Was Thomas Edison Right about DC Power?

Declan McCullagh writes "Everyone knows the alternating vs. direct current wars ended with Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. But now DC power is being seriously considered for data centers. DC advocates say that plugging servers into AC power is inefficient, and switching to DC cuts down on waste heat and component failure. The University of Florida has even bought 200 DC servers."

New Power System

[9mm Censor]

I heard of this new power system. Seems like a mix of AC and DC, to create the ultimate power form. AC *lightningbolt* DC was the name, and with a lightning bolt in the name, it has to strike you like thunder.

Re:New Power System

[hpa]

AC/DC, it's okay by me... [stlyrics.com]

Perfect

[HangingChad]

Let's see, how do we get a functioning data center to not just replace their computers, but their whole infrastructure? Replace AC with DC!

Brilliant!

Re:Uhh...

[Morky]

Uhh.. is a fucking arrogant subject line and even worse when you're fucking wrong.

Re:They were both right...and wrong...

[daniel_mcl]

"Ever try to drive a nail with a screwdriver?"

Nope, but I've put in screws with a hammer, even when I had a screwdriver on hand.

How Tesla can still make electricity

[Dukeofshadows]

Wrap the casket in copper, replace the headstone with a magnet, and expose corpse to this article. As Tesla turns in grave, free power.

Number one with a bullet, I'm a power pack!

[mudshark]

Back in black!
Yes, I'm back in black!

[tap tap]

Hey, who turned off the microphone?

Re:"220?"

[B5_geek]

"220, 240. Whatever it takes."

Re:Was Edison right?

[Liam Slider]

Never argue with a man that has a death ray.

I keep telling the authorities this...but they still won't give me my ONE MILLION DOLLARS.

Re:Sensationalist, but effectively correct

[MillionthMonkey]

I don't understand this whole issue with AC and DC. Both require massive investments in overhead wiring, which despoils the beauty of our suburbia, causes copper shortages, introduces losses from line transmission, requires odd things to be done to trees, and gives birds a comfortable place to sit directly above your car.

Why not just deliver the electricity off a truck like everything else in life? This country has gotten so "addicted" to current electricity that we've forgotten that static electricity even exists. A single charged capacitor can supply enough power to run a modern datacenter; the only limitation is capacitance. Say your datacenter runs on 10 kilowatts (that's just a guess) so you need 240 kWh of power a day, or 864,000,000 Joules of energy. Can a capacitor deliver that amount of power?

Sure it can, if it has enough capacitance. Energy storage is 0.5*C*V^2. Say the cap is 1 Farad, and we choose a reasonable charge voltage of 500 kV. [google.com] How much energy is that? 125,000,000,000 Joules! WOW! That will keep you all set for 144.675926 days of continuous uptime! Every couple months, the electricity truck arrives and delivers your charged cap, and you give your spent cap back to the electricity man to be recharged at some high-sulfur coal plant in another state. (That means recycling which will help get the "greens" on board.)

Of course then, you have the nitpickers. "But what about the gasoline for the truck? Isn't that a wasteful means of electricity transmission?" Just use the energy in the caps to run the truck! It's like hydrogen! Hydrogen has already been shown to be politically viable.

Re:How Tesla can still make electricity

[SinGunner]

This is the 3rd or 4th time I've read about free power from people spinning in their graves.

Is this a new Slashdot cliche in the works? Will it be added to soviet russia, elderly koreans and the like?

Someone has to say it...

[schon]

Is this a new Slashdot cliche in the works? Will it be added to soviet russia, elderly koreans and the like?

In Soviet Korea, elderly dead people spin YOU!

Re:Sensationalist, but effectively correct

[Waffle Iron]

Considering that it would be storing the energy equivalent of 30 tons of TNT, if you were to notice the lid starting to bulge on that cap, it would be wise to run like hell.

Re:Sensationalist, but effectively correct

[crysysone]

Considering that many rural homes have large above ground propane tanks that store a sizable fraction of that energy in the backyard, I don't see a problem. A 350 gallon propane tank is storing about 32,200,000Btu. That is 33,972,799,980J or roughly a quarter of the speculative 144 day capacitor backup.

That tank is also equivalant to a bit over 8 tons of TNT to continue the sensationalist stats. Good god, they let just about anyone have these things! I used to play on one as a child and bang it with sticks and tools because it made a cool sound! [sarcasm]Where the hell is Homeland Security! We must eliminate this terror threat from our counties![/sarcasm]

1 ton of TNT = 4.185x10^9 Joules
1 gallon of Propane = 92,000 Btu
92,000 Btu = 97,065,142.8 Joules

Re:How Tesla can still make electricity

[ConceptJunkie]

Actually, with Tesla, if you did it right, you wouldn't need a grid... just stick a metal rod in the ground where you want the power delivered. ;-)