http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/Apr 21st 2007 5:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/Apr 21st 2007 5:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/
]]>Apr 21st 2007 6:04AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/Apr 21st 2007 6:29AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/]]>Apr 21st 2007 7:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/
"390-kilowatts of energy" - the Watt is a measure of power, not energy

"enough juice to 'power 1,000 PCs for a year.'" - that is a measure of energy

The confusion in the units is the reason these statements don't make a lot of sense.]]>Apr 21st 2007 7:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/Apr 21st 2007 8:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/Apr 21st 2007 10:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/Apr 21st 2007 8:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/Apr 21st 2007 9:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/I'm coming to the conclusion that people's concern about global warming is adversely affecting their ability to reason. Technology and clever ideas will win the day,
not misguided efforts like this pathetic endeavor.]]>Apr 21st 2007 9:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/
If you read the article you'd notice the building is over 40 years old too so installing any kind of geothermal HVAC or energy conservation system into an old building not designed for it would be more expensive and still not solve the problem of replacing the tiled facade. I'm not sure where you'd install a heat pump's loop field big enough to heat the largest office block outside London in the middle of Manchester too.]]>Apr 21st 2007 11:11AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/
putting the energy/power situation behind us I would say that in an energy conscious building like that they would be using efficient computers. The computers in use where I work have 170 watt power supplies and the fans on those almost never turn on. I would say that for the most part they don't draw over 130 watts which would allow 390kilowatts to power 3,000 computers at once, or 1,000 computers and still have 260kw left over for the other power needs for the building.

Also, for cost of building it, if these were running at full load for 12 hours a day 365 days a year the savings would be about $150,000 a year assuming 9 cents a kilowatt (the price in washington last time I checked) so the building will break even after 76 years-far longer than the lifetime of the cells.]]>Apr 21st 2007 11:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/Apr 21st 2007 1:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/]]>Apr 21st 2007 1:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/
btw CIS themselves say it generates 180,000 'units' which they apparently think is 181MWh, not 390KW

http://www.cis.co.uk/solar
http://www.howtosavetheworldforfree.com/2006/06/co-op-green-qa.php]]>Apr 22nd 2007 6:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/Apr 23rd 2007 3:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/uks-cis-solar-tower-garners-390-kilowatts-from-the-sun/unfortunately for us renewable energy is not
looked as an alternative source of energy
or given any encouragement by our govt.


]]>May 4th 2007 6:20AM