City Sends Spy Planes Out To Determine If Your Home Is Wasting Energy

from the only-trying-to-help dept

It's no secret that not everyone realizes how wasteful they are of energy resources. However, apparently one city in the UK went to rather extreme measures to make that point clear to residents in the city. It hired a spy plane to fly over the city and take heat loss photos across the entire city. The photos were then matched to a city map, displaying which houses were leaking the most heat at the time the spy plane passed over. Eventually, the entire map was put online so everyone could see which buildings were wasting the most energy. What's unclear is whether or not these heat maps convinced anyone to actually do anything (or if it just freaked people out).

Filed Under: energy, spy planes

Area Energy Prices Influence Data Center Locations

from the the-cost-of-juice dept

There's been a lot of interest lately in ways for data centers to reduce their energy consumption and environmental footprint and by extension save money. Energy considerations are particularly important for companies like Microsoft and Google, which are both building massive data centers all around the country. A breakdown of state-by-state energy costs gives some insight into how these companies are selecting their locations. North Carolina, where Google is breaking ground on a new location, has seen a year-over-year decrease in the price of commercial energy, putting it in the top third of all states (Google also was given tax incentives by the state to locate there). Oklahoma has seen a rather precipitous drop in energy costs as well, so it's not surprising that Google is also building a site there. Energy prices also influenced Microsoft's decision to build in Washington state, which comes in at #10 on the list. Historically, states have tried to attract technology investments by offering tax incentives and promoting the education level of their citizens. In the future, they may also wish to tout the level of competition in their energy markets.

Filed Under: data centers, energy
Companies: google, microsoft

Data Center Outage Puts Spotlight On Power Systems

from the the-other-grid dept

This week's outage of a major San Francisco data center has prompted a lot of discussion about the tech industry's massive energy requirements, and whether or not the existing energy infrastructure will continue to prove satisfactory. Although we blamed excessive hubris for the crash, some are pointing fingers at the utility PG&E, for letting the underlying power outage happen. Of course, this doesn't explain why 365 Main's extensive energy backup system failed to kick in as it was supposed to. Either way, it's likely that continued investments into energy systems are in order. IBM has been investing in technology that will reduce the energy demands of data centers, but the trend is helping low-tech firms as well: yesterday, engine maker Cummins reported strong earnings, due in part to the sale of generators to data centers. All of this is further evidence that tech firms are increasingly forced to get down and dirty with tangible, physical goods in order to stay competitive.

Filed Under: energy
Companies: cummins, pg&e

More Solar Power Wanted ASAP

from the sun-ra dept

A new report put out by the US petroleum industry warns that conventional energy sources will not be able to keep up with rising demand over the next 25 years. As such, the high energy prices that we're seeing today could stick around. Stark warnings such as this one aren't particularly uncommon, although not all studies are so pessimistic. Still, it's forecasts like this that are driving the high level of investment into alternative energy. However, despite all of the enthusiasm over it, solar energy isn't even close to moving the needle in terms of global (or national) energy consumption. Even the optimistic forecasts call for it to supply 2-3% of US energy use 25 years from now. The caveat is that if there are some major breakthroughs in solar technology, it could take off much more rapidly. Considering how much investment there is into the space, some breakthroughs are likely. It's also worth bearing in mind that these forecasts aren't set in stone by any means. Forecasting anything remains an inexact, if not counterproductive, science. But as long as energy is expensive, as it is today, companies and investors will look for ways to bring more of it to market.

Filed Under: energy, solar

More Industries Feeling The Brunt Of Ethanol Subsidies

from the but-it's-alternative dept

Unintended consequences stemming from the federal government's love of ethanol continue to pop up in all corners of the economy. As we've seen, subsidies for corn are contributing to widespread "agflation", leaving businesses to deal with the challenges of higher commodity costs. As The Wall Street Journal notes, soap makers are getting hit particularly hard, as prices are up for beef tallow, a kind of fat that is an important ingredient in soap. Also, there's a new subsidy for companies turning animal fat directly into fuel, which will further shorten supplies of this ingredient. The plight of the soap makers isn't unique, and in fact it would be impossible to adequately anticipate all of the myriad effects of our ethanol policy. But it's clear that simply throwing money at any energy source deemed to be "alternative" is not particularly smart from the standpoint of the economy.

Filed Under: agflation, energy, soap, subsidies