[ Spotlight: UPS ]
punitive to non-compliant organisations. ‘The survey shows that currently 63 per cent regard cost as their driver to reduce power consumption, while 27 per cent are driven by carbon footprint reduction,’ says Elms. ‘Users’ purchases of capital equipment are affected; 82 per cent of respondents regard energy efficiency as a key buying consideration. Nearly 54 per cent report that modern UPS systems, designed and manufactured with environmental considerations at their core, have significantly improved power consumption and cooling issues within their organisation.’ Others in the industry back up the survey’s findings.
‘We know what customers want – absolute reliability and maximum uptime,’ explains Franco Costa, vice president and general manager, power systems for Emerson Network Power. ‘However, everyone has to be aware of the rising cost of energy and the need to meet important carbon reduction targets such as the European Union’s 20/20/20 initiative, so efficiency has become as important as availability in product selection.’
Electrical contractors specifying the latest energy-efficient products should look at The Carbon Trust’s Enhanced Capital Allowance (ECA) scheme, which offers end users incentives to invest in the best. ‘Under the Enhanced Capital Allowance scheme, businesses that purchase products on the Energy Technology Product List (ETPL) are able to write- off the entire cost of the equipment against taxable profits in the year of purchase,’ explains Costa. ‘This provides a cash flow boost and incentive to invest in energy-saving equipment. The scheme also brings an immediate, first year saving on corporation tax, significantly mitigating the capital cost that can represent a barrier to achieving on- going green savings.’
Efficiency drive
Some believe the Government’s Enhanced Capital Allowance scheme has almost been too successful. ‘As a result, the efficiency levels are being raised at which the allowance is awarded, with some products in danger of slipping out of the ETPL,’ claims Kevin Ricketts, CFE business development manager, Schneider Electric IT UK. ‘On the positive front, this has had the effect of spurring on some manufacturers
Even point
UPS solutions, like APC Smart-UPS, enable better energy management of connected devices as well as providing efficient power protection and excellent runtime
Reliability is key, because while critical loads have rapidly grown, mains power has become less reliable
to develop UPS technologies that operate at greater levels of efficiency, even at low levels of load.’ Emerging technologies such as new generation, multi- level inverters are helping to address the challenge for greater energy efficiency. At the same time, they also facilitate reductions in weight, footprint and, crucially, build-cost. ‘The latter improvement is due to the new inverter designs utilising lower-stressed and therefore lower-cost semiconductor components, while maintaining or even improving product reliability,’ says Ricketts. ‘In addition to inverter re-design, more complex and higher frequency switching of the IGBTs (insulated gate bipolar transistors) allows smaller filtering components to be introduced, in order to smooth the 50Hz 230/400VAC regulated and low- distortion output that eventually supplies the critical load.’ Higher efficiency designs have a dynamic effect on
total cost of operation, and therefore both capital budget requirement (Capex) and operating expenses (Opex) should be taken into account when evaluating potential UPS purchases. The selection of a low-efficiency design to reduce upfront capital costs at the start of a project could easily result in significantly higher energy bills over the lifetime of that installation. The lower operating costs associated with a high-efficiency design could easily outweigh the initial savings as well as bringing additional benefits in lower carbon footprint, not to mention the tax benefits mentioned above.
APC by Schneider Electric’s Symmetra MW, the world’s largest modular UPS, utilises Delta Con- version and is 94 per cent efficient at only 24 per cent load
Greater understanding ‘Both customers and energy service companies better understand the capabilities of UPS products and this is shaping new product development,’ says general manager
September 2012 ECA Today 43
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