Onset Computer Corp. Partners with Energy Star
Onset Computer Corp., the Hobo data logger company, has become part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Partnership Program by committing to protect the environment and reduce its energy consumption.

Onset’s in-house energy team is developing and implementing the necessary strategies and initiatives required to launch and sustain a formal energy management program for the company’s 40,000-square foot facility located in Bourne, Mass.

Onset will be using its own web-based energy monitoring products to monitor electricity consumption and other parameters in various areas of their facility. The data will provide information needed to determine where best to focus on energy reduction efforts and later be used to help verify energy efficiency improvements made as a result.

As one specific example, the company has deployed one of its Hobo U30 Remote Monitoring Systems to track kilowatt hours and air temperature in a section of its building for base-line measurements to improve energy consumption. The measurements are recorded and the data is transmitted to the Internet where energy team members can view and analyze the data on a 24/7 basis. The live data from this system is currently accessible to the public from Onset’s Hobolink Web site.

Long Island College Hospital Takes More than 2 Megawatts off the Grid
As part of their commitment to Energy Curtailment Specialists’ (ECS) PowerPay! New York demand response program, Long Island College Hospital (LICH) of Brooklyn has agreed to curtail 1,200 kilowatts when the demand for electricity exceeds the amount available. 

On March 27, 2008, LICH was called upon by ECS to shed those 1,200 kilowatts for a “test event.” The hospital curtailed 2,120 kilowatts; 920 kilowatts more than expected.  The hospital’s success is due in part to the hospital-wide notification system implemented prior to an event. Also, because of the requirements needed to test the generators for reliability on an ongoing basis, performing these tests during a critical peak demand on the grid is a natural way LICH has incorporated them into this program. 

When the doctors, nurses, and other staff are notified of the event, they may shut off lights when a room is not in use as part of their own commitment to reducing electricity.

Since becoming enrolled in ECS’ program, the hospital has become more energy efficient. As part of their continuous improvement for emergency preparedness, they have included a section in the training manual for new employees titled “How to Save Energy.”

In 2008, Long Island College Hospital celebrated its 150th year of service to Brooklyn and is pleased to be able to attribute part of its success to new initiatives, including ECS’ PowerPay! New York program. 

US Green Building Council Re-launches Greenbuild365 Online Web Portal for Green Building Education
The US Green Building Council (USGBC) has re-launched its popular Greenbuild365 Web site. Visitors will find increased educational offerings, podcasts and expanded resources, along with year-round access to plenaries and master speaker presentations from USGBC’s Annual Greenbuild Conference and Expo.    

“The building industry is changing; we are no longer designing and constructing buildings in the same way we have always done,” said Peter Templeton, senior vice president of Research and Education, USGBC.  “The green building movement offers an unprecedented opportunity to respond to the most important challenges of our time, including global climate change, dependence on non-sustainable and expensive sources of energy and threats to human health.”  

As part of UTC’s commitment to Greenbuild365, online courses will be available to team leaders at 1700 Habitat for Humanity sites across the country at no charge.

Eaton and IBM Combine Energy Management Capabilities to Offer Comprehensive View of Data Center Environments to Help Increase Efficiency
Eaton Corp., industrial manufacturer, has announced plans to combine IBM Tivoli service and energy management solutions with the facilities and environmental capabilities delivered by Eaton’s Power Xpert Software, Foreseer Class. This new integrated energy management offering helps customers control power consumption in their data centers to increase energy efficiency.

“Through this relationship, IBM and Eaton have successfully brought Information Technology (IT) and facilities together into a virtualized data center. IBM Tivoli Monitoring for Green Energy provides real-time energy information and tools to allow users to manage and optimize data center and facility assets,” said Dr. Kenneth Uhlman, director of data center business development at Eaton. “The combined strengths of the IBM and Power Xpert monitoring products offer a truly comprehensive view of the data center environment which introduces new capabilities for making strategic decisions on energy usage, service levels and workload throughput in the data center.”

The combined IBM and Eaton solution will place useful information into the hands of data center operators and facility managers, enabling more informed and intelligent decision-making for energy optimization. For the first time, data center managers have visibility that combines power consumption of IT computing resources such as servers and storage devices with energy-related events, power quality, historical trending and forecasting information. This information offers customers greater precision in data center and facility management.

This combined solution creates the ability to bring energy-awareness to other key aspects of service management. For example, this solution can be leveraged with Tivoli Business Service Management to illustrate the impact of energy consumption on business services, with IBM Tivoli Usage and Accounting Manager to determine who is consuming energy and how much is being consumed, or with IBM Maximo Enterprise Management to integrate energy and facilities management. These are just a few examples of the capabilities that can be unlocked with this solution to help increase energy efficiency in the data center.

ThyssenKrupp Elevator’s Sustainability Manager Earns Green Building Certification Institute LEED Accreditation
ThyssenKrupp Elevator, manufacturer, installer and service providers of vertical and horizontal transportation, has announced Sasha Bailey, corporate sustainability manager, earned the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) professional accreditation. Bailey received the certification from the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI). The GBCI, in conjunction with the US Green Building Council, handles exam development and delivery to allow for objective, balanced management of the LEED credentialing program.

LEED professional accreditation distinguishes building professionals with the knowledge and skills to successfully steward the LEED certification process. To earn the accreditation, professionals must demonstrate a thorough understanding of green building practices and principles of the rating system.

LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building project meets the highest green building and performance measures. All certified projects receive a LEED plaque, which is the nationally recognized symbol demonstrating that a building is environmentally responsible, profitable and a healthy place to live and work. There are both environmental and financial benefits to earning LEED certification, including lower operating costs, increased asset value, reduction in waste sent to landfills and energy conservation.

New Electricity and Energy Saving Device Introduced by Nevvus Group
Nevvus Group, producer and distributer of earth-friendly products, has created a new electricity and energy saving solution with the introduction of its patented Powergard nergy saver.

“With the looming threat of global warming and a world population explosion, never before has it been so important for us to cut back on energy consumption,” says Catherine Dumas, vice president International Business Development of Nevvus Group. “One of the biggest misconceptions of electrical energy is that it is clean, efficient and limitless.  This couldn’t be further from the truth. In order to generate electricity, power plants still rely heavily on coal, natural gas, petroleum and nuclear energy. By the year 2000, North America alone was already consuming one quarter of the planet’s coal and was responsible for over one-third of the world’s total electricity consumption.”
The Powergard energy saving system works to reduce power spikes and energy surges and regulates the electrical system of any home or office, making it more efficient. The unit stores energy otherwise lost in the operation of inductive motors, found in many household appliances such as refrigerators, air conditioners and vacuum cleaners, in its capacitors and recycles it for maximum energy efficiency. Individuals who purchase this energy saving device will find that it reduces energy costs. To use Powergard and start saving money, users simply plug the unit into any electrical outlet.
The Powergard energy saver will save users 10 percent or more on monthly electricity bills, paying for itself in less than six months. 

Cree Announces Sample Release of 90 W GaN HEMT with Record Wideband Amplifier Efficiency
Cree, Inc. has announced the sample release of a 90 W, efficient GaN HEMT microwave transistor for general-purpose military and industrial applications such as electronic warfare, radar, tactical radios and EMC applications. This transistor provides superior performance over wide bandwidths compared to other technologies such as GaAs MESFET or Si LDMOSFET.

The new transistor, CGH40090PP, consists of a pair of GaN HEMT transistors providing over 90 watts of saturated power in a small, industry-standard Gemini ceramic-metal package. The exceptional performance of the transistor has been demonstrated in a balanced 500-MHz to 2,500-MHz instantaneous bandwidth reference amplifier that offers 14 dB typical small-signal gain, 90 watts typical CW output power and typical drain efficiencies of 55 percent over the entire band. This amplifier provides the best-known efficiency in the industry for any 5:1 bandwidth amplifier over this frequency range and power level.

The CGH40090PP complements the range of Cree's broadband GaN HEMT general-purpose microwave transistors now available at power levels of 10 W, 25 W, 35 W, 45 W and 90 W.

HP Introduces Energy-Efficient, 1-to-4-Terabyte Offering for Oracle Optimized Warehouse
HP has introduced a high-performance, energy-efficient blade offering for the 1-to-4-terabyte market segment within the Oracle Optimized Warehouse initiative.
 
The HP BladeSystem for Oracle Optimized Warehouse builds on current reference configuration solutions available from HP and Oracle for data warehousing. Composed of HP BladeSystem and Oracle Database, this pre-configured, appliance-like offering enables customers to invest more time and money in business innovation, rather than maintenance, by offering faster implementation times and better performance, with better energy efficiencies.

With the new offering, medium- to large-size businesses can be ready to load data into their new data warehouses within hours instead of weeks. HP worked closely with Oracle to create the joint offering, which provides customers with up to 2.5 times higher performance and up to 65 percent reduced energy costs, compared to other offerings within the Oracle initiative. Savings gained from performance and energy efficiency can offset the rising cost of power and tightening data center budgets.

HP BladeSystem, the foundation for this offering, brings the essential elements of a data warehouse infrastructure — compute, storage, interconnect and management — together into a modular, self-optimizing unit. HP BladeSystem is an infrastructure in a box that helps customers save time, power and money in small and large data centers. Customers can simplify networking with Virtual Connect, address power and cooling concerns with Thermal Logic, and improve management with Insight Control.

The Oracle Optimized Warehouse initiative is designed to deliver data warehousing solutions based on Oracle Database pre-installed on hardware that is configured and optimized for high-performance data warehousing.

HP BladeSystem for Oracle Optimized Warehouse is available through global technology distributor Avnet Technology Solutions and its select network of value-added resellers and system integrators. It is expected to begin shipping in July.