EnergyEfficiency
Latest
Microsoft says IE10 owns the coveted 'most energy efficient browser' title
Ever been concerned about the energy consumption of your web browser? Us neither, but that hasn't stopped Microsoft from ballyhooing that stat to sway you in favor of Internet Explorer. According to the latest tests it commissioned from Fraunhofer USA, IE10 uses up to 18 percent less power in browsing, Flash and HTML5 tasks than its main rivals, Chrome and Firefox. The company claims that translates into more than just boon for your battery life. Redmond goes so far as to say that if every single Chrome and Firefox user switched to IE10, it would save enough energy to power over 10,000 US homes for a year (translation: Google and Mozilla are hurting the Earth). We can't and won't vouch for the authenticity of that statement, but we do know that's a lot of users we're talking about.
Facebook to backup its servers with low-power storage devices at 'Sub-Zero' data center
Data backups come in all shapes and sizes. For some, they take the form of external hard drives or a slice of the amorphous cloud. As for Facebook, its upcoming solution is low-power deep-storage hardware contained within a 62,000 square-foot building in Prineville, Oregon near its existing Beaver State data center. Unofficially referred to as "Sub-Zero," the facility will store a copy of the social network's data in case its primary servers need to be restored in an emergency. Rather than continuously power HDDs that are only occasionally used, the new setup can conserve energy by lighting-up drives just when they're needed. One of the company's existing server racks eats up around 4.5 kilowatts, while those at Sub-Zero are each expected to consume approximately 1.5 kilowatts once they're up and running. Tom Furlong, Facebook's vice president of site operations, told Wired that there are hopes to create a similar structure alongside the firm's North Carolina data center. Since the Prineville project is still being planned, Zuckerberg & Co. have roughly six to nine months to suss out all the details before your photos are backed up at the new digs.
Facebook releases its 2011 energy usage report, details your carbon footprint
More Facebook news, but this time we're back to the numbers instead of reporting on a new feature, improvement or integration. As part of its mission to swap the familiar blue for something of a greener tinge, Facebook released today its carbon footprint and overall energy usage figures for 2011. Turning bio-babble into easy visualizations, the company points out that for the whole year, an active user occupied roughly the same carbon footprint as one medium latte. Or, if you're a fan of the tipple, a couple of glasses of wine. Impressively, 23 percent of the social giant's energy usage came from clean and renewable sources, which puts it well on the way to its 2015 target of 25 percent or more. If you'd like more info and a complete breakdown of the stats, the full report is available at the source link below.
USC develops printable liquid solar cells for flexible, low-cost panels
Solar cells are becoming more viable sources of energy -- and as they become more efficient, they're only getting smaller and cheaper to produce. Liquid nanocrystal cells are traditionally inefficient at converting sunlight into electricity, but by adding a synthetic ligand to help transmit currents, researchers at USC have improved their effectiveness. The advantage of these liquid solar cells? They're cheaper than single-crystal silicon wafer solutions, and they're also a shockingly minuscule four nanometers in size, meaning more than 250 billion could fit on the head of a pin. Moreover, they can be printed onto surfaces -- even plastic -- without melting. Ultimately, the goal of this research is to pave the way for ultra-flexible solar panels. However, the scientists are still experimenting with materials for constructing the nanocrystals, since the semiconductor cadmium selenide they've used thus far is too toxic for commercial use.
North Carolina launches FCC-approved TV White Space network in Wilmington
Back in December, the FCC approved the first white space device and database for the lucky city of Wilmington, North Carolina. Last week, the program bore its first fruits, when database operator Spectrum Bridge finally launched its TV White Space (TVWS) network in Carolina, as part of Wilmington's ongoing "Smart City" initiative. With the TVWS network up and running, Wilmingtonians will have internet access in public parks, while authorities will be able to use part of Spectrum Bridge's broadband for video surveillance. Public security, in fact, is among the primary functions of the new network, which will be expanded to help manage traffic congestion and to help the city function more efficiently. Beam past the break for more, in the full press release.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: glowing green sea, an equinox house and energy-efficient skyscrapers
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. Tidal energy made waves around the world this week as Inhabitat reported that Verdant Power was awarded the first license for an East River power project in NYC, while across the pond the UK announced plans for a gigantic 27 gigawatt Marine Energy Park and a new SeaRaser tidal power plant that could be the world's cheapest method of producing electricity. We also watched President Obama set forth a green blueprint for America in his State of the Union Address, despite going on to support oil and gas drilling in his following speech on Thursday. Meanwhile, Scotland made headlines as a new company launched with plans to turn whisky into biofuel, and Google Earth revealed an alarming patch of glowing green sea near a nuclear power plant.It was also a big week for solar-powered architecture as Deutsche Bank completed the world's tallest roof-mounted solar array and the U.S. Department of Energy announced that the 2013 Solar Decathlon will be taking place in sunny Southern California. We also took a peek inside a crazy solar-powered billboard house, and we showcased plans for a super efficient Equinox house that tracks the sun. We also brought you the world's first 1.4 billion Euro home made from shredded bills, and we rounded up the 6 most energy-efficient skyscrapers in New York City.In other news, this week Apple CEO Tim Cook responded in outrage to New York Times accusations that Apple abuses workers' rights in Chinese factories, and green transportation blasted off as auto manufacturers unveiled a trio of high-performance vehicles - theTS030 hybrid race car, Toyota's solar-powered 2000GT, and the sexy Lotus-based PG Elektrus. We also saw researchers developed the world's smallest train from a strand of DNA, while Mitsubishi developed a way to make ships more efficient by blowing tiny air bubbles. Finally, we brought you the hottest news in high-tech fashion as the U.S. military developed a pair of high-tech undies to monitor soldiers' vitals and Chanel built a life-size airplane plane for its spring 2012 Paris Couture Week show.
California demands manufacturers ditch inefficient vampire chargers
You've probably had it drilled into your head that your gadgets are doing terrible, terrible things to the environment -- and not just 'cause they end up as toxic landfill in poorer countries. Many of your chargers and electronics continue to draw power even when they're off or your device is disconnected. We've seen some ingenious solutions to the problem but, perhaps it would be best to avoid the issue all together. Starting next year California will require manufacturers to ship efficient chargers with their products, potentially saving $306 million in energy costs and cutting power usage by up to 13 percent in the state. The new rules are set to go into effect on February 1st, 2013, but we wouldn't be surprised if the law faced some road blocks before then.
China debuts homegrown supercomputer, hits one petaflop mark
China has already, however briefly, sat atop the Top500 list of supercomputers, but that was using silicon designed by American companies like Intel and NVIDIA. The country's latest contestant though, is sure to be a much bigger point of national pride. The Sunway BlueLight MPP, which was installed at the National Supercomputer Center in Jinan this September, is powered by 8,700 ShenWei SW1600 CPUs -- the homegrown chips that come out of Shanghai. The Sunway's one petaflop performance isn't enough to make it the new king of the hill, but it should get it into the top 20. More impressively, the machine only consumes about one megawatt of electricity -- roughly a quarter of the 2.5 petaflop Tianhe-1A. Now it's up to researchers to crank these ShenWei cores up to a 11 and make a run at that 50 petaflop Cray.
Energy Star 5.3 now in effect, some chunkier TVs left out in the cold
A revamped set of Energy Star requirements went into effect last week, much to the chagrin of plus-sized plasma TVs everywhere. Under the new specification (Version 5.3), sets bearing that vaunted blue sticker will have to be, on average, about 40 percent more energy efficient than standard models, while larger displays will be held to even stricter requirements. The latest iteration also calls for qualifying TVs to adhere to a "hard cap" of 108 watts (irrespective of size), essentially disqualifying any plasmas at least 50-inches in size, and any larger, non-LED-backlit LCDs. Among those sets that qualified for certification under Version 4.2, a full 14 percent consume more than 108 watts (mostly 2010 models), and only three are LED LCD-based (including Samsung's UN65D8000). Some newly disqualified 2011 models, however, may still bear blue stickers, due to Energy Star's ongoing transition process. "With the intention of seeing products that meet the newest requirements on retail shelves when 5.3 takes effect, EPA halted certification of new TVs that met the 4.2 requirements (but not the 5.3 requirements) as of May 31, 2011," Energy Star product manager Katherine Kaplan explained to CNET. "All new products certified since May 31 meet the 5.3 requirements. A product newly manufactured and certified in June had to meet the 5.3 requirements to be labeled." Hit up the source link below for more details.
Sharp's energy-efficient LED ceiling lights are hip to be square
If you live in Japan and are looking to lower your household electricity bill, you might have to empty your bank account first. Sharp recently introduced its new line of ELM-branded LED ceiling lights and the highly energy-efficient, square-shaped bulbs won't come cheap -- retailing between 35,000 yen (about $456) and 55,000 yen (about $717). Pulling inspiration from the LEDs used in LCD televisions, the company was able to achieve an industry-leading 81.3 lumens per watt for the smallest of its three designs, and an average life of 40,000 hours for the entire lot . The energy-sipping set of overhead bulbs come housed in an insectproof shell, offering over 100-plus ambient light settings, controllable via remote. You can snag these utility-friendly lights on August 27th, just don't complain at the checkout when you see the price -- we warned you. Peep the video explanation after the break.
Report: data centers accounted for just 1 to 1.5 percent of electricity use last year, Google claims less than 1 percent of that
You'd think, watching companies like Apple break ground on sprawling data centers, that the number of servers powering our untethered lives was on the rise. In a different decade, you might have been right. But not this one. According to a study prepared at the request of The New York Times, the number of servers in use has declined "significantly" since 2005. That's mostly because of the financial crisis of 2008, says lead researcher Jonathan G. Koomey of Stanford University, but we also can't discount the effect of more efficient technologies. What's more, he says, servers worldwide consume less energy than you might have guessed: they accounted for somewhere between 1 and 1.5 percent of global electricity use in 2010. And while Google, the king of cloud computing, has been cagey about revealing just how many servers house its treasure trove of data, the company said that of that 1 to 1.5 percent, it accounted for less than 1 percent -- meaning, just a hundredth of a percent of all the electricity consumed last year. All told, data centers' energy consumption has risen 56 percent since 2005 -- a far cry from the EPAs 2007 prediction that this figure would double by 2010, with annual costs ballooning to $7.4 billion. Then again, this slower-than-expected growth could well be temporary. Though Koomey can't specify to what extent the financial crisis and technological advancements are to blame, he insists, broadly speaking, that we're primarily seeing fallout from the economic slowdown -- a stay of execution, of sorts, for those of us rooting for energy conservation.
Toshiba unveils MQ01ABD HDD series, packs 1TB on a 9.5mm frame
It's been barely four months since Toshiba introduced its MK7559GSXP -- a tightly-packed, 750GB hard drive that, believe it or not, has already been eclipsed by the MQ01ABD series. Unveiled yesterday, the company's new lineup of 2.5-inch HDDs offers up to 1TB of storage capacity, thanks to an architecture that squeezes 500GB out of every platter. Standing at 9.5mm tall, the 5,400RPM drives also boast an areal density of 744Gb per square inch, and are designed to maximize energy efficiency, burning just 0.55 watts in idle mode. Gamers and entertainment gurus, meanwhile, would benefit from the MQ01ABD's enhanced acoustics, which max out at 19dB in idle, and 24dB while seeking. No word yet on pricing, but the beasts are scheduled to go into mass production by the middle of this month. For more of the nitty gritty, gallop past the break for the full press release.
US federal government to close 800 data centers, walk into the cloud
Sure, it's been just a few months since the National Security Agency asked for a $900 million supercomputing complex – you know, to help out with all that internet wiretapping. But concern about deficit spending will mean shuttering 800 other federal data centers in the US, or 40 percent of total government capacity. The closures are part of a larger push toward greater efficiency and consolidation, with an estimated savings of $3 billion a year; moving services to the cloud will mean more savings in licensing fees and infrastructure. Single-digit savings might sound like chump change when you realize the federal information technology budget runs around $80 billion a year, but hey, it's a start, right? [Photo thanks to Adrian Levesque and Adam Koniak.]
Cornell's Ranger robot walks 40.5 miles on a single charge, doesn't even break a sweat (video)
A few years ago, engineers at Cornell were rejoicing when their Ranger robot set an unofficial world record by walking for 5.6 miles without stopping. Since then, the 22-pound bot has only built up its endurance, to the point where it can now chug along for a full 40.5 miles without a single battery recharge, or an ounce of human assistance. The Ranger pulled off the feat last week, when it completed nearly 308 laps around the university's Barton Hall running track, over the course of more than 30 hours. Engineers say that their bot's stamina has a lot to do with its energy efficiency. The Ranger runs on about 16 watts and uses them more sparingly than most of its mechanized brethren. It also saves juice by swinging its legs more liberally than most bipedal walkers, essentially allowing its limbs to fall freely before re-stabilizing itself. The robot's next challenge, apparently, will be to incorporate automatic steering into its gait, since walking in circles can get understandably dull, after a while. Gallop past the break for the full PR and a video of the Ranger's latest achievement.
EnOcean's home automation sensors communicate over TCP/IP, play nice with smartphone apps
EnOcean has long been on our radar thanks to its inexpensive light switches and thermostats, which harvest energy from solar cells and thermal differentials and boast peel-and-stick backs for easy installation. Now, they're getting hooked up for TCP/IP communication, which means in addition to talking to each other, homeowners will be able to control them using any garden-variety web-connected device. The setup will require a small gateway, at which point you can monitor rooms using desktop widgets and mobile apps such as Can2Go that are compatible with EnOcean's radio protocol (ERP). So far, the company's mostly made headway in retail stores and office buildings, but if it has its way, it could be coming to hospitals, college dorms, and (duh) your home.
NSA wants $896.5 million to build new supercomputing complex
The federal government may be cutting corners left and right, but that hasn't stopped the NSA from requesting nearly $900 million to help beef up its supercomputing capabilities. According to budget documents released by the Department of Defense yesterday, the NSA is looking to construct a massive new High Performance Computing Center in Maryland, designed to harness plenty of supercomputing muscle within an energy efficient framework. As with many other data centers, the NSA's $896.5 million complex would feature raised floors, chilled water systems and advanced alarm mechanisms, but it would also need about 60 megawatts of power -- the same amount that powers Microsoft's gargantuan, 700,000 square-foot data center in Chicago. According to the DoD, however, the NSA would use that juice judiciously, in the hopes of conserving enough water, energy and building materials to obtain LEED Silver certification. Another chunk of the funding, not surprisingly, would go toward fortifying the facility. The NSA is hoping to pour more than $35 million into building security and perimeter control, which would include a cargo inspection facility, advanced surveillance, and systems designed to detect any radiological, nuclear, or chemical threats. If all goes to plan, construction would wrap up by December 2015.
IE9 is the most energy-efficient modern browser, according to Microsoft's own testing
Of all the battlefields we've witnessed in the browser wars, this one's never really crossed our minds before: energy efficiency. Yes, the power efficiency of a piece of software, not hardware, is being touted by Microsoft as a differentiating feature for its fresh new Internet Explorer 9. It's thrown together the top five most popular browsers and put them through a cycle of benchmarks -- including Microsoft's own FishIE Tank graphics acceleration test, but not the somewhat popular Adobe Flash -- while measuring how much power they use beyond what the underlying Windows 7 system needs to keep itself going. Shockingly, IE9 was the winner each and every time and there's a tenuous conclusion drawn that if you want good battery life, you'll be going with Internet Explorer. Oh well, whether you consider them a good laugh or really valuable buyer's advice, there's plenty more of these power consumption comparisons at the source link below.
Nexus One sees red, nearly doubles battery life? (video)
These five Nexus One smartphones may seem to have defects, but there's actually nothing wrong with their AMOLED screens -- the funky colors are an attempt to improve battery life by turning off unnecessary sub-pixel LEDs. Hooking up his handset to an industrial power meter, Android engineer Jeff Sharkey discovered a blood-red screen drew 42 percent less current than full color -- the least of any combination by far -- purportedly doubling the effective battery life of the phone. While you're probably not going to be able to test the requisite software patch for yourself unless you're mildly familiar with Google code, you'll find a video of the crimson wonder after the break to fuel your dreams of a eyestrain-free astronomy cheat sheet... and Android bullfighting, of course.
SSD power consumption reduced by 86 percent, speeds of 9.5GBps achieved by Japanese researchers
You know, the thing about the future is, it'll probably come from Japan. Only yesterday we saw mammoth 50TB magnetic tapes, and today we're hearing the home of Nikon has come up with a new writing method for NAND flash memory that dramatically reduces the already humble power requirements of SSDs. Using their hot new single-cell self-boost technique, University of Tokyo researchers have been able to lower operational voltages down to 1V and thereby facilitate parallel writing to over 100 NAND chips at a time, resulting in the bombastic 9.5GBps writing speed claim. The whole thing has only just been announced, so don't go raiding your local tech store just yet, but we can at least start preparing ourselves for this madness whenever it does show up. [Thanks, Mike]
Levant Power's GenShock absorbs energy as well as bumps (video)
Hey, who's this charming young rogue giving Ma Earth a peck on the cheek? While opinions may differ on the utility of regenerative braking, we can't envision anyone outside of Chevron or BP's head offices complaining about suspensions that generate electricity out of the bumps you encounter on the road. GenShock is just such an invention, and its creator Levant Power claims it can improve fuel efficiency by up to six percent when implemented in hybrid or all-electric vehicles, while being affordable enough to pay for itself within 18 months of installation. The company is presently targeting heavy trucks, consumer hybrids, military vehicles, and mass transit systems for implementation of its tech, which is also claimed to result in a smoother ride. Should you doubt its actual efficacy, you'll also want to know that GenShock has so far garnered awards from the US Department of Energy, MIT, and Popular Science magazine. See it on video after the break.
