In times of political turbulence — the past two years being a quintessential example — there is a higher risk that supply could be disrupted. UK residents are now feeling the ripples of a global shift, a chain reaction caused by a number of political factors that have come into play in recent months, both domestically and elsewhere. And with energy bills getting more and more expensive as a result, the question on many lips is how the ongoing rocking of the governmental boat is going to trickle down into energy prices in the year ahead, Business energy experts, Love Energy Savings answer the important questions about the future of energy prices in 2018.

How UK policies will impact energy prices in 2018

Britain’s prominence in the North Sea was once the source of most of the UK’s oil, but those reserves are being rapidly depleted. That leaves the UK in a position where it is increasingly reliant on Europe for its energy; where we used to be a net exporter, we now rely primarily on imports. This reliance puts the UK at a disadvantage in negotiations to leave the European Union. In January, a House of Lords committee warned that Brexit risks driving up electricity and gas bills by making energy trading less efficient. Leaving the EU will diminish Britain’s influence on energy rules, despite having to adhere to them in the future.

Even before Brexit became central to the debate, the escalation of energy prices has been a key political issue: energy bills in Britain have doubled over the past decade. In response, the government announced that it would implement a price cap, a policy that re-emerged into the public dialogue following the 2017 Conservative Party conference. According to Ofgem, the price gap could come into effect by Christmas 2018, though it’s not yet clear what this cap might be.

Leaving the EU also has implications about the UK’s commitment to renewable energies, too. The lack of government support for renewables following the withdrawal of the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) and Renewable Obligation for new projects has damaged the role that solar and wind could potentially play.

Now, the UK could decide to leave the EU’s emissions trading systems, which means that it would not be obligated to adhere to EU-mandated targets to reduce carbon emissions. This is starting to look more likely since the government’s Clean Growth Strategy was published in November, which devotes very little space to the EU’s emissions trading systems scheme.

The impact of international politics on energy prices

Though Brexit is certainly a huge political card at the moment, there are other international factors at play that are likely to have an impact, too. The UK belongs to a global complex, so energy prices can be affected by a political event that might not even be directly tied to us.

The three big international players to watch are Russia, China, and the United States.

The political climate in the US is turbulent at best since the election of Donald Trump. Trump’s volatile relationship with allies to the US has had unprecedented consequences, including the removal of the US from the Paris Agreement in June 2017. Other presidential decisions that could impact energy around the world include Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel, and the subsequent transfer of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to the city. Damaging relations between the US and the Middle East in this way has broad implications about oil, not just for North America but for anyone that sources oil from the Middle East in future, including some parts of Europe. A reduction in oil supplied from territories in the Middle East has a trickle-down effect that will hurt the UK more if it doesn’t have priority access to EU reserves.

Another unstable energy supplier is Russia. The state-backed gas giant Gazprom has steadily increased Western Europe’s reliance on Russian gas in the past few years, with major customers being Germany and the Netherlands. Russia currently supplies 35% of Europe’s gas; in turn, 44% of the UK’s gas is from European pipelines. With Russia as a bottleneck for the UK’s gas supply, diplomatic tensions with the Russian government – like the current accusations following the nerve-agent attack on an ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia — could have drastic effects on UK energy prices.

What can businesses do about their energy prices?

Businesses are the main users of energy on a day-to-day basis, so they’re likely to be hit more by changes in energy prices than domestic users. Though political change can’t be averted, business owners do have options that will help protect them from the fallout in the energy sector.

1. Review energy efficiency

Oftentimes, businesses can be stuck using outdated, inefficient equipment, which over time can cost them thousands every year. Conducting a comprehensive annual review of all the equipment that staff use is a smart way to find appliances that waste energy so you can identify ways to save money.

Training staff to be more aware of their energy usage — and how to reduce it — can also help shave a significant portion off energy bills.

Also consider which processes in the company are highly demanding energy-wise. Running these processes at off-peak times (look into the Triad charging system) is an easy way you can save on energy costs without having to reduce the amount of energy you use.

2.  Switch to renewable energies

Though not met with the same government incentives that were previously available, switching to a renewable energy supplier comes with a whole host of benefits. Renewable energies are becoming cheaper and cheaper every year as more people adopt them, and you can compound the amount you end up saving versus a standard energy source by investing sooner rather than later.

Be sure to research and assess the up-front cost against the monthly saving to understand how long it will take until you see tangible returns on your initial investment.

3. Get advice

Because the energy sector is so influenced by politics, both domestic and global, traversing your energy options can be very tricky.

Getting help from a reliable energy expert like Love Energy Savings is a smart way to ensure you don’t fall into any pitfalls and end up paying more as a result. They can help you make decisions based on changes in legislation and geo-political events as they unfold so you can anticipate what’s going to affect your business ahead of time and plan accordingly.

The post How will politics impact your energy bills in 2018? appeared first on International Finance.

23 july 2013

ASHRAE’s latest thermal guidelines present data center operators with the opportunity to significantly reduce their power and cooling expenses.  By carefully monitoring the temperatures in and around your data center assets you can safely increase temperature set points without increasing the risk of equipment failure and downtime.

The question, then, is how many RF Code sensors do you need in order to comply with the guidelines and begin to realize these savings? There are two answers: what is the minimum coverage necessary to meet ASHRAE guidelines, and what level of coverage will provide the greatest ability to control power and cooling costs.

To meet the minimal ASHRAE guidelines, your must deploy:

• At least 1 RF Code M250 Fixed Reader (how many readers are required will depend on the size of your data center)
• 3 R150-5 High-Performance Temperature Tags every third rack in your data center
• Sensors must be installed in the front of the rack, with one tag at the top, one in the center, and the third in the bottom of the rack

This level of instrumentation provides adequate temperature monitoring across the data center and also enables computation of the Rack Cooling Index (RCI), a metric that enables you to ensure that you are complying with the ASHRAE guidelines. However, it does not provide visibility into the microenvironment that exists in each rack, instead providing only an overall measurement of the ambient temperatures around your racks.

While minimal coverage may meet the ASHRAE guidelines and enable you to realize some savings, in order to maximize your savings while also minimizing the possibility of damage to your equipment, more fine-grained monitoring is necessary.

For full ASHRAE guideline compliance coupled with optimal data center power and cooling savings, we recommend:

• At least 1 RF Code M250 Fixed Reader (how many readers are required will depend on the size of your data center)
• 4 R150-5 High-Performance Temperature Tags in each rack in your data center
• 2 R155 High-Performance Humidity-Temperature Tags in each rack in your data center
• Sensors must be installed in both the front and back of each rack, with one temperature sensor at the top front/top back, one temperature-humidity sensor in the center front/center back, and the third temperature sensor in the bottom front/bottom back of the rack

This level of instrumentation provides complete visibility into the environmental conditions in each of your racks, helping you to detect hot spots that could lead to failures as data center temperatures rise. In addition to enabling computation of the Rack Cooling Index, this level of instrumentation also enables you to calculate the Return Temperature Index (RTI).  RTI, a metric that enables you to measure the efficiency of your air handling systems, greatly increases your ability to reduce cooling costs by helping to ensure that you are cooling your data center air precisely as much as is needed to adequately cool your equipment.

Source: www.rfcode.com

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