Small-scale hydro (100kW to 5MW installed capacity)is highly efficient and where suitable sites are available, it remains one of the cheapest forms of renewable electricity per unit. Small-scale hydro has a key role to play in the development of the world’s renewable energy resources. Clean and reliable – it is a valuable resource just waiting to be utilised.
Small Run of River hydro projects use the natural downward flow of rivers and relatively small turbine generators to capture the kinetic energy carried by water. Typically water is diverted from a river and fed down a pipe on a section where there is a significant drop in elevation. The water is passed through a turbine generator where the potential energy in the water is converted into kinetic energy via the mechanical turbine and re-enters the river at a lower point. Installation of run of river systems do not usually require a reservoir or dam and are a relatively cheap to build and have minimal environmental impact.
Run of River systems have the advantages of a long operational life time, in excess of 25 years, with minimal maintenance. Also these systems tend to generate the most electricity in the colder months when the demand is greater for electrical heating and extra lighting.
Servers Designed for Immersion (SDI) – An Alternate ApproachIf you’ve already implemented or are considering a “white box” solution – building your own servers – or you want to truly maximize space, power and budget, then SDI may be your best choice.
Immersion cooling technology addresses the key concerns of thermal design and hardware reliability that are common with air-cooled, white box servers. Further, engineering purpose-built servers from the ground up allows more than just design them for cost and performance, but also for space and power utilization.
Key Benefits of Servers Designed for Immersion:
Purpose-built for application
Mix and match components without worrying about thermal design limitations and reliability
No extraneous components, such as integrated fans, heat sinks and oversized power supplies, reduce cost and e-waste
More power-efficient – up to 30% lower energy use vs air-cooled servers
Maximized rack density with simplified, modular chassis that utilize much higher immersion cooling capacities
SDI are an ideal match for micro-modular, rack-based immersion cooling system and immersion-cooled, modular data centres.
March 2022: PDF to download from EGEC Geothermal [Click Here]
The term ‘geothermal energy’ refers to any heat derived from the ground, from depths of a few metres to multiple kilometres beneath the Earth’s surface.
Low-grade heat stored in the shallow subsurface (<200 m) is largely derived from solar radiation that is absorbed by the ground and distributed via natural groundwater systems and artificial structures such as flooded coal mines. The ground acts as a solar battery and, for this heat, utilisation usually requires a heat pump. This energy is widely described as ‘ground-source energy’ or ‘shallow geothermal energy’.
There is no strict definition for ‘deep geothermal energy’, but the UK Government has adopted the term to refer to heat resources derived from depths of >500 m. The heat of the Earth increases with depth, a phenomenon described as the geothermal gradient. This heat is partly the primordial heat from when the Earth was formed and partly heat generated from within the Earth’s crust from the decay of mildly radioactive elements. This upward heat flux varies across the globe, but in the UK is around 27°C/km (Busby, 2014). Assuming an average annual air temperature of 12°C, this means that subsurface temperatures at 1000 m, 3000 m and 5000 m are around 39°C, 89°C and 139°C, respectively.