Asst Prof Wen Yonggang from NTU’s School of Computer Engineering has developed a new technology to analyse energy consumption by tapping on sensors in computer chips. These computer chips are already available in most industrial machinery.
The new technology combines with externally-placed sensors to integrate and analyse all the operational data. The collation of this data incurs barely any cost and helps recommend energy saving solutions.
The algorithm involved extracts data readily and turn them into an integrated pool of information. This allows companies to analyse more accurately the exact amount of energy required, spent and wasted.
Several companies use computer servers which generate a lot of excess heat. These servers will then require energy for cooling mechanisms which also generates excess energy. The new algorithm can provide precise information to avoid such wastages.
"If we know which of these servers are (doing intensive work), we can spread out the computing load and so reduce the heat emitted by the servers, in turn reducing the energy needed to cool them," Asst Prof Wen explained.
Mr Ted Chen, a product architect who worked with Asst Prof Wen to commercialise this technology, assessed the potential savings that effective energy allocation can bring.
“With NTU’s new analytic engine, such large semi-conductor factories and campuses could save up to S$1 million a year without a need to change much of their hardware, and instead, tune their operation and time their energy usage.”said Mr Chen.
Singapore has strict regulations on carbon footprints set by the Building and Construction Authority for its Green Mark Scheme. This scheme assesses the environmental friendliness and energy efficiency of buildings.
Along significant breakthrough, Mr Chen sees the potential of this new technology to break into the heartlands.
“Our next challenge is to look into how we can deploy our energy saving analytics for the heartlands – into HDB flats and housing estates ‘’ said Mr Chen.
With the Paris 2015 Agreement last Saturday , governments and research institutions will likely look towards more of such innovative solutions to reduce their respective carbon footprints. In the Agreement, almost 200 nations committed to work towards immediate reduction of carbon output.