Energy User News articles from February 2004

Energy User News archives from February 2004

FERC pushes limits on reliability; critics oppose new 'activism'.(Federal Energy Regulatory Commission)
February 1, 2004... WASHINGTON, DC -- The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) appears once again to be on a path that may ruffle some feathers. Critics of the agency blame it for not acting swiftly and decisively in the California energy crisis. Others...

Key EPA officials resign, staff complains of political pressure.(Environmental Protection Agency)
February 1, 2004... WASHINGTON, DC -- In the latest of a series of resignations that suggest discontent within the agency, the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) chief enforcement officer, John Peter Suarez, announced on January 5 that he would leave office...

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.(EUNTicker)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has ordered Ohio utility FirstEnergy Corp. to pay for an independent study of the state's power grid, where the massive August 2003 blackout is believed to have started. FERC gave the Akron,...

Caterpillar Inc.(EUNTicker)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Caterpillar Inc. on December 15 joined other U.S. diesel engine manufacturers in announcing its intention to meet 2007 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency emissions standards without the use of costly and complex SCR (selective catalytic...

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) seated two new commissioners following their Senate confirmation in November.(EUNTicker)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) seated two new commissioners following their Senate confirmation in November. Joseph T. Kelliher was majority counsel to the House energy committee before becoming senior policy advisor to...

The Midwest Independent System Operator and the PJM Interconnection, two major regional transmission market overseers serving 22 states, have agreed to share detailed information on their operations.(EUNTicker)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... The Midwest Independent System Operator and the PJM Interconnection, two major regional transmission market overseers serving 22 states, have agreed to share detailed information on their operations. Preliminary reports have said that...

KeySpan Corp.(EUNTicker)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... KeySpan Corp. said it successfully tested a new 250-MW power plant to serve New York City, the first major plant to be built in the city since deregulation of the power industry in the late 1990s. The new natural-gas fueled plant at KeySpan's...

Seven electric cooperatives.(EUNTicker)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Seven electric cooperatives in Virginia are opening their service territories to competition from other suppliers January 7, the final step in the state's two-year process of deregulating power-generation service, according to local news...

EUN calendar.(News)(Calendar)
February 1, 2004... FEBRUARY 9-13 Ceraweek 2004 Executive Conference, Westin Galleria & Oaks, Houston, TX. Cambridge Energy Research Associates. For mole information, contact: (617) 866-5000 or visit: www.ceraweek.com MARCH 1-3 PowerGen Renewable,...

Federal court blocks NSR rule for now.(News)(New Source Review)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... WASHINGTON, DC -- A federal court on December 24 dealt a major blow to the Bush administration's plan to change a key provision of the Clean Air Act. The U.S. Court of Appeals granted a coalition of environmental groups" motion to stay...

Fastow pleads: a rose is a rose.(Editorial: opinions and commentary from the editor)
February 1, 2004... Pete Rose helped me gain this simple understanding of markets. The basis of a market-regulated or unregulated--is trust. Regulations are merely expressions of a market's ethos put into law. Some markets, because they traffic in illegal...

Selling real-time metering up the management chain: resistance is inevitable.(Energy online: management information systems)(United States Green Building Council)
February 1, 2004... Three significant--yet unrelated--trends will result in more real-time energy metering and management. Trends toward the recognition of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and the increased awareness of integrated systems and...

Power densities change data center cooling: when mainframes ruled the data center, water was a coolant.
February 1, 2004... The emitter-coupled logic (ECL) technology used by early generation mainframes was bulky by today's standards, consuming a lot of power and generating a lot of heat. ECL-based systems required a constant supply of chilled water to ensure...

Cooling the supercomputer cluster at Virginia Tech.
February 1, 2004... When Virginia Tech University launched a project to build one of the world's fastest supercomputers by clustering more than one thousand 64-bit microprocessors, heat removal was an issue that had to be addressed. Liebert analyzed the...

Commercial building controls: barriers & opportunities; encouraging greater penetration.
February 1, 2004... Building controls, particularly as part of an energy management and control system (EMCS), can manage a wide range of different building functions. The centralized nature of EMCS offers the potential for increased data/information exchange...

Modular metal-enclosed switchgear from S&C Electric.(Products literature & services: metering, lighting, and back up power)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... PMX modular metal-enclosed switchgear, the latest addition to the company's product line, combines the flexibility of S&C System 11 switchgear with the cost effectiveness of compact, low-profile, pad-mounted gear, the company says. Any number...

Compact fluorescent flood from RAB Electric.(Products literature & services: metering, lighting, and backup power)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... The fluorescent flood is a die-cast aluminum floodlight, using 42 watts to produce a white light that is more economical than metal halide, the manufacturer says. The 42-W lamp is supplied with the luminaire, which features a high power...

MAC-based software for data loggers from Onset Computer.(Products literature & services: metering, lighting, and back up power)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... HOBOware is a Mac-based data logger software package for the company's high-resolution, direct-USB HOBO U12 data loggers. The software combines fast, easy logger launch and readout functions with data plotting and analysis capabilities,...

Direct-indirect luminaire from Williams.(Products literature & services: metering, lighting, and backup power)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... New DDI direct-indirect luminaire gives specifiers a new option for lighting spaces where pendants won't work, parabolics would be too dark, and traditional wraparounds would be too plain, the manufacturer maintains. DDI's arched wings...

300-kW CHP module from Cummins.(Products literature & services: metering, lighting, and backup power)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Cummins Power Generation has introduced a new 300-kW combined heat and power (CHP) module that produces electricity and hot water from a single source of fuel (natural gas). The self-contained unit includes a Cummins 300-kW lean-burn gas...

Extech programmer with printer for datalogger.(Products literature & services: metering, lighting, and backup power)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Extech now offers a program met with a printer for its temperature/humidity datalogger, Model 42275, which features a wide operating range of -40[degrees] to 185[degrees]F. The datalogger can store up to 16,000 measurements. The...

Diesel gen set from Caterpillar.(Products literature & services: metering, lighting, and backup power)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Ready-to-run, full-featured system includes base, exhaust flex, charging alternator, battery, rack and cable, and power termination strips or circuit breaker. In addition, a wide range of bolt-on, factory-designed and -tested attachments is...

Landscape lighting catalog from Lumiere.(Products literature & services: metering, lighting, and backup power)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Lumiere, a brand of Cooper Lighting, has published a 130page, full-color catalog entitled Landscape Lighting Solutions. It features low-voltage, line-voltage, and HID landscape lighting luminaires for a wide variety of commercial...

Universal Lighting Technologies ULTim8 product literature.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... ULTim8 lighting ballasts are featured in product literature that provides easy-to-understand specification information, catalog numbers, wiring diagrams, and appropriate lamp applications. The company says its high-efficiency ballast family...

Digital recorder from PMI.(Products literature & services: metering, lighting, and backup power)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... The ViP digital recorder is a power-quality and power-flow recorder, a logger, and a harmonics analyzer rolled into one. The recorder calculates and displays all power and harmonic values in real-time, without requiring a personal computer....

Electric power management system from Dranetz/Electrotek.(Products literature & services: metering, lighting, and back up power)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... The Signature System collects and communicates information to help identify the root cause of power quality problems and improve the performance and reliability of the user's power system infrastructure. A data management and decision-support...

World Trade Center's Freedom Tower to feature wind turbines.(News)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... NEW YORK, NY -- New York officials unveiled plans for the Freedom Tower the centerpiece of new construction at the World Trade Center site on December 19th, including plans to incorporate wind turbines that will generate 20% of the building's...

I=B=R hydronic heating courses draw strong response.(News)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... The Hydronics Institute (HI) Division of GAMA recently reintroduced their I=B=R schools with six sessions in four states. The courses were held during November 2003 in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Minnesota and drew nearly 220...

Gas hydrates: will they be part of the future global energy mix?(News)
February 1, 2004... For the first time, an international research program involving the Department of the Interior's U.S. Geological Survey has proven that it is technically feasible to produce gas from gas hydrates. Gas hydrates are a nat urally occurring...

Degree days for selected cities: December.(Marketplace and data: statistics, trends & energy data)(Illustration)
February 1, 2004... DEGREE DAYS For Selected Cities December City Monthly Monthly Monthly Total Deviation Deviation from norm from Last ...

Weather hedging: Chicago mercantile exchange weather futures prices.(Marketplace and data: statistics, trends & energy data)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
February 1, 2004... Weather Hedging: Chicago Mercantile Exchange Weather Futures Prices Each Degree Day valued at $100 per contract Location Dec Jan Feb March Atlanta, GA 674 678 475 335 Boston,...

Gas price comparison.(Marketplace and data: statistics, trends & energy data)(Illustration)
February 1, 2004... Gas Price Comparison Breakeven Rates 4th Q-02 1st Q-03 2nd-Q-03 Large Office (150,000 [ft.sup.2]) Boston Gas (Boston, MA) ...

Ranking of electricity prices commercial.(Marketplace and data: statistics, trends & energy data)(Illustration)
February 1, 2004... Ranking of Electricity Prices Commercial Rank Cls/kWh ST UTILITY %Total kWh 1 24.13 AK Bethel Utilities Corp 0.006% 2 20.96 CA Southern California Water...

Power curtailment funding report.(Marketplace and data: statistics, trends & energy data)(Illustration)
February 1, 2004... Power Curtailment Funding Report State Utility Utility Website AK Anchorage Municipal Light and www.mlandp.com Power AL Baldwin Electric Membership www.baldwinemc.com ...

Ranking of gas utility prices by state commercial.(Marketplace and data: statistics, trends & energy data)(Illustration)
February 1, 2004... Ranking of Gas Utility Prices By State Commercial Rank State Price/Mcf 1 Hawaii $19.31 2 Rhode Island $12.80 3 New Hampshire $11.76 4 ...