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It was estimated that the geothermal system would reduce electric consumption on campus by 25% and natural gas consumption by 70%. Stiles says, “Based on an extensive monitoring study, this turned out to be quite accurate.” He notes that savings were studied very carefully for the first three years of operation, but “it is impossible to know the savings now, since the operation of the buildings has been changed so significantly. But we are confident of the persistence of savings.”

A new breakthrough superconducting material fabricated by a Canadian-German team has been made out of a silicon-hydrogen compound and does not require cooling. The implications of the discovery are enormous and could transform the way people live by cutting power usage from everything from refrigeration to cell phones.

An idealized application for superconductors is to employ them in the transmission of commercial power to cities. However, due to the high cost and impracticality of cooling miles of superconducting wire to cryogenic temperatures, this has only happened with short "test runs". In May of 2001 some 150,000 residents of Copenhagen, Denmark, began receiving their electricity through HTS (high-temperature superconducting) material. That cable was only 30 meters long, but proved adequate for testing purposes. In the summer of 2001 Pirelli completed installation of three 400-foot HTS cables for Detroit Edison at the Frisbie Substation capable of delivering 100 million watts of power. This marked the first time commercial power has been delivered to customers of a US power utility through superconducting wire. Intermagnetics General has announced that its IGC-SuperPower subsidiary has joined with BOC and Sumitomo Electric in a $26 million project to install an underground, HTS power cable in Albany, New York, in Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation's power grid. Sumitomo Electric's DI-BSCCO cable was employed in the first in-grid power cable demonstration project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and New York Energy Research & Development Authority. After connecting to the grid successfully on July 2006, the DI-BSCCO cable has been supplying the power to approximately 70,000 households without any problems. The long-term test will be completed in the 2007-2008 timeframe.

They look like foil party balloons, but they are actually very efficient solar concentrators. These solar “balloons” were developed by a company called Cool Earth, based in California, and it has just received $21 million dollars in investor funding. The company is now planning to build a 10-megawatt plant of solar balloons in the next couple years. This power plant would be comprised of 10,000 balloons, and cover roughly 80 acres!

Party balloons may be the next big thing in solar power. Cool Earth has made some giant balloons with gizmos inside that will convert the collected sun and focus it onto a cell. They have been given a big chunk of moola to make 10,000 balloons to cover 80 acres in California and hopefully in a couple years be generating 10 megawatts of power.

If you want to know why large companies -- telecom companies and utilities in particular -- are very slow to adopt new products that appear far more superior than what they currently use, here's why: When cool products go bad, or when the companies behind them go out of business, you're screwed.

The Barcode nightclub was built in a disused brick Victorian railway arch in Vauxhall, south London. The entire nightclub is illuminated using only LED lights, and the sound system is also energy efficient. The architect, Woods Bagot claims that the system consumes “less electricity than the power used to boil a kettle”. If they could just give a watts per hour figure I’d be happier! Still, this is a interesting example of all-LED lighting in a building, which I’m sure we’ll see more in the coming years. Because the LEDs give off very little heat, much less AC is required to cool the building in summer. See more pictures over the fold.

Like any typical consumer, the participants in SmartPower’s study want to know what is in it for them. They yearn to be inspired. They do not want to be preached to. They want to feel that they are a part of a “we” approach. They want to understand and feel the real world ramifications of their actions. They’re busy. They’re over worked. They want simple, quick tasks they can do which will make a difference. They want to feel smart and cool. They want to feel empowered and knowledgeable about saving money and saving energy. One of the participants responded, “When I save energy it’s like a light bulb has gone off in my head that I’m getting it.”

Green Roofs are becoming blase, perhaps, as design moves into living walls. A number of the Solar Decathlon teams have incorporated some form of living wall -- think garden on the walls of the house. These walls help cool the house in the summer (reducing solar gain), water management (reduced storm water runoff as they take water from the roof), and have the potential for helping feed the residents (think tomatoes, grapes, herbs ...). Teams with living walls include, among other

These references point out that such solar assist systems significantly raise the heating COP. So, the answer to the question is YES, it's possible to direct solar-heated air to the condenser of a heat pump and raise the heating COP.

Setting binding targets for the use of other kinds of renewable energies in electricity, transport and heating/cooling is contrary to the preferences of some member states, who argue that differing climatic and geographical conditions across the EU mean that some states will be at a disadvantage in terms of meeting the targets.  Italy, for example, recently sent a letter to EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, stating that the country will be unable to produce more than 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

The buzzword these days is sustainability. A few years ago, this meant responsibility in a broader sense. Now, the focus is more on actual products. So, which alternatives can the industry offer to the appliance industry’s well-known products? And are these actually large, revolutionary steps? In white-good appliances, there are several alternatives. Europeans switched to high-efficiency horizontal-drum washers a long time ago—a revolutionary technology that left little room for improvement. The next big step might be to heat the water with gas instead of electricity. Martin Elektrotechnik is one German company that offers an automatic external water selector. It detects activation of the heating element and switches accordingly. However, at 285 euros, sales have been limited. The same unit can also be used for the dishwasher. The clothes dryer is another story. These appliances use 3–4 kWh per run, and there are more-efficient alternatives—the gas dryer and the heat pump dryer. Europe has a few gas dryer manufacturers, including UK-based Crosslee with its White Knight brand and Miele. Despite the advantages of efficiency and shorter drying time, they have not caught on in the larger marketplace. They only come as vented units, not as condenser units, and connecting the gas is just too much of a hurdle for many consumers, even when there is a click-on gas connector system available. Heat pump dryers are relatively new. Electrolux started in 1997 with an almost hand-built model under their premium, environmentally oriented AEG brand. At a price point of 1500 euros, even wealthy German consumers would not buy many of them. In 2005, the company started selling a redesigned model, called Öko-Lavatherm. It claimed energy savings up to 40% for around 700 euros, which is more in line with the cost of other premium models. Other manufacturers of heat pump dryers include Blomberg, the German brand owned by Turkish market leader Arçelik, and Swiss Schulthess. In cooling, there have been no large breakthroughs. Years ago, there was talk of vacuum-insulated panels, but no models were produced. Instead, there have been a number of smaller-scale efficiency improvements, and today, the industry suggests that consumers simply buy new, extraefficient models. AEG offers a typical case: a 300-L cooler/freezer in the A++ efficiency class now uses only 200 kWh per year, whereas a 10-year-old model used as much as 500 kWh. And what about the heating industry? Remember that in chilly Europe, heating is the largest energy user. The advice here is almost the same as for white-good appliances—just replace old equipment. There are still many noncondenser boilers on the market and a significant percentage of houses are insufficiently insulated. German Vaillant is calling its efficiency initiative "Generation Efficiency." But, like the home appliances market, progress is gradual. Current boilers are already highly efficient. Other technologies, such as solar panels, combined heat-and-power units, and heat pumps, catch on more slowly. Still, there were 1.1 million renewable energy units sold in Europe in 2006 compared with 440,000 just two years earlier. Some of the company’s smaller steps forward were seen at ISH. The small Vaillant ecoCOMPACT combiboiler now has a high-efficiency pump, which is said to reduce electricity use by 50%. Hot water output is higher for user comfort, and there are new modules for remote access for better preventive service. The main obstacle for customers wanting a heat pump is the installation, as sometimes complex drilling is needed. Vaillant solved that issue by taking over a drilling company and offers all of the services for a fixed price, just like its competitor, BBT Thermotechnik. Across the board, it seems manufacturers continue their efforts toward sustainability. The question now seems to be whether or not consumers will take advantage of the technology.

Data Center University™ (DCU) offers industry-leading education for IT professional‚ facilities managers‚ engineers‚ designers‚ consultants‚ and anyone involved in the critical decisions and infrastructure planning of data centers worldwide. The changing nature of data centers‚ and the technology that impacts the‚ makes it even more critical that employees remain up to date on the current theories and best practices for issues around topics of: power‚ cooling‚ management‚ security‚ and planning.