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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 14 December 2010 09:49 |
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By Marc Marton
ATLANTA -Dec. 14, 2010 - Back in the early 1990s, before anyone other than government or university employees had an idea of what the World Wide Web was or, what it could be, I remember listening to a very smart business unit head at my employer who made very thoughtful, compelling observations about a variety of issues that mattered to his customers in one flowing stream of consciousness. I said to him, “Why don’t you post a regular op-ed on the company website that we can market to key publics?”
Nothing ever came of my idea. Trade and technical magazines still ruled the B2B world. Explosion of the web was still years away, but the publishing industry had already begun its downward slide.
Consolidation and declining advertising resulted in fewer titles with fewer pages and few opportunities for companies to tell their stories. For so long, these engineering journals were the conduit between vendors and customers. In B2B, the trade pubs also meant the Bread and Butter for PR practitioners serving the widget makers who supplied the country’s machine builders and manufacturers. While the digital world made parts of our jobs easier, the disappearance of print made a significant part of our jobs – “hits” - much harder.
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Written by Don McDonnell
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Tuesday, 23 November 2010 00:00 |
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By Don McDonnell
ATLANTA – Nov 23, 2010 – For state utility regulators, effective policymaking can be like battling the Hydra. Lop off one problematic head and it sprouts two more. The latest two pesky heads seem to be CO2 market uncertainty and looming financing challenges. Two separate sessions at last week’s 122nd annual NARUC meeting in Atlanta focused on practical solutions to these issues. In a very real sense the two subjects are not only a two-headed hydra, but also two sides of the same coin. On one side is the capital needed to refurbish and modernize power systems for the 21st century; on the other is the cost of that capital.
The lack of a clear market signal on forward pricing for CO2 has stalled many needed investments that should already be moving forward. Putting aside the zero sum game of utility CO2 politics, energy efficiency, effective capital and infrastructure utilization and non-carbon based fuel sources will become increasingly valuable. Smart grid investments play a strategic role in advancing all three.
While my first post from NARUC suggested a micro focus on the consumer, clearly regulators and utilities must also think macro and look many decades out to plan effectively. These issues are too important and too strategic to be left to the federal government, or worse, to international geopolitical dynamics.
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Written by Don McDonnell
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Thursday, 18 November 2010 00:00 |
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By Don McDonnell
ATLANTA – Nov 18, 2010 – At NARUC this week federal and state regulators were thinking micro for a change. The annual conference had all the usual adjoining FERC/NARUC sessions, remarks by big-name federal regulators, and regional transmission planning meetings that brought out the traditional NARUC strategic/big picture perspective. But incoming Southern Company CEO and Chairman Thomas Fanning’s keynote remarks may have summed it up best when he referred to “Southern Style” as its “Circle of Life” putting customers at the center of their strategy.
Coming on the heels of a lengthy but important policy address by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on the need to expand broadband infrastructure for consumers, the rest of the conference reinforced and validated Fanning’s main point. And if that didn’t, Southern Company’s stock closing in on a ten year peak valuation this week in the wake of Fanning’s remarks may have.
Everyone who covers smart grid or works in the industry has spent a lot of time talking about “educating consumers,” but what struck me about the NARUC theme “Keeping The Focus: Serving the Consumer Interest in Changing Times” and the meeting’s co-location with the annual meeting of NASUCA (National Association of State Utility Advocates) consumer advocates was the time and attention given to the important act of simply listening to consumers.The industry’s need to better listen to end-consumers and understand their varied needs recently inspired formation of the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative, which will have its first major event on January 31, 2011. This event will share the results of the industry’s first cross-stakeholder (utilities, vendors, regulators, consumer advocates) research collaboration and intentionally active listening efforts.
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Written by Nancy Broe
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Tuesday, 09 November 2010 00:00 |
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“Zero Emission” Nissan Leaf Sells Out Across Region as Atlanta Prepares Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure & Georgia PSC Reviews Special Rate Plan
By Nancy Broe
ATLANTA - November 9, 2010 – Atlanta’s role as a leading smart grid center got a boost last Friday when Mayor Kasim Reed culminated “Sustainability Week” at an Electric Vehicle Panel at Georgia Tech announcing Atlanta as one of the first Southeast cities chosen by Nissan to deploy 300 of the new zero emission, 100% electric, Nissan Leaf automobiles. Atlanta is a “tier 2” test city, with 300 cars slated for delivery in April 2011. All three hundred sold out quickly, with plans to open up sales to a larger number later in the year, depending on the success of the first group.
The electric vehicle program is part of another key goal the mayor announced: that the city will seek a top ten ranking from the U.S. Department of Energy’s “Clean Cities” program. Atlanta currently ranks 19th in the Clean Cities’ ranking, which evaluates parklands, water sustainability, recycling, transit, air quality, and other metrics.
Don Francis, Director of Clean Cities – Atlanta, spoke on the charging infrastructure and the need for standards. Deepak Divan of Georgia Tech addressed using renewable energy on the grid to power EVs and make them truly sustainable. Eric Nozière of Nissan recapped the press conference and the Nissan rollout. Richard Holmes with Georgia Power noted the company’s interest in working on EVs since 1990s and that they still have some charging infrastructure installed from those efforts. Georgia Power wants to avoid sunk cost issues this time around. The four leaders fielded a number of technology questions from local students at the event.
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Written by Nancy Broe
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Thursday, 28 October 2010 00:00 |
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 We continue our conversation with Clark Howard on smart grid consumer engagement. In Part Two of our blog article, the nationally syndicated financial advisor and self-proclaimed penny-pincher discusses:
Incentives, Apathy, & the True Costs of Energy
By Nancy Broe
Nancy Broe (NB): How important an issue is consumer knowledge or apathy?
Clark Howard (CH): It is a central issue. We need to make any system we do an easy choice for people. There’s an old expression that "Perfection is the enemy of the possible." Greater even than trying to design the perfect way of measuring power is to make it easy for people to see the clear savings. Simplicity and savings, ease of use are the top priorities. Just giving people who use it directives such as to run appliances at 2 a.m. when the power grid is underutilized can be too complex. People aren’t going to respond to that.
NB: Unless they can program it and go to bed, perhaps?
CH: Yes. If it’s as easy as programming a DVR, and if people can see a clear savings, that can be a winner. Ease of use and simplicity, those are the two things that can lead to public adoption. Generally, energy savings are not something that will ever be front-of-mind for people -- except on the one day a month they open the bill and start shrieking.
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