Microsoft looking to cut data center power bills
The Seattle Times reports it used enough electricity to power 24,000 homes.
The software company is looking to reduce its power bill by finding other ways to cool the acres of computer servers that handle e-mail and digital transactions over the Internet.
The data center was the third-largest customer last year of the Grant County PUD. Microsoft and other tech companies have located in Grant County to take advantage of the utility's relatively low rates for electricity from two Columbia River dams.
With data centers all over the world, Microsoft has been experimenting with cooling methods to reduce power demand.
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A new material made from carbon nanotubes can generate electricity by scavenging energy from its environment
NEW YORK - MIT engineers have discovered a new way of generating electricity using tiny carbon particles that can create a current simply by interacting with liquid surrounding them.
The liquid, an organic solvent, draws electrons out of the particles, generating a current that could be used to drive chemical reactions or to power micro- or nanoscale robots, the researchers say.
"This mechanism is new, and this way of generating energy is completely new," says Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT. "This technology is intriguing because all you have to do is flow a solvent through…
