CSE Pure Power - Summer 2008 - (Page 4)

❯❯ PURE POWER // SUMMER 2008 4 in the news NEW GENERATING CAPACITY NEEDED TO MEET ELECTRICITY DEMAND BY 2030 According to a preliminary analysis of potential energy savings released in April, energy efﬁciency improvements in the U.S. electric power sector could reduce the need for new electric generation by an additional 7% to 11% over the projected amount for the next two decades, if key barriers can be addressed. The draft ﬁndings were presented by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) during the Edison Foundation conference, “Keeping the Lights On: Our National Challenge.” The study examined ways to meet growing demand for electricity, which will surge 30% by 2030, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The demand growth projection would be even higher without the implementation of existing building codes, appliance standards, and market-driven consumer incentives, which will shave electricity consumption by 23%, according to the EPRI-EEI study. However, additional efﬁciency gains could be achieved only by overcoming major market, regulatory, and consumer barriers. Necessary steps include increased consumer education; adoption, and enforcement of aggressive building codes and appliance standards; creation of utility business models that promote increased efﬁciency within the power sector; and adoption of electricity pricing policies that more accurately reﬂect the cost of providing electricity to consumers—and give them the information they need to use it wisely. Diane Munns, executive director at EEI, said the power sector will seek the greatest efﬁciency gains possible, but cautioned that this will be no easy task and that utilities still must plan for substantial new generation and transmission to assure reliability. “While electricity rates will rise due to increasing across-theboard costs of producing electricity, energy efﬁciency improvements can help reduce some of these costs to consumers,” Munns said. “To maximize utility investment in efﬁciency programs, energy efﬁciency must be treated as an energy resource on par with new generation.” Copies of the EPRI-EEI presentation are available on the Edison Foundation’s Web site at www.eei.org Will California have enough power? The answer is maybe. California should have enough power to keep the lights on and air conditioners humming this summer, although there likely will be days—especially in Southern California—when conservation and voluntary demand response programs will be called on to ease the strain on the power grid, according to the California Independent System Operator Corp. (Cal-ISO) annual Summer Assessment. However, Cal-ISO ofﬁcials indicate that the risk of blackouts in Southern California during the hottest days this summer is more than three times that of previous years because increased power capacity is not keeping up with demand. The likelihood of a stage 3 emergency, when reserves dip below 3% and power is cut to some customers to prevent a system collapse, rose to 10% for Southern California from 3% in last year’s forecast, Cal-ISO reported. According to the report, the state will have 489 MW of new generation in time for peak demand in July or August, some replacing a retired 122MW plant. Southern California will need to rely on imports from Arizona, Nevada, and Mexico, as well as conservation, to avoid blackouts. Demand probably will increase by 1,000 MW this year over last year, Cal-ISO Chief Executive Yakout Mansour. Uptime Institute seminar schedule published The Uptime Institute (www.uptime institute.org) hosts interactive seminars for data center professionals. The following is a schedule of key seminars offered by the institute during the remainder of 2008: “How to Plan, Justify, and Manage a Major Data Center Project” is scheduled for Oct. 30-31 in Dallas. This interactive seminar delves into the most successful approaches for getting a new data center project off to an optimal start. The seminar stresses the importance of understanding how to develop the right requirements, get the necessary sponsors, and have the right www.purepowermagazine.com schedule and budget to ensure the data center is able to functionally respond to an organization’s evolving business requirements and avoid premature obsolescence. “How to Apply Tier Performance Standards to Improve Data Center Availability” is planned for Seattle on Sept. 9-10 and Gaithersburg, Md., on Nov. 13-14. Led by the creators of the Tier Performance Standards model and the authors of the Tier Classiﬁcations Deﬁne Site Infrastructure Performance white paper, this seminar will provide attendees with ﬁrsthand knowledge on the relationship between topology and availability. http://www.eei.org http://www.uptimeinstitute.org http://www.uptimeinstitute.org http://www.purepowermagazine.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CSE Pure Power - Summer 2008

CSE Pure Power - Summer 2008 Contents In the News Industry Roundup Risk Assessments for COPS Grounding Requires More Power Systems to Protect Healthcare Important Changes Coming in NFPA 70E A Look at Arc-Resistant Switchgear Agencies and Associations New Products Ad Index

CSE Pure Power - Summer 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.