“There is an industry need to explore new concepts in data center design,” says Tom Christian, Senior Research Scientist in HP’s Sustainable IT Ecosystem Lab, and project lead. And while the idea of cow-powered data centers may sound esoteric, says Christian, “there’s a lot of value to be found in challenging conventional wisdom to solve issues faced today and ten years from now.”

As data centers require ever more power to operate, they’re increasingly being located near existing power generation or cooling resources. One largely untapped source of energy, however, is the methane generated by manure on farms around the world.

If released into the atmosphere, methane is 21 times more damaging to the environment than carbon dioxide. But it can be captured and used to power electrical generators.

The HP ASME paper shows how a farm of 10,000 dairy cows could generate 1MW of electricity, enough to power a typical modern data center and still support other needs on the farm.

methane,renewable,datacenter,alternative energy,hp.Hewlet packard,research

Heat generated by a data center could also be used to more efficiently process the animal waste and thus increase methane production.

This symbiotic relationship helps address the dual challenge of reducing farm pollution and making data centers more environmentally sustainable, says Chandrakant Patel, HP Fellow and director of HP’s Sustainable IT Ecosystem Lab.

Patel sees the ASME paper as an example of the kind of thinking that will be required if IT systems are to become sustainable in their own right.

Data centers of the future could just as easily be based on a pig farm or next to a waterfall, notes Patel. But what matters, he says, “is that we have to fundamentally re-evaluate all aspects from computing to power supply.”

Only if that happens can the broader vision behind HP’s Sustainable IT Ecosystem Lab of building an entire ecosystem that is sustainable over the long term become reality, Patel suggests. “We believe that innovation in technology is our greatest asset in solving energy and environmental issues,” he says.

From HP’s perspective, turning data centers from being energy hogs into energy neutral facilities is an essential first step. “Our goal here,” says Patel, “is to see if we can take the data center completely off the grid.”

source: HP

General Compression, Inc.  says that  it has closed over $17 million in commitments to its Series A round of funding. Led by US Renewables Group  of Santa Monica, CA, and joined by Duke Energy of Charlotte, NC, the financing will support development of a first commercial scale unit and a series of storage projects thereafter.

With this funding, GC intends to build and install its first full-scale General Compression Advanced Energy Storage (GCAES™) unit in 2010. The GCAES™ units have a nominal size of 2 MW and feature a roundtrip electrical efficiency in excess of 70%. Unlike conventional turbomachinery-based compressed air energy storage, GCAES™ consumes no fuel and emits no carbon. GCAES™ technology can increase utility reliance on renewables, eliminate wind power curtailment, enhance transmission utilization, and make dispatchable renewable power available to customers.

GC and its partners plan to develop both integrated wind/storage projects and standalone power storage projects, including a first commercial project in 2011. GCAES™ projects can be sited near existing wind farms, or other generating sources, to more effectively utilize existing transmission lines. Storage facilities can be built in arrays of modular GCAES™ units, from 2 MW to 1,000s of MWs, optimized by the profile of regional power demand.

“We are delighted to welcome our new investors USRG and Duke Energy, and we couldn’t ask for better strategic and financial partners to help bring our efficient energy storage projects to market. Coupling intermittent wind generation with GC’s long-duration storage capability will facilitate massive growth in the next phase of wind energy development. The product of our integrated wind and storage projects is Dispatchable Wind™… wind energy on demand,” said Eric Ingersoll, CEO of General Compression.

“We are very pleased to invest in a company that will help to fundamentally change the way wind power generation is perceived today. GC’s management team, along with key strategic partners, has a clear vision and a well-structured plan to deploy Dispatchable Wind™ projects on an accelerated schedule,” said Scott Gardner, Managing Director of USRG.

“We believe this technology can have a significant impact on the rapidly growing wind industry, which will allow Duke Energy and others to develop cost-competitive and low-carbon solutions to meet the power needs of the world’s electric systems,” said Wouter Van Kempen, president of Duke Energy Generation Services, the Duke Energy business unit that oversees wind operations.

Founded in 2006, GC has made patent-pending advancements in the fields of isothermal compression and expansion to provide utility-scale storage for clean energy sources such as wind and solar. Company founders Eric Ingersoll, David Marcus, and Michael Marcus launched GC with a vision of creating Dispatchable Wind™ to integrate low-cost bulk storage with wind farms to eliminate the issues of intermittent power generation. The company’s technology and projects are designed to set clean, domestic wind power on a path to become the dominant electric power generation source in the United States.

Source: General Compression

“The purpose of the initiative – the Delaware Clean Energy Jobs Act – is simple: to create quality jobs, expand local manufacturing and establish Delaware as a national leader in the adoption of renewable energy,” Markell said.

The Clean Energy Jobs Act would facilitate the potential installation of approximately 300 MW of new solar photovoltaic systems by 2029, resulting in the creation of hundreds of secure, quality jobs. The Act would also facilitate the potential installation of over 1000 MW of utility-scale generation, likely in offshore wind power, resulting in as many as 1000 new construction jobs and 150 new long-term operation and maintenance jobs by 2029. Additional jobs would be created by prioritizing Delaware renewable-energy projects and incentivizing the use of locally manufactured systems.

It achieves these goals in part by increasing the amount of renewable energy available in Delaware. By adding a longer-range target to the existing Renewable Portfolio Standard, Delaware will be on a course to receive 30% of its energy supplies from renewable sources by 2029. It would also seek uniformity in the RPS and include a “local generation component” to maximize the economic development potential from solar and wind.

“To restore our economic promise and prosperity, the State can and will lead by example when it comes to creating efficiencies, supporting jobs and being good stewards of our environment,” said Markell.

Markell made the announcement at Motech Americas, a solar company in Newark. Motech Americas currently employs more than 70 people and is in the process of expanding manufacturing capacity. They are expected to add 75 more jobs before the end of the year.

The Governor was joined by leaders from local business and higher education, as well as legislators from across the state, including Senator Harris McDowell, Chair of the Senate Energy and Transit Committee and one of Delaware’s most active proponents for renewable energy, and Rep. Earl Jacques, who represents the district in which Motech Americas is located. The Cabinet Secretaries present reflected the broad scope of people who will be served by more clean energy jobs – the Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Labor, Director of Economic Development and Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

Some of the quality jobs that a clean energy industry would support include skilled trades’ people, electricians, steel fabricators, IT specialists, electrical engineers, solar system installers, wind turbine service technicians, training specialists, factory workers and support service personnel like accountants, educators and customer service specialists.

“We are working closely with our neighboring states to create a vibrant mid-Atlantic clean energy market, but we also want to maximize capital investment and quality jobs in Delaware. We can move more rapidly, respond to opportunities more quickly and get people back to work,” Markell said.

At the event, the Governor highlighted some of the great work being done by Delaware businesses to move technology and the state’s economy forward. For example: DuPont is emerging as a leader in solar technology components; WL Gore is developing next-generation fuel cells; White Optics has an innovative high-efficiency lighting solution; PTM Manufacturing is producing innovative, green-building materials; Sanosil manufactures green cleaning products; Innospec is working on alternative fuels; Autoport is doing electric vehicle conversions and potentially ground-breaking vehicle-to-grid power; IonPower is designing fuel cells; Ashland is developing green chemistry and water technology; Fisker said it expects to employ thousands of Delawareans, and NRG recently acquired Bluewater Wind, recognizing the value of clean energy to their bottom line.

“The award proves that innovations for climate protection and sustainability are the right approach,” said Barbara Kux, member of Siemens’ Managing Board and the company’s Chief Sustainability Officer. “Technological leadership is helping us continue our success in these difficult economic times. Our Environmental Portfolio grew 11 percent in 2009 and is, thus, a key stabilizing factor in our business. At some €23 billion, the Portfolio accounts for nearly a third of our total revenue, making Siemens the world’s largest supplier of green products and solutions.”

“Our new gas turbine shows that climate protection and fossil power generation are not mutually exclusive,” said Michael Süß, CEO of the Fossil Power Generation Division of Siemens’ Energy Sector. “This innovation will make it possible to continue supplying electrical energy at an affordable price in the future.” The gas turbine is the centerpiece of a combined-cycle power plant (CCCP) operated by E.ON in Irsching, near Ingolstadt, Germany. The turbine of superlatives is more than 13 meters long, five meters high and, at 444 tons, weighs more than the world’s largest passenger airplane. On its own, the gas turbine generates 370 megawatts of electricity. Once it is connected with a steam turbine, output will rise to roughly 570 megawatts, an amount sufficient to meet the electricity needs of some 3.4 million people – roughly the entire population of Berlin. The plant will achieve a world record efficiency level of more than 60 percent, which will benefit both the environment and the climate: annual CO2 emissions from each new plant of this type will be about 700,000 tons below the average emission level for power generation worldwide – a reduction equal to the total emissions of 350,000 cars driven 15,000 kilometers a year.

The speedMatic dishwasher proves that consumers, too, can contribute to climate protection. “In the last 20 years, we’ve cut our dishwashers’ energy consumption in half. The new zeolite technology provides an enormous increase in efficiency, using a further 20 percent less electricity than the most economical dishwashers on the market today,” said Kurt-Ludwig Gutberlet, head of BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte. “In 2008, we were designated the most sustainable company in Germany. This is just the next step.” The dishwasher’s unique technology utilizes zeolites – aluminum silicate minerals with a very large surface area and hollow pores – which can absorb water and become hot in the process. As a result, the drying cycle is considerably faster and more efficient. Even the puddles of residual water that accumulate in the indentations of cups and plastic containers that are otherwise always covered with water are dried up in seconds by the warm air released from the zeolite pellets. In the next washing cycle, the minerals are regenerated when moisture is removed from them as the dishwasher heats up. Plans now call for using the technology not only in top-of-the-range dishwashers but also in medium-priced models.

Semprius is developing concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) modules for large-scale solar power generation. Semprius’ proprietary micro-transfer printing technology enables CPV modules constructed from a large array of very small gallium arsenide-based, multi-junction solar cells. Module cost is minimized by using high concentration ratio. Inexpensive optics concentrate 1,000 suns onto the high-efficiency solar cells, which only cover 0.1% of the module area.

Semprius Solar Module Arrays offer the benefits of low installed cost and high capacity factor which combined enable very low energy costs in sunny, dry climates. Their high efficiency, scalable design makes them applicable to a wide range of projects from distributed commercial and industrial to large scale utility installations. The company was selected this month by the U.S. Department of Energy to receive support through a $3 million subcontract from DOE’s PV Technology Incubator, which aims to accelerate commercialization of its solar photovoltaic systems.

Siemens is a global leader in automation systems, power conversion and control systems. As part of its environmental portfolio, which generated revenue of $31 billion (EUR 23 billion) in fiscal 2009, Siemens provides technology to the photovoltaic industry. In an effort to make PV module arrays more efficient, Siemens will integrate its components with Semprius PV module arrays, and together the companies will implement the test systems to validate performance of the combined technologies.

“Our PV module arrays will make the generation of solar power economically viable in clear, sunny climates found in many parts of the world,” said Joe Carr, Semprius President and CEO. “We are excited about teaming with Siemens to demonstrate the value of this technology.”

“Competitive project deployment cost for CPV will be the key for the success of this technology. Combining Siemens’ advanced automation and control equipment with

Semprius Module Arrays has the potential to deliver electricity at grid level prices to both industrial and utility scale customers,” said Peter Krause, Business Segment Manager, Siemens Industry, Inc.

About Semprius

Semprius, Inc., is commercializing Solar Module Arrays based on patented micro-transfer printing, a highly efficient process for depositing high performance semiconductors onto any substrate, including glass, plastic and other materials. In addition to Solar Arrays, Semprius is licensing the technology for use in other applications such as LCD and OLED displays, MEMS and advanced disk drives. For more information, please visit www.semprius.com.

The VERs will be sourced from NextEra Energy’s Capricorn Ridge Wind Energy Center located in West Texas. The Capricorn Ridge Wind Energy Center is the first wind project in the U.S. to create VERs under the Voluntary Carbon Standard protocol. The Capricorn Ridge project reduces greenhouse gas emissions by displacing fossil-fueled power plants that emit carbon dioxide. It is estimated that the project will generate approximately 212,000 metric tons of offset credits per year beginning in 2010.

Mark Maisto, president, Commodities and Retail Markets for NextEra Energy Resources said;

“We’re pleased to be the first in the industry to offer verified emission reductions. These new carbon offset credits give our customers a new tool to help them in meeting their sustainability goals.”

First Environment, voted in 2009 as the Best Verification Company in North American Mandatory Markets for greenhouse gas emissions, validates and verifies the carbon offset credits.

NextEra Energy Resources plans to sell the VERs from the Capricorn Ridge project into the voluntary carbon credit market.

About NextEra Energy Resources

NextEra Energy Resources is a clean energy leader and one of the largest competitive energy suppliers in North America. A subsidiary of Juno Beach, Fla.-based FPL Group (NYSE: FPL), NextEra Energy Resources is the largest generator in North America of renewable energy from the wind and sun. It operates clean, emissions-free nuclear power generation facilities in New Hampshire, Iowa and Wisconsin as part of the FPL Group nuclear fleet, which is the third largest in the U.S. FPL Group had 2008 revenues of more than $16 billion, approximately 39,000 megawatts of generating capacity, and more than 15,000 employees in 27 states and Canada. For more information, visit these Web sites: www.NextEraEnergyResources.com, www.FPLGroup.com.