Craft Beer and Sustainability

Brewing Up Sustainability: The Intersection Of Water And Energy In Breweries Alliance to Save Energy, July 11, 2016 On Tuesday, June 21, the Alliance to Save Energy hosted a webinar exploring the relationship between water and energy by looking at two things that are better when handled together: beer and sustainability. The webinar, which covered … Read more

Berkeley Labs Reports Data Center Energy Consumption Plateau

Data Centers Are No Longer The Energy Hogs They Once Were Fortune, June 27, 2016 Efforts by some of the world’s largest Internet companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon to reduce the amount of energy their data centers consume is now bearing fruit. According to a new report released on Monday from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the number of data centers has … Read more

Magnetic Refrigeration for Commercial Applications

Magnetic fridge eliminates gases, drastically reduces energy use Gizmag, June 15, 2016 The days of the rackety, energy-gobbling refrigerator may be numbered with the advent of more efficient systems that cool with the use of magnets. The idea has been around almost as long as your standard gas-compression fridge, but it hasn’t yet been viable … Read more

GreenWeb Enables Energy Efficient Mobile Web Computing

New ‘GreenWeb’ tools aim to create an energy-efficient web Science Daily, June 16, 2016 To help mobile device users maximize their limited battery storage, electrical and computer engineering professor Vijay Janapa Reddi and graduate student Yuhao Zhu have developed what they are calling “GreenWeb,” a set of web programming language extensions that enable web developers … Read more

Q-Sync Motors Benefit Consumers and Utilities

Bryan Kilgore, ERS, for Zondits QM Power’s advanced new Q-Sync motor provides improved efficiency versus shaded-pole and electronically commutated (EC) motors. Not only do Q-Sync motors benefit businesses through energy and demand savings, but they also benefit the utilities at the source by reducing apparent power (total power delivered from the grid) through power factor … Read more

Reefer Units Challenge the Limits of Thermal Efficiency

reefer unit

Reefer units get quieter, more efficient CCJ Digital, May 10, 2016. Image credit: I, 天然ガス, CC BY-SA 3.0 Transportation refrigeration units (TRU) are reaching heights of sophistication that rival the modern tractors that pull them across the highway. And like their truck counterparts, TRUs have made many strides to throttle back fuel consumption while also … Read more

Motor-Driven System Efficiency Provides Energy Saving Opportunities

motor-driven system efficiency

Regulations look past motors to improve system efficiencies Plant Engineering, May 6, 2016. Image credit: S.J. de Waard – CC BY-SA 3.0, Electric motor system efficiency and power electronics are impacting future energy saving opportunities as attention moves from motor efficiency to motor-driven system efficiency. In the U.S., the first move was to apply motor … Read more

Centrifugal Chillers That Use R-1233zd Instead of R-123

r-1233zd

Bryan Kilgore, ERS, for Zondits. April 27, 2016. Image credit: PixelAnarchy R-1233zd is a hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) refrigerant that could replace R-123 in low-temperature chiller applications. R-1233zd, originally created as a foam propellant or blowing agent, has environmental benefits with a global warming potential (GWP) between 1 and 6, and ozone depletion potential (ODP) of 0.00024 to … Read more

The IIAR 2016 Industrial Conference Showcase

IIAR

A Close-up Look at Industrial Refrigeration ACHR News, April 11, 2016. Image credit: www.emsd.gov.hk The International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration (IIAR) 2016 Industrial Refrigeration Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, Florida, treated 1,500 attendees to four days of technical information, workshops, panels, and forums covering the past, present, and future of refrigeration. A total of 148 exhibitors … Read more

Size Matters: All Air Compressors Are Not Designed Equally

air compressors

Sizing matters: How to avoid oversizing or undersizing your compressed air system Plant Services, April 7, 2016. Image credit: blickpixel Common downfalls of undersized and oversized compressors The most common issue resulting from under-sizing compressors is insufficient airflow to production equipment. Workers may complain that their tools aren’t working properly, or that low-pressure alarms may be … Read more