Commentary
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Feb 13, 2003 |
Energy delivery utilities are facing unprecedented challenges in terms of load growth, capacity constraints, demands for high reliability and pressure to reduce O&M expenditures and to maximize return on capital. Optimizing the cost-effective utilization of their Transmission and Distribution assets is key to resolving these challenges. -
Feb 10, 2003 |
As a corporate energy manager, your primary energy service provider just filed for bankruptcy, your local utility provider is failing to make earnings projections and several of your traditional energy suppliers are exiting the trading business. Your job is on the line to continue to minimize energy costs and consumption. What can you do to overcome the potentially career-limiting energy challenges about to overwhelm you? The answer is Energy Solutions Outsourcing (ESO). -
Jan 31, 2003 |
The software industry has sharply declined in the markets over the last three years. Software development companies departments saw a severe drop in their revenues and corporate IT budgets were reduced drastically. At the same time, the user base grew and the requirements for more software infrastructure and applications increased. These opposite trends forced executives to look for cost effective solutions: build more for less money. -
Jan 30, 2003 |
The United States Government has introduced competition in various industries for the ultimate benefit of the consumer. In most industries deregulation has been successful. Examples are the Airline, Telecommunication etc. industries where prices have appreciably gone down over the years with the introduction of many players in the market. -
Jan 28, 2003 |Like any thoughtful investigator of technological innovations in the water and wastewater treatment industry, I am quite reluctant to call something a “no brainer”. But, every once in a while something gives me pause: A technology with a long history of reliability, a minimal degree of complexity, and one widely and successfully implemented might qualify. But then how is it innovative?
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Jan 23, 2003 |
While there have long been those very few (e.g. Lovins & Lovins) who have pointed out the vulnerability of the grid to physical attack, they had been largely ignored until the event of 9/11/01. That showed that the critical infrastructure of the nation was potentially at greater risk from terrorism than had been previously imagined. -
Jan 22, 2003 |
As part of its work with numerous electric, gas and water utilities, Indus International has developed an integration framework and functional capabilities to support the use of Geographical Information System (GIS) capabilities across a wide range of utility functions, in coordination with our Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) solution. -
Jan 14, 2003 |
Federal, state, and Canadian authorities recently completed the "Blue Cascades" project, a simulated terrorist attack on the Pacific Northwest's power grid. The study, which included companies such as Boeing, Pacific Gas & Electric, Verizon and Qwest, showed that such an attack, if successful, could wreak havoc on the nation's economy, shutting down power and productivity in a domino effect that would last weeks. -
Jan 08, 2003 |
Demand response is an essential component of a well-functioning market. Historically, however, U.S. electricity markets have experienced relatively little demand response by end-use customers. As a result, electricity markets have been prone to price spikes, wholesale price volatility, concerns about system reliability, economic inefficiency, and market power abuses. -
Jan 06, 2003 |
It’s no mystery why electricity providers try to avoid power disruption to their customers. From a momentary interruption to a full blackout, any disturbance is costly to the provider and consumer alike. Six days of rolling blackouts in 2001 cost Silicon Valley businesses more than $1 billion according to the San Jose Mercury News. A report released by the Electric Power Research Institute's (EPRI) Consortium for Electrical Infrastructure to Support a Digital Society (CEIDS) notes that U.S. businesses lose over $45 billion annually from outages.
