Articles for October 26, 2009
ENERGY NEWSBRIEFS is a weekly current awareness service provided by the
Washington State University Extension Energy Program Library and written
by Angela Santamaria, WSU Energy Library Manager, to assist users in tracking
developments in the energy field. To view past issues or to subscribe
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to Energy Newsbriefs archives at
http://www.energy.wsu.edu/library/newsbriefs.cfm.
Please be aware that although every URL is checked for accuracy prior to
the publication of Energy Newsbriefs, URLs are, for various reasons, subject
to change. Further, servers sometimes fail to connect to working URLs.
DATA SERVERS
“Power Drain: 15% of Servers
Go Unused” was authored by Sophie Curtis. It reports on a study that explains why
so many servers worldwide are drawing unneeded power. The I.T. consulting
companies that the reporter interviewed for this article, including Gartner’s
and IDC (a subsidiary of IDG, International Data Group) are international firms
headquartered in the United States. The phenomenon of the power drain is
international in scope, but this article highlights the UK and European experience with it and evaluates the financial losses in Euros. The
article includes links to related information, including the study on which the
article is based. See this very interesting article from silicon.com and
carried on the BusinessWeek website, October 19, 2009, at http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/oct2009/gb20091019_672363.htm.
ELECTRIC AUTO BATTERIES
“Longer-Running Electric-Car Batteries” is an article
by Katherine Bourzac, Materials Science Editor, Technology Review. Lithium-ion
batteries using graphite electrodes currently run for approximately 30 minutes
without re-charging. Silicon-nanotube electrodes may extend that to three
hours or more. See this two-web-page article in Technology Review,
September/October 2009, at http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/23516/.
ELECTRIC CO-OPS
A national association for
electric co-op utilities, Touchstone Energy Cooperative, is urging energy
efficiencies at the residential level and supporting that effort with a
video-oriented website to show residential customers how to save energy. See
the website at http://www.togetherwesave.com/.
FACILITIES MANAGEMENT
“Ten Tips For Facility
Managers to Cut Energy Costs,” by
Brandon Lorenz, Senior Editor, Building Operating Management. This is a
rather sophisticated list of well-explained energy-saving tips from, as the
author explains, facilities managers who are employing them in their own
facilities. See these valuable tips in Building Operating Management,
October 2009, at http://www.facilitiesnet.com/energyefficiency/article/Ten-Tips-For-Facility-Managers-To-Cut-Energy-Costs--11191.
GREEN ECONOMIES
“NGA Center for Best
Practices Releases State ‘Green’ Economy Profiles” was released with an
October 5, 2009, date. It briefly describes a report issued by the National
Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices on the topic. To see the
profiles of the individual states, go to http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.9123e83a1f6786440ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=ce5bea15a18e3210VgnVCM1000005e00100aRCRD.
To view the article, carried in the September 2009 issue of Sustainable
Facility, go to http://www.sustainablefacility.com/Articles/Industry_Watch/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000675690.
LIBRARIES
The following two articles
appeared in the September 15, 2009, issue of Library Journal:
- “Green
in Lean Times,” by Michael Rogers
& Raya Kuzyk, shows the green ideas presented at a one-day Design
Institute for new and existing libraries. It includes attention to
lighting and to LEED. It, also, addresses how to decide between building a
new structure and re-fitting an existing one. (The authors reference “Light
Done Right,” the article immediately below.) Read this article at http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6687422.html.
- “Light
Done Right,” by Carla Gallina and Jeffrey Mandyck, is about the issue of light
pollution from night lighting. Light pollution occurs when areas are
subject to an overflow of light meant for other areas; this may be on the
ground or in the sky. Light pollution is, also, the glare that results
from an over-illumination that inhibits comfortable viewing. This article
is at http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6696205.html.
POLICY
“To
Cut Global Warming, Swedes Study Their Plates,” by Elisabeth Rosenthal, New
York Times. The article explains how, in the service of diminishing Sweden’s effect on climate change, the Swedish government and some parts of Sweden’s food industry are actively encouraging the lowering of food-related carbon
emissions. The author shows that these emissions result from unfortunate
energy choices, unfortunate farming practices, or both. The European Union is
looking at similar actions to reduce Europe’s role in global warming. This
two-web-page article appears in the New York Times, October 22, 2009 at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/world/europe/23degrees.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1;
free registration may be required to view the article.
The IEA (International Energy Agency) established its CHP/DHC (combined heat
and power/district heating and cooling) Collaborative in response to its clean-energy
charge from G8. It has produced reports and other papers which are available
for viewing at http://www.iea.org/G8/CHP/chp.asp. The following article is related to the most recent and final IEA report on
that website, Cogeneration and
District Energy: Sustainable Energy Technologies for Today…:and
Tomorrow:
“Successful Policies for CHP and District Energy: IEA
Report Shows the Way Forward” was written by Elisa Wood. The article reviews
the work of the IEA that fed into its final report on CHP/DHC (Cogeneration
and District Energy: Sustainable Energy Technologies for Today…:and
Tomorrow), summarizes the main part of that report, and discusses the
results of the IEA’s policy survey that can assist countries in assessing their
own potential to establish policies to further their employment of CHP/DHC.
See this article in Cogeneration & On-Site Power Production,
July-August 2009, at http://www.cospp.com/display_article/367728/122/CRTIS/none/none/1/Successful-policies-for-CHP-and-district-energy:-IEA-report-shows-the-way-forward/.
SOLAR
Solar Powering Your Community: A Guide for Local Governments is a 152-PDF-page, July 2009, document from the
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office of the U.S. Department of Energy
(US DOE) in partnership with Solar America Cities, a program of the US DOE. A
web page has been developed to briefly describe the Guide and to link to it
either chapter by chapter or full text. See this web page at
http://www.solaramericacities.energy.gov/resources/guide_for_local_governments/.
“Something New under the Sun, a Way to Finance Solar
Power” is a brief article by Rob Manning. It describes the financing option
offered to homeowners by a company that specializes in solar installations.
View this article in OPD News, October 2009, at http://news.opb.org/article/5985-something-new-under-sun-way-finance-solar-power/.
Past issues of Energy Newsbriefs are available at
http://www.energy.wsu.edu/library/newsbriefs.cfm.
Generally, subscription information for the journals cited above can be
found at the home page of their web sites.
© 2009 Washington State University Extension Energy Program. This
publication contains material written and produced for public distribution.
Permission to copy or disseminate all or part of this material is granted,
provided that the copies are not made or distributed for commercial advantage,
and that each is referenced by title with credit to the Washington State
University Extension Energy Program. Copying, reprinting or dissemination,
electronic or otherwise, for any other use requires prior written permission
from the Washington State University Extension Energy Program.
