Re: [tlug] OT - Shutdown day

[Curt Sampson <cjs@example.com>]

On 2008-04-18 08:52 +0800 (Fri), Keith Bawden wrote:

> I wonder what the effect of switching over to DC would do.

One possibility is that it would increase efficiency by reducing the
number of conversions from AC to DC and back again. For exampele, most
UPS systems operate by having the power side convert AC to DC, which is
used both to charge the batteries and to power the computer side, which
converts the DC back to AC again for the computer. The computer itself
then converts the AC back to DC for its own internal use. Needless to
say, there are losses in these conversions, which turn into heat, which
we then need to spend power to cool.

Oh, and Stephen, my point about the large portion of data centre power
usage being air conditioning was that, as a cooling system, it's
ammenable to the exact same sorts of remediation as cooling systems used
for other purposes. So rather than attacking it as a computer problem,
and achieving savings only in data centers, it can be attacked as a
generic problem, and the techniques developed can be used across many
industries.

By the way, I found this amusing:

http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2008/Apr/02/_data_center_used_to_heat_swimming_pool.html

cjs
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Curt Sampson       <cjs@example.com>        +81 90 7737 2974   
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