Clear Nights + Sunny Days = Power

This month's speaker at the Sydney Group of the Alternative Technology Association was Geoff Smith, Professor of Applied Physics at the University of Technology (Institute of Nanotechnology)

Geoff presented a fascinating talk on what is currently being done in terms of heating and cooling, by new surface coatings and materials and by understanding the processes involved. He explained some of the science and he then offered some insights into the potential. According to Geoff: "using what the environment has to offer for cooling is the hidden gem in the renewables toolkit. Not only does it offer totally new paradigms for low or zero energy cooling of buildings ( a “must” for global warming adaptation), but opens the door to new concepts for generating 24/7 electric power at scales and costs which have the potential to undercut all current renewable and conventional approaches. Using the cool in the deep ocean or at height in the atmosphere are known examples; attractive but technically difficult and expensive. Making the most of our radiative links to outerspace and the atmosphere are however much easier. An example recipe: clear night skies plus clear sunny days , add materials knowhow and quite low cost infrastructure covering about 3 sq. km (1km radius) and you should be able to produce between 70 MW and 100 MW of power."

And he added that : "If the system is pressurized with CO2 it could work even better and in the process, sequester a few thousand tonnes of carbon. "

Seems to me that we should be looking all around us for the solutions we need - they may be closer than we think. Just take the time tonight to look up and ponder about that.

Pic ex Flickr Milky Way + Banyanda by Kasi Metcalfe

Too Hot = Bonus Heating

According to a recent New Scientist Magazine (8/03/08), data centres worldwide consume 120 billion kwatt hrs of electricity and produce 2% global CO2 and rising.  About half of this is used to keep the servers cool.  

So IBM engineers in Switzerland have designed a new way of cooling the microchip surface using water piped into slabs positioned above the heat generating chip surface.  In theory, about 75% of this heat could be recovered.  The article suggested that a future medium sized data centre (around 1 Megawatt consumption) would be able to heat about 70 homes, in areas such as Europe where heating is an essential. 

  

On a more basic level, I also heard of a Pizza Restaurant redirecting excess heat from the ovens to provide a really cosy environment in winter.  That's got to be good for reducing the overall electricity bill as well as for the planet.  So, how much waste heat is your business generating each day, and where else could this excess heat be used?   

picture  called data centre floor by alexmuse ex flickr