Saturday, April 14, 2012

Computing Speeds and Electricial Efficiency: Both are improving (technologyreview.com)

"As one of many examples of what is becoming possible using ultra-low-power computing, consider the wireless no-battery sensors created by Joshua R. Smith of the University of Washington. These sensors harvest energy from stray television and radio signals and transmit data from a weather station to an indoor display every five seconds. They use so little power (50 microwatts, on average) that they don't need any other power source."
"Harvesting background energy flows, including ambient light, motion, or heat, opens up the possibility of mobile sensors operating indefinitely with no external power source, and that means an explosion of available data. Mobile sensors expand the promise of what Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor of management at MIT calls "nanodata," or customized fine-grained data describing in detail the characteristics of individuals, transactions, and information flows."
Is this maybe another perspective of 'alternative energy'?  I believe that energy efficiency initiatives are some of the most promising and valuable contributions to resolving some of our energy challenges.  Managing our energy waste streams has shown to demonstrate multiple level benefits that are often compounded.

READ FULL POST HERE

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