UK-based technology company Extreme Low Energy (ELe) has developed a new battery system that can power a wide range of computers for approximately eight years.
After conducting tests for five months, engineers from the University of Manchester demonstrated the product is capable of supplying power to 30 computers for seven hours every day.
The University of Manchester's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Dr Rebecca Todd said: “We applied our findings specifically to consider the use of the ELe POD in educational establishments and concluded that an average school should be able to use the POD system for over 14 years before the battery reaches 80% capacity.”
The POD enables energy storage in high-performance lithium-ion batteries that are charged overnight to make use of off-peak energy tariffs before generating electricity to ELe’s suite of low energy personal computers (PC) and monitors. When used with a low-energy computing suite, can enable organisations to save a minimum of 70% in energy costs.
ELe's founder Mark Buchanan said: “As a specialist in the manufacturing of energy storage technologies and alternative energy generation devices, the POD is just one innovative product we offer to help customers operate partially or fully off-grid.
“We were confident about the longevity of our POD before the testing, but the findings certainly impressed us.
“We're sure that the results of these independent tests will help prove the value of our direct current (DC)-power solutions and technologies to potential customers both in the UK and overseas.”
Capable of serving also as a back-up generator, the latest low energy system is attracting interest from several schools across developing African countries.