please continue, Stephanie....
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It also clearly states this supergrid could plugged into any energy producing mechanism. I just wish they could run some refreshing beverage along the lines as well.
That also was the cause of the black out in the 70's, faulty relay switch if I remember correctly.
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