On 4^th December in this blog I wrote about the continued wrangling over the USA Energy Bill (‘Battle Continues over USA Energy Bill……….’). It was hoped it would include the first meaningful increase in fuel efficiency standards for vehicles in the US for decades and a boost in production of biofuels. However, I was disappointed to read on Forbes.com that the Bill was blocked by the Senate last Thursday. It seems the politicians, law-makers and energy industry just can’t agree on a final outline and the Bill is being whittled down to such a degree that one wonders if by the time it gets to President Bush’s office for signature it will be worth having at all?  It seems there is strong opposition to a tax package favouring investment in energy efficiency but coming down heavily on the oil industry. To bring the Bill to a vote Democrats were forced to drop a provision that required utilities to obtain at least 15% of their electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar power. The Bill now goes to a third reading – albeit watered down – hopefully to be passed before the end of 2007.

I read today that British Energy has announced a safeguard of the future of nuclear power stations Hinkley Point B, near Bridgewater in Somerset, and Hunterston B in Ayrshire, Scotland, by five years until 2016. As the arguments for and against nuclear power rage on, no doubt this announcement will be welcomed by pro-nuclear campaigners, those in the nuclear industry and indeed employees at British Energy. Hunterston employs around 670 people and brings an estimated £55m a year into the local economy. However, the UK has still to define its nuclear policy, which the Government has said it will do in 2008. There are those in politics I’m sure who see this as an indication that it has already made up its mind. The way I see it is that in an ideal world we could meet our power needs, maintain energy security and tackle climate change through a comprehensive programme of renewables, energy efficiency and cleaner carbon technology. But that’s the crux - we do not yet live in such a utopia and until we do we need to find a way to meet our expanding energy needs and it is not being done through indigenous production.

Interestingly, British Energy’s announcement came the day after leader of the Department of Business and Enterprise John Hutton revealed plans to install up to 7,000 offshore wind turbines to boost wind produced energy 60-fold by 2020. The business secretary admitted it would change Britain’s coastline, and result in higher electricity bills. However, it would go a long way towards addressing climate change through low-carbon energy production and enable the UK to be more self-sufficient.  Mr Hutton was quoted on the BBC’s website as saying: “I do not want in 20 years’ time to find that whether the lights go on in the morning is down to some foreign government. “I agree! In the meantime, for information about how to protect your supply of energy visit Riello UPS.

Riello UPS has had a busy week - picking up two awards from Frost and Sullivan for Product Line Leadership and Customer Value Enhancement. These are significant ‘wins’ for Riello UPS who has been pursusing a differentiation-based strategy based on innovation and customer service for several years now. Pictured receiving the award are Robin Koffler, Riello UPS Ltd General Manager and Leo Craig Sales Manager. The award was made by Mr. Brett Gascoine, EIA Director, Best Practices Group, Frost & Sullivan. After another highly succesful year in the power protection industry awards such as these show that we are succeeding with more than the financial numbers. We are succeeding with customers and that is the ultimate measure for any business.

Increasingly more of the UK’s electricity is being generated from natural gas. Okay, so it would seem we can all breath again now that agreement for gas supplies to Ukraine in 2008 has been signed. Most of Russia’s gas exports to the European Union (EU) are piped through Ukraine so it is important that there is agreement between the two nations. Russian gas currently accounts for one quarter of the EU’s supplies but that could rise in view of the fact that the UK, for example, is expecting to import gas to meet up to 80% of demand by 2020. The agreement on both price and terms of gas supplies to Ukraine will ensure a more stable supply of Russian gas to European consumers. The Department for Business (BERR) wants to allow private firms into gas supply projects to ‘help maintain reliable supplies’ and I think this is a good idea; the less politically motivated suppliers are the more we as consumers are able to extend our influence and thus secure supplies. As I see it, the problem with importing gas is that we have little control over security of supply. If the infrastructure is allowed to break down or an international dispute results in the supply being cut off (as happened in January 2006 to Ukraine), we are powerless to react. We can’t change international politics but we can advise on secure power protection, which is becoming ever more critical in these uncertain times in which we live.

After months of wrangling between themselves and the auto industry, it seems USA Congress just can’t reach an agreement over its proposed Energy Bill. Happily, though, the centrepiece was agreed this weekend and it is the first meaningful increase in fuel efficiency standards for cars, light trucks, SUVs and minivans in the USA for over 30 years. The provision raises average fuel economy standards from 25 to 35 miles/gallon by 2020, thus saving 1.1 million barrels of oil a day (equating to half of current imports from the Persian Gulf).

Not everyone is happy about the Bill, however. The utility and oil industries - Washington’s most powerful lobbyists - are firmly holding out against a measure requiring them to obtain at least 15% of their electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar power. Some have said it will cause a dramatic increase in power prices in some areas of the country and that it will slow economic output by 4% by 2030.

I worry more about the definition of the word ‘renewable’ and the danger of having a federal renewable energy standard based on a politically determined definition of that word. Is a municipal waste burning plant renewable, for example? Or a power plant that burns timber waste? Both of these are counted by the Energy Information Administration as renewable. My view is that their environmental benefits are questionable and a definition of what is a renewable source of alternative energy should be debated and determined outside of politics.

What do you think?

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I read in the press that the South Gare lighthouse, at the mouth of the River Tees in North East England, is now being powered solely by a hydrogen fuel cell. The technology was developed by the Centre for Process Innovation at Wilton. The lighthouse is 120 years old and is regularly lashed by high winds and rough seas. The fuel cell has been developed to withstand such conditions. Another development comes from USA-based Protonex Technology who, in partnership with AeroVironment, have developed a fuel cell system that has kept an unmanned aerial vehicle in the air for several hours – a significant improvement on the two hours so far achieved by earlier technologies. 

Fossil fuels are running low, we know that, so alternatives have to be sourced but are fuel cells really in the running?  First invented by Sir William Robert Grove in 1839, in recent years their development has centred primarily on military applications, although the last few years has seen a rash of activity in the leisure industry with companies, such as Voller Energy, developing fuel cells that run on natural gas, which can then be used by caravan and boat enthusiasts.  Replacing generators as an alternative source of back-up power still seems a long way off. Fuel cells are expensive to manufacture and run plus their environmental credentials are questionable. They run on hydrogen, hydrocarbons, alcohol and chlorine or chlorine dioxide, which are pretty potent chemicals that have to be sourced, stored and disposed of.  Conversely, a fuel cell can be compact, lightweight and, as it has no major moving parts, extremely reliable.  

Where the normal mains power supply is unreliable and there is a suitable supply of natural gas, fuel cells can be advantageous as an alternative source of ac power although a battery set will still be required. It will be a while before they enter the mainstream UPS market. For more information on fuel cells and alternative power sources, see The Power Protection Guide

I’ve been reading about Energy Star, a joint labeling initiative by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy and I wondered if such a system would catch on in the UK?  Energy Star is a voluntary labeling program designed to identify and promote energy-efficient products. In 1992, the EPA introduced it and computers and monitors were the first products to be labeled. Over the past decade, it has been a driving force behind the more widespread use of such technological innovations as LED traffic lights, efficient fluorescent lighting, power management systems for office equipment, and low standby energy use.  Is energy-efficiency enough of an initiative to influence purchasing decisions on computer equipment? To date it would seem not with processing power more likely to be the top criterion and energy-efficiency somewhere near the bottom. However, experts are now saying that the lifetime cost of running high-end computer equipment may equate to as much as five times its capital cost. With our UPS products, we ensure energy-efficiency is top of the list. The Energy Saving Trust (funded by the UK Government) developed a scheme for household white goods, which has been embraced by manufacturers as a marketing and sales tool. But what really makes consumers and business managers take notice, it would seem, is money.  The reason why the Energy Star initiative is so successful is because it enables purchasers to apply for rebates on their capital purchases and energy bills. Results are already adding up. Americans, with the help of Energy Star, saved enough energy in 2006 alone to avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of 25 million cars — all while saving $14 billion on their utility bills.

Wednesday saw the final event in our 2008 Power Protection and Business Continuity roadshow. We closed the season at Old Trafford which remains a favourite venue for Riello UPS for a number of reasons. Our seminars are always well received and this is in no part thanks to the partners we work with who include some of the leading companies within the power protection field - UPS Systems, Vycon, Cummins, PFC Engineering, Furse, Secure IT, Denco and Sinetica. Thank you to everyone who attended. We will be posting podcasts of the various presentations to a new TEC website during 2008 and announcing details of next year’s programme in due course. In the mean time if you have any specific questions on UPS, power factor correction, generators, fly wheels, lightning protection, secure data environments, air conditioning or remote monitoring please contact us direct or visit our partner page.

Jos Meeuwsen from the Technical University Eindhoven has created quite a stir by conceptualizing what could prove to be the ideal solution to upgrading the outdated electricity grids across Europe to meet increasing demand.

Post-doctoral research, which he didn’t even intend for publication, has been picked up by a number of science and technical news sites and portals throughout the EU. In it, he sets out three scenarios for the future of the electricity grid demonstrating that in the future everyone who is connected to it will be able to upload and download packages of electrcity to and from the network.

He says that due to security of supply, electricity networks will always be necessary but that it is important to include all possible energy options (including sustainable, coal and nuclear) in scenario development. However, engineers face “new and considerable challenges” in the areas of network and system integration and the development and implementation of new technology.

His vision of the future includes: ’super networks’, which consist of large-scale production locations, transportation via high voltages, a considerable import of sustainable energy (biomass) and energy from off-shore wind farms. ‘Hybrid networks’ would include large plants with high voltages that originate from offshore wind parks and large biomass stations. Additonally, small-scale generation takes place in and around cities and villages (wind, biomass and solar energy). Finally, in the ‘local’ scenario the number of local generators (micro-cogeneration units, solar panels, small-scale biomass plants) at neighbourhood level and land-based wind turbines will supply demand. Large, industrial processes and small consumers would still make part use of electricity from large-scale production resources.

Whilst businesses and consumers are being urged to be more energy efficient and reduce demand, one of the primary stumbling blocks to improvement in the demand/supply ratio is the outmoded electricity network. In a world where everything is converging towards consumer choice, this is the last bastion of old Henry Ford’s “……so long as it’s Black” philosophy wherby consumers will buy what’s available because it’s available. Those days are rapidly diminishing; ask anyone in the music business how difficult it is to sell ‘packaged’ CDs containing songs from one artist these days.

In Meeuwsen’s world, there will be a step-by-step integration of energy technology, ICT and power electronics that may result in an electricity system that exhibits similarities with the internet. Everyone connected could then, within limits, upload and download packages of electrical energy whenever they wanted.

The price of lead has continued to soar this year and recently hit almost US$3,500 a tonne - almost double that of one year ago. Faced with an impossible situation, every lead-acid battery manufacturer has had to come running to its customers with dramatic price increases. Increasing raw material price rises, taxation and movement from a surplus to deficit in supply left them with little option if they wanted their business to survive.

So what can a UPS company do ? Well very little given the long supply chains involved. Most will have to enforce a price increase over the forthcoming period and this may either be to specific ranges or en masse. Large UPS manufacturers like Riello UPS generally have batteries on bought forward contracts and these will help to buffer the impact of the price increases. Eventually though everyone will see batteries at higher prices in the market place.

However, if this was not bad enough, the price of lead has not stabilised and continues to fluctuate. Battery manufacturers are therefore only giving 30 days validity on price lists and quotes. This makes quoting for some UPS jobs, as an example, somewhat precarious, unless the same validity restrictions are quoted.

So what has driven these massive increases. Two factors really - exports from China have been falling rapidly since the impossing of a 10% export tax and their mines have been producing less output. The world economy has moved from one of surplus to deficit and if this continues into 2008 we can all expect to pay higher prices for any of our lead-acid battery-based power systems.

You also have to wonder if certain battery manufacturers have taken the opportunity to cover price rises in other raw materials and optimise pricing across their distribution channels…mmmmh.