Eco-friendly IT
MANILA, Philippines – For decades now, information technology (IT) has been one of man’s most important and useful advances to improve our lives and lifestyles. More than any other innovation, IT has changed the way we live and work in terms of communication, education, production and just about everything we do in the modern world. Personal computers, cell phones, iPods, video players, recorders, and remote-control devices, along with hundreds of other IT equipment, have become ubiquitous tools with IT masterminding the design, production and unending enhancements of these gadgets.
However, there is a downside to IT — ultimately it affects the global ecology. IT equipment and paraphernalia use electricity and thus leave their own carbon footprints to impact the problem of global warming. Although IT’s carbon footprints are generally not as large as those of other industries, a team of IT power specialists from Computer Support Center, Inc. (CSCI), a local vendor of electronic peripheral equipment, still feels that “ways must be found to make electronic devices less environmentally harmful and to resolve ecological issues these generate, ways of employing power more efficiently in the use of computers and other electronic devices.”
The CSCI team, led by Mercedes Soler, company president and general manager, advises people that the efficient use of energy — or using less energy to produce the same level of energy service — can go a long way to lessening IT’s impact on the emission of greenhouse gases and that simple “green” principles of energy efficiency can easily be applied. For example, electronic standby power systems for switched-off electronic appliances such as TV sets still consume electricity even while the TV is off. Standby power, which is the electricity consumed by switched-off electronic devices in standby mode, cost as much as 10 percent of total residential consumption, quite needlessly, according to a study done by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which noted that a number of “household appliances are never fully switched off, but spend most of the time in a standby mode.”
The CSCI team says that devices and functions that can consume standby power include power supplies for electronic devices, transformers, VCRs, DVD players and some audio systems. TVs, microwave ovens, computers, digital monitors and printers, air-con units with remote controls, devices with standby lights or clocks, “instant-on” systems and power adaptors, even if they are not powering a device.
On top of the electricity they consume, these devices can also be fire risks when not turned off. The irony is that it is very simple to eliminate standby power consumption and concomitant fire risks: “Just unplug the unused devices,” says the team.
On a larger scale, CSCI is aiming to significantly reduce unavoidable standby power consumption by larger IT concerns by introducing innovative Uninterruptible Power Supply systems (UPS) that comprise a range of products under the “Green Power” banner. UPS systems are complex mechanisms that ensure the continuity and highest possible quality of electric power supply to companies that have to render services or functions on a continuous basis, such as in the case of banks and telecom companies.
The “Green Power” range of products is produced by Socomec UPS, one of the leading and the largest European manufacturers of UPS systems. Green Power demonstrates CSCI’s and Socomec UPS’s dedication to reducing the negative environmental impact of IT devices.
Green Power comprises a family of static UPS systems with power ranging from 100 to 200 kVA, for loads with power factor 0.9, designed especially for the IT industry. The main feature of this new range is its 96-percent efficiency, more or less constant throughout the entire load curve. Therefore, the range is clearly above standard, in terms of the energy consumption by the user.
A particularly important aspect of the energy cost reduction of Green Power UPS is battery management. The EBS, or Expert Battery System, manages the recharging system, taking into account the operating temperature, thus prolonging battery life and reducing running costs. In addition, a Battery Health Check (BHC) system controls and maximizes battery capacity.
But the range has yet another distinguishing feature: its redundancy and optimization can be applied to the batteries as well. With the Green Power range, the UPS batteries are shared with the other UPS, therefore increasing redundancy, autonomy or available power. The wide range of battery voltages makes it possible to optimize the number of accumulators.
The Green Power range is compatible with all communication protocols and supports the remote communication services proposed by Socomec UPS, therefore guaranteeing round-the-clock monitoring of the UPS 365 days a year, with user assistance in system monitoring questions. These are all features designed to reduce economic and environmental costs, while guaranteeing the efficient operation of the user’s systems and circuits.
The product was launched for the ASPAC region in Vietnam last December 2008. In the Philippines Socomec UPS’s Green Power UPS was launched recently by Computer Support Center, Inc., Socomec UPS’s exclusive Philippine distributor, at a cocktail held at the Spotlight Lounge in Makati. The event was attended by executives of the leading Philippine IT firms and highlighted the many unique and environmentally friendlier features of Green Power UPS.
For inquiries, call 632-9046 and 632-9847.
