Northern leaders state case for Green Industrial Revolution
Northern leaders have set out their case for a Green Industrial Revolution in the North that could create jobs, reduce energy bills and help tackle climate change.
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Tag: Case
The Case for Lightweight Flame-Resistant Clothing
About six years ago, I was excited and eager to have regular opportunities to get out from behind my computer-aided design (CAD) workstation and visit our utility’s substations, transmission line right of ways (ROWs), and telecom sites throughout our service area in Texas. Most of us engineers and technicians looked forward to these inspections as a chance to escape the confines of our cubicles.
However, for many, the thought of putting on the hot, heavy, and uncomfortable lab coats we were using at the time was extremely unpopular, especially in the Texas heat. It didn’t take long for me to see their point. One engineer who was close to retirement told me, “I don’t even go out in the field anymore, because I’m afraid of having a heat stroke. At my age, it’s a health hazard.” Even though field verification is a necessary part of design-build companies’ best practices, many employees may still be reluctant to wear flame-resistant (FR) clothing to complete the task.…
The Curious Case of a Two-Billion-Year-Old Nuclear Reactor
A rock sample from Oklo in Gabon, the world’s oldest and only natural reactor. Courtesy: IAEA Bulletin
Scientists appear to have unraveled the mystery of uranium ore found at a mine in Oklo region of the Central African state of Gabon that exhibits a lower proportion of uranium-235 (U-235)—the fissile sort.
According to an August 10 bulletin from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the first response that physicists had when they first found the high-grade ore in 1972 was that it wasn’t natural: “At first, all the physicists could think of was that the uranium ore had gone through artificial fission, i.e. that some of the U-235 isotopes had been forced to split in a nuclear chain reaction. This could explain why the ratio was lower than normal,” the bulletin says.
All natural uranium today contains 0.720% of U-235. “If you were to extract it from the Earth’s crust, or from rocks from the moon or in meteorites, that’s what you would find.…
Utility Managers Build Business Case for Digital Technologies
The rise of digital technologies for power plants has moved in fits and starts over the past several years, with some generators quickly embracing digitization of their assets while others are looking to justify potential investments.
Suppliers of digital technologies have widely marketed the benefits, but many generators are looking to current end users for information about what the implementation of digitization means for their plants. Presenters at POWER magazine’s ELECTRIC POWER Conference + Exhibition on March 22 talked about the benefits—and some of the challenges—they’ve experienced with digitization at their facilities, in a session titled “Building a Business Case for Digital Technologies.”
Phillip Yakimow, manager and principal engineer for performance monitoring for Xcel Energy; Michael Reid, general manager for technical programs for Duke Energy; Crystal Bettinger, supervisor of predictive maintenance at Westar Energy’s Jeffrey Energy Center in Kansas; and Brian Wolf, lead performance and optimization consultant for Black & Veatch, presented case studies outlining how digitization has worked at their plants.…
Trade Case Causes Stir at International Solar Conference
Hanging like a thick fog over the proceedings of the annual Solar Power International (SPI) conference in Las Vegas, an ongoing trade case cast uncertainty on the industry. The case, which pits two solar manufacturers against just about everybody else in the industry, was the focus of several panels and nearly all side conversation at the conference, which ran September 11–13.
The petitioners, Suniva and SolarWorld, argue that imports of foreign made solar modules have made it impossible for them to compete in the industry. They ask that the International Trade Commission (ITC) recommend significant tariffs on all foreign made modules.
However, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and representatives from several major solar companies argue that the tariffs would cripple the U.S. solar industry. Opponents of the tariffs go so far as to allege that the problems Suniva and SolarWorld have had in the industry are wholly due to their own business practices.
“This is a case about companies that are saying they can’t compete.…
Enviros Call for Court Decision in Clean Power Plan Case
Given that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) isn’t going to be taking any substantial action to rewrite the Clean Power Plan anytime soon, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit should not postpone a decision in the court case against the rule, an August 4 document filed by a group of environmental intervenors in the case argues.
The case against the Clean Power Plan was argued in court on September 27, 2016, before a panel of 10 judges. In the more than ten months since the hearing, the court has not issued a decision in the case.
The situation got more complicated after the election of President Donald Trump, an opponent of the rule, and the nomination of former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who had sued the former administration’s EPA over the rule, as the new administrator of the EPA.
Pruitt’s EPA announced right away that it would be reviewing the rule, as he believes it represents an overreach of the EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act.…