Electric Light & Power articles from May 2009

Electric Light & Power archives from May 2009

Events.(Brief article)(Calendar)
May 1, 2009... JUNE June 17-19 2nd Annual Utility of the Future Conference: Navigating energy sustainability KEMA Washington, D.C. www.kemaforums.com/thefuture June 23-24 Renewable Energy Finance Forum-Wall Street ...

Yucca Mountain still: a no-go after 20 years.(Commentary)
May 1, 2009... Having worked 13 years at a nuclear power plant before transitioning to magazine editor, I have been a nuclear energy proponent for many years. I've been pleased and excited about what seemed like--for a while, at least--the rebirth of the...

Green-collar jobs.(COLUMN: EE: Principles and Practices)
May 1, 2009... There is excitement among energy companies about the growth in energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energy projects. This growth is being fueled rapidly by national and state initiatives and legislation such as the American Recovery and...

Who will administer the greenhouse gas market?(COLUMN: Taking It Into Account)
May 1, 2009... The effectiveness of legislation to cap and trade greenhouse gases (GHGs) might depend on the choice of program administrator. Thoughtful assessment of regulatory competencies and experience and not jurisdictional turf battles should guide...

The importance of SAFETY Act protections for the electric power industry.(COLUMN: Benefit of Counsel)
May 1, 2009... Recent press reports have significantly raised public awareness of the vulnerability to cyberattacks of our nation's energy infrastructure. These reports quickly captured the attention of legislators and regulators in Washington, D.C., and...

Self-audits, mock audits and assessments: are you prepared for a regulatory investigation?(COLUMNS: Economic Inquiry)
May 1, 2009... July 1, certain North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) requirements will be in the auditably compliant (AC) stage. Pre-identified companies subject to cybersecurity standards of the critical infrastructure protection (CIP) rules will...

Protecting critical cyberassets: through NERC CIP mandates.(Industry Report)
May 1, 2009... For a bulk electricity provider, developing and maintaining a strong cybersecurity posture can be challenging for many reasons. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Systems used for the safe, reliable operation of bulk electric power infrastructure...

How secure is our infrastructure? Pointing the finger at SCADA system vulnerability.(Industry Report)(supervisory control and data acquisition)
May 1, 2009... In 2008, the CIA confirmed that online attackers caused at least one power outage that affected multiple cities internationally. Ensuing reports revealed that multiple international regions had experienced cyberintrusions into utilities...

Regulatory cooperation is key in dealing with credit crisis.(Finance)
May 1, 2009... Everyone--consumers, small businesses and large corporations--feels the effects of the credit crisis. For the U.S. electric power industry, one of the nation's most capital-intensive industries, the economic issues sharply magnify its need for...

Have you scrubbed your Congressman today?(Finance)
May 1, 2009... The lack of clear environmental emission standards is causing the power generation industry to miss taking advantage of low commodity prices. Without regulatory certainty surrounding the emission of S[O.sub.2] and N[O.sub.x], many large,...

Exclusive C Three equity index: first positive month since August 2008.(Finance)
May 1, 2009... March roared out with 63 component companies positive for the month, with only 30 down. For the most part, C Three's indices were driven by general market trends, but none kept up with the overall market. The Dow Jones Industrials and the...

Tough regulation gets tougher: understanding the compliance emphasis of FERC and its regulatory counterparts.(Finance)
May 1, 2009... The financial and energy market turmoil of 2008 produced a groundswell of support for increased energy market regulation. While lower commodity prices might have reduced some of this pressure, the U.S. Congress and the new senior energy and...

What is demand response?(Energy Management)(Statistical table)
May 1, 2009... "'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.' 'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.' 'The...

Engaging consumers in EE programs.(Energy Management)
May 1, 2009... During the housing boom, consumers who bought new homes or upgraded existing havens were most concerned about features such as granite countertops, hardwood floors, bonus rooms, Viking stoves and refrigerators and steam showers. High seasonal...

Wind power: policy drivers and utility issues.(Renewables)(Cover story)
May 1, 2009... Change is in the wind. Having grown tremendously during the past several years, the wind energy industry is poised for continued expansion. Several factors are driving demand: 28 states have established renewable electricity standards (RESS),...

Renewable energies, pillar of European energy policy.(Renewables)
May 1, 2009... Until the late 1990s, low oil and energy prices without carbon constraints created the conditions for a European economy dependent on fossil fuels. At the same time these conditions acted as a brake to innovation and investments in new energy...

Making the business case for nuclear renaissance.(Generation)
May 1, 2009... The national unemployment rate in February, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, was 8.1 percent--the highest since 1983--and some economists predict it will reach or exceed 9 percent by 2010. Gross domestic product is expected to...

Grassroots nuclear advocacy.(Generation)
May 1, 2009... On a Sunday afternoon in December 2004, I visited with my sister and brother-in-law. Bruce has a Ph.D. in solid-state physics and has spent most of his career as an instructor and chairman of the electrical engineering department at the...

Is Yucca Mountain dead?(Generation)
May 1, 2009... News agencies from the Las Vegas Sun to The New York Times were reporting in May the demise of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository project. All the fuss centers around page 65 of President Barack Obama's 2010 budget overview, "A...

New coal ash use: strong, lightweight alternative to concrete without cement.(Generation)
May 1, 2009... Each year, coal-burning power plants, steel factories and similar facilities in the United States produce more than 125 million tons of waste, much of it fly and bottom ash left from combustion. Mulalo Doyoyo has plans for that material. ...

Focus on the CIO: wise guys on cyberspies, the dollar's demise.(IT/CIS & CRM)
May 1, 2009... Hardly anyone in the U.S. government or utility industry will go on record in response to an April 8 report in The Wall Street Journal that foreign cyberspies penetrated the U.S. power grid; the article itself attributes unnamed senior...

Reversing the recession.(CS Week)(Conference news)
May 1, 2009... When you serve a vital, vigorous industry such as the electric, gas, water and wastewater utilities, you must know their challenges and understand their needs. As an educational conference organization, CS Week also had to have faith that rich,...

CS Week in review.(IT/CIS & CRM)(Conference news)
May 1, 2009... More than 1,100 people attended CS Week Conference 33 from May 18-22 at the Gaylord National Harbor Resort in Washington, D.C. A main theme of the week centered on connecting and communicating with customers. Many speakers talked about changing...

Empower field workers with mobility.(T&D)
May 1, 2009... Part of optimizing performance in power and utilities groups is having the right information in the right place at the right time. In most field and plant environments, instrumentation and monitoring is widespread. Pages of graphs and reports...

Automating the field with a system solution: the next step in mobile dispatch.(T&D)
May 1, 2009... PPL Electric Utilities is not new to computer-aided dispatch and mobile device technology. Headquartered in Allentown, Pa., the transmission and distribution company serves 1.4 million customers and covers a service territory of 10,000 square...

Q1 T&D Market Index continues to fall.(T&D)
May 1, 2009... Reflecting continued economic distress, Denali Intelligence's T&D Market Index decreased 5.5 percent in the first quarter of 2009 (see Figure 1). Leading the downward pull were underlying commodities, including a 26 percent decrease in crude...

Stress test business decision support.(COLUMN: Performance and Strategy Alignment)
May 1, 2009... In our uncertain, volatile business environment, it is necessary to step back, look at our decision processes and ask, "Do we have robust processes to best manage our energy business?" Using terminology popularized by current events, this...