Issue 360 - 31/07/2020

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New Delhi : Lowing its dependency on
diesel-powered backup generators,
Microsoft is testing hydrogen fuel cells for
backup power at its data centres and the initial
results are encouraging.
In a worldwide first that could jumpstart a
long-forecast clean energy economy built
around the most abundant element in the universe,
hydrogen fuel cells powered a row of
data centre servers for 48 consecutive hours,
Microsoft announced this week.
For 48 hours of backup power generation,
each data centre would require up to 100,000
kg of hydrogen to fuel the backup generators
for an extended power outage.
Diesel fuel currently accounts for less
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Inconsistent opening round for
Shubhankar at Hero Open
Birmingham : Shubhankar Sharma had
an eagle, three birdies, two bogeys and two
double bogeys in the first round at the Hero
Open, which is the second event on the UK
Swing. The 24-year-old Indian, Chandigarh
golfer, paid the penalty of two wayward
shots and ended the first day with a one-over
73 in the Hero Open.
Shubhankar had birdies on second, ninth
and 12th and an eagle on third. His bogeys
came on fourth and 11th and double bogeys
came on 10th and 13th at the Forest of Arden
Marriott Hotel & Country Club that saw him
drop a bunch of shots.
Spain’s Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez fired
a stunning 62 to hold the clubhouse lead on
day one, as fellow Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal
shot 64. Veteran Miguel Angel Jimenez, the
56-year-old playing his record 707th
European Tour event, was five-under
through 10 holes with five birdies. Rasmus
Hojgaard of Denmark with 66 was third,
while Oliver Farr was also six under with
two more holes to go.
"Frankly, despite the over par round, I felt
I played well. Just the tee shot on 10th and
13th cost me a lot. On 10th, I hit it slightly to
the left and then did not have a shot, so
chipped out and then missed an up-and-down
too. On 13th, the wind took the tee shot a little
too much to the left and I lost the ball,"
said Shubhankar. "I feel I can get it all back
tomorrow."
He was however pleased with the eagle, "I
hit two good shots and holed a 15-footer for
eagle. I had two other birdies with nice
approach shots."
On the experience of getting to the UK
Microsoft tests hydrogen fuel
cells to backup its Azure Cloud
than 1 per cent of Microsoft’s overall emissions
and its use is primarily confined to
Azure data centres. "They (diesel fuel) are
expensive. And they sit around and don’t do
anything for more than 99 per cent of their
life," said Mark Monroe, a principle infrastructure
engineer on Microsoft’s team for
datacenter advanced development.
In recent years, hydrogen fuel cell costs
have plummeted to the point that they are
now an economically viable alternative to
diesel-powered backup generators.
"The idea of running them on green
hydrogen fits right in with our overall carbon
commitments," Monroe said.
An Azure data centre outfitted with fuel
and spending time in a bubble, he said, "The
flight was fine and the immigration was
smooth because all the formalities had been
done before taking off. At the event, we were
tested and we are now in a bubble and meals
are just me and my caddie Gurbaaz and we
all maintain social distancing."
cells, a hydrogen storage tank and an electrolyzer
that converts water molecules into
hydrogen and oxygen could be integrated
with the electric power grid to provide load
balancing services.
For example, the electrolyzer could be
turned on during periods of excess wind or
solar energy production to store the renewable
energy as hydrogen.
Then, during periods of high demand,
Microsoft could start up the hydrogen fuel
cells to generate electricity for the grid.
Hydrogen-powered long-haul vehicles
could pull up at data centres to fill their
tanks.
"All of that infrastructure represents an
opportunity for Microsoft to play a role in
what will surely be a more dynamic kind of
overall energy optimization framework that
the world will be deploying over the coming
years," said Lucas Joppa, Microsoft’s chief
environmental officer.
Scientists have already proved that hydrogen
fuel cells can be used to generate greenhouse
gas-free energy from the most abundant
element in the universe.
Backup generators are fired up during
power grid outages and other service interruptions.
Microsoft is researching replacement
technologies to diesel that would maintain
or improve service availability and sees
promise in hydrogen fuel cells and batteries.
The feat is the latest milestone in the company’s
commitment to be carbon negative by
2030. To help achieve that goal and accelerate
the global transition away from fossil
fuels, Microsoft is also aiming to eliminate
its dependency on diesel fuel by 2030, said
the company.
31/07/2020
33
3 in every 4 smartphones
shipped in India were
Chinese in Q2
New Delhi : Despite the supply chain issues and curtailed domestic
production owing to lockdowns, almost three in four smartphones
shipped in India during the June quarter
were Chinese, a new report said on
Thursday. An immediate beneficiary
of the challenges facing the Chinese
smartphone brands was Samsung
which had an efficient supply chain in
place, according to CMR’s ’India
Mobile Handset Market Review’. With
a resilient supply chain, Samsung was
able to arrest its declining market
share and improve upon its market
share to 24 per cent in Q2.
"It remains to be seen if Samsung is
able to maintain its market performance in the coming quarters, garner
consumer demand, and compete against, and challenge the dominance
of Chinese smartphone brands," explained Amit Sharma,
Manager-Industry Intelligence Group, CMR. The third quarter will
be the real test to demonstrate whether Samsung’s demand side is
gaining momentum.
During the Q2, the cumulative market share of Chinese smartphone
brands dipped to 73 per cent which is akin to the levels last
seen in Q3 2019. The total smartphone shipments in India in the June
quarter declined by a whopping 41 per cent (quarter-on-quarter) and
48 per cent (year-on-year) owing to the nationwide lockdown.
Xiaomi (30 per cent), Samsung (24 per cent) and Vivo (17 per
cent) rounded off the top three spots.
While Nokia smartphone share declined, Apple held onto the
eighth position in the top 10 smartphone leaderboard, on the back of
good demand for iPhone SE (2020), according to the report.
Xiaomi’s Redmi 8A Dual, Redmi 8 and Redmi Note 8 together
contributed to more than 60 per cent of its overall shipments.
For Samsung, Galaxy M11, A21S and A31 contributed to almost
50 per cent of its overall shipments.
Vivo’s eV’ and eY’ series were most popular. The Y17 and Y91i
along with newly released Y50 contributed to more than 55 per cent
of its overall shipments.
For Realme, C2, C3, 5i and the newly launched Narzo series contributed
to three-fourth of realme shipments.
OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro contributed to one third of its Q2 shipments
and three fourth of all 5G shipments in Q2, said the report.
Kohli, Anushka pledge to help people
hit by floods in Assam, Bihar
Mumbai : India cricket team captain Virat Kohli and his actress
wife Anushka Sharma have pledged to help people hit by the devastating
floods in Assam and Bihar.
Over 16 lakh people in
1,536 villages across 21 of
Assam’s 33 districts are still
affected by flood, according
to Assam State Disaster
Management Authority
(ASDMA) officials. More
than 100 human lives have
been lost in the state due to
floods. In Bihar, more than
20 lakh people have been
affected by the floods and
many lives have been lost.
Kohli took to social media on Thursday to announce his support to
three organisations which, according to him, have been doing credible
work in this regard.
"While our country is in the midst of coronavirus pandemic, people
in Assam and Bihar are also suffering due to the devastating
floods that have affected so many lives and livelihood," Kohli wrote
on his Twitter handle. "While we continue to pray for the people of
Assam and Bihar, Anushka and I have also pledged to help those in
need by supporting these three organisations that have been doing
credible work in flood relief and welfare.
"If this resonates with you, please reach out to support these states
through these organisations," he added.
Earlier, former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen had also
expressed sympathy towards the people of Assam and had tweeted:
"My thoughts are with all the most beautiful people I met during my
trip to Assam in March, where the horrible life-threatening flood is
currently destroying lives. PLEASE BE SAFE!" India football captain
Sunil Chhetri had also called for attention and assistance for the
northeastern state which has been battling with floods amid the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic. "Along with the prayers, Assam needs as
much attention and help as possible to recover from the floods it is
under," Chhetri had said in a tweet. "There’s been considerable loss
of life -- both man and animal and I can only sincerely hope that the
numbers don’t rise," he added.