According to Sungard Availability Services , power cuts were the single biggest cause of business disruption in 2011, with incidents in 2011 rising by 10% from the previous year. These results, represented in the table below, strongly indicate that theoffice workplace remains at most risk of power cut induced downtime, accounting for 80% of disruptions. Meanwhile, technology failure problems dropped by 25% – possibly due to the fact that most organisations now deploy virtualised and cloud … Continue reading →
There’s no arguing with the fact that data centres and server rooms use a lot of energy. And one of the biggest contributors to the energy bill is the cost of data centre cooling, especially when using conventional chiller units. Cooling server rooms consume a staggering 1% of the world’s energy. It’s not surprising then that data centre operators are increasingly interested in the concept of free cooling or the use of fresh air.
One of the biggest threats to the reliability of your standby power system is poor maintenance. Most standby power systems rely on batteries. Without proper, regular maintenance and replacing batteries that have reached their end of life, they will ultimately be unable to hold charge and prove useless during a mains failure.
The same is true for generators, if they’re not serviced on a regular basis there is a chance that they won’t start when you need … Continue reading →
According to the National Grid, in 2010, the UK used 286TWh of electricity. Independently audited figures found that the reliability of the electricity transmission was 99.99%, and the average annual availability was 94.76%.
Yet despite having what seems to be a reliable power supply, the UK is on the brink of having to intoduce rolling blackouts. By 2015, nine of the UK’s oil and coal-fired power plants and four nuclear power plants are due to be shut down. … Continue reading →
With China closing many of its battery factories, prices are set to increase by 25%, and lead times stretched by as much as seven months. So if you want to ensure your standby power system continues to protect your organisation, now is the time to check your batteries and act fast if they need replacing.
The scale of the problem
China manufacturers a third of the world’s lead-acid batteries. But since March, more than 70% of its 2,000 … Continue reading →
We have all been there in the midst of a storm when suddenly the lights go out. Typically, we’re left in the dark for a few hours. But what would happen if a power cut wiped out entire countries for months at a time?
According to National Geographic, “Solar storms are brewing about 93 million miles (150 million kilometres) away, and if one of them reaches Earth, it could knock out communications, scramble GPS, and leave thousands … Continue reading →
The UK energy gap is growing faster than anticipated. A whitepaper published by LogicaCMG, a leading provider of business services to the energy sector, predicts that energy demand in the UK could exceed supply by as much as 23% during peak times. Within ten years, this gap could cost UK businesses in excess of £108 billion each year.
Reports from Parliament suggest that over the last five years businesses across England and Wales have experienced approximately 96 million … Continue reading →
