Electricity consumption from the manufacture of artificial intelligence (AI) chips has soared by more than 350 percent worldwide between 2023 and 2024, according to new research from Greenpeace East Asia. In East Asia, the global hub for AI semiconductor production, growing electricity demand from AI chipmaking has been met primarily …
In India, the Union ministry of non-conventional energy sources is pursuing various R&D; projects to harness the geothermal energy available. About 340 hot springs have been identified in the country, with temperatures varying from 60oC to 130oC. A 5kw experimental power plant is being operated at Manikaran in Himachal Pradesh. …
To conserve energy. the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board has introduced a range of distribution transformers called Amorphous Metal-core Distribution Transformers (AMDT). These transformers could reduce the "noload po"wer loss", or idling loss to 60 watts (w) as compared to 260 w by a conventional transformer. Says Tamil Nadu's minister for …
Eskom, the state-owned electricity utility n South Africa is proving to a major asset for its government. While the Nelson Vandela administration is izruggling to keep its electorat promise of "providing a better life for all" in other ifeas, the power sector aic,rsears to have exceeded ectations. In an announcement …
MOST burgeoning cities are cursed with piles of rotting garbage and endless hours without electricity. But now, Western-Paques (India) Limited, a subsidiary of the Rs 1,000 crore Western India group, is offering a solution to both the problems, rather using one to address the other. The company has developed a …
THE North is persuading India to accept joint implementation (JI) programmes to curtail its emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas. High level delegations from Canada and Germany visited Delhi recently to hold talks with the Indian government officials and experts on national energy policy issues. The reason behind …
PLANTS support human life. Period. Today, a majority of people in the developing countries depend on fuelwood, dung, charcoal and agro-wastes for their cooking, heating and other energy requirements. A flicker of electricity is also produced from agricultural and other wastes. Subsequent to the oil shock in the '70s, and …
Following in Maharashtra's footsteps, the West Bengal power department has unveiled a package including time-of-the-day (ToD) metering and tariff concessions to cut costs and raise non-peak hour demand for electricity. "The West Bengal State Electricity Board (WBSEB) has been facing a widening gap between peak and off-peak demand," says West …
WHAT are the alternatives with us to rectify the imbalance in power generation in the future? To date, we have not only failed to generate power optimally from our existing resources, we have also failed to utilise the energy in an efficient manner. This book says that the situation is …
What are the recommendations from the study, Energy for Tomorrow's World, that are relevant to India? Energy for Tomorrow's World is a global study, where no particular country has been specified. But 1 of the 9 regional working groups was on South Asia, and the people involved talked confidently about …
The US Department of Energy and a Maryland-based company, Fusion Lighting, have jointly developed sulphur light bulbs, which experts claim could be the light sources of the future (New Scientist, Vol 144, No 1951). These bulbs are small glass spheres filled with a mixture of sulphur and argon which when …
THE ministry of non-conventional energy sources (MNES) is giving the rich city dweller in the country an optional source of electricity: rooftop photovoltaic cell units which convert sun rays into electricity. The proposal is commendable since, compared to CO2 emitting coal, it is cleaner, and ultimately cheaper, technology. However, what …
Using a material known as "piezoelectric plastic", a US company is trying to convert the kinetic energy of waves into electricity. Piezoelectric plastic generates an electric charge when physically strained. The company plans to laminate several sheets together, hanging them from ocean rafts to anchors on the sea floor. The …
Decades of government monopoly in Bangladesh's energy sector may end soon. New measures have been drafted to facilitate restructuring of the Power Development Board and the Dhaka Electricity Supply Authority, and offer incentives to attract private sector participation. Other reform proposals include a computerised billing system and engaging private parties …
• Madras-based NEPC-Micon Ltd (a collaboration between Natural Energy Processing Co and Micon of Denmark), the largest suppliers of wind energy generators in India, expects to double its turnover of about Rs 153 crore in 1993-94 by mid-"95. NEPC-Micon has orders to supply 280 wind energy generators, valued at about …
The Union finance ministry has decided to get all future power purchase agreements (PPA) between foreign investors and the state electricity boards (SEBs) vetted by competent foreign consultancy organisations before giving its approval. This follows the decision of the Union power ministry requiring the finance ministry to provide counter guarantees …
TWO Scandinavian companies are trying to replicate the fruitless toil of Sisyphus, a Greek mythological character who was given the task of pushing uphill a stone that would at once roll down again. The difference will be that the Kvaerner Group, a Norwegian industrial company, and Asea Brown Boveri, a …
The New Delhi Municipal Committee (ndmc) proposes to set up its own gas-based power plant and water treatment plant at a cost of Rs 100 crore to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity and water to the 4,200 hectare vvip area in the capital that come under its jurisdiction. This is …
Power shortages could become routine in Sri Lanka by the year 2000, warns the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). To meet the growing demand from individual consumers and industries, CEB estimates that the installed capacity of 1370 MW will have to be augmented by 500600 MW. However, this addition to capacity …
Electric geysers, common in metropolises, are an exorbitant way to heat bathwater. Although most developed countries use piped gas or fuel oil to heat water, oil-poor developing obviously can't on any affordable scale. Cheaper alternatives for them are solar water heaters, piped natural gas, or gas from biomass combustion, of …
IN 1984, Brazil initiated a refrigerator-efficiency programme which included testing and labelling. Consequently, the average 1-door 250-litre model sold in 1986 used only 540 kwh that year. In 1989, the scale went down to a model that used only 336 kwh per year. The electricity consumption of refrigerators in Brazil's …
