Good report from IT Business Edge

With a fresh look at how IT improvements/efficiency brings savings and financial returns.  As a business owner, have you invested in some of these things?

Green IT Initiatives Provide Business Savings

Kim Mays |   NEW TOOLS FOR IT   |  13 AUG, 2013

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For businesses, going green often means cost savings. Nowhere can this be truer than in the area of IT. Smaller, more efficient computers and servers, cloud computing and even advancements in software can bring about significant budgetary and carbon-footprint savings for the business. This brings many companies to start thinking about creating greener data centers.

But where and when do you begin to adopt greener policies? How do you know what to buy?

The book “Green Computing: Tools and Techniques for Saving Energy, Money, and Resources,” by Bud E. Smith provides an in-depth look at green IT initiatives. It begins by explaining why a company should go green, and then continues with chapters that give detailed explanations on cost savings, environmental drivers and climate change issues. Other chapters give informative looks into:

• Cloud computing
• Mobile devices
• Device disposal
• Key indicators of green devices and suppliers
• Energy costs
• Greenhouse gas reductions

In our IT Downloads, you can read an excerpt of this book, Chapter 7, “Green Servers and Data Centers.” This excerpt provides insightful information on how to move your data center toward being more environmentally friendly. It gives concrete data on why it is important—data that you can use to convince management of the importance of “going green.”

Data centers have been estimated to use between 1% and 1.5% of the world’s total energy, according to an article in the IEEE’s IT Professional. Data center facilities use more than 100 times the energy than standard office buildings, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

This chapter also recommends the type of building and power supplies you should use to ensure your data center is as energy efficient as it can be. It gives you a list of factors to consider, including:

• Floor space
• Power provisioning
• Device power usage
• Cooling

It follows up with a section on servers, networking, and storage considerations, explaining how to judge hardware based on size, power consumption, output of heat, and flexibility in usage. The author includes a brief section explaining how a company can lease data centers from a supplier, and then manage as much of the process as the company needs.

If you are considering demonstrating your company’s dedication to our environment and, let’s face it, saving money, by creating a more environmentally friendly data center, this book can start you on the right path. It is loaded with educational data and tools to help you gain approval, create your strategy and begin your build.

For today's radio show at 1p, EST, WARL 1320 and Blog Talk Radio/Renewable Now channel

We will be interviewing Carlos Gutierrez and TIna Sava from Sandia Labs and will talk to them about their amazing work on nanoscale molecular trapping for environmental protection.  How cool is this?

A new type of nanoscale molecular trap makes it possible for industry to store large amounts of hydrogen in small fuel cells or capture, compact and remove volatile radioactive gas from spent nuclear fuel in an affordable, easily commercialized way.

The ability to adjust the size of the trap openings to select for specific molecules or to alter how molecules are released at industrially accessible pressures makes the trap uniquely versatile.  The trap is constructed of commercially available material and made possible through collaborative work at Argonne and Sandia national laboratories.

"This introduces a new class of materials to nuclear waste remediation," said Tina Nenoff, a chemist at Sandia National Laboratories. "This design can capture and retain about five times more iodine that current material technologies."

Organic molecules linked together with metal ions in a molecular-scale Tinker Toy-like lattice called a metal-organic-framework, or MOF, form the trap. Molecules of radioactive iodine or carbon dioxide or even hydrogen for use as fuel can enter through windows in the framework.

Once pressure is applied, these windows are distorted, preventing the molecules from leaving.  This creates a cage and a way of selecting what to trap based on the molecule’s shape and size.

The compression also turns the MOF from a fluffy molecular sponge that takes up a lot of space into a compact pellet.  The ability to compress large amounts of gas into small volumes is a crucial step to developing hydrogen gas as an alternative fuel for engines.

But what makes this MOF, called ZIF-8, dramatically different from designs created during the past decade is its ability to distort the windows in the framework and trap large volumes of gas at relatively low pressures. ZIF-8 takes about twice the pressure of a junkyard car compactor, which is about 10 times less pressure than is needed to compress other comparable zeolite MOFs.

This creates an environmentally friendly process that is within the reach of existing industrial machinery, can be produced on a large scale and is financially viable.

The ZIF-8 is composed of zinc cations and organic imidazolate-based linkers. The topology of the framework is analogous to sodalite – a well-known zeolite.

The use of other available porous MOFs is limited to small batches because specialized scientific equipment is needed to apply the large amount of pressure they require to compress to a position that will maintain the new shape that traps the gas. This makes them not commercially viable.

Chapman and her colleagues at Argonne used X-rays from the Advanced Photon Source to perfect the low-pressure technique of making the MOFs into dense pellets. The distortion of the molecular framework that occurs during the process does not significantly reduce the gas storage capacity.

"These MOFs have wide-reaching applications," said Karena Chapman, a scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, who was inspired to explore low-pressure treatments for MOFs by her experiences working with flexible MOFs for hydrogen storage. Prior to this work, most high-pressure science research, such as the development of MOFs, took its cue from earth studies, where extensive pressures cause transitions in geological materials.

With the pellet process worked out, the scientists tapped Nenoff at Sandia to find a just the right type of molecule for the MOF’s structure to expand its use from hydrogen and carbon dioxide capture. Nenoff and her team had identified the ZIF-8 MOF as being ideally suited to separate and trap radioactive iodine molecules from a stream of spent nuclear fuel based on its pore size and high surface area.

This marks one of the first attempts to use MOFs in this way.  This presents opportunities for cleaning up nuclear reactor accidents and for reprocessing fuel.  Countries such as France, Russia and India recover fissile materials from radioactive components in used nuclear fuel to provide fresh fuel for power plants. This reduces the amount of nuclear waste that must be stored.  Radioactive iodine has a half-life of 16 million years.

The research team is continuing to look at different MOF structures to increase the amount of iodine storage and better predict how environmental conditions such as humidity will affect the storage lifetime.

(Answer: This illustration above is of a metal-organic framework, or MOF, shows the metal center bound to organic molecules. Each MOF has a specific framework determined by the choice of metal and organic.)

- See more at: http://renewablenow.biz/renewable-science.html#sthash.83CvkweX.dpuf

Meet John Mackey, CEO, co-founder, FLOW

Our show, with the help of Calvert Funds, has pushed hard to get all investors to use sustainable investing funds and standards.  Those shows continue to garner tremendous interest worldwide.  If you would like to hear one, listen at renewablenow.biz.

In the meantime we'd like to expand this discussion by carrying a piece of a wonderful article written by John Mackey.  Here's a link to his entire article and a part of his excellent piece.  We'll reach out to John and push to get him on a future show.

As we've said many times, business is either part of the problem or part of the solution.  You can not push business out of the environmental equation, as some purist advocate, but engage every singe company owner--small, medium, large--into this wonderful movement towards a brighter, cleaner future, driven partially by a new-style green economy:  http://www.wholeplanetfoundation.org/files/uploaded/John_Mackey-Conscious_Capitalism.pdf

Conscious Capitalism
Creating a New Paradigm for Business
by John Mackey, CEO, Whole Foods Market
co-founder, FLOW

"Do we need a new way to think about business, corporations,
and capitalism for the 21st century? Do we need
to create a new business paradigm? Corporations are
probably the most influential institutions in the world
today and yet many people do not believe that they
can be trusted. Instead corporations are widely perceived
as greedy, selfish, exploitative, uncaring – and
interested only in maximizing profits. In the early years
of the 21st century, major ethical lapses on the part of
big business came to light including scandals at Enron,
Arthur Anderson, Tyco, the New York Stock Exchange,
WorldCom, Mutual Funds, and AIG. These scandals
have all contributed to a growing distrust of business
and further eroded public trust in large corporations in
the United States.

Increasingly, many people believe there must be
something wrong with both corporations and capitalism.
The anti-globalization movement is primarily an
anti-corporation movement. Many people have come
to the conclusion that corporations want to dominate
and control the world – for example David Korten wrote
an interesting book called When Corporations Rule the
World. While many critics, including myself, take issue
with Korten’s assertions, the book reflects this relatively
common belief that corporations are slowly, steadily
taking over the world. Along this line of reasoning it follows
that this corporate hegemony is not a good thing
since corporations are greedy, selfish, and uncaring,
along this line of reasoning it follows that this corporate
hegemony is not a good thing for the world. In short,
corporations and capitalism are not generally in favor,
and both have serious branding problems.

Our first theories of economics were developed during
the Industrial Revolution. Prior to that, economics
did not exist as a discipline. Economics was created as
one explanatory response to the Industrial Revolution
and initial economic models were based on industrial
models of the economy. Although economic theory has
evolved since Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations
in 1776, many economists continue using industrial and
machine metaphors to explain how the economy works.
Now that we are well into the post-industrial Information
Age, these metaphors have become outdated and
mislead our thinking about business. For example, recall
the trinity of labor, land, and capital as “factors of production”,
and therefore as merely a means to the end of
efficiency and profits. According to this model, business
operates like a machine—business owners input various
amounts of capital, labor, and land at the start. Profits
then spit out on the other side of the metaphorical 
machine."

hanks to Renewable Energy World. com

For a great and promising report on renewables global climb to the leadership board in generating energy.  Wonderful ascent:

Renewables to Surpass Gas by 2016 in the Global Power Mix

The IEA Releases Its Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report

RussTech Language Services, Inc.

Tallahassee, FL A new report from the International Energy Agency asserts that by 2016 total power generation from renewables will exceed that from gas. Moreover, twice as much electricity will be generated worldwide from hydro, wind, solar and other renewable sources than from nuclear power plants.

"As their costs continue to fall, renewable power sources are increasingly standing on their own merits versus new fossil fuel generation."

These predictions are contained in the IEA’s second annual Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report.

An Executive Summary of this report is also available, as are the slides that were presented when IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven described the report during her Keynote Address at the recent Renewable Energy Finance Forum in New York.

“As their costs continue to fall, renewable power sources are increasingly standing on their own merits versus new fossil fuel generation,” Ms. van der Hoeven said. The major impediment to increased generation from renewables is policy uncertainty, which hinders attempts to attract private sector investment.

According to Dr. Marilyn J. Young, President & CEO at RussTech Language Services, Inc. – a leading provider of technical translations to the energy sector – companies also face a formidable language barrier when interacting with regulators, business partners, and potential customers in overseas markets. “No one wants to struggle through an engineering document or user manual written in a foreign language,” Dr. Young said. “People prefer to read about new products and services in their own language.” This is particularly true of regulatory agencies and licensing bodies in other countries, which almost always require that submissions be made in the local vernacular.

The information on this page was created and posted by the company identified above. RenewableEnergyWorld.com does not endorse, edit, or substantiate this information and assumes no obligation for this content's accuracy.

Great radio show this week

Don't forget the primary place to find our radio/TV shows is renewablenow.biz, but you can listen on the national network as well, Blog Talk Radio, on the Renewable Now channel:  http://www.consciouscapitalism.org/

Enjoy the show

Thanks to Climate Realty Project

For sending us great data on NOAA's indicators/measurements of global warming:

Additional info from Skeptical Science 

The 2009 State of the Climate report of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), released in mid-2010, brings together many different series of data “from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the ocean." The conclusion? All of these independent lines of evidence tell us unequivocally that the Earth is warming. 

The very accessible 10-page summary (PDF) examines the trends for 10 key climate indicators using a total of 47 different sets of data. All of the indicators expected to increase in a warming world are in fact increasing, and all that are expected to decrease are decreasing.

The 10 indicators are: 

1. Land surface air temperature as measured by weather stations. You know all those skeptic arguments about how the temperature record is biased by the urban heat island effect, badly-sited weather stations, dropped stations, and so on? This is the only indicator which suffers from all those problems. So if you’re arguing with somebody who tries to frame the discussion as being about land surface air temperature, just remind them about the other nine indicators. 

2. Sea surface temperature. As with land temperatures, the longest record goes back to 1850 and the last decade is warmest. 

3. Air temperature over the oceans. 

4. Lower troposphere temperature as measured by satellites for around 50 years. By any of these measures, the 2000s was the warmest decade and each of the last three decades has been much warmer than the previous one. 

5. Ocean heat content, for which records go back over half a century. More than 90% of the extra heat from global warming is going into the oceans — contributing to a rise in … 

6. Sea level. Tide gauge records go back to 1870, and sea level has risen at an accelerating rate. 

7. Specific humidity, which has risen in tandem with temperatures. 

8. Glaciers. 2009 was the 19th consecutive year in which there was a net loss of ice from glaciers worldwide. 

9. Northern Hemisphere snow cover, which has also decreased in recent decades. 

10. Perhaps the most dramatic change of all has been in Arctic sea ice. Satellite measurements are available back to 1979 and reliable shipping records back to 1953. September sea ice extent has shrunk by 35% since 1979. 

Science isn’t like a house of cards, in that removing one line of evidence (e.g., land surface air temperature) wouldn’t cause the whole edifice of anthropogenic global warming to collapse. Rather, “land surface warming” is one of more than ten bricks supporting “global warming”; and with global warming established, there is a whole other set of bricks supporting “anthropogenic global warming." To undermine these conclusions, you’d need to remove most or all of the bricks supporting them — but as the evidence continues to pile up, that is becoming less and less likely. 

Adapted from © John Cook and Skeptical Science

Good report from Wisconsin Public Radio

And we applaud their continued coverage of the green economy.   Perhaps we can collaborate with them going forward...

In the meantime take a look at this new technology coming out of S. Korea that electrifies an inner city road, and allows EV's, electric/hybrid buses to charge as they pass over electromagnetic fields and, most critical, carry smaller batteries and still get a good range for the buses.

We've read that this application is possible and being worked on around the world.  Nice to see the installation now on a real street powering real buses.  Good news:

The Road That Gives Electric Vehicles A Charge

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By BILL CHAPPELL

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Credit KAIST

An electric city bus in Gumi, South Korea, is part of a program using electromagnetic fields to charge batteries of electric vehicles.

Originally published on Wed August 7, 2013 12:38 pm

A city in South Korea flipped the switch on a road this week that will provide an electric charge to commuter buses on an inner-city route, officials say. The wireless power will be used to run two buses on round-trip routes of 24 kilometers (nearly 15 miles).

The charging road would allow electric vehicles to have much smaller batteries, according to researchers, and to be recharged whether they're parked or on the move.

The OLEV (Online Electric Vehicle) buses in the pilot program in the southern city of Gumi use batteries that are about one-third the size of a standard electric car battery. The city reportedly plans to add 10 more of the buses in the next two years.

According to a news release, the new power system includes a "smart function" that determines when an OLEV vehicle is on the road. That keeps the network from wasting power — and from bathing passengers in non-OLEV cars with an electromagnetic field.

To install the system, cables and power strips are added to 5 percent to 15 percent of the overall road's length, according to its inventors at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.

The OLEV system gained notoriety in 2010; in the following year, the Massachusetts Port Authority reportedly reached a deal to license the technology for use at Boston's Logan International Airport.

A plan to bring several of the buses to McAllen, Texas, was put on hold last fall due to financing issues, as The Monitor reported. A Boston-based company called OLEV Technologies says it is working to put the systems to wider use.

The charge transfers as long as a vehicle's undercarriage stays within 17 centimeters (about six and a half inches) from the road surface. The Korean institute explains more about how it all works:

"OLEV receives power wirelessly through the application of the "Shaped Magnetic Field in Resonance (SMFIR)" technology. ... Power comes from the electrical cables buried under the surface of the road, creating magnetic fields. There is a receiving device installed on the underbody of the OLEV that converts these fields into electricity."

The technology has been used before in South Korea, the institute says — in OLEV trains at a Seoul amusement park and in shuttle buses on the university's campus.

"It's quite remarkable that we succeeded with the OLEV project so that buses are offering public transportation services to passengers," KAIST's Dong-Ho Cho said in the news release. "This is certainly a turning point for OLEV to become more commercialized and widely accepted for mass transportation in our daily living."

Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.