...At the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit in New York City, a German utility questioned how long customers would continue to pay by the kilowatt-hour for electricity. "I think we'll see something similar to...arlier this year, Richard Kauffman, New York's new chairman of energy policy and finance, also discussed what he calls the "Aunt Millie" effect, where fewer people are absorbing the cost of the entire network. He noted that in at least a dozen states, it's cheaper for large commercial customers to use combined heat and power (CHP) than to pay their utility.
Jon Wellinghoff, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, echoed Kauffman's sentiments at the BNEF Summit on Tuesday afternoon. "We'll see natural gas in the form of CHP as the next distributed generation," he said. The increase in distributed generation, whether solar or CHP, means that "utilities won't be able to recovered fixed costs," he said. He acknowledged that larger fixed fees were certainly in the future.
It is yet to be seen how countries and states will redefine the value of delivering electricity with an increasingly distributed generation system while maintaining reliability. Wellinghoff doesn't think they're conflicting issues. He worries far more about a coordinated physical attack than a cyber-attack on the electrical grid, adding that "a more distributed system is much more resilient."
Read more of The End of Paying For Electricity By The Kilowatt-Hour by Katherine Tweed:
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/The-End-of-Paying-For-Electricity-By-The-Kilowatt-Hour?goback=.gde_62696_member_235784803
May 22, 2013
Monro New Hampshire Muffler Shop Fined $221K for Willful and Repeated Violations
CONCORD — A Monro Muffler Brake Inc. facility in Portsmouth has been cited by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration for alleged willful, repeat and serious violations of workplace safety standards.
The automotive repair, maintenance and tire company faces proposed fines of $221,100 following an inspection by OSHA's Concord Office, begun in November 2012, as the result of a complaint.
"Willful and recurring violations suggest a disturbing pattern of noncompliance with safety standards that exist to protect the lives and well-being of a company's employees," said Rosemarie Ohar, OSHA's area director for New Hampshire. "Monro Muffler Brake must correct these hazards and take effective steps to address recurring hazards at all its workplaces."
The willful citation stems from workers who were exposed to potential electric shock from exposed, energized wires in a restroom. OSHA found that the company did not correct the hazard after knowing of its existence from in-house safety inspections. A willful violation is one committed with intentional, knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health. The proposed penalty for the willful violation is $60,500.
Five repeat citations were issued for defective work ladders, unsecured oxygen and acetylene cylinders, and inadequate eyewashing facilities for workers. A repeat violation exists when an employer previously has been cited for the same or a similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years. Similar hazards have been cited since 2009 at facility locations in Newington, Conn.; Canton, Rochester and Victor, N.Y.; and Middleburg Heights, Ohio. The proposed penalties for the repeat violations are $143,000.
Go to the Full Story at Foster's Daily Democrat
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130521/GJNEWS_01/130529836/-1/FOSNEWS
The automotive repair, maintenance and tire company faces proposed fines of $221,100 following an inspection by OSHA's Concord Office, begun in November 2012, as the result of a complaint.
"Willful and recurring violations suggest a disturbing pattern of noncompliance with safety standards that exist to protect the lives and well-being of a company's employees," said Rosemarie Ohar, OSHA's area director for New Hampshire. "Monro Muffler Brake must correct these hazards and take effective steps to address recurring hazards at all its workplaces."
The willful citation stems from workers who were exposed to potential electric shock from exposed, energized wires in a restroom. OSHA found that the company did not correct the hazard after knowing of its existence from in-house safety inspections. A willful violation is one committed with intentional, knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health. The proposed penalty for the willful violation is $60,500.
Five repeat citations were issued for defective work ladders, unsecured oxygen and acetylene cylinders, and inadequate eyewashing facilities for workers. A repeat violation exists when an employer previously has been cited for the same or a similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years. Similar hazards have been cited since 2009 at facility locations in Newington, Conn.; Canton, Rochester and Victor, N.Y.; and Middleburg Heights, Ohio. The proposed penalties for the repeat violations are $143,000.
Go to the Full Story at Foster's Daily Democrat
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130521/GJNEWS_01/130529836/-1/FOSNEWS
Environmentalism: Movement or Religion? Keys to saving environmentalism from terminal irrelevance from @Etheostomatt
Environmentalism: Movement or Religion?
Spending their way into the "hearts and minds" of the public..."Can enviro-optimists save the movement from itself?"
...The McKibbenists face defeat at every turn. The Democrats are deeply split on Keystone, as they are on the desirability of hydrofracking. The Environmental Protection Agency has postponed new laws on carbon dioxide emissions. Worst of all is the growing number of people in the environmental movement itself who flatly disagree on tactics, strategy and goals.
Call them the pragmatists – the greens willing to settle for progress, not utopia. In January, the scientific journal Nature endorsed the Keystone pipeline on the grounds that there were bigger environmental fish to fry. Some environmentalists have even come out in favour of fracking, on the grounds that clean natural gas is better than dirty oil. Some are pro-nuclear. Environmentalists are even divided on renewables: Some are fans of wind power, while others think it's an expensive folly that devastates rural environments and transfers taxpayer money to international corporations.
As Jason Mark writes in his article It's Not Easy Being Green in the Washington-based magazine The American Prospect, "The biggest divide may be between those who would do anything to cut carbon emissions and slow climate change – going so far as to support natural gas and nuclear fuel, or even supporting geo-engineering and other controversial ideas – and conservationists who don't want to trade one earth-damaging practice for another."
Please read more by: Margaret Wente and Peter Kareiva, the senior scientist for the Nature Conservancy, who is one of the keys to saving environmentalism from terminal irrelevance
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/can-enviro-optimists-save-the-movement-from-itself/article11418189/
Spending their way into the "hearts and minds" of the public..."Can enviro-optimists save the movement from itself?"
...The McKibbenists face defeat at every turn. The Democrats are deeply split on Keystone, as they are on the desirability of hydrofracking. The Environmental Protection Agency has postponed new laws on carbon dioxide emissions. Worst of all is the growing number of people in the environmental movement itself who flatly disagree on tactics, strategy and goals.
Call them the pragmatists – the greens willing to settle for progress, not utopia. In January, the scientific journal Nature endorsed the Keystone pipeline on the grounds that there were bigger environmental fish to fry. Some environmentalists have even come out in favour of fracking, on the grounds that clean natural gas is better than dirty oil. Some are pro-nuclear. Environmentalists are even divided on renewables: Some are fans of wind power, while others think it's an expensive folly that devastates rural environments and transfers taxpayer money to international corporations.
As Jason Mark writes in his article It's Not Easy Being Green in the Washington-based magazine The American Prospect, "The biggest divide may be between those who would do anything to cut carbon emissions and slow climate change – going so far as to support natural gas and nuclear fuel, or even supporting geo-engineering and other controversial ideas – and conservationists who don't want to trade one earth-damaging practice for another."
Please read more by: Margaret Wente and Peter Kareiva, the senior scientist for the Nature Conservancy, who is one of the keys to saving environmentalism from terminal irrelevance
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/can-enviro-optimists-save-the-movement-from-itself/article11418189/
May 21, 2013
Texas WACO fertilizer plant investigation "inconclusive" #OHS
Investigators have not ruled out arson as the main cause of the explosions at West Fertilizer that left 15 people dead, the Texas fire marshal said on May 16. State Fire Marshal Chris Connealy said investigators were unable to rule out three possible causes, including a spark from a golf cart, an electrical short or an intentionally set fire.
"The cause cannot be proven to an acceptable level," Connealy told reporters.
Investigators said the incident was actually two simultaneous blasts triggered by the fire. The blasts, which registered on seismographs as a magnitude 2.1 earthquake and were felt 50 miles away, caused damage to a 37-block area of the town.
In that weeks that followed the blasts, scores of investigators have been following up on leads. At least 60 have been on site each day, conducted more than 400 interviews and spent $1 million trying to determine how the fire started and what caused the explosion, authorities said.
In 2012, the Transportation Department's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration fined West Fertilizer $5,250 for storing anhydrous ammonia in tanks that lacked the proper warning labels. The agency originally recommended a $10,000 penalty, but it was reduced after the company took corrective action.
In 2006, the EPA fined it $2,300 and told the owners to correct problems that included a failure to file a risk management program plan on time. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality also investigated a complaint about the lingering smell of ammonia around the plant the same year.
Investigators from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the State Fire Marshal's Office have been the lead agencies in the criminal and fire investigations.
The Dallas Morning News said Chemical Safety Board officials had limited and intermittent access to the plant as the law enforcement investigation took priority.
Investigators have said that 22 minutes after the initial report of a fire at the West facility, around 28 to 34 tons of ammonium nitrate stored inside a seed room at the plant exploded. An additional 120 tons stored elsewhere at the plant did not explode.
Please read on at:
http://www.hazardexonthenet.net/article/58422/Texas-fertiliser-plant-investigation-inconclusive.aspx
"The cause cannot be proven to an acceptable level," Connealy told reporters.
Investigators said the incident was actually two simultaneous blasts triggered by the fire. The blasts, which registered on seismographs as a magnitude 2.1 earthquake and were felt 50 miles away, caused damage to a 37-block area of the town.
In that weeks that followed the blasts, scores of investigators have been following up on leads. At least 60 have been on site each day, conducted more than 400 interviews and spent $1 million trying to determine how the fire started and what caused the explosion, authorities said.
In 2012, the Transportation Department's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration fined West Fertilizer $5,250 for storing anhydrous ammonia in tanks that lacked the proper warning labels. The agency originally recommended a $10,000 penalty, but it was reduced after the company took corrective action.
In 2006, the EPA fined it $2,300 and told the owners to correct problems that included a failure to file a risk management program plan on time. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality also investigated a complaint about the lingering smell of ammonia around the plant the same year.
Investigators from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the State Fire Marshal's Office have been the lead agencies in the criminal and fire investigations.
The Dallas Morning News said Chemical Safety Board officials had limited and intermittent access to the plant as the law enforcement investigation took priority.
Investigators have said that 22 minutes after the initial report of a fire at the West facility, around 28 to 34 tons of ammonium nitrate stored inside a seed room at the plant exploded. An additional 120 tons stored elsewhere at the plant did not explode.
Please read on at:
http://www.hazardexonthenet.net/article/58422/Texas-fertiliser-plant-investigation-inconclusive.aspx
May 20, 2013
Woman handed 57-month prison sentence for fraud during BP oil spill via @WWLTV
NEW ORLEANS — A Belle Chasse woman was handed a 57-month prison sentence after hosting a fraudulent hazardous waste safety program in the wake of the BP oil spill. Connie M. Knight, 47, also was ordered to pay $23,500 in restitution. See full at: WWLTV.com
New NIOSH resource, Health and Safety of Young Workers: Proceedings of a U.S. and Canadian Series of Symposia
I thought many of you would be interested in a new resource, Health and Safety of Young Workers: Proceedings of a U.S. and Canadian Series of Symposia http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2013-144/ This document published by NIOSH includes 13 articles authored by business scholars, epidemiologists, health communicators, physicians, psychologists, and sociologists. The Proceedings are a culmination of a unique series of symposia held in the United States and Canada between 2007 and 2010 that were co-funded by grants from NIOSH to the University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Center and from the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation to Laurentian University.
Funnel Wind Turbine Generates Jaw-Dropping Power : Discovery News
...The Chaska, Minn.-based company Sheer Wind thinks it has a design that could bring the cost of wind power down to a price competitive with natural gas. Daryoush Allaei, Sheer Wind's chief technical officer, told DNews that a utility-scale system of these wind turbines — that is a 100 to 500 MW power plant — the cost could be as low as 1 cent per KWh. For comparison, conventional tower and blade wind power plants cost about 45 to 80 cents per KWh and natural gas plants cost about 2 to 3 cents per KWh.
The company's Invelox captures wind using wide-mouthed funnels. Inside, passageways turn the wind horizontally and taper it into a narrow space, which naturally accelerates the flow. The higher speed wind is then channeled into a turbine positioned at ground level. According to the company, the system works even if wind speeds are slow at the top. For example, a wind entering at 10 mph is increased to 40 mph by the time it enters the turbine. After passing through the turbine, the wind is exhausted back into the environment at 15mph.
The unit is about 50 percent shorter than traditional wind towers and the turbine blades on the generator are 84 percent smaller — as a result, equipment and maintenance costs are lower.
Please continue reading at:
May 19, 2013
May 17, 2013
Wind power — even without the wind. New system could store 6 MWh of energy at 6 cents per kilowatt-hour
Tom Lombardo posted on http://www.engineering.com/ElectronicsDesign/ElectronicsDesignArticles/ArticleID/5680/Does-This-Energy-Storage-System-Have-Potential.aspx
It's not a new concept: When a wind turbine or solar array generates more energy than you're using, the excess energy can be stored by pumping water into an elevated holding tank, converting kinetic energy into potential energy. When energy is needed, the water flows down and spins a turbine that generates electricity.
Engineers at MIT are proposing a similar system for off-shore wind turbines, but instead of an elevated holding tank, the water would be stored in a 25 meter concrete spherical tank that also anchors the floating turbine to the ocean floor. The sphere is placed at a depth of 400 meters. Excess electrical energy pumps water out of the tank and into the ocean, and when energy is needed the water flows back into the sphere and drives a hydroelectric generator.
Image: Tom Lombardo
MIT researchers estimate that one sphere can store the equivalent of 6 MWh of energy and would cost roughly $12M to build and install. Deployment would require a new kind of barge, since nothing currently exists that can carry such a load. They believe that the cost could decrease in time, and suggest that eventually the system could store energy at a cost of about $0.06/kWh, a rate that's acceptable by industry standards. Since the entire system is grid-tied, the excess energy could come from sources such as an on-shore solar array in addition to the off-shore wind turbines. (Why not a floating solar array while we're at it?)
I usually write about technologies that I believe have serious potential, but I have to admit, this idea is difficult for me to fathom (excuse the pun). At a depth of 400 m, the pressure is about 412 N/cm2 (600 psi). Install a pump capable of producing that kind of pressure and immerse it in salt water. Oh, and remember that anything with moving parts requires periodic maintenance, so you'll be sending a diver down to the sphere every now and then.
The numbers may work out in theory, but in practice I'm not sure this idea holds water.
Read More at:
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/wind-power-even-without-the-wind-0425.html
2 webinars focusing on TRI reporting "Showcase Sustainability in Your TRI Report".
Please join GLRPPR for two webinars focusing on the Toxic Release Inventory's new P2 data tool.
On Tuesday, June 4 at 2:30 pm CDT, GLRPPR will present "Using the TRI P2 Data Tool".
Join Daniel Teitelbaum from U.S. EPA's TRI Program to learn how to use the new TRI P2 data tool and discover how this rich data source can help you improve your technical assistance to clients. Register at https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/280645215
On Wednesday June 5 at 2 1-2 pm CDT, EPA will present a webinar entitled
"New Ways to Showcase Sustainability in Your 2012 TRI Report".
This training is designed to help facilities prepare for the July 1st TRI reporting deadline. In it, companies can learn how to complete the pollution prevention (P2) portion of the TRI reporting form, which gives facilities the opportunity to report and describe P2 activities and other environmentally-friendly practices related to TRI-listed toxic chemicals. Providing this information allows EPA to present a more complete picture of a facility's management of toxic chemicals and helps make TRI a more effective tool for highlighting and promoting P2 successes. To register, visit https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/178660521
Notice via the amazing Laura B. - GLRPPR :)
On Tuesday, June 4 at 2:30 pm CDT, GLRPPR will present "Using the TRI P2 Data Tool".
Join Daniel Teitelbaum from U.S. EPA's TRI Program to learn how to use the new TRI P2 data tool and discover how this rich data source can help you improve your technical assistance to clients. Register at https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/280645215
On Wednesday June 5 at 2 1-2 pm CDT, EPA will present a webinar entitled
"New Ways to Showcase Sustainability in Your 2012 TRI Report".
This training is designed to help facilities prepare for the July 1st TRI reporting deadline. In it, companies can learn how to complete the pollution prevention (P2) portion of the TRI reporting form, which gives facilities the opportunity to report and describe P2 activities and other environmentally-friendly practices related to TRI-listed toxic chemicals. Providing this information allows EPA to present a more complete picture of a facility's management of toxic chemicals and helps make TRI a more effective tool for highlighting and promoting P2 successes. To register, visit https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/178660521
Notice via the amazing Laura B. - GLRPPR :)
May 16, 2013
Blog - Infograph: Food Security: Land, Water, & Energy
Do you know what it takes to have food security? Studies suggest a very strong connection between land, water, and energy. We lay out the cold, hard facts here in an infograph so that we can create a better future for our children, and just maybe we can do a better job helping the rest of the world feed theirs, too.
Want to share this infograph to your friends? Great, thanks-- but please do not alter this infograph in anyway, as it is property of Pantry Paratus.
Please read full and follow By Chaya at:
May 15, 2013
May 14, 2013
Right now in #MKE Fire and hazmat crews respond to explosion at St. Francis company
Fire and hazmat crews were called to Fontarome Chemical, 4170 S. Nevada St., in St. Francis about midnight Tuesday after a chemical reaction caused a small explosion, according to WDJT-TV (Channel 58).
The explosion was contained to one area of the plant and no one was injured.
Please follow at:
May 13, 2013
May 12, 2013
Literally Every Strategist On Wall Street Has Been Wrong About The Stock Market
The S&P 500 started last week at 1,614, an all-time closing high at the time. And it ended the week at 1,633, the current all-time closing high.
This is notable because at the beginning of the year, the most bullish strategist on Wall Street's sell-side had a 2013 year-end target of 1,615 (See Citi's Tobias Levkovich).
Since the beginning of the year, most of the strategists have scrambled to explain what went wrong and/or revise their forecasts.
Others have been steadfast, arguing that this just means stocks will eventually fall to their targets.
Regardless, any investor who formed a tactical 12-month investment strategy based on these targets has been forced to rethink things.
If there is an upside, anyone who invested based on one of the more bullish forecasts came into the money much sooner than expected.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-too-bearish-2013-5
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