Thursday, November 16, 2006

Energy Efficiency I just finished listening to an Automation World Webcast with Ed Gray, Director of Energy Infrastructure of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), and Mike Johnson, Director of Marketing at Sola/HeviDuty. The subject was "Saving Money and the Environment with Energy Efficient Distribution Transformers." The gist of the presentation is the impact of EPACT, a piece of US Government legislation that requires the use of many energy-efficient products by manufacturing (and other) companies. Among the products covered are electrical distribution transformers. The net effect is that due to the law, you will eventually not be able to purchase (as soon as supply runs out) today's lower efficiency transformers. You will have to pay more for these (and other products such as lighting that fall under the provisions). The good news is--there is a life cycle savings in energy cost. The (somewhat) bad news is--for most people in the country the payback will be somewhere in the 6-7 year range. The goal of the legislation--along with US energy policy for many years--is to reduce total electrical load such that utilities will not be required to add more generating capacity. Electrical generation is a leading cause of pollution and greenhouse gases (and maybe acid rain as well). Interesting discussion. You can listen to the archived version on the AW Web site beginning tomorrow. It will require registration if you're not an AW reader. I just finished listening to an Automation World Webcast with Ed Gray, Director of Energy Infrastructure of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), and Mike Johnson, Director of Marketing at Sola/HeviDuty. The subject was "Saving Money and the Environment with Energy Efficient Distribution Transformers." The gist of the presentation is the impact of EPACT, a piece of US Government legislation that requires the use of many energy-efficient products by manufacturing (and other) companies. Among the products covered are electrical distribution transformers. The net effect is that due to the law, you will eventually not be able to purchase (as soon as supply runs out) today's lower efficiency transformers. You will have to pay more for these (and other products such as lighting that fall under the provisions). The good news is--there is a life cycle savings in energy cost. The (somewhat) bad news is--for most people in the country the payback will be somewhere in the 6-7 year range. The goal of the legislation--along with US energy policy for many years--is to reduce total electrical load such that utilities will not be required to add more generating capacity. Electrical generation is a leading cause of pollution and greenhouse gases (and maybe acid rain as well). Interesting discussion. You can listen to the archived version on the AW Web site beginning tomorrow. It will require registration if you're not an AW reader. 3:16:53 PM    comment []

Energy Efficiency I just finished listening to an Automation World Webcast with Ed Gray, Director of Energy Infrastructure of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), and Mike Johnson, Director of Marketing at Sola/HeviDuty. The subject was "Saving Money and the Environment with Energy Efficient Distribution Transformers." The gist of the presentation is the impact of EPACT, a piece of US Government legislation that requires the use of many energy-efficient products by manufacturing (and other) companies. Among the products covered are electrical distribution transformers. The net effect is that due to the law, you will eventually not be able to purchase (as soon as supply runs out) today's lower efficiency transformers. You will have to pay more for these (and other products such as lighting that fall under the provisions). The good news is--there is a life cycle savings in energy cost. The (somewhat) bad news is--for most people in the country the payback will be somewhere in the 6-7 year range. The goal of the legislation--along with US energy policy for many years--is to reduce total electrical load such that utilities will not be required to add more generating capacity. Electrical generation is a leading cause of pollution and greenhouse gases (and maybe acid rain as well). Interesting discussion. You can listen to the archived version on the AW Web site beginning tomorrow. It will require registration if you're not an AW reader. 3:16:43 PM    comment []