Tag Archives: Fiber Optics

Report: US Smart Grid Cybersecurity Spending to Reach $7.25B by 2020 : Greentech Media

Posted on by
Reply

See on Scoop.it – Green Energy Technologies & Development

Securing the new IT infrastructure of the power grid against cyber-attack is going to be big business, but that’s not because it makes money for the utilities that are buying it. Instead, today’s smart grid cybersecurity investments are mostly about meeting regulations, satisfying shareholders, and trying to justify the costs …

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

…one of the key tenets of cybersecurity is that you don’t talk about cybersecurity — at least, not the specifics of how you’re discovering, isolating, eliminating and building new protections against new intrusions and attacks that change from day to day.

Those threats can range in intent from simple intrusion and data theft, to full-scale attempts to take over control systems, and can vary in sophistication from cheesy password-stealing scams to sophisticated “advanced persistent threats” coming from shadowy government-backed, quasi-criminal “hacktivist” and mercenary groups.

In North America, much of that spending is being driven by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC)’s Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) requirements. Covering the U.S. and Canada, these rules come with stiff fines of up to $1 million per day for utilities that can’t prove they’re meeting security guidelines, and newer versions add a lot more serial-connected smart grid assets to their purview. The Department of Energy’s $4.5 billion in stimulus grants also came with cybersecurity strings attached, as outlined by the ongoing government-industry work being coordinated by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST.

See on www.greentechmedia.com

Advertisement

ComEd Created 2400 Jobs through Grid Modernization Programs in 2012

Posted on by
Reply

See on Scoop.it – Green Energy Technologies & Development

ComEd submitted this week to the Illinois Commerce Commission data showing that the 2011 Smart Grid law created more than 2400 full-time equivalent jobs in Illinois in 2012.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

“The grid modernization programs are putting many linemen, electricians and specialists who work on our electric grid back to work in well-paying, skilled jobs. This helps the Illinois economy and boosts other local industries, too,” said Michael Carrigan, president, Illinois AFL-CIO. “Getting the programs back on track will protect and increase jobs for Illinois workers.”

ComEd’s grid modernization investments have provided an important boost to Illinois manufacturers, suppliers and service providers with the expertise necessary to support the electrical system upgrade. Last year, ComEd awarded grid modernization contracts worth a total of $118 million, including 71 percent to Illinois companies providing services and products from engineering to cable to smart switches. Of the total, $54 million, or 46 percent, was spent with diverse suppliers.

See on tdworld.com

Is IT an Agent of Mass Extinction?

Posted on by
Reply

See on Scoop.it – Green Energy Technologies & Development

Enterprise architecture that automated decades ago must deal with new requirements and manage existing complexity, or face extinction

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

One of the first aspects of complexity in mature enterprises that comes to mind is what philosopher R. G. Collingwood called “the law of primitive survivals.” This states that earlier, more primitive forms of things coexist with later, more sophisticated forms of things. We see this in biology, where primitive forms, like sharks, exist with modern forms, like bony fishes, and algae coexist with flowering plants. The primitive coexists with the modern to a surprising extent. …

What is Complexity?

The complexity of information, technology and application architectures in mature enterprises seems to take the form of the survival of previous generations of environments integrated with overlays of more modern generations. …

Evolution and Extinction

Large, mature enterprises have seen mainframes, PCs, distributed processing, the Internet, the cloud and are now in the early stages of another revolution: big data. How much more complexity can be added to their environments? I have tried looking for answers in evolutionary science, which I studied at university; the field teaches that specialization typically leads to the inability to adapt to changing circumstances. …

See on www.information-management.com

Boulder’s Smart Grid Leaves Citizens in the Dark : Greentech Media

Posted on by
1

See on Scoop.it – Green Energy Technologies & Development

Utilities have to engage with consumers and businesses to make the smart grid work.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

“I had a smart meter, but I didn’t even know I had a smart meter,” said Dick.

Dick and a team of CU engineers are working on exactly this problem: how to inform people about their electricity use. The team is creating an online system called “EMPIRE” — EMpowering People In Reducing Energy consumption.  […]

Huston said that because Boulder’s smart grid was one of the first in the country, some of the technologies it used, such as fiber optic communication technology, turned out to be less ideal than hoped. The new two-way communication technology, installing smart meters for less than a quarter of the population and other features almost doubled the project’s cost within a year after it began. As of October 2012, the total costs were pushing $45 million.

See on www.greentechmedia.com

10 Key Data Center Energy Management Trends for 2013

Posted on by
Reply

See on Scoop.it – Green Building Operations – Systems & Controls, Maintenance & Commissioning

The ways data centers consume power will continue to undergo both subtle and substantive transformations in 2013. The first three trends identified here started in 2012, when organizations began struggling with increased power demands in the face of constrained capacity caused by both inefficient equipment and stranded power…

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

[…] For example, because rates for electricity are at their lowest at night when demand is low and baseload generating capacity is under-utilized, shifting the current workload to “follow the moon” can result in considerable savings.

[…] To eliminate the stranded power that exists in virtually every data center, capacity planning efforts will also begin to include power distribution and actual consumption as critical design factors.

[…] To eliminate the considerable overlap between the DCIM and other management systems used by the IT department and the Building Management System (BMS) used by the Facility department, organizations will begin migrating to DCIM as the primary platform for managing data centers, and will integrate other systems with it. …

See on www.energymanagertoday.com

EPB Deploys America’s Fastest Fiber-optic Smart Grid – Lee Baker, Smart Grid Consultant – Electric Energy Online

Posted on by
Reply

See on Scoop.it – Green Energy Technologies & Development

EPB Deploys America’s Fastest Fiber-optic Smart Grid – Lee Baker, Smart Grid Consultant – While many utilities struggle with the question of whether or not to build a Smart Grid, for the Electric Power Board (EPB) in …

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

Chattanooga: The Smarter City

EPB [Electric Power Board] is one of the first community-owned utilities to install a 100% fiber-optic network, which uses the fiber optic network for Smart Grid applications, in addition to the triple-play media services (i.e., high speed Internet, video and telephone) EPB already provides.

“Chattanooga is light years ahead when it comes to providing ultra fast broadband,” said Tom Edd Wilson, President and CEO of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce. “By offering the fastest available speeds to a whole community comprising a diverse population living in both urban and rural areas, Chattanooga has become the living laboratory for today’s innovations and tomorrow’s companies.”

EPB has built fiber optics throughout their entire customer service area and communications services are now available to all homes and businesses. By the end of 2012, all 170,000 homes and businesses will be equipped with a Tantalus smart meter.

[…] EPB already has 22 large industries signed up for a time-of-use (TOU) rate program, and its projected that together they will save $2.3 million a year. Those kinds of savings help businesses run more efficiently and bring jobs to the community.

“What makes Chattanooga stand out is that it is leveraging the network both for a full range of Smart Grid applications and communications connectivity,” Wade added.

“We looked at how the communication system and the electric system interact for many years and realized how closely tied together they are. As costs have stabilized and technology matured, we felt that the time was right to proceed with the project.”

“We’re building this network not just for today but for the future. The system we’re building will provide rapid, two-way communications with every meter, home and device, making it possible and practical for our customers to interact with their energy use as never before.”

See on www.electricenergyonline.com