Microgrids: A New Approach to Supply-Side Design for Data Centers

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ratnesh Sharma ◽  
Cullen Bash ◽  
Manish Marwah ◽  
Chandrakant Patel ◽  
Tom Christian
Keyword(s):  
Power Generation ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Large Data ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Operational Reliability ◽  
Supply Side ◽  
It Infrastructure ◽  
Environmental Footprint ◽  
Evolutionary Changes ◽  
The Impact

Growth in IT infrastructure driven by socio-economic demand for services has led to the creation of large data centers. There is a need for cost-effective and sustainable design and management of such data centers. From this perspective, evolutionary changes in the regulatory and operational climate of traditional electrical and energy utilities has created new opportunities for development of data centers with low TCO and environmental footprint. These opportunities primarily exist on developing unique supply-side architectures for delivery of power, water and other resources to service data centers. Concurrent emergence of smaller heat and power generating systems also provides novel options to create solutions that improve the reliability and scalability of supply-side infrastructures in data centers. In this paper we investigate the impact of combined heat and power generation in operation of data centers in reducing TCO and environmental footprint and improving operational reliability. Usage of natural resources like water, fuel is minimized to create a low footprint IT infrastructure. Through use of mix of on-site power generation technologies alongside energy and water storage we create a power, cooling and water microgrid for the data center. Such microgrids are a promising way to capture the significant potential of smaller distributed energy resources to meet growing demands for low footprint IT infrastructures.

Steam Turbine Design Considerations for Ultrasupercritical Cycles

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Zachary
Keyword(s):  
Power Generation ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Design Phase ◽  
Steam Turbines ◽  
Effective Solution ◽  
Technical Approach ◽  
Design Considerations ◽  
Balance Of Plant ◽  
Turbine Design ◽  
The Impact

The current coal-fired power generation market requires higher cycle efficiencies not only for economic reasons, but also as a means of reducing plant carbon footprint. To achieve these goals, the plant must operate at higher pressures and temperatures in the supercritical (SC) and ultrasupercritical (USC) domains. This paper describes Bechtel’s experience and challenges in regard to the conceptual design and integration of large steam turbines operating under these severe conditions. Several examples of projects are described wherein Bechtel applied this neutral but proactive technical approach in the development or design phase to achieve the best and most cost-effective solution for its customers. The topics presented also relate to steam cycle optimization in terms of plant output, steam conditions, number of reheat circuits, and type and number of heaters. The impact on balance of plant systems, including water treatment, availability, and redundancy criteria, is also addressed.

scholarly journals Profitable Decarbonization through E-Mobility

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 4042
Author(s):  
Gürkan Kumbaroğlu ◽  
Cansu Canaz ◽  
Jonathan Deason ◽  
Ekundayo Shittu
Keyword(s):  
Power Generation ◽  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Emission Reduction ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Electricity Sector ◽  
Complex Relationships ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Impact

This paper focuses on the interdependent relationship of power generation, transportation and CO2 emissions to evaluate the impact of electric vehicle deployment on power generation and CO2 emissions. The value of this evaluation is in the employment of a large-scale, bottom-up, national energy modeling system that encompasses the complex relationships of producing, transforming, transmitting and supplying energy to meet the useful demand characteristics with great technological detail. One of such models employed in this analysis is the BUEMS model. The BUEMS model provides evidence of win-win policy options that lead to profitable decarbonization using Turkey’s data in BUEMS. Specifically, the result shows that a ban on diesel fueled vehicles reduces lifetime emissions as well as lifetime costs. Furthermore, model results highlight the cost-effective emission reduction potential of e-buses in urban transportation. More insights from the results indicate that the marginal cost of emission reduction through e-bus transportation is much lower than that through other policy measures such as carbon taxation in transport. This paper highlights the crucial role the electricity sector plays in the sustainability of e-mobility and the value of related policy prescriptions.

Lifetime Exergy Consumption as a Sustainability Metric for Enterprise Servers

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher R. Hannemann ◽  
Van P. Carey ◽  
Amip J. Shah ◽  
Chandrakant Patel
Keyword(s):  
Data Centers ◽  
Large Data ◽  
Cooling Power ◽  
Processing Power ◽  
Dynamic Cooling ◽  
Exergy Consumption ◽  
Consumption Model ◽  
Processing And Storage ◽  
The Impact ◽  
And Storage

As the use of information technology becomes more ubiquitous, the need for data processing and storage capabilities increases. This results in the construction and operation of large data centers—facilities that house thousands of servers and serve as the backbone for all types of computational processes. Unfortunately, as processing power and storage capacity increases, so does the corresponding power and cooling requirements of the data centers. Several studies have examined the efficiency of data centers by focusing on server and cooling power inputs, but this fails to capture the data center’s entire impact. To accomplish this, the use of a lifetime exergy (available energy) analysis is proposed. This study first details the development of a lifetime exergy consumption model designed specifically for data center analysis. To create a database of computer components, a disassembly analysis was performed, and the results are detailed. By combining the disassembly analysis of a server with the aggregation of energy and material data, a more rigorous and useful assessment of the server’s overall impact is demonstrated. The operation of the lifetime exergy consumption model is demonstrated by case studies examining the effects of variance in transportation and cooling strategies. The importance of transportation modes and material mass, which are greatly affected by supply chain parameters, is shown. The impact of static and dynamic cooling within data centers is also demonstrated.

Private equity investment in power generation projects: evidence from India

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 617-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Thillairajan ◽  
Monalisa Behera
Keyword(s):  
Power Generation ◽  
Least Squares ◽  
Private Equity ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Power Sector ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Governance Practices ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Private equity (PE) has emerged as an important source of capital for infrastructure in recent years. There have been more than 2,000 deals by PE infrastructure funds till 2012, with annual investments in the range of $100-120bn. Substantial proportion of these investments has been in the energy and the power sector. This paper aims to compare power generation projects with and without PE investment. Design/methodology/approach In this study, 148 power generation projects that were implemented in India during 2004-2011 were used for the analysis. Ordinary least squares and three-stage least squares regression have been used to analyze the impact of PE investment on unit project costs and project commissioning time. Findings Projects with PE investment had lower unit capacity costs as compared to power projects that did not have PE investment. This indicated the ability of PE investors to select, invest and develop those projects that are cost-effective. However, projects with PE investment had longer commissioning time. This can be attributed to the active monitoring and governance practices that were associated with PE investment. Practical implications The results highlight the key role that PE investors can play in power sector development in developing countries. Apart from providing capital to capital-starved economies, PE investors can help in developing cost-effective projects and contribute to sector development by institutionalizing robust processes and governance practices. Originality/value This is one of the earliest studies to analyze the impact of PE investment on the power sector.

scholarly journals The GridKa Tape System: status and outlook

2019 ◽  
Vol 214 ◽  
pp. 04029
Author(s):  
Doris Ressmann ◽  
Dorin Lobontu ◽  
Martin Beitzinger ◽  
Karin Schaefer ◽  
Andreas Heiss ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Data ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Precise Analysis ◽  
The Future ◽  
Tape Storage ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Tape System

Tape storage is still a cost effective way to keep large amounts of data over a long period of time and it is expected that this will continue in the future. The GridKa tape environment is a complex system of many hardware components and software layers. Configuring this system for optimal performance for all use cases is a non-trivial task and requires a lot of experience. We present the current status of the GridKa tape environment, report on recent upgrades and improvements and plans to further develop and enhance the system, especially with regard to the future requirements of the HEP experiments and their large data centers. The short-term planning mainly includes the transition from TSM to HPSS as the backend and the effects on the connection of dCache and xrootd. Recent changes of the vendor situation of certain tape technologies require a precise analysis of the impact and eventual adaptation of the mid-term planning, in particular with respect to scalability challenge that comes with HL-LHC on the horizon.

scholarly journals Energy-efficient Scheduling of Cloud Data Center Servers

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 1769-1772
Keyword(s):  
Data Center ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Large Data ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Energy Utilization ◽  
Operating Costs ◽  
Cloud Data Center ◽  
Cloud Data ◽  
Computing Services

Data center is a cost-effective infrastructure to store large data volumes and host large-scale service applications. Providers of cloud computing services are deploying data centers worldwide quickly. With lots of servers and switches. These data centers consume substantial quantities of energy, which contributes to high operating costs. Optimizing server and network energy consumption in information centers can therefore decrease operating costs. In a data center, power utilization is chiefly because of servers, network devices, and cooling systems, an effective energy-saving strategy is to consolidate computing and communication into fewer servers and network devices and then power off as many unneeded servers and network devices as possible. A new method of reducing the energy utilization of computer systems and networks in data centers while meeting the requirements of the cloud tenants for quality of service (QoS) is proposed here in this paper.

Regulatory and sustainability initiatives lead to improved polyaminopolyamide epichlorohydrin (PAE) wet-strength resins and paper products

TAPPI Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (09) ◽  
pp. 519-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Crisp ◽  
Richard Riehle
Keyword(s):  
Health And Safety ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Worker Safety ◽  
Regulatory Requirements ◽  
Wet Strength ◽  
The Past ◽  
Consumer Safety ◽  
Federal Institute ◽  
Sustainability Initiatives ◽  
The Impact

Polyaminopolyamide-epichlorohydrin (PAE) resins are the predominant commercial products used to manufacture wet-strengthened paper products for grades requiring wet-strength permanence. Since their development in the late 1950s, the first generation (G1) resins have proven to be one of the most cost-effective technologies available to provide wet strength to paper. Throughout the past three decades, regulatory directives and sustainability initiatives from various organizations have driven the development of cleaner and safer PAE resins and paper products. Early efforts in this area focused on improving worker safety and reducing the impact of PAE resins on the environment. These efforts led to the development of resins containing significantly reduced levels of 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol (1,3-DCP) and 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD), potentially carcinogenic byproducts formed during the manufacturing process of PAE resins. As the levels of these byproducts decreased, the environmental, health, and safety (EH&S) profile of PAE resins and paper products improved. Recent initiatives from major retailers are focusing on product ingredient transparency and quality, thus encouraging the development of safer product formulations while maintaining performance. PAE resin research over the past 20 years has been directed toward regulatory requirements to improve consumer safety and minimize exposure to potentially carcinogenic materials found in various paper products. One of the best known regulatory requirements is the recommendations of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), which defines the levels of 1,3-DCP and 3-MCPD that can be extracted by water from various food contact grades of paper. These criteria led to the development of third generation (G3) products that contain very low levels of 1,3-DCP (typically <10 parts per million in the as-received/delivered resin). This paper outlines the PAE resin chemical contributors to adsorbable organic halogens and 3-MCPD in paper and provides recommendations for the use of each PAE resin product generation (G1, G1.5, G2, G2.5, and G3).

Exploring the Benefits of Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) and the Mechanism for Automated 5D BIM Quantification Process in Offsite Modular Construction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tochukwu Moses ◽  
David Heesom ◽  
David Oloke ◽  
Martin Crouch
Keyword(s):  
Effective Means ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Modular Construction ◽  
Automated Quantification ◽  
Building Information ◽  
Project Risks ◽  
Value Add ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Level 2

The UK Construction Industry through its Government Construction Strategy has recently been mandated to implement Level 2 Building Information Modelling (BIM) on public sector projects. This move, along with other initiatives is key to driving a requirement for 25% cost reduction (establishing the most cost-effective means) on. Other key deliverables within the strategy include reduction in overall project time, early contractor involvement, improved sustainability and enhanced product quality. Collaboration and integrated project delivery is central to the level 2 implementation strategy yet the key protocols or standards relative to cost within BIM processes is not well defined. As offsite construction becomes more prolific within the UK construction sector, this construction approach coupled with BIM, particularly 5D automated quantification process, and early contractor involvement provides significant opportunities for the sector to meet government targets. Early contractor involvement is supported by both the industry and the successive Governments as a credible means to avoid and manage project risks, encourage innovation and value add, making cost and project time predictable, and improving outcomes. The contractor is seen as an expert in construction and could be counter intuitive to exclude such valuable expertise from the pre-construction phase especially with the BIM intent of äóÖbuild it twiceäó», once virtually and once physically. In particular when offsite construction is used, the contractoräó»s construction expertise should be leveraged for the virtual build in BIM-designed projects to ensure a fully streamlined process. Building in a layer of automated costing through 5D BIM will bring about a more robust method of quantification and can help to deliver the 25% reduction in overall cost of a project. Using a literature review and a case study, this paper will look into the benefits of Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) and the impact of 5D BIM on the offsite construction process.

Pound Wise and Penny Foolish? Weight Loss and The Dynamics of Health Care Spending

2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas G Koch
Keyword(s):  
Weight Loss ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Health Care Spending ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Dynamic Measures ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Current estimates of obesity costs ignore the impact of future weight loss and gain, and may either over or underestimate economic consequences of weight loss. In light of this, I construct static and dynamic measures of medical costs associated with body mass index (BMI), to be balanced against the cost of one-time interventions. This study finds that ignoring the implications of weight loss and gain over time overstates the medical-cost savings of such interventions by an order of magnitude. When the relationship between spending and age is allowed to vary, weight-loss attempts appear to be cost-effective starting and ending with middle age. Some interventions recently proven to decrease weight may also be cost-effective.

Motivating Compliance: Firm Response to Mandatory Disclosure Policies

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-119
Author(s):  
Colleen M. Boland ◽  
Chris E. Hogan ◽  
Marilyn F. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Of Interest ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Policy Adoption ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Regulated Firms ◽  
Firm Response ◽  
Disclosure Rules ◽  
The Impact

SYNOPSIS Mandatory existence disclosure rules require an organization to disclose a policy's existence, but not its content. We examine policy adoption frequencies in the year immediately after the IRS required mandatory existence disclosure by nonprofits of various governance policies. We also examine adoption frequencies in the year of the subsequent change from mandatory existence disclosure to a disclose-and-explain regime that required supplemental disclosures about the content and implementation of conflict of interest policies. Our results suggest that in areas where there is unclear regulatory authority, mandatory existence disclosure is an effective and low cost regulatory device for encouraging the adoption of policies desired by regulators, provided those policies are cost-effective for regulated firms to implement. In addition, we find that disclose-and-explain regulatory regimes provide stronger incentives for policy adoption than do mandatory existence disclosure regimes and also discourage “check the box” behavior. Future research should examine the impact of mandatory existence disclosure rules in the year that the regulation is implemented. Data Availability: Data are available from sources cited in the text.

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