EM - April/May 2012 - (Page 34)

34 HEAltH&HABitAt ElECTRiCiTy AbROAd what is italy doing? April/May 2012 www.esb.ie/em ESb CONTRibUTES TO EUROPEAN dECAdE OF ACTiON FOR roaD SaFEty test, demonstrating that you have a good knowledge of the rules of the road. however, learning about road safety doesn’t stop once you pass a driving test. there is an onus on every driver to update themselves on road safety. it is good practice for drivers to refresh their understanding of the rules of the road by regularly visiting rulesoftheroad.ie if you are driving your private car on company business, you are required to show proof of insurance. Staff who are insured through eSB’s staff motor insurance scheme are automatically covered for business mileage. if you are insured outside of this scheme and there is a chance that you may be driving on company business, check with your insurer that you have sufficient insurance cover to do so. Seat-belts must be worn by all drivers and passengers at all times when driving. Seat belts save lives. the driver of a vehicle has a responsibility to ensure that all passengers use the vehicle’s seat belts. Drivers face up to four penalty points and a fine of €800, if convicted for a failure to observe the legal obligations with respect to the wearing of safety belts and child restraints. passengers aged over-17 can be fined €80 for not wearing a seatbelt. n italy looks past the eurozone crisis Electricity Abroad itaLy’S LargeSt electricity company, enel, has been forced to look beyond its own territory as the european debt crisis has led to reduced demand for power. the company is now planning to make major renewable energy investments in Latin america, eastern europe and russia. according to enel Chief Financial Officer Luigi Ferraris, the company is planning to add about 4.5gW of renewable capacity through its enel green power unit, spending €6.1 billion worldwide through 2016. Specifically, the company is targeting wind-energy auctions for long-term contracts in Latin america. “We continue to reallocate funds from mature markets to the emerging ones, such as north america, Latin america and romania,” he said. in romania, where wind producers receive incentives via a green certificate scheme, enel plans to reach 500MW of wind generation by 2016. enel’s spending on romanian wind farms rose to €330 million last year after the company began to turns its focus to Spain from eastern europe. “Wind is nearly fully exploited in Spain and the renewable energy market there could be considered mature,” Mr Ferraris said. the end of Spanish subsidies for renewable energy projects this year – part of government plans to cut the budget deficit – will have also contributed to that redirection of capital investment. Is Minnesota maxed out? the institute for energy and environmental research says that the uS state of Minnesota should be able to meet all of its electricity needs with wind and solar power within its own borders, without significantly raising costs to consumers. according to its report, it is possible to meet the state’s entire electricity demand using only renewable energy generation, combined with new storage technologies, without increasing costs to consumers. the report’s implications for Minnesota are profound, but they also have far wider implications. For example, the report suggests that the concept of peak load should be replaced with the idea of relational system peaks when the supply of wind and solar power are low relative to demand. this puts an new perspective on capital investment in generation and storage, and replaces the paradigm of having a centralised electricity system with a model that allows for more widely distributed renewable energy resources. n Noel Rushe, Business Support Manager telecom Services, speaking at the conference in Paris. Excellence. (see esbnet/ safedriving/). noel rushe, Business Support Manager, telecom Services and member of the Safe Driving Steering group, presented on behalf of eSB at the seminar. GRAiNNE COOGAN sAfE dRiviNg the european transport Council (etSC) launched a project, ‘preventing road accidents and injuries for the Safety of employees’ (praiSe) in 2009 to improve road safety in the work context. it aims to ‘praise’ best practices in order to help employers secure high road safety standards for their employees. as part of the project, etSC hosts a series of international praiSe seminars in selected Member States bringing together companies, fleet safety managers, government, and road safety experts. the most recent of these took place on Wednesday March 7th in paris. as 2011 winners of the etSC praiSe award in the Large Company Category, eSB was invited to present on its achievements in reducing road risk for employees in recent years through the safe driving programmes Safe Driving – it’s my responsibility and Achieving Road Safety Private drivers’ Handbook and Road Safety Awareness dVd By now all staff should have received the private Drivers’ handbook and road Safety awareness DVD. eSB driving policies are set out clearly in the handbook, and there are strong messages for all roadusers to take from the DVD. the DVD will be briefed in the workplace throughout 2012. in this issue of eM, we will have a look at some of a driver’s responsibilities when driving on company business. driver Authorisation For more information email a driver must carry a safedriving@esb.ie or visit the Safe valid driving licence for Driving Website: http://esbnet/ the vehicle being driven, safedriving/ as a legal requirement. in addition, if you are driving on company business, your supervisor/manager will request a licence check Private annually. you should Drivers’ also report any driving licence endorsements Handbook and / or penalty points and Road Private Drivers’ to your supervisor. N D B O O K Safety HA to qualify for a Awareness provisional driving DVD licence, you must have passed the Driver theory www.esb.ie P-P-P-Penguin picks up on wave power the FinniSh renewable technology company Wello has announced the completion of a wave energy converter that is ready for fullscale deployment. the first 0.5MW converter, called penguin, will come online at the european Marine energy Centre in Scotland’s Orkney islands. Looking much like a ship, the 220-ton, 30-metre long vessel is anchored to the seabed, and captures kinetic energy as it rides the motion of the waves. according to Wello, the vessel is expected to have a longer lifespan than most wind turbines, while also providing greater consistency of electricity supply. Connecting such a vessel to the grid remains a substantial challenge, both technically and economically, so the penguin is not yet a fully practical proposition. however, its success or failure over time will help to establish whether wave energy has the capacity to become a significant portion of the renewable energy mix. n http://www.esb.ie/em http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie http://esbnet/safedriving/ http://esbnet/safedriving/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of EM - April/May 2012

EM - April/May 2012
Contents
News
Services & Electric Ireland
ESB Networks Ltd
ESB Energy International
Health & Habitat
Life

EM - April/May 2012

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