Power Shop
Let’s face it, until I got this job the only time I ever thought about energy was when I didn’t have it, and with my yard full of tall trees, that happens more than I’d like between April and November. I don’t think that makes me different from most Americans. As I’ve matured I have become more aware of my consumption…turning off lights, unpluging appliances that aren’t in use, switching to CF light bulbs and don’t even get me started on my composting, recycling and buying local habits. Then I got this job and by “this job” I mean my job assisting the CEO of Nextek Power Systems. Suddenly I was keenly aware that not only do I not think about energy, but I knew nothing about energy either. My first weeks here were spent Googling every other word uttered by my co-workers. What’s PV? Is a gigawatt a lot? AC vs. DC? Inverters? Thomas Edison? I hadn’t thought about him since middle school! It’s been 6 months and I am building a vocabulary, but most importantly I am building a tremendous amount of respect for energy. There is this worldwide conversation going on about the benefits of DC energy, it started as a murmur and it’s revving up to be a full-blown roar soon. It’s not just a conversation for environmentalist or third-world countries either, it’s a conversation with global corporate leaders, former presidents of the United States, utility companies and governments. I think we’ve really got something special going on here and I know that we are standing on the verge of something huge. These next couple of years are going to be an incredible journey, one I hope you join us on. Become part of the conversation, start your own adventure in energy…I know I’m glad I did.
Recent News
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Nextek Newbie, Adventures in Energy…
March 9th, 2010Nextek Presents at Michigan Solid-State Lighting Association Event
March 1st, 2010On February 25, 2010, Paul Savage spoke to a group of industy leaders at a Michigan Solid-State Lighting Association “Speaker Program”. The talk focused on “the Emerge Alliance for DC Power Distribution”. The group was given the opportunity to hear about Nextek’s exciting partnership with Armstrong and our DC Flexzone ceiling grid as well as other interesting DC news. We would like to thank Altair Engineering, who hosted and Ilumisys who sponsored this well-attended event. Thank you!!
Nextek Power Systems Appoints Advertising and Communications Agency
February 24th, 2010Nextek Power Systems has appointed JWT Worldwide (formerly the J. Walter Thompson Company) as its advertising and brand communications agency. JWT Worldwide has over 145 years of marketing experience and its clients include global brand leaders like Nike, Ford Motor Company, Microsoft, Nestle, Unilever and thousands more globally. We are looking forward to working with them on our first project, a press release launching the EMerge Alliance.
Nextek Power Mentioned in New York Times Bestseller
February 11th, 2010A friend just woke us up to the fact that Nextek was identified (along with the prettiest girls at the dance, Google and Intel) as a company “plugging the big energy leaks built into existing systems” in the New York Times bestseller Earth: The Sequel, The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming By Fred Krupp and Miriam Horn, pg 203.
Fascinating Lecture by Thomas Friedman
February 8th, 2010Guest Blogger: Paul Savage, CEO, Nextek Power Systems
I was glad to join Debra Jacobson, the Co-Director of the George Washington University Solar Institute, at Thomas Friedman’s lecture on her campus last week. Friedman, a New York Times Columnist and Pulitzer Prize winning author based his talk on his book Hot, Flat and Crowded and focused on the need for an Energy Technology (ET) Revolution. This, he says, needs to be forceful and eventful, like the IT revolution was, leaving companies like the Digital Equipment Corporation in its wake. He argues that there needs to be, necessarily, stranded ideas and assets in this revolution, like old utility business models and a few veins of coal, I am guessing. The force of Mr. Friedman’s talk was exciting for me because it’s sounds like a good preamble to our business plan to bring solar PV to commodity use through DC Microgrids. Higher efficiency for renewables and stored power, greater independence and choice for customers, benefits for the grid as it’s designed today are all consequences of this shift, which sounds like a revolution to me.
Paul Savage at the Green Building Power Forum
February 1st, 2010Last week Paul Savage, Nextek CEO, participated in the Green Building Power Forum put on by the Darnell Group, this year out in Santa Ana, CA. It’s the third GBPF; the first was in Anaheim, the second in Tokyo. While the attendance was flat (apparently a good sign amidst the economic doldrums) it was an indicator of swift movement in the DC power realm. The EMerge Alliance was a sponsor along with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and Roal Electronics from Italy. Big news was the bump in attendance from Japanese corporations. Sharp, Panasonic, Fujitsu, NTT Facilities and JETIA were all there, following their successful conference in Tokyo a few months ago, where it was announced that the country was adopting a 380 volt DC standard for data center applications. Now – in the Japanese press anyway – several demos of DC single family homes are underway. The US had just one building materials manufacturer in attendance. We have plans to build a DC model home soon with some top-drawer US partners, hopefully some collaboration with our Japanese colleagues and some German outfits that have cut the path on modern passive strategies for ultra efficient building design.
Nextek CEO to be Featured at MSSLA Event
January 14th, 2010
Nextek Power Sytems CEO, Paul Savage, will be the featured speaker at a Michigan Solid State Lighting Association networking event on February 25, 2010 at 3:00 pm. at the Altair Engineering Headquarters, 1820 East Big Beaver Road, Troy, MI 48083. The topic is: “The EMerge Alliance for DC Power Distribution” and it will be focused on the benefit to LED technology vendors. Please join us! DTE Energy is a founding member of MSSLA.
Nextek Heads to Anaheim for Green Building Power Forum
January 5th, 2010This month Paul Savage, CEO of Nextek Power Systems, will be headed to Anaheim, California to participate in the Second Annual Green Building Power Forum sponsored by the Darnell Group. This year’s forum will consider all aspects of building power including both high-voltage and low-voltage DC distribution, hybrid AC and DC distribution architectures, and DC microgrids. Our very own Paul Savage will be participating in a round table discussion titled “How to Accelerate the Adoption of DC Power Distribution”. Other events sponsored by the Darnell Group have been very successful, including the DC Building Power Japan conference this past December. This first annual conference included numerous important “firsts” including the first comprehensive review of DC power architectures for homes, data centers and microgrids. The first joint meeting of the EPRI DC Power Partners and the Japan DC Power Industrial Partners. The approval of a provisional standard for 380v DC data centers and the first public tours of high-voltage DC powered data centers…very exciting news!
Nextek CEO Writes Paper for REIL
December 14th, 2009Recently, Paul Savage, Nextek President and CEO wrote a paper titled “Re-Inventing the Grid With Your iPhone“ for the Renewable Energy & International Law Project (REIL) to distribute at the Copenhagen Treaty talks going on this month.
Nextek Featured in Chinese www.chip.com Article
December 11th, 2009早在2006年，美国能源部下属的劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室（Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory，LBNL）就进行了以直流方式向数据中心的服务器供电的试验。据该实验室介绍，运行着多台服务器的数据中心所消耗的电力，相当于面 积相同的普通办公楼的100倍，如果消除目前进行的交直流转换过程，每台服务器的耗电量至少可减少9.34％。除LBNL外，包括美国思科、英特尔、美国 Nextek电力系统、日本NTT FACILITIES和Sun等共29家公司也参加这一试验。此次试验设置了在380V直流电压下工作的Sun服务器群和配备英特尔微处理器的服务器群。 作为比较对象，还同时运行了配置相同，利用普通交流电运行的服务群。减少交直流转换过程，除了可以削减相应的设备费用外，还可减少发热量，降低数据中心制 冷设备所消耗的电力。以直流方式运行的数据中心还可以使用太阳能电池、燃料电池等绿色直流发电设备，进一步降低碳排放量。
To read the entire chip.com article click here.