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(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) March 25, 2009 4 Comments

A Google Data Center Running as Much Power as Manhattan?

Energy efficiency drives the economy, but it also drives energy demand, says Mark Mills, founding partner of Digital Power Capital, who walked us through some fun facts about the scary world of power consumption.

SAN FRANCISCO -- If computers didn't continually improve in energy efficiency, they would have never got off the ground.
 
If you stacked a Google data center with computers that consumed the same amount of energy as ENIAC, the computer developed at the University of Pennslyvania during and after World War II, it would consume as much power as Manhattan, said Mark Mills, the founder of Digital Power Capital at the ThinkGreen conference taking place in San Francisco.
 
If you wanted an iPhone, Mills said, it would be the size of a steamer trunk, while the relay station for cell signals would be the same size as the Washington Monument.
 
There's a direct relationship between energy consumption, efficiency and progress, said Mills during his keynote speech. The short version is as follows: Energy allows us to do stuff. Engineers make these devices more efficient, which drops the price, which in turn drives demand. More devices lead to huge explosions in energy consumption. Today's servers consume far less power than ENIAC, for example, but there was only one ENIAC. Over 250 million PCs ship from factories a year.
 
It also depends on what form you get your energy. Some forms are more dense than others. If you took a standard economy car and rigged it with lead acid batteries, it could go twenty miles, he said. If lithium-ion batteries were used, the car could go 100 miles, which is the range Nissan has put on its electric commuter car coming in 2010 (see Green Light post). If the same volume were given over to ethanol, it would got 400 miles. If you filled up with oil, it would go 700 miles. Oil is incredibly dense, so it will continue to have a market.
 
"That's why airplanes run on oil," he said. Solar-powered Boeing 777s will never happen, he added. Sure, you might be able to rig up a test plane, but it couldn't carry cargo or passengers.
 
Another way to look at the same problem is the cost of BTUs. The equivalent of a barrel of oil filled with wood would cost $20. A barrel of oil with the same amount of energy would cost $50. A barrel of ethanol would cost $70. A barrel of electricity would cost $200. For a data center, a barrel of power, which has been conditioned with power supplies and other equipment, would cost $10,000, he said. A barrel of laser energy? $200,000. In other words, oil costs less.
 
And make no mistake, oil demand continues to rise. If economic growth returns, the annual growth in demand will be like adding a country the size of France to the grid every year. "It's a big country," he said. The world consumes 2,500 barrels of oil a second right now. If you stacked up those physical barrels, the stack would grow at 5,000 miles an hour, he said. 

Comments [4]

  • Mark Goldes 03/27/09 8:44 AM

    Revolutionary breakthroughs will make possible the elimination of the need for batteries of every variety. Magnetic generators are expected to replace the need to plug-in a plug-in hybrid. Two kW is all the power that can be taken from a typical wall socket. A 2 kW generator is on the horizon. It will eventually demonstrate a compact, inexpensive, capability to end the need to plug-in.
    If the development of these generators is put on a 24/7 footing, it may be possible to provide 100 kW systems that will fit in the space of an engine and gas tank, on a prototype basis within two years. If that occurs, since no fuel or battery recharge is required, automobile manufacturers may conclude that engines are likely to become obsolete. Consumer purchasing patterns could begin to reflect a new reality, with the market deciding most future cars must be totally electric, since they will never need any variety of fuel.
    The economics are likely to prove compelling. Until now, car ownership has been an expense. Vehicle to Grid Power (V2G) has been explored in a modest way for hybrids. When equipped for V2G, plug-in hybrids, equipped with a two way plug, can feed power to the local utility while parked. This is 95% of the time for the average vehicle. Professor Willet Kempton, at the University of Delaware, has stated the car?s owner could earn up to $4,000 every year.
    MagGen? powered cars are expected to be capable of generating at least 75 kW and perhaps 100 kW in the volume of a typical fuel tank. In the case of luxury cars, trucks and buses, it seems 150 kW will prove practical. Technology already exists that can wirelessly couple up to 150 kW to the grid from parked vehicles. No plug connection will be required.
    Today a large plug installed in a hybrid car can allow 240 volts to be accommodated. A 240 volt connection cord can provide a maximum of 20 kW to the utility. If that 20 kW can annually pay the vehicle owner $4,000, imagine what the income might be with a wirelessly coupled 75 kW or larger MagGen. If the price per kW is the same as that used in the University of Delaware analysis, we could be anticipating payments totaling $15,000, or more, per year.
    When a substantial number of vehicles powered by magnetic generators fill a parking garage, it will have become a multi-megawatt power plant. 
    Doubtless, when millions of cars and trucks are selling power to the grid, the price per kilowatt paid will gradually decline. However, it still seems likely that the cost of many vehicles might be paid for by utilities, as they purchase power whenever needed. The parked cars, trucks and buses, each become decentralized power plants - a rapid, cost-effective alternative to the many tough and costly challenges of constructing new coal burning and nuclear power generation facilities.
    Automotive manufacturers can be expected to have no trouble selling fuel free cars that need no batteries or recharge, and can pay for themselves over a reasonable period of time.
    Imagine the impact on the world economy.
    Utilities and vehicle manufacturers have a unique opportunity to lead the nation and the world.

     Reply
  • Brent Norris 03/27/09 10:57 AM

    Not to mention what would happen if you stacked one-hundred barrels of oil on a iphone.

    I wonder how many Google ads could be wrapped around a lithium-ion battery? (2500 mh of course)

    Or what if you stacked a hundred electric cars on top of a windmill? 

    100 energy debacles stacked end-to-end could wrap all the way around a single wind turbine and could potentially power a thousand automated cat litter boxes. 

    Please send me another email when the cat-litter efficiency post comes out. I’ve got some great resources to contribute.

    Say, you folks got any open positions for bloggers over there? (I’m deft at stopping threads with my child-like data correlations and can easily clear a forum with sarcasm.)

    Reply
  • BILL SOBY 03/27/09 11:18 AM

    Mark:

    Very thought provoking analysis of direction of electrric vehicle propulsion systems. I am interested in finding out more about the potential implementation of magnetic generators. Would you please contact me.

    Thanks for your insight.

    Bill Soby
    (408) 329-2982
    (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

    Reply
  • jcat 05/4/09 7:50 PM

    what are the pros/cons associate with their proprietary servers related to this issue?

     Reply

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