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 …
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 …
THE new range of energy-efficient compressors for refrigerators being developed by Shriram Refrigeration Industries is a godsend, considering the appallingly inefficient consumption of energy in the Indian domestic sector. However, the impact of these devices may be much less than desired. Energy saving devices such as compact fluorescent lamps (cfls), …
A recent study by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has suggested that modifying and upgrading the existing machinery and technology in power plants and reducing transmission and distribution losses can ensure the availability of an additional 12,000 mw of electricity. According to the study, this will require an investment …
PLANTS have been doing it for millions of years now, but it is only now that scientists are tasting success in trapping the sun"s energy in chemicals and then using it to produce fuels. Plants and some bacteria harness solar energy through photosynthesis. But scientists trying to tap almost unlimited …
ON JULY 17, the construction of India's largest power station and one of the world's biggest private sector power plants would have begun. The ultra-modern, 2,015-mw plant in Dabhol, 170 km south of Bombay in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district, is being pitched as the "most efficient solution" to the looming power …
In its cynical sense, the price of power is a phrase which often evokes rich imagery. Seen from any angle, the Indian government's decision to go in for what is going to be the world's largest, private sector electricity plant, to be constructed at Dabhol in Maharashtra by the US …
• Violin-makers may soon have to use plastic instead of rare hardwoods, according to the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society, UK. Supplies of pernambuco, used to make violin bows, and impigo, used in clarinets and oboes, are falling to crisis levels. Wind instruments, however, pose the biggest problem as customers …
An agreement between the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) and Enron Corp, a US-based multinational power company, to set up a 2,015 megawatt power plant in Dabhol in Ratnagiri district has come in for criticism. The plant is to be set up by General Electric and Bechtel Corp of the …
• Investors have been flocking to timber-based businesses in Malaysia, where timber related stocks are being traded at high prices. This is a result of a combination of strong timber prices and a comparative scarcity of timber-related listings on the Kuala Lumpur stock market. • Japanese electronics firms are looking …
LIFE WOULD not be possible without the light and heat received from the sun. For all the energy that we consume on earth -- whether in the form of biomass or oil -- the ultimate source is the radiation from this fairly ordinary star in the Milky Way galaxy. The …
The Tamil Nadu State Electricity Board (TNSEB) has been castigated by the Union ministry of coal for trying to import Australian coal to step up power generation. The ministry is worried the high sulphur content of Australian coal may cause acid rain. A disgruntled TNSEB has retaliated by pointing out …
