Tag: energy

Excess datacentre energy used to heat homes

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Telehouse is a company based in London’s Docklands that runs massive datacentres providing servers and other network gear to major companies.

It’s building a new one – Telehouse West – that’s costing $180 million, but the carbon footprint for such a facility is absolutely massive. Tonnes of heat is generated and the cooling systems involved have to work extremely hard. The company realized that the heat could be reappropriated for use in local homes.

As a result, the company’s been able to generate up to nine megawatts of power for local homes – the equivalent of boiling 3,000 kettles continuously. It’s the first major UK datacentre to implement such a strategy, and the first datacentre to gain planning permission in London since strict sustainability rules were introduced.

(via DataCentreKnowledge)

Duncan Geere Energy systems

DIY solar batteries *nearly* work

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There’s something so wonderfully simple about this concept that I wish it would work better than it does. Ni-MH batteries that have a flexible photovoltaic cell wrapped around them, so that they recharge by just being left on a windowsill.

Unfortunately, the solar cells currently only charge the battery with a tiny, weak trickle, but if they were built into a proper unit, combined with capacitors and the electronics to up the efficiency of the energy conversion, then they could do considerably better.

On a related note, how many devices do you have that still use traditional batteries? Very few, I’d wager – perhaps just a TV remote and a set of portable speakers. Everything’s rechargable these days, and a jolly good thing too.

Duncan Geere Energy systems

Econav Sat Nav: The tree-hugging satnav

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Driving green is totally different to driving fast, and the Econav, from Vexia, knows it. The Econav will deliver you exactly the same speed, traffic and gear change info as a regular sat nav, but instead of showing you the fastest way to go, it’ll show you the most economical.

For example, if you’ve got a carful of people, then it’s going to be much better for you to use a motorway than country roads. It’ll take into account your car, fuel and occupancy level. The manufacturers claim that it’ll pay for itself in reduced fuel usage within six months. The price? £200. If you’re not often in a hurry, then it could be worth a look.

Vexia (via ShinyShiny)

Duncan Geere Satellite Navigation systems