Green IT : Future of IT will be green alternatives

Recently while attending a seminar talking about innovation I came across a Presentation about LED Lighting. As the presentation progressed I came to realize how much Potential LED holds for us.

Apart from saving Energy compared to the regular Bulbs or Tubes that are used these also provide innovation in the Look and Feel.

So what are LEDs basically ?

Light emitting diodes, commonly called LEDs, are real unsung heroes in the electronics world. They do dozens of different jobs and are found in all kinds of devices. Among other things, they form the numbers on digital clocks, transmit information from remote controls, light up watches and tell you when your appliances are turned on. Collected together, they can form images on a jumbo television screen or illuminate a traffic light.

Basically, LEDs are just tiny light bulbs that fit easily into an electrical circuit. But unlike ordinary incandescent bulbs, they don’t have a filament that will burn out, and they don’t get especially hot. They are illuminated solely by the movement of electrons in a semiconductor material, and they last just as long as a standard transistor.

What are the advantages of using LED s ?

LEDs have several advantages over conventional incandescent lamps. For one thing, they don’t have a filament that will burn out, so they last much longer. Additionally, their small plastic bulb makes them a lot more durable. They also fit more easily into modern electronic circuits.

But the main advantage is efficiency. In conventional incandescent bulbs, the light-production process involves generating a lot of heat (the filament must be warmed). This is completely wasted energy, unless you’re using the lamp as a heater, because a huge portion of the available electricity isn’t going toward producing visible light. LEDs generate very little heat, relatively speaking. A much higher percentage of the electrical power is going directly to generating light, which cuts down on the electricity demands considerably.

Up until recently, LEDs were too expensive to use for most lighting applications because they’re built around advanced semiconductor material. The price of semiconductor devices has plummeted over the past decade, however, making LEDs a more cost-effective lighting option for a wide range of situations. While they may be more expensive than incandescent lights up front, their lower cost in the long run can make them a better buy. In the future, they will play an even bigger role in the world of technology.

But the important thing is LEDs are now practically being used. In India in a City called Pune this has replaced the conventional lightning mechanism.

If the street lighting in Pune was to change over to using LED street lights,this is how it would pan out.Pune has about 1,50,000 street lights, most of them being 250 watts Sodium Vapour.At a special rate of Rs.2.90 / kW, the electricity the PMC coughs up is approximately Rs.11 lakhs per day and carbon emitted by these inefficient lights is nearly 161 tons.By using LED based street lights which consume 45 watts,the PMC will spend Rs.2 lakhs for equal effect and will be save about Rs.60-70 per point per month on maintenance costs.Along with this the city will be benefited reduced carbon emission of approximately 130 tons per night.The value of carbon units amounts to more than Rs.2 lakhs per day.This means the city would be lit up at no cost!

We all know about the challenges that India is facing in dealing with rising demand for Houses and Buildings apart from Corporate houses. The Metro Cities are exploding with Construction with not even an inch to spare. All this is leading to deforestation and increase in Pollution level. The Rising temperatures and increase in Environmental Pollution all signify that somewhere India has to rethink the way new Constructions are done.

 Leading the way is an Indian Architect Karan Grover. The architect has taken initiatives to Renovate the way in which Construction is done. He says he gets inspiration from Ancient Indian Architectures which not only managed with less resources but were also Eco Friendly.

Traditional Indian architecture not only reflected ancient ecosystem but it evolved out of environment. Natural solutions had to be found for extremes of Heat and Cold, to searing winds and torrential rains.

While it may come as a surprise to many that the world’s ‘greenest’ building stands on Indian soil, a reading of the specifications of the CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre (GBC) in Hyderabad is enough to dispel any doubts.

Designed by Vadodara-based architect Karan Grover, the 20,000-square-foot business centre, which stands on a five-acre site, uses the traditional Indian circular courtyard design to enhance air and light.

The design incorporates a number of energy-saving features. Two 45-foot wind towers and screen walls provide air pre-cooled by 10 degrees to the air-conditioning system, thereby reducing the amount of energy required for cooling. Says Grover: “This is called the ‘venturi effect’ in modern buildings. It helps pre-cool the air.” Pointing out the jali (lattice) work in a photograph of the Taj Mahal, he explains: “It’s not the first time for India. We have been doing it since ancient times.”

The Rs 6 crore structure also has photovoltaic panels built into it to generate solar energy that takes care of 20% of the building’s annual energy requirements. Likewise, the electrical fixtures have been automated to save power; 90% of the building does not require any artificial lighting during the day because its circular design allows sunlight to reach every part of it. The building also boasts variable speed motors for its blowers and pumps, and the elaborate use of sensors feeding back to the controls.

Thanks to its circular design, fewer materials were used in the building’s construction. Those that were, were recycled and eco-friendly — broken mosaic tiles, steel, wood, glass, fly ash brick, oil-and CFC-free equipment and the locally-available bettum cherla stone. Inside, all the carpets and paint are non-toxic. The workers employed in the building’s construction were all local people.

Water is regarded as a precious resource — the building employs water-harvesting methods and wastewater is treated on-site and diverted for storage, to a water body on the edge of the plot, to be used for the garden. Here again there is a harking back to ancient architecture. “The root zone water regeneration system we have used in the GBC is very common in Mughal gardens,” says Grover.

Given all these factors, bagging the title of the world’s greenest building, awarded by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), Pittsburgh, was a cinch. The council recognises structures that combine new technologies and materials with energy-efficient architecture.

Grover’s design received an unprecedented ‘Version 2 Platinum’ rating, credited with 57 of the 62 parameters it competed in, under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), a system of rating environmentally conscious buildings. This is the highest possible award for sustainable design, ahead of ‘Version 1 Platinum’, won by only three other buildings in the United States. In fact, the Indian design was considered so revolutionary that the USGBC had to upgrade its rating system to recognise its unique characteristics.

“We have hundreds of years of legacy in such construction, which we have all but forgotten. We decided to revive all our traditional methods and present it in the modern idiom,” said Grover who received the USGBC award in Pittsburgh, on November 14.

Awards aside, what is significant about the Hyderabad building is that it is dedicated to propagating environmental consciousness among Indian industry.

The Hyderabad building, which will be formally inaugurated in January 2004, was conceived by the CII (Confederation of Indian Industry)-Godrej combine during US President Bill Clinton’s 2000 visit to the city. Former head of the CII, Jamshed Godrej, funded the project, which received active support from Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu. Godrej named the building after his uncle, an ardent environmentalist.

Grover himself is not new to the green approach. His design for the CII-ABB Centre for Quality, outside Bangalore, is already known for its eco-friendliness. Preserving history has been part of his work since his student days — from his Masters on housing for the urban poor in London to getting world monument status for the medieval site of Champaner in Gujarat.

Grover is delighted that his project has won such recognition. “From the very beginning we aimed to get the top award in the business, not for the sake of the award but simply to showcase some of our forgotten methods,” he says.

Grover is one of the few men taking initiatives to think for the future. Eco Designs  is the need of the hour and it will certainly help in redefining the future of many nations.

With technology gearing up to face the future major transformations are going on. Its an all new world with a different approach to change the effects that gases like CO2 are having and to make things better and eco friendly.

Initiatives have been taken in the IT sector and in the electronics sector with Investments being made to develop Products that are Environment Friendly.

LG recently presented its Laptop, an ecological laptop concept that uses fuel cell batteries and features organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display technology. This concept notebook received a Red Dot Award nomination for “Best Concept Design” for 2006. The batteries of the LG e-Book use natural gas, methanol, and other eco-friendly liquid fuels. The fuel is stored in a transparent cylindrical hinge. The LG’s future laptop uses organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels for display instead of the current liquid crystal display (LCD) panel. Unlike LCD, OLED does not need a frame around it, and it consumes less electricity. The keypad will also be made of a singe OLED panel, like the one used in LGs Chocolate Phone.

So the new buzz is the use of OLEDs. Currently, OLEDs are used in small-screen devices such as cell phones, PDAs and digital cameras.OLED’s are extremely flexible and have a wide viewing angle, low power and high contrast ratio. Viewing content on an OLED laptop will certainly be more entertaining then content on a normal OLED screen. Imagine rolling up your laptop and storing it in your pocket until you get to your local cafe where you can unroll and use it instantly!

So lets get started by understanding the concept of OLED and how it will storm the market and change the way Electronic Products look and work.

OLED !!

Imagine having a high-definition TV that is 80 inches wide and less than a quarter-inch thick, consumes less power than most TVs on the market today and can be rolled up when you’re not using it. What if you could have a “heads up” display in your car? How about a display monitor built into your clothing? These devices may be possible in the near future with the help of a technology called organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs).

OLEDs are solid-state devices composed of thin films of organic molecules that create light with the application of electricity. OLEDs can provide brighter, crisper displays on electronic devices and use less power than conventional light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or liquid crystal displays (LCDs) used today.

That was a little sneak peak on the world of OLED. There are a number of useful resources on internet to gain an insight into the working of OLEDs.

Several companies have already built prototype computer monitors and large-screen TVs that use OLED technology. In May 2005, Samsung Electronics announced that it had developed a prototype 40-inch, OLED-based, ultra-slim TV, the first of its size [source: Kanellos]. And in October 2007, Sony announced that it would be the first to market with an OLED television.

Research and development in the field of OLEDs is proceeding rapidly and may lead to future applications in heads-up displays, automotive dashboards, billboard-type displays, home and office lighting and flexible displays. Because OLEDs refresh faster than LCDs — almost 1,000 times faster — a device with an OLED display could change information almost in real time. Video images could be much more realistic and constantly updated. The newspaper of the future might be an OLED display that refreshes with breaking news (think “Minority Report”) — and like a regular newspaper, you could fold it up when you’re done reading it and stick it in your backpack or briefcase.

The future cerainly belongs to OLED enabled devices and this will further help in achieving better things but not at the cost of Environment.