Businesses and governments will continue to focus on efficiency and quality improvements while at the same time remaining under pressure to reduce costs. Hence, automation developed to a very high level and the Internet has become a strategic requirement. The consequent business vulnerability must obviously be recognized and risk reduced.
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Wed, 2011-03-30 10:10
Electricity is only of third-rate interest to hospitals. Their core business is the welfare of its patients, for which medical appliances are required, which, on their turn, require electricity. That said, electricity is a vital utility which malfunctioning or interruption can easily lead to disastrous consequences. This combination - being absolutely vital but far from the main interest domain of the organization – entails a certain risk.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2010-09-07 04:30
Has solar PV become cheaper than nuclear?
This past month, both The New York Times and CleanTechnica.com reported on a paper from Duke University in North Carolina claiming that the costs of solar energy and nuclear energy have passed an historical crossover point at 16 dollar cents per kilowatthour. Solar photovoltaics are now supposed to be a lower-cost alternative to new nuclear plants. How accurate is this claim? Why are the figures on the cost of nuclear energy so divergent? And to what extent are solar photovoltaic energy and nuclear energy competitors?
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Tue, 2009-08-18 15:41
The implementation of millions or even hundreds of millions of electric vehicles (EVs) will require a lot of effort on technical and financial aspects, but also on socio-economic aspects.
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By Roman Targosz / Published on Fri, 2009-06-05 15:30
The CNEE is a conference that was initiated and sustained by Society of Power Engineers in Romania (SIER) and it is taking place ones at every two years.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-05-19 04:30
Electronic management system controls temperature
Last March, the Société de Véhicules Electriques (SVE) presented its new battery system for electric vehicles (EVs).
SVE is a joint venture of the Dassault Group and the Heuliez Company. Dassault is known for the design and manufacture of military and civilian aerospace equipment. Heuliez is specialised in car design, engineering, and OEM manufacturing. The mission of SVE is the development of electric and plug-in electric hybrid vehicles, EV drives, and equipment.
The new system combines the Cleanbat modular battery set, containing one or more lithium-ion units with a capacity of 7 kWh, with the Digital Vehicle Management System (DVMS) control unit. The DVMS controls the charging, discharging, and temperature of each battery unit and the battery system as a whole for optimal performance and safety.
Temperature control is one of the key issues in a battery-powered electric vehicle drive system. If the battery cells become too cold, the autonomy of the vehicle drops. If they become too hot, the battery thermal controls may fail, creating a safety problem. Moreover, both too much cold and too much heat have a negative influence on the life expectancy of the system.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2009-02-05 05:30
Cheaper or more expensive than conventional cars?
When the cost of a plug-in vehicle is mentioned, it mostly refers to the purchasing and maintenance expenses. Sometimes, tax reductions given to electric vehicles (EVs) are taken into account, but the insurance cost is rarely discussed. This is somewhat strange, since the insurance on a conventionally fuelled car accounts for roughly one quarter of its fixed cost of ownership. So, what happens to this cost when switching from a conventional car to an EV?
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2008-08-07 04:30
The International Copper Association has already found two partners in Sénégal that are willing to participate in a slum electrification project: the utility company SENELEC and the association PROQUELEC. The latter is a member of FISUEL, whose mission is to promote electrical safety. 'We are still looking for more partners,' says Dôme, 'but I’m confident we will find them soon. The idea is to start with a pilot project from one distribution transformer.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2008-08-07 04:30
'After initiating the project in Brazil, we wanted to start a second project, this time in Africa', recalls Dôme. 'We chose Sénégal because it is representative of sub-Saharan African income and energy requirements.'
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2008-08-07 04:30
The electricity distribution lines in Pikine are limited to the principal streets. Throughout much of the residential zones there is no official power distribution. This creates a situation that is different from Paraisópolis. 'While electricity theft is indeed a problem here, it is not the primary one. The main problem is illegal selling-on and sub-distribution,' reports Dôme. 'People who are marginally better off and living close to the main roads secure a legal connection. They then act as a sub-distributor for up to 15 families.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2008-08-07 04:30
Sénégal has virtually no experience with slum electrification projects. Benoît Dôme: 'The only exception is a project of the German Development Bank GTZ for the complete redevelopment of one part of the slum. This project included street paving, water supply, construction of schools and hospitals and electrification. It was certainly a valuable project, but it is not realistic to execute such an extensively integrated development project for the whole area at one time — that would simply be too expensive.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2008-08-07 04:30
The social aspect in the project will be very important. 'We want to cooperate as much as possible with the inhabitants of these urban zones,' notes Dôme. 'An important part of the project will be education. One part of the education programme will be the training of families migrating from rural areas who know nothing about electricity. We will teach them the basics on the use of electricity, electrical efficiency, and electrical safety. The other part of the programme will be dedicated to training electrical installers.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2008-08-07 04:30
Worldwide, about one billion people are denied access to electricity and this number is growing at approximately five per cent per year. These people tend to live in rural areas, in urban and in suburban slums, and in camps. Electricity is a crucial element for all development. Agriculture, access to water, health, and education are seen as the basic axes for development. However, none of these are possible on any significant scale without electricity. 'You need electricity for water pumps, for lighting, for medical instrumentation, for computers', Benoît Dôme reminds us.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2008-08-07 04:30
The Pikine slum on the outskirts of Dakar is huge and growing rapidly. Today it has about 850,000 inhabitants. This figure is expected to rise to 1.2 million by 2020. This makes it by far the largest slum in Sénégal. Benoît Dôme: 'You can’t compare Pikine with Paraisópolis in Brazil, where we developed our first project. Pikine covers a much larger area but it is much less densely built up. Most people who live in the slum have moved in from the countryside to try their luck in the city.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Sat, 2008-07-12 08:12
The following article is based on an interview with Benoît Dôme and describes the state of electrical supply in the Pikine slum outside Dakar. It indicates how a slum electrification project could be set up in this area. The article is published as an eBook and readers can scroll down to the different pages using the titles below. The full article is also available as a PDF for download.
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By Guy Kasier / Published on Sat, 2008-06-28 09:43
The installer, architect and occupier must be aware that all kinds of things can be automated, but that this can sometimes lead to unsafe situations.
Figure 48: A mechanical emergency handle for a roll-down shutter might not be pretty, but the safety of the occupiers takes precedence. (Illustration source: E&D Systems)
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By Guy Kasier / Published on Sat, 2008-06-28 09:38
We assume that there are regulations in every country concerning the installation of electrical components in bathrooms and shower rooms. However, the legislation can differ from country to country. However, irrespective of the country in which you live or work, electricity and water do not go together. It is best for a person who takes a shower or bath to stay as far away as possible from electrical equipment and components.
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