January 08, 2010

Oncor is building intelligence across its network -- from synchrophasors on its transmission networks to advanced metering on homes and businesses. Mark Carpenter, Oncor's vice president and CIO, noted that the utility's smart grid "is not any one thing, but is essentially spreading intelligent devices throughout the utility system, building a communications network to support these devices, bringing the data back and converting it into useful information."

Below are a few letters received at EnergyBiz Insider on topics that appeared in the past few weeks. They capture the essence of how many readers say they feel.
________________________________________

January 06, 2010

When Tommy Carmichael -- the world's greatest slot machine cheat -- wanted to illegally coax coins out of Las Vegas slot machines, his first step was to get his hands on the machine he wanted to cheat. He was successful at beating the best electronic security that slot machine engineers could design and milked hundreds of thousands of dollars before he got arrested.

Coincidentally, Las Vegas was the scene last July where the supposed security flaws of smart meters were unmasked. That event still has meter makers, utilities, standards organizations and federal regulators talking or hard at work improving security.

Sunday, 03 January 2010

President Obama and the United States Environmental Protection Agency are gearing up to put the nation on a low-carbon diet and their strategy would do Weight Watchers proud: Count first, cut later.

The counting began Jan. 1, when some 10,000 companies and other entities, including municipalities and even some universities, must start measuring their greenhouse gas emissions.

And while it's uncertain when mandatory cuts will be announced -- and whether Congress or the EPA will act first -- the law firm of Plunkett Cooney said polluters might want to start dieting sooner rather than later because their GHG emissions, down to the plant level, will become part of the public record after March 31, 2011.

Sunday, 03 January 2010

The United States Advanced Battery Consortium LLC, an organization whose members are Chrysler Group LLC, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co., is seeking requests for proposal information (RFPIs) for four projects related to advanced battery development for hybrid electric, plug-in hybrid electric and electric vehicles.

USABC's four RFPIs, for consideration of contracts that will include a 50 percent minimum cost share by developers, are for:

• development of advanced high performance batteries for electric vehicle (EV) applications;
• development of advanced energy storage systems for high-power, lower energy-energy storage system (LEESS) for power-assist hybrid electric vehicle (PAHEV) applications;
• development of advanced high-performance batteries for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) applications; and
• a technology assessment of proposed advanced battery technologies for EV applications.