Pierre Lemaitre, the face and voice of the RCMP the day Robert Dziekanski died after five police-administered Taser jolts at Vancouver International Airport, died July 29 in Abbotsford.
"Our investigation remains in its very preliminary stages, and it is too soon for us to comment on a cause or classification of death at this point," B.C. Coroners Service spokeswoman Barbara McLintock told The Tyee.
Lemaitre was recently working in the RCMP E Division Traffic Services Unit. His death was, coincidentally, in the morning before RCMP officer Bill Bentley was acquitted of lying at a public inquiry about his role in the Oct. 14, 2007 death of the Polish immigrant.
"Sadly, Pierre passed away at his home on July 29th," said spokesman RCMP Sgt. Rob Vermeulen. "Out of respect for Pierre and his family's privacy, we are not in a position to comment further."
Lemaitre, who held a media briefing and issued a news release on Oct. 14, 2007, testified at the Braidwood Inquiry in 2009 that Corporal Dale Carr of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) was his sole source of information. Lemaitre's news release said police were called at 1:28 a.m. because a man in his 40s was in the international arrival area throwing chairs, tipping a luggage cart over, pounding on windows and yelling. It claimed the man ignored the commands of the three officers who arrived and remained violent and agitated.
"When [he] attempted to grab something off a desk, the RCMP member used the conducted energy weapon (TASER) in order to immobilize the violent man. The man fell down but continued to flail and fight," said the news release. "The officers then held the man down on the ground and placed handcuffs on him. He continued to be combative, kicking and screaming. He then became unconscious. His vital signs were monitored while waiting for emergency medical personnel. EMS arrived and continued to monitor and provide aid to the male. Moments later, he died."
Bystander Paul Pritchard recorded the event on his digital camera, which was seized by RCMP on the day of the incident and returned to Pritchard and released to media on Nov. 7, 2007. It contradicted much of the news release and showed that police were hasty in using the Taser against Dziekanski, who was armed only with a stapler. The video caused a public uproar that led to the Braidwood Inquiry. Dziekanski had wandered the international arrivals for hours as his mother waited outside. There were no Polish signs or translators available to help.
IHIT Superintendent Wayne Rideout decided on Oct. 16 that his division would take over media relations. Braidwood criticized Rideout for preventing Lemaitre from correcting the public record and issuing a policy to comment publicly on matters of process, not evidence.
"In my view, he erred in not correcting the inaccuracies right away but his error was, at most, an error in judgment," Braidwood wrote. "My principal concern is that if there was RCMP-generated information in the public domain that might influence potential witnesses,Home electricity monitor better that it be accurate information."
Braidwood's report said that Lemaitre was interviewed in French in November 2007 by Radio-Canada on a separate matter, but was asked about the Dziekanski incident.
"He took the opportunity to set the record straight and inform the public that he had misrepresented the facts in his October interviews, but that Cpl. Carr had subsequently corrected some of the inaccuracies. He would have done the same in an English-language interview if a reporter had raised the issue, but it was not up to him to call a press conference to do so."
Immediately before Carr's testimony at the inquiry on April 22, 2009, RCMP spokesman Sergeant Tim Shields apologized to the media for how media relations were handled.
Carr agreed: "I'm certainly sorry that -- absolutely sorry that misinformation got portrayed and we're here today to try and sort that out. . . I don't intend to lie to anybody ever, and absolutely I'm sorry that this has gotten to the point that it is today."
The Braidwood Inquiry led to the formation of the civilian Independent Investigations Office to probe police-involved deaths and injuries in B.C.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
2013年7月31日 星期三
2013年7月29日 星期一
The basalt reactions are part of a natural weathering
By early August, scientists will have pumped 1,000 tons of pure
carbon dioxide into porous rock far below the northwestern United
States. The goal is to find a permanent home for the carbon dioxide
generated by human activities.
Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, began the injections into the Columbia River Basalt formation near the town of Wallula on 17 July. The rock contains pores created as many as 16 million years ago, when magma flowed across what is now the Columbia River Basin. Bubbles of CO2 migrated to the edges of the magma as it cooled, forming layers of holes sandwiched between solid rock.
In pumping emissions back underground, “we are returning the carbon dioxide from whence it came”, says Pete McGrail, an environ-mental engineer at the PNNL who is heading the experiment, part of a larger energy-department program on ways to sequester carbon.
The Wallula project is the second of two worldwide to target basalt formations, which scientists hope can hold — and permanently mineralize — vast quantities of gas. In basalt, dissolved CO2 should react with calcium and magnesium to form limestone over the course of decades. Until the gas is locked away, the porous basalt layers are capped by solid rock that will prevent leaking. That should eliminate concerns about leakage that have dogged other proposals to store CO2 deep underground, often in sandstone reservoirs.
The basalt reactions are part of a natural weathering process that has helped to regulate atmospheric CO2 levels throughout geological time. Scientists have analyzed mineralization in the lab, but it is only now being tested in the field.
Researchers working on the other basalt project, based in Iceland and run by a consortium of US and European scientists along with Reykjavik Energy, made their first CO2 injections last year and will conduct another round this year. Early results look promising, says Juerg Matter, a geochemist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York, who is working on the Iceland project. “The mineralization reaction is most likely faster than what we in the community had thought,” says Matter, who has also contributed to the Wallula project. Assuming that holds true for basalt generally, “you reduce the risk of leakage, and you can pretty much walk away from your storage reservoirs”.
In Wallula, researchers are already monitoring a series of shallow wells around the injection site for signs of CO2 leaking into the soil and groundwater. Once the injection is finished,Home energy monitor they will start taking samples from the injection well to monitor water chemistry, track changes in carbon isotopes and check for other evidence of reactions. Lab tests and computer simulations suggest that in general, around 20% of the CO2 should be mineralized within 10–15 years, says McGrail.
The pilot project, however, is operating on a shorter timescale. Fourteen months after the end of injection, the team plans to drill another well and pull up a core of rock to assess the results, says McGrail. “At that point, we are hoping to have some carbonized rock in our hands.”
But achieving sequestration is only half the battle: scientists and engineers must still work out how to capture CO2 from industrial facilities and transport it to the sequestration site cost-effectively. And even if a carbon-mineralization industry took off, establishing it on a global level would require an undertaking on the scale of rebuilding the oil industry.
The cheapest form of carbon sequestration is to keep fossil fuels in the ground in the first place. This is why fossil fuel companies lie so much and try their hardest to confuse people about climate change. They know the science is clear and it means that they will have to leave trillions of dollars of coal, oil and gas in the ground while also having trillions more in infrastructure built to exploit those reserves become obsolete or "stranded" once we start to deal with our climate change problem. All their propaganda and the million$$$ they spend to confuse the public on climate change is merely a rearguard action to postpone serious efforts to combat climate change for as long as possible to keep their multi-trillion dollar revenues coming in each year.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, began the injections into the Columbia River Basalt formation near the town of Wallula on 17 July. The rock contains pores created as many as 16 million years ago, when magma flowed across what is now the Columbia River Basin. Bubbles of CO2 migrated to the edges of the magma as it cooled, forming layers of holes sandwiched between solid rock.
In pumping emissions back underground, “we are returning the carbon dioxide from whence it came”, says Pete McGrail, an environ-mental engineer at the PNNL who is heading the experiment, part of a larger energy-department program on ways to sequester carbon.
The Wallula project is the second of two worldwide to target basalt formations, which scientists hope can hold — and permanently mineralize — vast quantities of gas. In basalt, dissolved CO2 should react with calcium and magnesium to form limestone over the course of decades. Until the gas is locked away, the porous basalt layers are capped by solid rock that will prevent leaking. That should eliminate concerns about leakage that have dogged other proposals to store CO2 deep underground, often in sandstone reservoirs.
The basalt reactions are part of a natural weathering process that has helped to regulate atmospheric CO2 levels throughout geological time. Scientists have analyzed mineralization in the lab, but it is only now being tested in the field.
Researchers working on the other basalt project, based in Iceland and run by a consortium of US and European scientists along with Reykjavik Energy, made their first CO2 injections last year and will conduct another round this year. Early results look promising, says Juerg Matter, a geochemist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York, who is working on the Iceland project. “The mineralization reaction is most likely faster than what we in the community had thought,” says Matter, who has also contributed to the Wallula project. Assuming that holds true for basalt generally, “you reduce the risk of leakage, and you can pretty much walk away from your storage reservoirs”.
In Wallula, researchers are already monitoring a series of shallow wells around the injection site for signs of CO2 leaking into the soil and groundwater. Once the injection is finished,Home energy monitor they will start taking samples from the injection well to monitor water chemistry, track changes in carbon isotopes and check for other evidence of reactions. Lab tests and computer simulations suggest that in general, around 20% of the CO2 should be mineralized within 10–15 years, says McGrail.
The pilot project, however, is operating on a shorter timescale. Fourteen months after the end of injection, the team plans to drill another well and pull up a core of rock to assess the results, says McGrail. “At that point, we are hoping to have some carbonized rock in our hands.”
But achieving sequestration is only half the battle: scientists and engineers must still work out how to capture CO2 from industrial facilities and transport it to the sequestration site cost-effectively. And even if a carbon-mineralization industry took off, establishing it on a global level would require an undertaking on the scale of rebuilding the oil industry.
The cheapest form of carbon sequestration is to keep fossil fuels in the ground in the first place. This is why fossil fuel companies lie so much and try their hardest to confuse people about climate change. They know the science is clear and it means that they will have to leave trillions of dollars of coal, oil and gas in the ground while also having trillions more in infrastructure built to exploit those reserves become obsolete or "stranded" once we start to deal with our climate change problem. All their propaganda and the million$$$ they spend to confuse the public on climate change is merely a rearguard action to postpone serious efforts to combat climate change for as long as possible to keep their multi-trillion dollar revenues coming in each year.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
2013年7月28日 星期日
whose appearances in our suite
Once the realm of marauding pirates and all manner of nautical
n'er-do-wells, today the waters of the Malacca Strait are as flat as a
mill pond and completely benign, which befits our first full day on
board Silversea's the Silver Shadow, a six-star cruise ship where the
luxury of not having to lift a finger becomes an art form.
Since boarding the ship the previous afternoon in Singapore, my Gentleman Companion and I have acquainted ourselves with what's on offer: Several restaurants, a round-the-clock room service menu, pool, gym, lounges, notable art and the library.
As (nearly) all food and drinks are included in the price - the fine dining restaurant Le Champagne carries a relatively token charge - there's also that ''no worries'' sense that comes with all-inclusive holidays.
But best of all is our young, handsome, attentive, charming, funny (enough already?) butler, Jerry, whose appearances in our suite several times a day become one of the highlights of our trip.
The 640 nautical miles from Singapore to Phuket also offers enough time to sample three restaurants in one day, acquaint Jerry with our drinks of choice with which to stock our fridge, and realise that to make the most of our voyage we must simply kick back and relax.
Due to events of the previous year, this is harder than it sounds but over seven days we give it our best shot. Resistance, really, would be futile.
There is also time on this day at sea to consider the notion of a holiday on a cruise ship. Some may dismiss it as sedentary, soft, just too easy. Right now, I can't think of anything better. Happily, I'm not proved wrong.
The island of Phuket is about the same size as Singapore and, in its geography, like a greener, lusher, considerably hotter Bay of Islands - at 8 am the temperature has crept past 30 degrees, the sun is burning brightly and the humidity is all-consuming.
As with each of the ports we stop at over the coming week there are a number of excursions to choose from - best to let your budget, energy levels and interests guide your choice.
Our half-day Panoramic Phuket tour first takes us through the town of Phuket, home at various times to Arabs, Portuguese, Chinese, English and French, and now a mish-mash of shops, markets, reminders of the island's past as a major source of tin, and quite beautiful Sino-Portuguese mansions in all manner of disrepair.
It's been just over 40 years since European backpackers began discovering the beaches of Phuket. Today, the island's east coast is full of hotels by the score, from cheap to high-end, hair-raising traffic,Home energy monitor trashy bars and shops full of knock-off gear in the nearby towns. With this comes, somewhat inevitably, a sense of paradise lost.
At Chalong Temple, the island's largest Buddhist temple, the cyan blue sky perfectly sets off the literally dazzling gold and red temple buildings, pagodas and shrines.
Buses come and go, tourists queue to worship at, and/or photograph, the various gold Buddhas, and every couple of minutes the happy calm is shattered as strings of fireworks are set off in the brick ''beehives'' dotted around the temple grounds. Instantly the serene becomes the surreal.
Back at the dock a temporary market place awaits. We later compare prices on the knock-off golf shirts we buy - I thought I'd done well with three for US$20 but the Gentleman Companion, initially impressed by my haggling, quickly trumps that with one for $6. (Note: A few months down the track his ''gold'' Daytona ''Rolex'' still keeps perfect time but that became largely redundant when the strap fell apart.)
A morning of sightseeing, shopping and haggling can be thirsty work. Jerry has this covered. Awaiting us in the suite is a hand-written note saying ''Welcome back!'', an ice bucket filled with wine and beer and a plate of sliced fresh fruit.
The suite is our air-conditioned haven for the rest of the day, between short stints on the veranda to catch some sun. The ship's library offers great magazines for me, gripping thrillers for him, and each day a selection of decent movies rotate on TV.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
Since boarding the ship the previous afternoon in Singapore, my Gentleman Companion and I have acquainted ourselves with what's on offer: Several restaurants, a round-the-clock room service menu, pool, gym, lounges, notable art and the library.
As (nearly) all food and drinks are included in the price - the fine dining restaurant Le Champagne carries a relatively token charge - there's also that ''no worries'' sense that comes with all-inclusive holidays.
But best of all is our young, handsome, attentive, charming, funny (enough already?) butler, Jerry, whose appearances in our suite several times a day become one of the highlights of our trip.
The 640 nautical miles from Singapore to Phuket also offers enough time to sample three restaurants in one day, acquaint Jerry with our drinks of choice with which to stock our fridge, and realise that to make the most of our voyage we must simply kick back and relax.
Due to events of the previous year, this is harder than it sounds but over seven days we give it our best shot. Resistance, really, would be futile.
There is also time on this day at sea to consider the notion of a holiday on a cruise ship. Some may dismiss it as sedentary, soft, just too easy. Right now, I can't think of anything better. Happily, I'm not proved wrong.
The island of Phuket is about the same size as Singapore and, in its geography, like a greener, lusher, considerably hotter Bay of Islands - at 8 am the temperature has crept past 30 degrees, the sun is burning brightly and the humidity is all-consuming.
As with each of the ports we stop at over the coming week there are a number of excursions to choose from - best to let your budget, energy levels and interests guide your choice.
Our half-day Panoramic Phuket tour first takes us through the town of Phuket, home at various times to Arabs, Portuguese, Chinese, English and French, and now a mish-mash of shops, markets, reminders of the island's past as a major source of tin, and quite beautiful Sino-Portuguese mansions in all manner of disrepair.
It's been just over 40 years since European backpackers began discovering the beaches of Phuket. Today, the island's east coast is full of hotels by the score, from cheap to high-end, hair-raising traffic,Home energy monitor trashy bars and shops full of knock-off gear in the nearby towns. With this comes, somewhat inevitably, a sense of paradise lost.
At Chalong Temple, the island's largest Buddhist temple, the cyan blue sky perfectly sets off the literally dazzling gold and red temple buildings, pagodas and shrines.
Buses come and go, tourists queue to worship at, and/or photograph, the various gold Buddhas, and every couple of minutes the happy calm is shattered as strings of fireworks are set off in the brick ''beehives'' dotted around the temple grounds. Instantly the serene becomes the surreal.
Back at the dock a temporary market place awaits. We later compare prices on the knock-off golf shirts we buy - I thought I'd done well with three for US$20 but the Gentleman Companion, initially impressed by my haggling, quickly trumps that with one for $6. (Note: A few months down the track his ''gold'' Daytona ''Rolex'' still keeps perfect time but that became largely redundant when the strap fell apart.)
A morning of sightseeing, shopping and haggling can be thirsty work. Jerry has this covered. Awaiting us in the suite is a hand-written note saying ''Welcome back!'', an ice bucket filled with wine and beer and a plate of sliced fresh fruit.
The suite is our air-conditioned haven for the rest of the day, between short stints on the veranda to catch some sun. The ship's library offers great magazines for me, gripping thrillers for him, and each day a selection of decent movies rotate on TV.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
2013年7月25日 星期四
The Pueblo incident is a painful reminder of miscalculation
If there was ever any doubt about what happened to the only U.S. Navy
ship that is being held by a foreign government, North Korea has
cleared it up. It's in Pyongyang. And it looks like it's here to stay.
With a fresh coat of paint and a new home along the Pothong River, the USS Pueblo, a spy ship seized off North Korea's east coast in the late 1960s, is expected to be unveiled this week as the centerpiece of a renovated war museum to commemorate what North Korea calls "Victory Day," the 60th anniversary this Saturday of the signing of the armistice that ended hostilities in the Korean War.
The ship is North Korea's greatest Cold War prize. Its government hopes the Pueblo will serve as a potent symbol of how the country has stood up to the great power of the United States,Home electricity monitor once in an all-out ground war and now with its push to develop the nuclear weapons and sophisticated missiles it needs to threaten the U.S. mainland.
Many of the crew who served on the vessel, then spent 11 months in captivity in North Korea, want to bring the Pueblo home. Throughout its history, they argue, the Navy's motto has been "don't give up the ship." The Pueblo, in fact, is still listed as a commissioned U.S. Navy vessel, the only one being held by a foreign nation.
But with relations generally fluctuating in a narrow band between bad to dangerously bad, the United States has made little effort to get it back. At times, outsiders weren't even sure where North Korea was keeping the ship or what it planned to do with it.
Requests for interviews with the captain of one of the North Korean ships involved in the attack were denied, and officials here have been tight lipped about their plans before the formal unveiling.
The Pueblo incident is a painful reminder of miscalculation and confusion, as well as the unresolved hostilities that continue to keep the two countries in what seems to be a permanent state of distrust and preparation for another clash, despite the truce that ended the 1950-1953 war.
Already more than 40 years old and only lightly armed so it wouldn't look conspicuous or threatening as it carried out its intelligence missions, the USS Pueblo was attacked and easily captured on Jan. 23, 1968.
Surrounded by a half dozen enemy ships with MiG fighter jets providing air cover, the crew was unable to put up much of a fight. It scrambled to destroy intelligence materials, but soon discovered it wasn't well prepared for even that.
A shredder aboard the Pueblo quickly became jammed with the piles of papers anxious crew members shoved into it. They tried burning the documents in waste baskets, but smoke quickly filled the cabins. And there were not enough weighted bags to toss all the secret material overboard.
One U.S. sailor was killed when the ship was strafed by machine gun fire and boarded. The remaining 82, including three injured, were taken prisoner. The North Koreans sailed the Pueblo to the port of Wonsan.
For the survivors, that's when the real ordeal began.
"I got shot up in the original capture, so we were taken by bus and then train for an all-night journey to Pyongyang in North Korea, and then they put us in a place we called the barn," said Robert Chicca of Bonita, Calif., a Marine Corps sergeant who served as a Korean linguist on the Pueblo. "We had fried turnips for breakfast, turnip soup for lunch, and fried turnips for dinner. ... There was never enough to eat, and personally I lost about 60 pounds over there."
Although the ship was conducting intelligence operations, crew members say that most of them had little useful information for the North Koreans. That, according to the crew, didn't stop them from being beaten severely during interrogations.
"The Koreans basically told us, they put stuff in front of us, they said you were here, you were spying, you will be shot as spies," said Earl Phares from Ontario, Calif., who was cleaning up after the noon meal in the galley when the attack began. "Everybody got the same amount of beatings in the beginning."
North Korea said the ship had entered its territorial waters, though the U.S. maintained it was in international waters 15 miles off the nearest land.
The incident quickly escalated. The U.S., already deeply embroiled in the Vietnam War, sent several aircraft carriers to the Sea of Japan and demanded the captives be released. Just days before the attack, North Korean commandos had launched an assassination attempt on South Korea's President Park Chung-hee at his residence.
North Korea responded by putting members of the crew before cameras to confess publicly. The crew members planted defiant codes into forced letters of confession and extended their middle fingers in images sent around the world. That led to further beatings when the North Koreans figured out the gesture's meaning.
On Dec. 21, 1968, Maj. Gen. Gilbert H. Woodward, the chief U.S. negotiator, signed a statement acknowledging that the Pueblo had "illegally intruded into the territorial waters of North Korea" and apologizing for "the grave acts committed by the U.S. ship against" North Korea. Both before and after, he read into the record a statement disavowing the confession.
The hostages were released across the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas two days before Christmas – 335 days after their capture.
The Navy considered a court-martial for the ship's captain, Cmdr. Lloyd M. "Pete" Bucher, for letting the Pueblo fall into enemy hands without firing a shot and for failing to destroy much of the ship's classified material. But he was never brought to trial. John H. Chafee, secretary of the Navy at the time, said Bucher and the other crew members "had suffered enough."
To this day, members of the Pueblo crew say Bucher made the right decision, though years later his second-in-command publicly questioned Bucher's decisions not to fight.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
With a fresh coat of paint and a new home along the Pothong River, the USS Pueblo, a spy ship seized off North Korea's east coast in the late 1960s, is expected to be unveiled this week as the centerpiece of a renovated war museum to commemorate what North Korea calls "Victory Day," the 60th anniversary this Saturday of the signing of the armistice that ended hostilities in the Korean War.
The ship is North Korea's greatest Cold War prize. Its government hopes the Pueblo will serve as a potent symbol of how the country has stood up to the great power of the United States,Home electricity monitor once in an all-out ground war and now with its push to develop the nuclear weapons and sophisticated missiles it needs to threaten the U.S. mainland.
Many of the crew who served on the vessel, then spent 11 months in captivity in North Korea, want to bring the Pueblo home. Throughout its history, they argue, the Navy's motto has been "don't give up the ship." The Pueblo, in fact, is still listed as a commissioned U.S. Navy vessel, the only one being held by a foreign nation.
But with relations generally fluctuating in a narrow band between bad to dangerously bad, the United States has made little effort to get it back. At times, outsiders weren't even sure where North Korea was keeping the ship or what it planned to do with it.
Requests for interviews with the captain of one of the North Korean ships involved in the attack were denied, and officials here have been tight lipped about their plans before the formal unveiling.
The Pueblo incident is a painful reminder of miscalculation and confusion, as well as the unresolved hostilities that continue to keep the two countries in what seems to be a permanent state of distrust and preparation for another clash, despite the truce that ended the 1950-1953 war.
Already more than 40 years old and only lightly armed so it wouldn't look conspicuous or threatening as it carried out its intelligence missions, the USS Pueblo was attacked and easily captured on Jan. 23, 1968.
Surrounded by a half dozen enemy ships with MiG fighter jets providing air cover, the crew was unable to put up much of a fight. It scrambled to destroy intelligence materials, but soon discovered it wasn't well prepared for even that.
A shredder aboard the Pueblo quickly became jammed with the piles of papers anxious crew members shoved into it. They tried burning the documents in waste baskets, but smoke quickly filled the cabins. And there were not enough weighted bags to toss all the secret material overboard.
One U.S. sailor was killed when the ship was strafed by machine gun fire and boarded. The remaining 82, including three injured, were taken prisoner. The North Koreans sailed the Pueblo to the port of Wonsan.
For the survivors, that's when the real ordeal began.
"I got shot up in the original capture, so we were taken by bus and then train for an all-night journey to Pyongyang in North Korea, and then they put us in a place we called the barn," said Robert Chicca of Bonita, Calif., a Marine Corps sergeant who served as a Korean linguist on the Pueblo. "We had fried turnips for breakfast, turnip soup for lunch, and fried turnips for dinner. ... There was never enough to eat, and personally I lost about 60 pounds over there."
Although the ship was conducting intelligence operations, crew members say that most of them had little useful information for the North Koreans. That, according to the crew, didn't stop them from being beaten severely during interrogations.
"The Koreans basically told us, they put stuff in front of us, they said you were here, you were spying, you will be shot as spies," said Earl Phares from Ontario, Calif., who was cleaning up after the noon meal in the galley when the attack began. "Everybody got the same amount of beatings in the beginning."
North Korea said the ship had entered its territorial waters, though the U.S. maintained it was in international waters 15 miles off the nearest land.
The incident quickly escalated. The U.S., already deeply embroiled in the Vietnam War, sent several aircraft carriers to the Sea of Japan and demanded the captives be released. Just days before the attack, North Korean commandos had launched an assassination attempt on South Korea's President Park Chung-hee at his residence.
North Korea responded by putting members of the crew before cameras to confess publicly. The crew members planted defiant codes into forced letters of confession and extended their middle fingers in images sent around the world. That led to further beatings when the North Koreans figured out the gesture's meaning.
On Dec. 21, 1968, Maj. Gen. Gilbert H. Woodward, the chief U.S. negotiator, signed a statement acknowledging that the Pueblo had "illegally intruded into the territorial waters of North Korea" and apologizing for "the grave acts committed by the U.S. ship against" North Korea. Both before and after, he read into the record a statement disavowing the confession.
The hostages were released across the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas two days before Christmas – 335 days after their capture.
The Navy considered a court-martial for the ship's captain, Cmdr. Lloyd M. "Pete" Bucher, for letting the Pueblo fall into enemy hands without firing a shot and for failing to destroy much of the ship's classified material. But he was never brought to trial. John H. Chafee, secretary of the Navy at the time, said Bucher and the other crew members "had suffered enough."
To this day, members of the Pueblo crew say Bucher made the right decision, though years later his second-in-command publicly questioned Bucher's decisions not to fight.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
2013年7月24日 星期三
If you find yourself going home with one of his pieces
When you hear the term “professional cowboy,” rarely do you associate
it with hobbies like creating fine art. In between taking care of his
three horses, practicing for national rodeos and staying involved with
the Oklahoma Relief Fund for the victims of the Moore tornadoes — Chance
Hays has been painting, a lot.
It all started last winter when Hays walked into the Vail Fine Art Gallery wearing a cowboy hat, and the rest is history.
Already familiar with Hays’ art, owner Jim Tylich wanted to carry his work in the gallery because of how different it was than the other artists.
“I saw the work he was producing, this avante garde Western art, and it was extremely good,” Tylich said. “It’s bright, open; he lets the negative space speak for itself in a way that makes the artwork look very attractive.”
After agreeing to paint in-residence for the gallery, and with an offer to have his work on constant display, Hays moved from his hometown of Bristow, Okla. to Vail.
“I paint things from real life experiences, and things that I know,” said 28-year-old Hays. “It’s all derivative of journeys, whether it be from the rodeo or the world of ranching in Oklahoma.”
Talk about some experiences — Hays is ranked among the top 10 in the mountain states for professional cowboys. Home energy monitor Most recently, he took home back-to-back wins at both the Steamboat Springs and Breckenridge rodeos. This Friday, the evening before the gallery reception, Hays will compete at the Eagle County Rodeo.
Having a father who was a professional cowboy and a mother who was an art teacher, Hays was drawing by the time he was 5 years old and roping by age 6. Combining innate talent with an education in fine arts, the contemporary western artist is influenced not only by his travels, but other artists as well.
While spending time in Santa Fe, Hays studied under Poteet Victory, a prestigious artist known for his Native-American contemporary works.
“I loved his color palette,” said Hays. “I use colors from Arizona to Santa Fe, mixed with my love for the American West and the American Cowboy.”
A cowboy’s best friend is his horse. Hays’ expressionist paintings of horses are some of his most popular, along with other western imagery vibrantly done in watercolor and oil paint.
“If you can paint with watercolor, you can paint with anything,” Hays said.
It’s amazing Hays has time to work on his art considering how busy his cowboy life keeps him. Regardless, he’s spent the past few weeks painting live at the Solaris gallery in preparation for his show.
If you find yourself going home with one of his pieces, you’ll also be helping the victims of the recent Moore tornadoes. The Oklahoma-native has made giving back to his state a top priority, and has been working with Tylich to make sure a portion from the paintings sold goes to the Oklahoma Relief Fund. As of Wednesday, the percentage of proceeds to be donated had yet to be decided, Tylich said.
Proving he’s not your average cowboy, Hays’ looks forward to showing his passions to Vail.
Hays welcomes everyone to stop by the Vail Fine Art Gallery on Saturday from 7 to 10 p.m. where his paintings will be featured in the front of the gallery.
“I think people will enjoy seeing my art — there’s not much art similar to mine,” Hays said. “It’s easy for people to get caught up in materialistic stuff. If people want something real, they’ll just come to the show and look at my paintings.”
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
It all started last winter when Hays walked into the Vail Fine Art Gallery wearing a cowboy hat, and the rest is history.
Already familiar with Hays’ art, owner Jim Tylich wanted to carry his work in the gallery because of how different it was than the other artists.
“I saw the work he was producing, this avante garde Western art, and it was extremely good,” Tylich said. “It’s bright, open; he lets the negative space speak for itself in a way that makes the artwork look very attractive.”
After agreeing to paint in-residence for the gallery, and with an offer to have his work on constant display, Hays moved from his hometown of Bristow, Okla. to Vail.
“I paint things from real life experiences, and things that I know,” said 28-year-old Hays. “It’s all derivative of journeys, whether it be from the rodeo or the world of ranching in Oklahoma.”
Talk about some experiences — Hays is ranked among the top 10 in the mountain states for professional cowboys. Home energy monitor Most recently, he took home back-to-back wins at both the Steamboat Springs and Breckenridge rodeos. This Friday, the evening before the gallery reception, Hays will compete at the Eagle County Rodeo.
Having a father who was a professional cowboy and a mother who was an art teacher, Hays was drawing by the time he was 5 years old and roping by age 6. Combining innate talent with an education in fine arts, the contemporary western artist is influenced not only by his travels, but other artists as well.
While spending time in Santa Fe, Hays studied under Poteet Victory, a prestigious artist known for his Native-American contemporary works.
“I loved his color palette,” said Hays. “I use colors from Arizona to Santa Fe, mixed with my love for the American West and the American Cowboy.”
A cowboy’s best friend is his horse. Hays’ expressionist paintings of horses are some of his most popular, along with other western imagery vibrantly done in watercolor and oil paint.
“If you can paint with watercolor, you can paint with anything,” Hays said.
It’s amazing Hays has time to work on his art considering how busy his cowboy life keeps him. Regardless, he’s spent the past few weeks painting live at the Solaris gallery in preparation for his show.
If you find yourself going home with one of his pieces, you’ll also be helping the victims of the recent Moore tornadoes. The Oklahoma-native has made giving back to his state a top priority, and has been working with Tylich to make sure a portion from the paintings sold goes to the Oklahoma Relief Fund. As of Wednesday, the percentage of proceeds to be donated had yet to be decided, Tylich said.
Proving he’s not your average cowboy, Hays’ looks forward to showing his passions to Vail.
Hays welcomes everyone to stop by the Vail Fine Art Gallery on Saturday from 7 to 10 p.m. where his paintings will be featured in the front of the gallery.
“I think people will enjoy seeing my art — there’s not much art similar to mine,” Hays said. “It’s easy for people to get caught up in materialistic stuff. If people want something real, they’ll just come to the show and look at my paintings.”
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
2013年7月23日 星期二
In the tradition of writers from Austen
"He's got a good pair of lungs on him, that's for sure," said Prince William, holding his son swaddled in a cream blanket. "He's got her looks, thankfully," he added, nodding toward his wife. The duchess added that Prince William had already changed his first "nappy."
The first public sighting of the baby will go a long way toward satisfying the mass of world media that has been camped outside the hospital for days awaiting a glimpse of the new prince and his mother. But the royal couple is keeping them and the public guessing on another important front: the new prince's name.
"We're still working on a name, so we'll have that as soon as we can," Prince William said. The royal couple then went back inside the hospital briefly, before leaving by car to take their boy home to Kensington Palace.
Their departure followed visits Tuesday afternoon by both sets of grandparents: Prince William's father, Prince Charles, and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, as well as the parents of the former Kate Middleton. As she left the hospital, the Duchess of Cambridge's mother, Carole Middleton, said both new mother and baby were "doing really well."
Outside Buckingham Palace, crowds continued to gather Tuesday to view the easel officially announcing the baby's birth,Home electricity monitor which has been on public display since Monday.
Sam O'Neill, a secondary school history teacher from Bromley, Kent, waited about a half-hour with her mother, Jenny Edwards, a former nurse at a London hospital. Having just taken a tour of the House of Commons, Mrs. O'Neill said: "We couldn't not come and see this historic moment having just seen the past history of our kings and queens." The women were delighted at the short wait; after Princess Diana died, they waited in a line eight hours overnight to commemorate her.
For her debut novel The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P., Adelle Waldman plunges readers into the mind of Nate, a 30-something writer living in Brooklyn who’s secured a sizable book advance and the interest of the city’s lit-savvy female population. While she doesn’t exactly re-
invent the wheel depicting overeducated writers overanalyzing sex, Ms. Waldman’s book is far less cartoonish than recent efforts like Girls.
Like that show’s protagonist, Nate isn’t particularly sympathetic. He’s not a “bad” guy, he just doesn’t treat women very well. Nate becomes a vehicle for Ms. Waldman’s suspicions about men—that they regard women with certain prejudices even when they subscribe to liberal, feminist doctrines on equality. In the tradition of writers from Austen to Tolstoy, Ms. Waldman delights in showing us the way we rationalize our treatment of others and she writes vividly, capturing the dynamics of a dinner party or describing the lights on the East River bridges. As Nate takes a girl home for the first time, he sees them “dangling like necklaces beneath the brightly lit towers, a fireworks display frozen at its most expansive moment.”
To Ms. Waldman’s credit, she captures romantic dysfunction and the erosion of love so faithfully—passive-aggressive conversations about bagels, alienating sex so one-sided “it might as well be masturbation,” alternating waves of disgust and tenderness—that while Nate may be both attracted to and repelled by women, the reader is rarely drawn to him.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
The first public sighting of the baby will go a long way toward satisfying the mass of world media that has been camped outside the hospital for days awaiting a glimpse of the new prince and his mother. But the royal couple is keeping them and the public guessing on another important front: the new prince's name.
"We're still working on a name, so we'll have that as soon as we can," Prince William said. The royal couple then went back inside the hospital briefly, before leaving by car to take their boy home to Kensington Palace.
Their departure followed visits Tuesday afternoon by both sets of grandparents: Prince William's father, Prince Charles, and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, as well as the parents of the former Kate Middleton. As she left the hospital, the Duchess of Cambridge's mother, Carole Middleton, said both new mother and baby were "doing really well."
Outside Buckingham Palace, crowds continued to gather Tuesday to view the easel officially announcing the baby's birth,Home electricity monitor which has been on public display since Monday.
Sam O'Neill, a secondary school history teacher from Bromley, Kent, waited about a half-hour with her mother, Jenny Edwards, a former nurse at a London hospital. Having just taken a tour of the House of Commons, Mrs. O'Neill said: "We couldn't not come and see this historic moment having just seen the past history of our kings and queens." The women were delighted at the short wait; after Princess Diana died, they waited in a line eight hours overnight to commemorate her.
For her debut novel The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P., Adelle Waldman plunges readers into the mind of Nate, a 30-something writer living in Brooklyn who’s secured a sizable book advance and the interest of the city’s lit-savvy female population. While she doesn’t exactly re-
invent the wheel depicting overeducated writers overanalyzing sex, Ms. Waldman’s book is far less cartoonish than recent efforts like Girls.
Like that show’s protagonist, Nate isn’t particularly sympathetic. He’s not a “bad” guy, he just doesn’t treat women very well. Nate becomes a vehicle for Ms. Waldman’s suspicions about men—that they regard women with certain prejudices even when they subscribe to liberal, feminist doctrines on equality. In the tradition of writers from Austen to Tolstoy, Ms. Waldman delights in showing us the way we rationalize our treatment of others and she writes vividly, capturing the dynamics of a dinner party or describing the lights on the East River bridges. As Nate takes a girl home for the first time, he sees them “dangling like necklaces beneath the brightly lit towers, a fireworks display frozen at its most expansive moment.”
To Ms. Waldman’s credit, she captures romantic dysfunction and the erosion of love so faithfully—passive-aggressive conversations about bagels, alienating sex so one-sided “it might as well be masturbation,” alternating waves of disgust and tenderness—that while Nate may be both attracted to and repelled by women, the reader is rarely drawn to him.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
2013年7月22日 星期一
The green-tie affair in southwest suburban
TORONTO Manulife Asset Management, the investment arm of Canada's
largest insurer, swapped most of its Alberta bonds for British Columbia
debt amid concern the province's coffers will be slow to recover from
historic floods.
The $1-billion Manulife bond fund reduced its allocation of debt from the nation's foremost oil-producing region to 2.2 per cent from the 4.9 per cent it held June 10, while raising its exposure to British Columbia to 10 per cent from 9 per cent.
"British Columbia is in much better shape than Alberta at this time," Terry Carr, who helps oversee $16 billion as head of Canadian fixed-income at Manulife, said in a telephone interview from Toronto last week. "In the near-term, they are in a surplus situation, while Alberta is going to be in a deficit situation."
Alberta's government committed $1 billion to pay for relief from the worst flooding in the province's history as Premier Alison Redford said plans to balance the provincial budget next year would be delayed. Insured losses to the province from the June flooding may total $2.25 billion to $3.75 billion, according to the Bank of Montreal. Uncertainty over the negative financial impact on the province, including its top credit rating and ability to meet its budget goals, is keeping Manulife away, Carr said.
Alberta bonds returned 0.5 per cent through July 18 from June 21 when the province evacuated 75,000 people as water levels rose, while British Columbia bonds gained 0.9 per cent, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch data. British Columbia 10-year bonds outperformed comparable Alberta debt by one to four basis points since June 10, Carr said.
Flooding in Calgary, where most of Canada's oil companies are headquartered, and the province's south will slow growth to 2 per cent from a previously forecast 2.5 per cent, Michael Gregory, senior economist in Toronto at BMO, said in a July 2 note to clients.
As Alberta and its insurers tally the costs of flooding damage, oilsands companies are grappling with the challenges of bringing rising crude production to market amid delays in pipeline projects such as TransCanada Corp.'s $5.3-billion Keystone XL. Canadian energy companies have underperformed U.S. peers by 55 percentage points on Standard & Poor's indexes during the past three years as Western Canada Select oil prices averaged $19.53 a barrel less than the U.S. benchmark, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News.
Last Thursday, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) launched a new facility designed to develop and harmonize interoperability between electric vehicles and the electric charging infrastructure.
Agreed to in November, 2011, the EV-Smart Grid Interoperability at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Ill., works in concert with the two other interoperability facilities of its kind in Ispra, Italy and The Netherlands, to create global standards and develop technology from the source of the energy all the way down the line to the residential user.
“[Interoperability Centers] are a gateway to adopting standards and policies that will expand the use of EVs on the road,” said Eric Isaacs, Director of Argonne.
Interoperability means the electrification of vehicles, such as in hybrids, plug in hybrids, and straight evs, can be managed by the power grid without any inconvenience to the end user. The promotional literature states: “Interoperability supports the ideal of universal charging…any plug-in electric vehicle…any electric vehicle supply equipment…anywhere…anytime.”
The Centers establish and develop a system that is followed all through the product life cycle of an electrified vehicle, incorporating applications from auto manufacturers, parts suppliers, public and private charging equipment, power sources, government and consumers.
The green-tie affair in southwest suburban Lemont was a picture of connectivity and harmony, from keynote EU and DOE dignitaries to demonstrations and panels from members of the Big Three automakers, to the energy industry reps to manufacturers in the electronic supply chain. And a whole party of engineers.
Engineers get knocked for their communication skills, yet the minds at the Interoperability Centers are essentially creating a language to be shared by everyone in the twisted net of energy supply, auto manufacturing and policy making, three massive organizations with its own complex, jargon-filled language. Home energy monitor That’s just in the United States. Add the 29 member countries of the European Commission, the prospect of China, and you’re dealing with one of the most complex organisms in mankind. The kind that only an engineer could standardize.
If you’ve ever travelled abroad, you know how problematic outlets and adapters and amps and Hertz and volts and watts can be. Even at home, there are different chargers for different devices. Imagine the same charging inconsistencies with a $40,000 piece of technology.
“The issue is harmonization and interoperability, not necessarily having all the same thing,” explained Phyllis Yoshida, the DOE’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Currently there are three competing EV charging standards: CHADeMO is a DC quick charge protocol originated in Japan and found in the Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi MiEV and a few others; the SAE Combo Coupler used by U.S. and European automakers (and the Interoperability Center) incorporates AC Level 1, Level 2 and DC quick charging; then there’s Tesla, out in Elonland.
Each standard has its proponents. “From a communications standpoint, the combo coupler can do a lot of smart energy management with that communication protocol,” explained Jason Harper, an electrical engineer in the Center for Transportation Research at Argonne. CHADeMo is only for DC charging, so it would need another communication protocol to communicate with a smart grid.
Mass adoption of electric vehicles would require intensive energy management.
This is where the smart grid comes in. The smart grid essentially means energy management. If you were to look out your backyard or alley, you’d probably see a wire leading from your house to a utility pole with a bigger wire. In residential areas that bigger wire connects to a transformer that supplies power to say 12 houses, depending on where you live and the density of housing. An electric vehicle makes great demand on power supply, much more than refrigeration or air conditioning. So if one person in your web is charging his EV, it’s not a problem. But if the EV market continues to grow, as expected and as promoted by the European Union, the United States and the biggest market in the world, China, then the grid will be correspondingly taxed. So neighbor Bob can charge his car now with no problem, but what will happen if three or five homes that share your transformer are charging at the same time?
“Interoperability will provide standardized devices that are capable of functioning with each other,” said Keith Hardy, Director of the U.S. EV-Smart Grid Interoperability Center at Argonne.
The devices that tell us how much energy is left in our charge, or how much it would cost to charge a car off-peak or at peak demand, will be the same. A smart grid app on your smart phone (hasn’t “smart phone” gone the way of the “world wide web”?) can show your battery charge, time to end of charge, range left on battery and the ComEd real price of electricity at that moment. If too many cars are charging at the same time, you’ll be notified that you’ve reached “branch load,” explained Hardy. Price can go up, or energy can be redirected in a process called load management, which can save money versus an infrastructure upgrade. It creates an open transaction between supplier and user: you can charge up at peak times and pay more. Or, if you’re not using your EV at peak times, you can sell back that energy into the grid, then recharge later at night to save a buck. It’s like day trading.
“The goal is to align communication as close as possible so everyone knows there will be an open market with free competition,” said Giovanni De Santi, Director of the Interoperability Center in Italy.
With load management, energy becomes an open market commodity where purchasers can make the most informed decision. Smart. Efficient.
This will in turn enable the deregulated energy service providers like ComEd in Illinois or Southern California Edison in Southern California to speak the same language to the same devices that are monitoring and managing energy flow.
The smart grid will also utilize massive energy production coming from intermittent, renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. The uniformity in technological language, how devices speak to each other, and storing and delivering energy from intermittent sources, are best managed by a smart grid. Matched by industry, the DOE has pumped $4.5 billion into smart grid development and boosted the EV industry.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
The $1-billion Manulife bond fund reduced its allocation of debt from the nation's foremost oil-producing region to 2.2 per cent from the 4.9 per cent it held June 10, while raising its exposure to British Columbia to 10 per cent from 9 per cent.
"British Columbia is in much better shape than Alberta at this time," Terry Carr, who helps oversee $16 billion as head of Canadian fixed-income at Manulife, said in a telephone interview from Toronto last week. "In the near-term, they are in a surplus situation, while Alberta is going to be in a deficit situation."
Alberta's government committed $1 billion to pay for relief from the worst flooding in the province's history as Premier Alison Redford said plans to balance the provincial budget next year would be delayed. Insured losses to the province from the June flooding may total $2.25 billion to $3.75 billion, according to the Bank of Montreal. Uncertainty over the negative financial impact on the province, including its top credit rating and ability to meet its budget goals, is keeping Manulife away, Carr said.
Alberta bonds returned 0.5 per cent through July 18 from June 21 when the province evacuated 75,000 people as water levels rose, while British Columbia bonds gained 0.9 per cent, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch data. British Columbia 10-year bonds outperformed comparable Alberta debt by one to four basis points since June 10, Carr said.
Flooding in Calgary, where most of Canada's oil companies are headquartered, and the province's south will slow growth to 2 per cent from a previously forecast 2.5 per cent, Michael Gregory, senior economist in Toronto at BMO, said in a July 2 note to clients.
As Alberta and its insurers tally the costs of flooding damage, oilsands companies are grappling with the challenges of bringing rising crude production to market amid delays in pipeline projects such as TransCanada Corp.'s $5.3-billion Keystone XL. Canadian energy companies have underperformed U.S. peers by 55 percentage points on Standard & Poor's indexes during the past three years as Western Canada Select oil prices averaged $19.53 a barrel less than the U.S. benchmark, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News.
Last Thursday, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) launched a new facility designed to develop and harmonize interoperability between electric vehicles and the electric charging infrastructure.
Agreed to in November, 2011, the EV-Smart Grid Interoperability at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Ill., works in concert with the two other interoperability facilities of its kind in Ispra, Italy and The Netherlands, to create global standards and develop technology from the source of the energy all the way down the line to the residential user.
“[Interoperability Centers] are a gateway to adopting standards and policies that will expand the use of EVs on the road,” said Eric Isaacs, Director of Argonne.
Interoperability means the electrification of vehicles, such as in hybrids, plug in hybrids, and straight evs, can be managed by the power grid without any inconvenience to the end user. The promotional literature states: “Interoperability supports the ideal of universal charging…any plug-in electric vehicle…any electric vehicle supply equipment…anywhere…anytime.”
The Centers establish and develop a system that is followed all through the product life cycle of an electrified vehicle, incorporating applications from auto manufacturers, parts suppliers, public and private charging equipment, power sources, government and consumers.
The green-tie affair in southwest suburban Lemont was a picture of connectivity and harmony, from keynote EU and DOE dignitaries to demonstrations and panels from members of the Big Three automakers, to the energy industry reps to manufacturers in the electronic supply chain. And a whole party of engineers.
Engineers get knocked for their communication skills, yet the minds at the Interoperability Centers are essentially creating a language to be shared by everyone in the twisted net of energy supply, auto manufacturing and policy making, three massive organizations with its own complex, jargon-filled language. Home energy monitor That’s just in the United States. Add the 29 member countries of the European Commission, the prospect of China, and you’re dealing with one of the most complex organisms in mankind. The kind that only an engineer could standardize.
If you’ve ever travelled abroad, you know how problematic outlets and adapters and amps and Hertz and volts and watts can be. Even at home, there are different chargers for different devices. Imagine the same charging inconsistencies with a $40,000 piece of technology.
“The issue is harmonization and interoperability, not necessarily having all the same thing,” explained Phyllis Yoshida, the DOE’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Currently there are three competing EV charging standards: CHADeMO is a DC quick charge protocol originated in Japan and found in the Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi MiEV and a few others; the SAE Combo Coupler used by U.S. and European automakers (and the Interoperability Center) incorporates AC Level 1, Level 2 and DC quick charging; then there’s Tesla, out in Elonland.
Each standard has its proponents. “From a communications standpoint, the combo coupler can do a lot of smart energy management with that communication protocol,” explained Jason Harper, an electrical engineer in the Center for Transportation Research at Argonne. CHADeMo is only for DC charging, so it would need another communication protocol to communicate with a smart grid.
Mass adoption of electric vehicles would require intensive energy management.
This is where the smart grid comes in. The smart grid essentially means energy management. If you were to look out your backyard or alley, you’d probably see a wire leading from your house to a utility pole with a bigger wire. In residential areas that bigger wire connects to a transformer that supplies power to say 12 houses, depending on where you live and the density of housing. An electric vehicle makes great demand on power supply, much more than refrigeration or air conditioning. So if one person in your web is charging his EV, it’s not a problem. But if the EV market continues to grow, as expected and as promoted by the European Union, the United States and the biggest market in the world, China, then the grid will be correspondingly taxed. So neighbor Bob can charge his car now with no problem, but what will happen if three or five homes that share your transformer are charging at the same time?
“Interoperability will provide standardized devices that are capable of functioning with each other,” said Keith Hardy, Director of the U.S. EV-Smart Grid Interoperability Center at Argonne.
The devices that tell us how much energy is left in our charge, or how much it would cost to charge a car off-peak or at peak demand, will be the same. A smart grid app on your smart phone (hasn’t “smart phone” gone the way of the “world wide web”?) can show your battery charge, time to end of charge, range left on battery and the ComEd real price of electricity at that moment. If too many cars are charging at the same time, you’ll be notified that you’ve reached “branch load,” explained Hardy. Price can go up, or energy can be redirected in a process called load management, which can save money versus an infrastructure upgrade. It creates an open transaction between supplier and user: you can charge up at peak times and pay more. Or, if you’re not using your EV at peak times, you can sell back that energy into the grid, then recharge later at night to save a buck. It’s like day trading.
“The goal is to align communication as close as possible so everyone knows there will be an open market with free competition,” said Giovanni De Santi, Director of the Interoperability Center in Italy.
With load management, energy becomes an open market commodity where purchasers can make the most informed decision. Smart. Efficient.
This will in turn enable the deregulated energy service providers like ComEd in Illinois or Southern California Edison in Southern California to speak the same language to the same devices that are monitoring and managing energy flow.
The smart grid will also utilize massive energy production coming from intermittent, renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. The uniformity in technological language, how devices speak to each other, and storing and delivering energy from intermittent sources, are best managed by a smart grid. Matched by industry, the DOE has pumped $4.5 billion into smart grid development and boosted the EV industry.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
2013年7月16日 星期二
where she was heading for the day
From inside the fifth-floor office at Hutchinson's First National
Bank, everything from the desk and chairs to the computer monitor and
blossoms in the vase, was white. This was Lou's space, where she
operated the Lou Peel Institute, booking motivational-speaking events,
and dreaming her dreams, setting goals and achieving them.
The author of two non-fiction books, "Secrets of Counting Colors" and "Motivation: Opportunities Will Come Your Way," Peel also wrote a fictional love story, "Angelia."
There was no one more suited to write a motivational book, said her son.
"She was the most positive person I ever met," Bill said. "She spent her entire life being positive and exuded a positive energy. She believed you could do anything if you put your mind to it. She was a huge believer in goal-setting."
Every January she would ask Bill if he had set his goals. He discovered a list of 35 goals for one year tucked in her Bible. He's certain she achieved each one.
In "Motivation," Lou Peel wrote about the importance of liking oneself and dreaming about what one wanted in life,Home energy monitor then setting goals and prioritizing them. She urged people to take risks and move out of their comfort zones.
"Negative is not for the person who wants to advance," Lou Peel wrote in 2004. "Make one step to the positive each day and after 21 days it becomes the habit that will take you far in life."
A native of Hutchinson, she was born Esther "Lou" Benson. Her first job was as an usherette at the Fox Theatre.
"At midnight the police would come by and drive her to the bank depository," Bill said. "But they never gave her a ride home. She had to walk home about a mile on East Avenue B. Back then, the world was a safer place. At least we thought it was."
She married Bob Peel in January 1947 and they took the train to Chicago for their honeymoon. She is survived by Bob; sons Bill, Omaha, Neb., and Bob Jr., Hutchinson; five grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
A goal was to attend every wedding of her grandchildren. She achieved that goal in April when the last two grandchildren were married.
"She taught me to live every day to the fullest and be positive," said granddaughter Lindsay Marquardt. "She was adamant that it was a choice to have a bad day or a good day."
Bill Peel called his mother "the ambassador of Hutchinson." She loved her community. She and Bob built Peel's Beauty Supply into a company with more than 500 employees. She also branched out on her own. After graduating from the Chicago School of Interior Design in 1968, she worked for Bob Ging, decorating the new homes he built.
Through it all, her positive attitude was her trademark. It came in handy back on June 14, 1985, when she and Bob Peel Sr., Bob Peel Jr. and his wife, Kris, were returning from a six-day cruise they had won as top distributors of Redken products through their business.
When the Peels boarded TWA Flight 847 in Athens, Greece, none of them could sit together, the family later told The News. Their earlier flight had been canceled and they got the last four seats on the flight. A pair of Lebanese gunmen commandeered the jet with 152 passengers and crew members. Lou was among the first hostages to be released in Cypress. She comforted others in the group, Bill Peel said, as they awaited news of their loved ones and fellow travelers.
A Navy diver, Robert D. Stethem, was killed during the ordeal. Hijackers released other hostages over the next 15 days, with the ordeal ending for the last 39, including Bob Peel Jr., on June 30. It ended after Israel's release of 31 Lebanese prisoners.
The experience, more than anything, reassured Lou of her deep-rooted values. Not for one second did it turn her off from traveling or experiencing life.
"She taught me patience, and not to sweat the small things and enjoy life," said Lou's daughter-in-law Susan Peel.
Bill recalled a mother who found her inspiration in the Bible, which she read every morning as she ate half a banana and drank a cup of coffee.
Then, no matter where she was heading for the day, even if it was to have coffee at Fraese with her sister Margaret Bowles and Scott and Steve Saylor, she would dress up as if she was headed to the Town Club for dinner.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
The author of two non-fiction books, "Secrets of Counting Colors" and "Motivation: Opportunities Will Come Your Way," Peel also wrote a fictional love story, "Angelia."
There was no one more suited to write a motivational book, said her son.
"She was the most positive person I ever met," Bill said. "She spent her entire life being positive and exuded a positive energy. She believed you could do anything if you put your mind to it. She was a huge believer in goal-setting."
Every January she would ask Bill if he had set his goals. He discovered a list of 35 goals for one year tucked in her Bible. He's certain she achieved each one.
In "Motivation," Lou Peel wrote about the importance of liking oneself and dreaming about what one wanted in life,Home energy monitor then setting goals and prioritizing them. She urged people to take risks and move out of their comfort zones.
"Negative is not for the person who wants to advance," Lou Peel wrote in 2004. "Make one step to the positive each day and after 21 days it becomes the habit that will take you far in life."
A native of Hutchinson, she was born Esther "Lou" Benson. Her first job was as an usherette at the Fox Theatre.
"At midnight the police would come by and drive her to the bank depository," Bill said. "But they never gave her a ride home. She had to walk home about a mile on East Avenue B. Back then, the world was a safer place. At least we thought it was."
She married Bob Peel in January 1947 and they took the train to Chicago for their honeymoon. She is survived by Bob; sons Bill, Omaha, Neb., and Bob Jr., Hutchinson; five grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
A goal was to attend every wedding of her grandchildren. She achieved that goal in April when the last two grandchildren were married.
"She taught me to live every day to the fullest and be positive," said granddaughter Lindsay Marquardt. "She was adamant that it was a choice to have a bad day or a good day."
Bill Peel called his mother "the ambassador of Hutchinson." She loved her community. She and Bob built Peel's Beauty Supply into a company with more than 500 employees. She also branched out on her own. After graduating from the Chicago School of Interior Design in 1968, she worked for Bob Ging, decorating the new homes he built.
Through it all, her positive attitude was her trademark. It came in handy back on June 14, 1985, when she and Bob Peel Sr., Bob Peel Jr. and his wife, Kris, were returning from a six-day cruise they had won as top distributors of Redken products through their business.
When the Peels boarded TWA Flight 847 in Athens, Greece, none of them could sit together, the family later told The News. Their earlier flight had been canceled and they got the last four seats on the flight. A pair of Lebanese gunmen commandeered the jet with 152 passengers and crew members. Lou was among the first hostages to be released in Cypress. She comforted others in the group, Bill Peel said, as they awaited news of their loved ones and fellow travelers.
A Navy diver, Robert D. Stethem, was killed during the ordeal. Hijackers released other hostages over the next 15 days, with the ordeal ending for the last 39, including Bob Peel Jr., on June 30. It ended after Israel's release of 31 Lebanese prisoners.
The experience, more than anything, reassured Lou of her deep-rooted values. Not for one second did it turn her off from traveling or experiencing life.
"She taught me patience, and not to sweat the small things and enjoy life," said Lou's daughter-in-law Susan Peel.
Bill recalled a mother who found her inspiration in the Bible, which she read every morning as she ate half a banana and drank a cup of coffee.
Then, no matter where she was heading for the day, even if it was to have coffee at Fraese with her sister Margaret Bowles and Scott and Steve Saylor, she would dress up as if she was headed to the Town Club for dinner.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
2013年7月15日 星期一
This strips the waves of their power to erode land
The U.K.’s plan to build new power plants and cut pollution will be
the main driver behind a jump of almost 20 percent in bills by the end
of the decade, according to the utility RWE AG.
Policies that spur a low-carbon economy such as a tax on emissions and subsidies for renewable energy will cause the average household electricity bill to rise to 1,487 pounds ($2,244) in 2020 from 1,247 pounds now, RWE’s unit operating in Britain said in a report.
The study adds fuel to the debate over the cost of energy in the U.K., where energy suppliers including RWE and SSE Plc garnered criticism from consumer groups such as comparison website uSwitch Ltd. for reporting higher profits as bills increase. Britain needs to replace the fifth of its power generation that is scheduled to retire within 10 years. It’s seeking to tap cleaner sources of energy such as wind and solar, funded by raising the cost of power for consumers.
“Government policy is rightly delivering the transformation we need to address the U.K.’s poor housing stock and encourage investment required in new infrastructure,” said Paul Massara, chief executive officer at RWE Npower Plc. “But achieving these aspirations comes at a cost, and this is what needs to be clearly communicated to consumers.”
Massara urged government and energy companies to be clearer about reasons behind bill rises to help consumers reduce use, because suppliers control only about 16 percent of a bill, Energy monitor RWE said.
The costs of policies such as requiring energy companies to improve home efficiency are expected to rise 78 percent by 2020, while upgrading networks to accommodate new low-carbon projects such as wind farms will add a further 114 pounds to bills by that year, a 124 percent increase from 2007, RWE said.
The portion of bills spent on gas and electricity will decline to 35 percent from 45 percent now as policy and network infrastructure take up bigger shares, it said.
RWE’s forecasts are for a greater rise in household energy bills than the government predicts. The Department of Energy and Climate Change said in March that the average consumer bill for power and gas will rise 6 percent to 1,331 pounds in 2020 from about 1,255 pounds this year, excluding inflation.
The government predicts that the annual 286-pound cost of renewable energy subsidies in 2020 will be outweighed by 452 pounds worth of savings created by policies to make electrical products more efficient, insulate homes and install more efficient boilers and smart meters to monitor energy use.
Coastal habitats – especially if left intact – can protect vulnerable oceanfront land and the people who live there, says author Katie Arkema, a Seattle-based marine ecologist with the Natural Capital Project.
"The waves break on coral reefs or coastal forests, and therefore lose energy," says Mary Ruckelshaus, who works with Dr. Arkema at the Natural Capital Project, a partnership among Stanford University, The Nature Conservancy, the World Wildlife Fund, and the University of Minnesota. This strips the waves of their power to erode land, flood buildings, and wreak the havoc seen after storms like Sandy and Katrina. Other coastal habitats, like dunes and seagrasses, work in different ways, but they all "diffuse the energy in the waves, and reduce how much they can erode the shoreline," she adds.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
Policies that spur a low-carbon economy such as a tax on emissions and subsidies for renewable energy will cause the average household electricity bill to rise to 1,487 pounds ($2,244) in 2020 from 1,247 pounds now, RWE’s unit operating in Britain said in a report.
The study adds fuel to the debate over the cost of energy in the U.K., where energy suppliers including RWE and SSE Plc garnered criticism from consumer groups such as comparison website uSwitch Ltd. for reporting higher profits as bills increase. Britain needs to replace the fifth of its power generation that is scheduled to retire within 10 years. It’s seeking to tap cleaner sources of energy such as wind and solar, funded by raising the cost of power for consumers.
“Government policy is rightly delivering the transformation we need to address the U.K.’s poor housing stock and encourage investment required in new infrastructure,” said Paul Massara, chief executive officer at RWE Npower Plc. “But achieving these aspirations comes at a cost, and this is what needs to be clearly communicated to consumers.”
Massara urged government and energy companies to be clearer about reasons behind bill rises to help consumers reduce use, because suppliers control only about 16 percent of a bill, Energy monitor RWE said.
The costs of policies such as requiring energy companies to improve home efficiency are expected to rise 78 percent by 2020, while upgrading networks to accommodate new low-carbon projects such as wind farms will add a further 114 pounds to bills by that year, a 124 percent increase from 2007, RWE said.
The portion of bills spent on gas and electricity will decline to 35 percent from 45 percent now as policy and network infrastructure take up bigger shares, it said.
RWE’s forecasts are for a greater rise in household energy bills than the government predicts. The Department of Energy and Climate Change said in March that the average consumer bill for power and gas will rise 6 percent to 1,331 pounds in 2020 from about 1,255 pounds this year, excluding inflation.
The government predicts that the annual 286-pound cost of renewable energy subsidies in 2020 will be outweighed by 452 pounds worth of savings created by policies to make electrical products more efficient, insulate homes and install more efficient boilers and smart meters to monitor energy use.
Coastal habitats – especially if left intact – can protect vulnerable oceanfront land and the people who live there, says author Katie Arkema, a Seattle-based marine ecologist with the Natural Capital Project.
"The waves break on coral reefs or coastal forests, and therefore lose energy," says Mary Ruckelshaus, who works with Dr. Arkema at the Natural Capital Project, a partnership among Stanford University, The Nature Conservancy, the World Wildlife Fund, and the University of Minnesota. This strips the waves of their power to erode land, flood buildings, and wreak the havoc seen after storms like Sandy and Katrina. Other coastal habitats, like dunes and seagrasses, work in different ways, but they all "diffuse the energy in the waves, and reduce how much they can erode the shoreline," she adds.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
2013年7月14日 星期日
when the smell and sounds of the tank battery
Julie Boyle and her husband plan to move away from Weld County as soon as they can.
Not because of finances. Not because of better opportunities. They’ve just had enough of their neighbors — 20 oil and gas facilities that surround their home north of Gill.
“We’re outta here,” said Boyle, who plans to move to their second home in Lyons as soon as finances permit in the next year or two.
Boyle is a hardy member of the newly formed Weld Air and Water, a group of residents advocating for health and safety amid oil and gas exploration in the county.
She can’t definitively point to oil and gas for the increase in nosebleeds she’s had in the last year. She also can’t say the industry and the nearby wells and tank batteries are the sole reason for her increased sinus problems in the last five years.
But she said she also can’t discount the connection when the smell and sounds of the tank battery near her house chase her out of her garden or off her bike route.
“I’m pretty convinced this probably has a negative impact, but I want some studies (done). We need data, and I want to see that,” said Boyle, who moved to Gill in 1997, when only a handful of oil and gas facilities shared her space.
The Air Quality Control Commission under the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is considering tougher regulations requiring stricter maintenance and reporting procedures on the industry, In home display which already is required to control 95 percent of fugitive emissions from their equipment in the field.
Public comments are being accepted now and, come August, a formal proposal may come about — the fifth time in the last eight years that the state has tightened emissions control standards on the industry. Some believe the industry can capture 98 percent of its emissions.
Weld Air and Water members plan to play a role in the process.
“The requirements that we’ve had have been very successful at minimizing air emissions from the oil and gas industry and other industrial sectors,” Will Allison, director of the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission, said. “But we’re seeing tremendous growth projected for the industry. We want proactive regulations that can enable us to meet that growth.”
That could mean increasing reporting requirements, documenting possible fugitive emissions at every juncture and more regular maintenance with stronger technologies, to name a few — things many in the industry say they already do on their own.
Industry insiders say they, too, are concerned about the environment, and they already go above and beyond current regulations to keep air and water clean.
“We all live here, and breathe the air and drink the water and want to go home safely,” said Korby Bracken, director of environmental health and safety for Anadarko Petroleum Corp., one of Weld’s two biggest operators with roughly 5,300 wells in the field today. “We’re doing our part to help protect things we enjoy every day. What we do in the fields is not because of rules and regulations in place. It’s because it’s the right thing to do.”
The main concern is about what’s called volatile organic compounds unique to the oil and gas industry that contribute to ozone pollution, a chief component of smog.
“About half of all VOC emissions in the state have origins in the oil and gas sector,” said Dan Grossman, regional director for Environmental Defense Fund’s Rocky Mountain office in Boulder. “It’s our belief that if you look at the relationships between increasing activity, and emissions, it’s consistent. As oil and gas goes up, VOC emissions go up. It’s common sense.”
A recent study by the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences in Boulder showed that in 550 air samples taken at an air monitoring station in Erie, in the southwestern-most part of Weld, oil and gas was responsible for 55 percent of the hydrocarbons that contribute to ozone formation in that area.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
Not because of finances. Not because of better opportunities. They’ve just had enough of their neighbors — 20 oil and gas facilities that surround their home north of Gill.
“We’re outta here,” said Boyle, who plans to move to their second home in Lyons as soon as finances permit in the next year or two.
Boyle is a hardy member of the newly formed Weld Air and Water, a group of residents advocating for health and safety amid oil and gas exploration in the county.
She can’t definitively point to oil and gas for the increase in nosebleeds she’s had in the last year. She also can’t say the industry and the nearby wells and tank batteries are the sole reason for her increased sinus problems in the last five years.
But she said she also can’t discount the connection when the smell and sounds of the tank battery near her house chase her out of her garden or off her bike route.
“I’m pretty convinced this probably has a negative impact, but I want some studies (done). We need data, and I want to see that,” said Boyle, who moved to Gill in 1997, when only a handful of oil and gas facilities shared her space.
The Air Quality Control Commission under the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is considering tougher regulations requiring stricter maintenance and reporting procedures on the industry, In home display which already is required to control 95 percent of fugitive emissions from their equipment in the field.
Public comments are being accepted now and, come August, a formal proposal may come about — the fifth time in the last eight years that the state has tightened emissions control standards on the industry. Some believe the industry can capture 98 percent of its emissions.
Weld Air and Water members plan to play a role in the process.
“The requirements that we’ve had have been very successful at minimizing air emissions from the oil and gas industry and other industrial sectors,” Will Allison, director of the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission, said. “But we’re seeing tremendous growth projected for the industry. We want proactive regulations that can enable us to meet that growth.”
That could mean increasing reporting requirements, documenting possible fugitive emissions at every juncture and more regular maintenance with stronger technologies, to name a few — things many in the industry say they already do on their own.
Industry insiders say they, too, are concerned about the environment, and they already go above and beyond current regulations to keep air and water clean.
“We all live here, and breathe the air and drink the water and want to go home safely,” said Korby Bracken, director of environmental health and safety for Anadarko Petroleum Corp., one of Weld’s two biggest operators with roughly 5,300 wells in the field today. “We’re doing our part to help protect things we enjoy every day. What we do in the fields is not because of rules and regulations in place. It’s because it’s the right thing to do.”
The main concern is about what’s called volatile organic compounds unique to the oil and gas industry that contribute to ozone pollution, a chief component of smog.
“About half of all VOC emissions in the state have origins in the oil and gas sector,” said Dan Grossman, regional director for Environmental Defense Fund’s Rocky Mountain office in Boulder. “It’s our belief that if you look at the relationships between increasing activity, and emissions, it’s consistent. As oil and gas goes up, VOC emissions go up. It’s common sense.”
A recent study by the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences in Boulder showed that in 550 air samples taken at an air monitoring station in Erie, in the southwestern-most part of Weld, oil and gas was responsible for 55 percent of the hydrocarbons that contribute to ozone formation in that area.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
2013年7月11日 星期四
when everybody else is asking for energy?
At its recent Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft announced its
plan for CityNext, an initiative that will utilize its partner network,
big data capabilities and Azure, its cloud-based network, to create
smarter cities.
"Cities play a vital role in our lives—both now and in the future,” said Laura Ipsen, corporate vice president of Microsoft Worldwide Public Sector in a press release. “Microsoft's CityNext initiative puts people first and builds on this new era of collaborative technology to engage citizens, business and government leaders in new ways."
One Microsoft CityNext partner, Socrata Inc., a cloud software company focused on the shift to data-driven government, leverages Azure to offer governments customizable dashboards, accessible by residents through mobile or Internet to monitor and interact real-time on how their leaders are doing on education, healthcare and job creation.
"The forward-looking CityNext initiative addresses a once-in-a-generation global shift currently taking place in government: opening up government data and using it to enhance citizen services," said Kevin Merritt, CEO and founder at Socrata. "Through simple, familiar apps and devices, governments can now engage everyone, everywhere.”
Currently, Microsoft has enrolled nearly 10 international cities in the program, including: Auckland, New Zealand; Barcelona; Buenos Aires; Hainan Province and Zhengzhou, People’s Republic of China; Hamburg, Germany; Manchester, England; Moscow; and Philadelphia.
In the US, Seattle is teaming up with Microsoft to take green building to the next level. Azure will collect hundreds of data points from energy usage to weather conditions. “If you know it’s going to be an extremely hot day, for example, and the wind is blowing at night and the energy is cleaner, doesn’t it make sense to consider pre-cooling your buildings, so that you can use clean energy and you can also use less energy when everybody else is asking for energy?” chief environmental strategist Rob Bernard told KPLU.org.
“You may decide that because of the wind patterns and sun-loads that it turns out the windows on the north side of your building, from floors three to 15, are a problem. So where before you may have replaced everything and spent a lot of capital and disrupted all of your building, Home energy monitor you may be able to be much more intelligent about your renovation.”
"It's sort of like an EKG machine for the human body. You look at certain vitals," added Brian Surratt with Seattle's Office of Economic Development. The goal is to reduce energy use by 10 to 25 percent, even in buildings that are already LEED-certified for efficiency and then make that software available as broadly as possible.
City officials shut off water Tuesday to a pair of Baraboo homeowners who refused to have smart meters installed on their homes.
“The meters, No. 1, are surveillance,” said Audrey Parker of Baraboo, whose water was shut off Tuesday. “They know how many people are in your house. They know what you do throughout the day.”
Parker told members of the city’s Public Safety Committee last fall that new smart meters, installed to monitor her gas and electric usage, had caused her to have heart palpitations. She petitioned to opt out of a city program to install similar devices that would transmit electronic data about water use.
However, city officials balked at her concerns and put her on notice that her water would be shut off if she did not permit the city to install the meter. The meters send a pulse of information to the utility every few hours to report water use.
City officials say the meters require less manpower to track use, and provide other efficiencies, such as more accurate and up-to-date information.
Parker is part of a movement of people who say the meters are the government’s way of keeping tabs on people. They say the meters send out radio frequencies that add to a person’s exposure to radiation.
Baraboo Utility Superintendent Wade Peterson said those concerns are overblown. The meters use a 1-second pulse every four hours to transmit data to a city server, he said, adding that the radiation from that pulse is less than what is emitted by a microwave or cellphone.
The smart meters also typically are installed on the outside of a residence, making them even less of a concern, he said.
In response to a petition from 33 customers of the Madison Water Utility, public health officials from the city of Madison and Dane County conducted a review of literature regarding the potential health risks associated with smart meters. The review found “little evidence” to support an association.
“I’m not in a position to dispute any of that,” said James Sheriff, who also had his water turned off Tuesday. “I’m as medically qualified as a toothpick.”
Sheriff and his wife, Darcy, have aligned with their friend, Parker, to stand against the city’s new smart meter requirement. Even though he says his wife has a health issue that makes access to a running toilet and drinking water necessary, they don’t intend to budge.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
"Cities play a vital role in our lives—both now and in the future,” said Laura Ipsen, corporate vice president of Microsoft Worldwide Public Sector in a press release. “Microsoft's CityNext initiative puts people first and builds on this new era of collaborative technology to engage citizens, business and government leaders in new ways."
One Microsoft CityNext partner, Socrata Inc., a cloud software company focused on the shift to data-driven government, leverages Azure to offer governments customizable dashboards, accessible by residents through mobile or Internet to monitor and interact real-time on how their leaders are doing on education, healthcare and job creation.
"The forward-looking CityNext initiative addresses a once-in-a-generation global shift currently taking place in government: opening up government data and using it to enhance citizen services," said Kevin Merritt, CEO and founder at Socrata. "Through simple, familiar apps and devices, governments can now engage everyone, everywhere.”
Currently, Microsoft has enrolled nearly 10 international cities in the program, including: Auckland, New Zealand; Barcelona; Buenos Aires; Hainan Province and Zhengzhou, People’s Republic of China; Hamburg, Germany; Manchester, England; Moscow; and Philadelphia.
In the US, Seattle is teaming up with Microsoft to take green building to the next level. Azure will collect hundreds of data points from energy usage to weather conditions. “If you know it’s going to be an extremely hot day, for example, and the wind is blowing at night and the energy is cleaner, doesn’t it make sense to consider pre-cooling your buildings, so that you can use clean energy and you can also use less energy when everybody else is asking for energy?” chief environmental strategist Rob Bernard told KPLU.org.
“You may decide that because of the wind patterns and sun-loads that it turns out the windows on the north side of your building, from floors three to 15, are a problem. So where before you may have replaced everything and spent a lot of capital and disrupted all of your building, Home energy monitor you may be able to be much more intelligent about your renovation.”
"It's sort of like an EKG machine for the human body. You look at certain vitals," added Brian Surratt with Seattle's Office of Economic Development. The goal is to reduce energy use by 10 to 25 percent, even in buildings that are already LEED-certified for efficiency and then make that software available as broadly as possible.
City officials shut off water Tuesday to a pair of Baraboo homeowners who refused to have smart meters installed on their homes.
“The meters, No. 1, are surveillance,” said Audrey Parker of Baraboo, whose water was shut off Tuesday. “They know how many people are in your house. They know what you do throughout the day.”
Parker told members of the city’s Public Safety Committee last fall that new smart meters, installed to monitor her gas and electric usage, had caused her to have heart palpitations. She petitioned to opt out of a city program to install similar devices that would transmit electronic data about water use.
However, city officials balked at her concerns and put her on notice that her water would be shut off if she did not permit the city to install the meter. The meters send a pulse of information to the utility every few hours to report water use.
City officials say the meters require less manpower to track use, and provide other efficiencies, such as more accurate and up-to-date information.
Parker is part of a movement of people who say the meters are the government’s way of keeping tabs on people. They say the meters send out radio frequencies that add to a person’s exposure to radiation.
Baraboo Utility Superintendent Wade Peterson said those concerns are overblown. The meters use a 1-second pulse every four hours to transmit data to a city server, he said, adding that the radiation from that pulse is less than what is emitted by a microwave or cellphone.
The smart meters also typically are installed on the outside of a residence, making them even less of a concern, he said.
In response to a petition from 33 customers of the Madison Water Utility, public health officials from the city of Madison and Dane County conducted a review of literature regarding the potential health risks associated with smart meters. The review found “little evidence” to support an association.
“I’m not in a position to dispute any of that,” said James Sheriff, who also had his water turned off Tuesday. “I’m as medically qualified as a toothpick.”
Sheriff and his wife, Darcy, have aligned with their friend, Parker, to stand against the city’s new smart meter requirement. Even though he says his wife has a health issue that makes access to a running toilet and drinking water necessary, they don’t intend to budge.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
2013年7月10日 星期三
The Sheriffs contacted the Wisconsin Public Utility
City officials shut off water Tuesday to a pair of Baraboo homeowners who refused to have smart meters installed on their homes.
“The meters, number one, are surveillance,” said Audrey Parker of Baraboo, whose water was shut off Tuesday. “They know how many people are in your house. They know what you do throughout the day.”
Parker told members of the city’s Public Safety Committee last fall that new smart meters, installed to monitor her gas and electric usage, had caused her to have heart palpitations. She petitioned to opt out of a city program to install similar devices that would transmit electronic data about water use.
However, city officials balked at her concerns and put her on notice that her water would be shut off if she did not permit the city to install the meter. The meters send a pulse of information to the utility every few hours to report water use.
City officials say the meters require less manpower to track use, and provide other efficiencies, such as more accurate and up-to-date information.
Parker is part of a movement of people who say the meters are the government’s way of keeping tabs on people. They say the meters send out radio frequencies that add to a person’s exposure to radiation.
Baraboo Utility Superintendent Wade Peterson said those concerns are overblown. The meters use a 1-second pulse every four hours to transmit data to a city server, he said, adding that the radiation from that pulse is less than what is emitted by a microwave or cell phone.
The smart meters also typically are installed on the outside of a residence, making them even less of a concern, he said.
In response to a petition from 33 customers of the Madison Water Utility, public health officials from the city of Madison and Dane County conducted a review of literature regarding the potential health risks associated with smart meters. The review found “little evidence” to support an association.
“I’m not in a position to dispute any of that,” said James Sheriff, who also had his water turned off Tuesday. “I’m as medically qualified as a toothpick.”
Sheriff and his wife, Darcy, have aligned with their friend, Parker, to stand against the city’s new smart meter requirement. Even though he says his wife has a health issue that makes access to a running toilet and drinking water necessary, they don’t intend to budge.
Darcy Sheriff said Parker has provided her with articles from websites that lead her to believe smart meters collect more than just information about a person’s utility usage.
Sheriff said she suspects the smart meters can monitor activities inside the home, such as how many times the toilet is flushed,Home energy monitor ,how much the dishwasher is used, and so forth.
“That is absolutely incorrect,” Peterson said. “It tracks two things: gallons per minute and total usage. We have no way of knowing whether it was for a dishwasher, toilet or anything else.”
The Sheriffs contacted the Wisconsin Public Utility Commission this week to report the city’s action. Peterson said the PSC directed the city to turn their water back on Wednesday in order to give Darcy Sheriff 21 days to prove she has a health condition that would be impacted if her water was turned off. The city has since complied and restored water service to the residence.
The Sheriffs said they don’t know one way or another whether the smart meters actually pose a health risk or collect personal data. Nevertheless, they say it should be their right to choose whether one is installed on their home.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
“The meters, number one, are surveillance,” said Audrey Parker of Baraboo, whose water was shut off Tuesday. “They know how many people are in your house. They know what you do throughout the day.”
Parker told members of the city’s Public Safety Committee last fall that new smart meters, installed to monitor her gas and electric usage, had caused her to have heart palpitations. She petitioned to opt out of a city program to install similar devices that would transmit electronic data about water use.
However, city officials balked at her concerns and put her on notice that her water would be shut off if she did not permit the city to install the meter. The meters send a pulse of information to the utility every few hours to report water use.
City officials say the meters require less manpower to track use, and provide other efficiencies, such as more accurate and up-to-date information.
Parker is part of a movement of people who say the meters are the government’s way of keeping tabs on people. They say the meters send out radio frequencies that add to a person’s exposure to radiation.
Baraboo Utility Superintendent Wade Peterson said those concerns are overblown. The meters use a 1-second pulse every four hours to transmit data to a city server, he said, adding that the radiation from that pulse is less than what is emitted by a microwave or cell phone.
The smart meters also typically are installed on the outside of a residence, making them even less of a concern, he said.
In response to a petition from 33 customers of the Madison Water Utility, public health officials from the city of Madison and Dane County conducted a review of literature regarding the potential health risks associated with smart meters. The review found “little evidence” to support an association.
“I’m not in a position to dispute any of that,” said James Sheriff, who also had his water turned off Tuesday. “I’m as medically qualified as a toothpick.”
Sheriff and his wife, Darcy, have aligned with their friend, Parker, to stand against the city’s new smart meter requirement. Even though he says his wife has a health issue that makes access to a running toilet and drinking water necessary, they don’t intend to budge.
Darcy Sheriff said Parker has provided her with articles from websites that lead her to believe smart meters collect more than just information about a person’s utility usage.
Sheriff said she suspects the smart meters can monitor activities inside the home, such as how many times the toilet is flushed,Home energy monitor ,how much the dishwasher is used, and so forth.
“That is absolutely incorrect,” Peterson said. “It tracks two things: gallons per minute and total usage. We have no way of knowing whether it was for a dishwasher, toilet or anything else.”
The Sheriffs contacted the Wisconsin Public Utility Commission this week to report the city’s action. Peterson said the PSC directed the city to turn their water back on Wednesday in order to give Darcy Sheriff 21 days to prove she has a health condition that would be impacted if her water was turned off. The city has since complied and restored water service to the residence.
The Sheriffs said they don’t know one way or another whether the smart meters actually pose a health risk or collect personal data. Nevertheless, they say it should be their right to choose whether one is installed on their home.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
2013年7月9日 星期二
In contrast United and Liverpool
A second 'Prisoner X' was being held in top-secret conditions in the
same jail where an Israeli-Australian spy took his his own life in 2010,
a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Court documents cited by Haaretz newspaper said the prisoner was being held in another wing of Ayalon prison at the same time as Ben Zygier, an alleged Mossad spy whose mysterious arrest and subsequent suicide shocked Israel and Australia when it hit the headlines in February.
The documents show the second prisoner had already been convicted without saying what his crime was.
The prisoner, who was being held under similar conditions to Zygier, was not named and it was not clear from the papers whether he was still incarcerated, Haaretz said.
Zygier, who was initially referred to as "Prisoner X" before the Australian press identified him as an agent for Israel's shadowy Mossad spy service, was found hanged in a supposedly suicide-proof cell in Block 15 of Ayalon prison in December 2010 with Israel going to extreme lengths to cover up his existence and the reason for his imprisonment.
Haaretz said the second prisoner was being held in Block 13 and that like Zygier, his case was being handled by the Shin Bet internal security service and the prison's intelligence officers.
The paper said the information was included in an appendix to a transcript of hearings and decisions on the Zygier case, In home display which was released by the Central District Magistrates Court following a Haaretz request.
Avigdor Feldman, a lawyer who visited Zygier just days before his death and who specialises in security cases, told army radio that certain assumptions could be drawn from a detainee being classified as 'prisoner X.'
"They are Israeli, they work in institutions linked to security whose activities are shrouded in secrecy," he said.
"And their detention demonstrates the failure of these organisations which are not capable of preventing offences such as those for which these agents have been arrested," he said.
Two months ago, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which broke the original story about 'Prisoner X' in February, said that Zygier had been arrested after unwittingly sabotaging a top-secret spy operation to bring home the bodies of Israeli soldiers missing in Lebanon.
In contrast United and Liverpool are both expected to bring near full strength squads to Australia, with United boasting the likes of Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie and Rio Ferdinand while Liverpool's two superstars in Steven Gerrard and Luiz Suarez are also expected to take on the Victory.
So not surprisingly the English clubs are set to start unbackable favourites for their respective friendlies.
United - the reigning English champions - are paying just $1.33 at the TAB and $1.35 at Eskander's Betstar to beat the A-League All Stars, who are priced at $8 and $8.10 respectively while even the draw is at big odds of $4.50.
And while the Victory under their much respected manager Ange Postecoglou - who will also coach the All Stars against United - should be more competitive, the odds are similar in that game.
Liverpool are paying just $1.30 at the TAB but slightly better odds of $1.34 at Eskander's Betstar while the Victory are paying $8 and $8.80 respectively with the draw priced at $4.50 at the TAB and $4.60 at Betstar.
However with the Victory also in full pre-season mode and with the likely backing of a big MCG crowd - the home side could be value at the line at Betstar where they are paying $3 with a half a goal head start.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
Court documents cited by Haaretz newspaper said the prisoner was being held in another wing of Ayalon prison at the same time as Ben Zygier, an alleged Mossad spy whose mysterious arrest and subsequent suicide shocked Israel and Australia when it hit the headlines in February.
The documents show the second prisoner had already been convicted without saying what his crime was.
The prisoner, who was being held under similar conditions to Zygier, was not named and it was not clear from the papers whether he was still incarcerated, Haaretz said.
Zygier, who was initially referred to as "Prisoner X" before the Australian press identified him as an agent for Israel's shadowy Mossad spy service, was found hanged in a supposedly suicide-proof cell in Block 15 of Ayalon prison in December 2010 with Israel going to extreme lengths to cover up his existence and the reason for his imprisonment.
Haaretz said the second prisoner was being held in Block 13 and that like Zygier, his case was being handled by the Shin Bet internal security service and the prison's intelligence officers.
The paper said the information was included in an appendix to a transcript of hearings and decisions on the Zygier case, In home display which was released by the Central District Magistrates Court following a Haaretz request.
Avigdor Feldman, a lawyer who visited Zygier just days before his death and who specialises in security cases, told army radio that certain assumptions could be drawn from a detainee being classified as 'prisoner X.'
"They are Israeli, they work in institutions linked to security whose activities are shrouded in secrecy," he said.
"And their detention demonstrates the failure of these organisations which are not capable of preventing offences such as those for which these agents have been arrested," he said.
Two months ago, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which broke the original story about 'Prisoner X' in February, said that Zygier had been arrested after unwittingly sabotaging a top-secret spy operation to bring home the bodies of Israeli soldiers missing in Lebanon.
In contrast United and Liverpool are both expected to bring near full strength squads to Australia, with United boasting the likes of Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie and Rio Ferdinand while Liverpool's two superstars in Steven Gerrard and Luiz Suarez are also expected to take on the Victory.
So not surprisingly the English clubs are set to start unbackable favourites for their respective friendlies.
United - the reigning English champions - are paying just $1.33 at the TAB and $1.35 at Eskander's Betstar to beat the A-League All Stars, who are priced at $8 and $8.10 respectively while even the draw is at big odds of $4.50.
And while the Victory under their much respected manager Ange Postecoglou - who will also coach the All Stars against United - should be more competitive, the odds are similar in that game.
Liverpool are paying just $1.30 at the TAB but slightly better odds of $1.34 at Eskander's Betstar while the Victory are paying $8 and $8.80 respectively with the draw priced at $4.50 at the TAB and $4.60 at Betstar.
However with the Victory also in full pre-season mode and with the likely backing of a big MCG crowd - the home side could be value at the line at Betstar where they are paying $3 with a half a goal head start.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
2013年7月8日 星期一
Products required to adhere to the energy
The UAE government is embracing clean energy initiatives with the
implementation of an energy ratings system to be incorporated across
household appliances, air conditioning systems and lighting.
The Emirates Standardisation and Metrology Authority (ESMA) has passed into legislation and implemented the first phase of the new Energy Rating system to grade the energy consumption of products by using a star rating system - setting a benchmark for energy efficiency.
ESMA consulted the industry extensively to create the programme and worked closely with manufacturers in order to develop the standards.
The move is expected to save the government AED 400 million a year by 2016 from energy savings on air conditioning units alone.
The new energy rating system is similar to that used in Australasia, but has been created specifically for the UAE.
The ratings will be displayed on labels to help make comparisons between models and choose the most energy-efficient appliance that suits their needs. The labels will provide information on how much electricity an appliance uses in a year, plus the star rating to show how energy efficient it is.
Director of the ESMA Conformity Affairs Department, Home energy monitor Abdulla Abdelqadir Al Maeeni, explained, “As a provider and subsidiser of energy, this is a very important step for the government, as it will free up resources that will in turn contribute to the growth of the economy,” he says. “The benefits to the environment are expected to be wide reaching and cut the country’s CO2 emissions significantly once the scheme is fully implemented.
“We are committed to this initiative that will ensure that the products that do not have a star rating will not be allowed into the UAE. Those products sold here will all have the energy rating labels to help consumers choose energy efficient products that will save energy and reduce their own energy costs.”
Manufactures themselves are happy with the new regulations, saying that the rating system makes it easy for consumers to choose the best appliance for their needs.
“Bosch Home Appliances worked closely with ESMA to develop the standards for washing machines and laundry,” says Bosch Marketing Director Georg Kazantzidis.
“Manufacturers accept that we need to take responsibility for the social and environmental impacts of our products and this means helping customers use them more sustainably.
“Appliances can account for up to 30 per cent of your home energy use and, as our reliance on electrical appliances increases and energy consumption also go up, selecting energy-efficient products becomes even more important.
The first products required to adhere to the energy ratings system were residential air conditioning units, when compliance became mandatory earlier this year. Washing machines will need to meet energy rating standards from June 2013, after legislation was passed in early April.
Other products currently being addressed by the ESMA board are expected to be included in the legislation over the coming months include cooling and refrigeration products, lights, water heaters, motors and water pumps.
Implementation of the star rating system is mandatory and the government is encouraging manufacturers to produce higher quality products. Manufacturers and importers of lower rated products will be charged fees according to the star rating of the product.
The energy star rating system is just one part of an overall system being implemented by the government that combines building codes and energy efficient glass solutions with energy ratings to create a system to monitor and reduce overall consumption of energy. The government hopes to make the energy rating system the standard for the region and implement it across the GCC.
Meanwhile, Bosch Domestic Appliances recently launched their Green Star campaign, an environmental initiative aimed at promoting sustainability by encouraging communities to take simple steps in their everyday lives to save resources.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
The Emirates Standardisation and Metrology Authority (ESMA) has passed into legislation and implemented the first phase of the new Energy Rating system to grade the energy consumption of products by using a star rating system - setting a benchmark for energy efficiency.
ESMA consulted the industry extensively to create the programme and worked closely with manufacturers in order to develop the standards.
The move is expected to save the government AED 400 million a year by 2016 from energy savings on air conditioning units alone.
The new energy rating system is similar to that used in Australasia, but has been created specifically for the UAE.
The ratings will be displayed on labels to help make comparisons between models and choose the most energy-efficient appliance that suits their needs. The labels will provide information on how much electricity an appliance uses in a year, plus the star rating to show how energy efficient it is.
Director of the ESMA Conformity Affairs Department, Home energy monitor Abdulla Abdelqadir Al Maeeni, explained, “As a provider and subsidiser of energy, this is a very important step for the government, as it will free up resources that will in turn contribute to the growth of the economy,” he says. “The benefits to the environment are expected to be wide reaching and cut the country’s CO2 emissions significantly once the scheme is fully implemented.
“We are committed to this initiative that will ensure that the products that do not have a star rating will not be allowed into the UAE. Those products sold here will all have the energy rating labels to help consumers choose energy efficient products that will save energy and reduce their own energy costs.”
Manufactures themselves are happy with the new regulations, saying that the rating system makes it easy for consumers to choose the best appliance for their needs.
“Bosch Home Appliances worked closely with ESMA to develop the standards for washing machines and laundry,” says Bosch Marketing Director Georg Kazantzidis.
“Manufacturers accept that we need to take responsibility for the social and environmental impacts of our products and this means helping customers use them more sustainably.
“Appliances can account for up to 30 per cent of your home energy use and, as our reliance on electrical appliances increases and energy consumption also go up, selecting energy-efficient products becomes even more important.
The first products required to adhere to the energy ratings system were residential air conditioning units, when compliance became mandatory earlier this year. Washing machines will need to meet energy rating standards from June 2013, after legislation was passed in early April.
Other products currently being addressed by the ESMA board are expected to be included in the legislation over the coming months include cooling and refrigeration products, lights, water heaters, motors and water pumps.
Implementation of the star rating system is mandatory and the government is encouraging manufacturers to produce higher quality products. Manufacturers and importers of lower rated products will be charged fees according to the star rating of the product.
The energy star rating system is just one part of an overall system being implemented by the government that combines building codes and energy efficient glass solutions with energy ratings to create a system to monitor and reduce overall consumption of energy. The government hopes to make the energy rating system the standard for the region and implement it across the GCC.
Meanwhile, Bosch Domestic Appliances recently launched their Green Star campaign, an environmental initiative aimed at promoting sustainability by encouraging communities to take simple steps in their everyday lives to save resources.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
2013年7月7日 星期日
what ultimately defines every elite
Amid his first big-league road trip in May 2011, less than a week after his major-league debut, 21-year-old Eric Hosmer coolly ascended onto the grand scene at Yankee Stadium with his first career home run and a game-winning sacrifice fly in a 4-3 Royals' victory.
"I'm always going to remember that moment," Hosmer said before the Royals' forgettable 10-4 loss to Oakland on Sunday and their trip to New York for a four-game series that starts Monday.
Among many in the stands to see Hosmer was his father, Mike Sr., who that day described the sensation as "just a giant deflating of a balloon, a sense of relief."
"Whatever happens from here on out is gravy," Hosmer's father told The Associated Press at the time.
But as easy as it might have looked then, and as simple as it has looked the last six weeks for the scalding-hot Hosmer, much of his time in between was more about coping with gravity than savoring that gravy.
After completing a terrific rookie season (.293 batting average, 19 homers and 78 RBIs) and finishing third in American League Rookie of the Year balloting, Hosmer tumbled back to earth last season when he hit just .232.
And despite an offseason of reflection and mending a shoulder injury, and renewed dedication and enhanced analysis and tweaking of technique, for the first two months of this season he was suspended in a fairly tame place between the peak of 2011 and the funk of 2012.
At the end of May, Hosmer was hitting .261 with one home run and 16 RBIs, a phase that fused to last season made it reasonable to be skeptical about his future.
But because of his instant initial impact and because of the Royals' need for him to be all he could be as soon as possible, if not sooner, it was easy to forget how young he was and to overlook how fast a track he'd been put on.
It was easy to overlook that he'd played only two full minor-league seasons and that his future was very much in front of him - not already frittering away as he was becoming a fossil at 23.
Easy for others. And maybe even easy for Hosmer.
But whatever doubts he had, and surely he had more than he wants to let on, Hosmer also knew he had the stuff to make it because he'd already flexed that form. He knew it was all in there, even if he was groping to make it resurface.
And he knew, too, Home Energy Management System what ultimately defines every elite athlete - but perhaps is most on display in baseball - isn't the knockdowns but the dusting off.
"You go up and get three hits out of 10, and you're an All-Star; most jobs, that's not going to cut it," he said. "It's all about how you deal with it.
"You never lose your confidence; you always feel like it's going to happen the next day. I think that's how you make it to this level, being basically headstrong. You just know it's a long season. You don't cash out after a month, and you don't cash out after a week or so. You play the whole entire season out."
And in Hosmer's case, it's clearly played out an entirely different way since George Brett and Pedro Grifol began working with Royals hitters on May 30.
Entering his two-for-five Sunday, Hosmer's slugging percentage had gone from .333 before they took over to .588 since June 1.
Including Sunday, he is 15 for 33 with five home runs and 10 RBIs in his last nine games, extending his surge from a June in which he'd been chosen Royals' player of the month by hitting .303 with six homers and 17 RBIs.
"It's definitely a hot streak, but I feel that I'm capable of doing this on many nights," he said after hitting a key two-run homer in the Royals' 10-7 rally to beat Cleveland on Thursday, later adding: "That's how this game works: You get hot, and you've got to make the most of your hot streak."
So, that something has changed profoundly is obvious.
Just how is another matter, even as Hosmer explains it's about "learning through situations of failing to learn" and not missing his pitch when he gets it . . . even though he's not thinking about what pitch he's going to get but his own approach.
As for what he's done with Brett and Grifol, Hosmer vaguely explains, "We've installed an approach that we stick to every day and a routine that we've created and stick to, so that basically when you're in the box you let all the work you've done and all the talent take over."
That doesn't explain much, which is perhaps testimony to it all still feeling like a work in progress. Maybe getting his groove back is too fresh or fragile to potentially jinx or subject to possible paralysis by analysis.
Read the full story at www.owon-smart.com!
"I'm always going to remember that moment," Hosmer said before the Royals' forgettable 10-4 loss to Oakland on Sunday and their trip to New York for a four-game series that starts Monday.
Among many in the stands to see Hosmer was his father, Mike Sr., who that day described the sensation as "just a giant deflating of a balloon, a sense of relief."
"Whatever happens from here on out is gravy," Hosmer's father told The Associated Press at the time.
But as easy as it might have looked then, and as simple as it has looked the last six weeks for the scalding-hot Hosmer, much of his time in between was more about coping with gravity than savoring that gravy.
After completing a terrific rookie season (.293 batting average, 19 homers and 78 RBIs) and finishing third in American League Rookie of the Year balloting, Hosmer tumbled back to earth last season when he hit just .232.
And despite an offseason of reflection and mending a shoulder injury, and renewed dedication and enhanced analysis and tweaking of technique, for the first two months of this season he was suspended in a fairly tame place between the peak of 2011 and the funk of 2012.
At the end of May, Hosmer was hitting .261 with one home run and 16 RBIs, a phase that fused to last season made it reasonable to be skeptical about his future.
But because of his instant initial impact and because of the Royals' need for him to be all he could be as soon as possible, if not sooner, it was easy to forget how young he was and to overlook how fast a track he'd been put on.
It was easy to overlook that he'd played only two full minor-league seasons and that his future was very much in front of him - not already frittering away as he was becoming a fossil at 23.
Easy for others. And maybe even easy for Hosmer.
But whatever doubts he had, and surely he had more than he wants to let on, Hosmer also knew he had the stuff to make it because he'd already flexed that form. He knew it was all in there, even if he was groping to make it resurface.
And he knew, too, Home Energy Management System what ultimately defines every elite athlete - but perhaps is most on display in baseball - isn't the knockdowns but the dusting off.
"You go up and get three hits out of 10, and you're an All-Star; most jobs, that's not going to cut it," he said. "It's all about how you deal with it.
"You never lose your confidence; you always feel like it's going to happen the next day. I think that's how you make it to this level, being basically headstrong. You just know it's a long season. You don't cash out after a month, and you don't cash out after a week or so. You play the whole entire season out."
And in Hosmer's case, it's clearly played out an entirely different way since George Brett and Pedro Grifol began working with Royals hitters on May 30.
Entering his two-for-five Sunday, Hosmer's slugging percentage had gone from .333 before they took over to .588 since June 1.
Including Sunday, he is 15 for 33 with five home runs and 10 RBIs in his last nine games, extending his surge from a June in which he'd been chosen Royals' player of the month by hitting .303 with six homers and 17 RBIs.
"It's definitely a hot streak, but I feel that I'm capable of doing this on many nights," he said after hitting a key two-run homer in the Royals' 10-7 rally to beat Cleveland on Thursday, later adding: "That's how this game works: You get hot, and you've got to make the most of your hot streak."
So, that something has changed profoundly is obvious.
Just how is another matter, even as Hosmer explains it's about "learning through situations of failing to learn" and not missing his pitch when he gets it . . . even though he's not thinking about what pitch he's going to get but his own approach.
As for what he's done with Brett and Grifol, Hosmer vaguely explains, "We've installed an approach that we stick to every day and a routine that we've created and stick to, so that basically when you're in the box you let all the work you've done and all the talent take over."
That doesn't explain much, which is perhaps testimony to it all still feeling like a work in progress. Maybe getting his groove back is too fresh or fragile to potentially jinx or subject to possible paralysis by analysis.
Read the full story at www.owon-smart.com!
2013年7月4日 星期四
Whitall is about to face several health
An order of compensation for the families and survivors of the Pike
River mining disaster may be sentiment only, as the company does not
have enough money in the kitty, Pike River’s receiver says.
Clapping broke out in the public gallery of the Greymouth District Court today, packed with Pike family members, when Judge Farish announced the fine would be $760,000 and ordered the company to pay $3.41 million in reparation.
This amounted to $110,000 for each victim and the two survivors.
But receiver John Fisk of PwC says Pike River Coal Ltd has only $500,000 in available funds and $156,000 in leftover insurance money.
He said that in cases where companies in receivership do not have enough money to pay compensation, the liability may have to be written off. Any fines would not be even considered claimable under the creditor process.
”Any reparations become an unsecured claim against the company so if there isn’t sufficient assets to pay the creditors, which is the case here, then unfortunately, there isn’t money available distribute.”
Unsecured creditors are currently owed $31m, with another $20.5m owed to Pike’s major shareholder, New Zealand Oil and Gas.
Questions are now being asked as to whether the Government might step in to provide compensation for the victims of the 2010 mining disaster, now that the legal avenues are almost exhausted.
Fisk said in some situations, compensation can be sought against company directors. Chief executive Peter Whitall is about to face several health and safety charges laid by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. But other directors remain uncharged.
However, in court today, Judge Farish suggested the company’s directors and parent company might be expected to come to the party.
Usually, even when companies were in ”fragile” financial situation, they would still offer some reparation, she said. Pike had not done so.
Judge Farish said she could rule not to impose reparation if she thought the company was unable to pay but she believed it could be paid by existing shareholders or directors.
The directors had insurance worth a considerable amount and its largest shareholder, New Zealand Oil and Gas, had gained benefit from keeping the company in receivership rather than liquidating it.
Pike River was a shell company and the directors had resigned. The remaining proceeds of $25 million were contingent on the mine being reopened.
PwC says Pike River has had two insurance payouts. The $156,000 referred to is left over from a public liability policy taken by the directors.
A second insurance claim, made by the receivers for material damage and loss of profit, paid out $80m but that has been put into the company’s account to pay creditors. NZOG had allowed a partial payment to unsecured creditors, Fisk said.
Meanwhile, the Green Party said the Pike River families had been cheated out of their compensation.
Spokesman Kevin Hague called on the Government to ensure the full legal compensation was paid to each family.
“These families should be at the front of the queue for compensation and payment, but because the legal system puts them at the back, they could walk away with very little,” he said.
“It is wrong that the families only get the leftover insurance money once everyone else gets in first.
“Presumably the rest of the $2 million has been eaten up in lawyers’ fees, so again the families are at the back of the queue.”
Judge Farish found the company had a high level of culpability for both its methane management and ventilation management, which were four charges.
Ventilation was an essential part of the safety of a mine, insuring gas in the mine did not reach explosive levels.
”There were many indicators that the mine was in a potential explosive position but the warning signs were not noted or heeded.”
She said those warning signs went unnoticed by Pike management and by the men working in the mine.
She criticised Pike River Coal Ltd for its poor communication in the immediate aftermath of the blast, with many families finding out via media that their loved ones.
”The victim impact statements were harrowing. They all feel deep sorrow.”
She said in reading the statements, it was clear they desperately wanted to have their men’s bodies retrieved from the mine.
Milton Osborne’s widow, Anna Osborrne, Home energy monitor wept openly as the judge spoke of how important it was for families to bury their loved ones. Judge Farish also struggled to maintain her composure.
Judge Farish said it seemed cruel that Daniel Rockhouse had to continue working in a mine when it obviously was so hard for him.
She agreed it was ”the health and safety event of the generation” and she hoped there would be no repeat.
The former Labour Department, now part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, had charged the company over its methane, strata and ventilation management, mitigating explosion risk and impact, plus health and safety management for contractors, subcontractors and their employees.
Yesterday, the ministry’s lawyer, Mark Zarifeh, told the court that reparation of between $60,000 to $125,000 for each of the 29 victims and two survivors was recommended, with the amount to be at the far end of the scale.
Read the full story at www.owon-smart.com!
Clapping broke out in the public gallery of the Greymouth District Court today, packed with Pike family members, when Judge Farish announced the fine would be $760,000 and ordered the company to pay $3.41 million in reparation.
This amounted to $110,000 for each victim and the two survivors.
But receiver John Fisk of PwC says Pike River Coal Ltd has only $500,000 in available funds and $156,000 in leftover insurance money.
He said that in cases where companies in receivership do not have enough money to pay compensation, the liability may have to be written off. Any fines would not be even considered claimable under the creditor process.
”Any reparations become an unsecured claim against the company so if there isn’t sufficient assets to pay the creditors, which is the case here, then unfortunately, there isn’t money available distribute.”
Unsecured creditors are currently owed $31m, with another $20.5m owed to Pike’s major shareholder, New Zealand Oil and Gas.
Questions are now being asked as to whether the Government might step in to provide compensation for the victims of the 2010 mining disaster, now that the legal avenues are almost exhausted.
Fisk said in some situations, compensation can be sought against company directors. Chief executive Peter Whitall is about to face several health and safety charges laid by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. But other directors remain uncharged.
However, in court today, Judge Farish suggested the company’s directors and parent company might be expected to come to the party.
Usually, even when companies were in ”fragile” financial situation, they would still offer some reparation, she said. Pike had not done so.
Judge Farish said she could rule not to impose reparation if she thought the company was unable to pay but she believed it could be paid by existing shareholders or directors.
The directors had insurance worth a considerable amount and its largest shareholder, New Zealand Oil and Gas, had gained benefit from keeping the company in receivership rather than liquidating it.
Pike River was a shell company and the directors had resigned. The remaining proceeds of $25 million were contingent on the mine being reopened.
PwC says Pike River has had two insurance payouts. The $156,000 referred to is left over from a public liability policy taken by the directors.
A second insurance claim, made by the receivers for material damage and loss of profit, paid out $80m but that has been put into the company’s account to pay creditors. NZOG had allowed a partial payment to unsecured creditors, Fisk said.
Meanwhile, the Green Party said the Pike River families had been cheated out of their compensation.
Spokesman Kevin Hague called on the Government to ensure the full legal compensation was paid to each family.
“These families should be at the front of the queue for compensation and payment, but because the legal system puts them at the back, they could walk away with very little,” he said.
“It is wrong that the families only get the leftover insurance money once everyone else gets in first.
“Presumably the rest of the $2 million has been eaten up in lawyers’ fees, so again the families are at the back of the queue.”
Judge Farish found the company had a high level of culpability for both its methane management and ventilation management, which were four charges.
Ventilation was an essential part of the safety of a mine, insuring gas in the mine did not reach explosive levels.
”There were many indicators that the mine was in a potential explosive position but the warning signs were not noted or heeded.”
She said those warning signs went unnoticed by Pike management and by the men working in the mine.
She criticised Pike River Coal Ltd for its poor communication in the immediate aftermath of the blast, with many families finding out via media that their loved ones.
”The victim impact statements were harrowing. They all feel deep sorrow.”
She said in reading the statements, it was clear they desperately wanted to have their men’s bodies retrieved from the mine.
Milton Osborne’s widow, Anna Osborrne, Home energy monitor wept openly as the judge spoke of how important it was for families to bury their loved ones. Judge Farish also struggled to maintain her composure.
Judge Farish said it seemed cruel that Daniel Rockhouse had to continue working in a mine when it obviously was so hard for him.
She agreed it was ”the health and safety event of the generation” and she hoped there would be no repeat.
The former Labour Department, now part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, had charged the company over its methane, strata and ventilation management, mitigating explosion risk and impact, plus health and safety management for contractors, subcontractors and their employees.
Yesterday, the ministry’s lawyer, Mark Zarifeh, told the court that reparation of between $60,000 to $125,000 for each of the 29 victims and two survivors was recommended, with the amount to be at the far end of the scale.
Read the full story at www.owon-smart.com!
2013年7月3日 星期三
It is urgently needed to restore the system of quality
The essence of Russian space industry reform lies in the human
resource management rather than hardware upgrade, a local expert said in
the wake of a failed rocket launch.
"A new generation of workers and engineers must come to the industry. We need people who work not as much for money as for being proud of the outcomes of their work," Igor Marinin, editor- in-chief of the Cosmonautic News magazine, told Xinhua on Wednesday.
Those people must be cultivated "gradually and steadily" rather than "purchased" in the labor market in a quick fix way, Marinin said.
A Proton-M rocket carrying three Glonass-M communications satellites exploded shortly after blasting off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, dealing another blow to Russia's disaster-hit space industry.
Since December 2010, Russia has lost five communication satellites and Progress cargo spacecraft carried by Proton-M and Rokot rockets.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said after the explosion that President Vladimir Putin would sign a decree on the reshuffle of the space industry.
Rogozin, Home Energy Management System head of a governmental commission to draft the proposals on how the limping national space industry could be reformed, said the investigation and penalty on the launch failure would be harsh.
"The decisions will be extremely severe toward those responsible for the failures," he said, adding that the Russian space industry must cease to exist in its current shape.
The Russian government was considering a thorough dismantlement of the current management system in the space industry and replacing it with a simple vertically-integrated space-rocket corporation.
Marinin agreed that the space industry has been terribly complicated, multi-layer and self-duplicating. "As a result, everybody's business is nobody's business."
He, however, cautioned against swift changes as the problems have been mounted for decades.
"Reshuffle of the space industry could be difficult because the industry currently may rely only on the 'old timers'," Marinin said.
"The difficulty steams from a fact that the Russian space agency Roscosmos' top management faces strong opposition from exactly these old-generation employees, who remember how reliable the system was during the Soviet times," the expert added.
It is urgently needed to restore the system of quality control in the space industry enterprises. The government's current plans envisage to do that by 2018, but no one can say how many more failures Russian rockets will suffer by that time, the expert said.
He suggested that "every enterprise be attached an independent, outsourced quality control unit, whose employees would be assigned a very good salary, so they have incentive to remain independent."
The employees must also be given authority to "stop the work in a plant if there is a slightest suspicion that the technology is violated, and they must have an authority to severely fine those responsible for malfunctions," Marinin said.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
"A new generation of workers and engineers must come to the industry. We need people who work not as much for money as for being proud of the outcomes of their work," Igor Marinin, editor- in-chief of the Cosmonautic News magazine, told Xinhua on Wednesday.
Those people must be cultivated "gradually and steadily" rather than "purchased" in the labor market in a quick fix way, Marinin said.
A Proton-M rocket carrying three Glonass-M communications satellites exploded shortly after blasting off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, dealing another blow to Russia's disaster-hit space industry.
Since December 2010, Russia has lost five communication satellites and Progress cargo spacecraft carried by Proton-M and Rokot rockets.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said after the explosion that President Vladimir Putin would sign a decree on the reshuffle of the space industry.
Rogozin, Home Energy Management System head of a governmental commission to draft the proposals on how the limping national space industry could be reformed, said the investigation and penalty on the launch failure would be harsh.
"The decisions will be extremely severe toward those responsible for the failures," he said, adding that the Russian space industry must cease to exist in its current shape.
The Russian government was considering a thorough dismantlement of the current management system in the space industry and replacing it with a simple vertically-integrated space-rocket corporation.
Marinin agreed that the space industry has been terribly complicated, multi-layer and self-duplicating. "As a result, everybody's business is nobody's business."
He, however, cautioned against swift changes as the problems have been mounted for decades.
"Reshuffle of the space industry could be difficult because the industry currently may rely only on the 'old timers'," Marinin said.
"The difficulty steams from a fact that the Russian space agency Roscosmos' top management faces strong opposition from exactly these old-generation employees, who remember how reliable the system was during the Soviet times," the expert added.
It is urgently needed to restore the system of quality control in the space industry enterprises. The government's current plans envisage to do that by 2018, but no one can say how many more failures Russian rockets will suffer by that time, the expert said.
He suggested that "every enterprise be attached an independent, outsourced quality control unit, whose employees would be assigned a very good salary, so they have incentive to remain independent."
The employees must also be given authority to "stop the work in a plant if there is a slightest suspicion that the technology is violated, and they must have an authority to severely fine those responsible for malfunctions," Marinin said.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
2013年7月2日 星期二
With the Supreme Court ruling striking
"The more prominent, more liberal ones who one would have thought
would have been most supportive were not," Wolfson recalled in an
interview. "It's not that they were against it -- I think they didn't
see it as that important or that likely to happen, and in some cases, a
little bit trivial."
A few gay couples had tried to make the argument in the 1970s, following the Supreme Court's declaration that laws prohibiting racial intermarriage were unconstitutional, and were summarily laughed out of court.
At the time, the nascent legal movement on gay rights was focused more on combating anti-sodomy laws, overturning policies that excluded gays from being allowed to enter the country, dealing with issues of workplace discrimination. Some gay rights advocates didn't see the point of pressing for inclusion in a traditional, patriarchal system. For others, marriage seemed a nice notion but a foolish priority, given the hostile landscape of existing injustice.
Wolfson saw it differently. "You can't say you're for equality but acquiesce in exclusion from the central social and legal institution of this and every other society," he said. "What I felt was we needed to transform the movement from 'we want to be let alone' to 'we want to be let in.'"
Wolfson's quest for the freedom to marry -- he used the term same-sex marriage in his paper, but now bristles at its connotation of difference from "regular marriage" -- has been transformed from quixotic to attainable.
With the Supreme Court ruling striking down the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal government is out of the business of discriminating against couples on the basis of their sexual orientation.
Still, for the time being at least, America remains a patchwork nation when it comes to marriage rights. It will require another, major step for the court, one that Wolfson believes is inevitable, to declare that marrying the person you love, regardless of sexual orientation, is a fundamental constitutional right.
Wolfson's story demonstrates the force of idea combined with execution. It demonstrates how society can be reshaped by the power of a seemingly radical idea matched with -- indeed, married to -- a carefully calculated, inch-by-inch strategy for putting it into practice.
The movement toward marriage equality for gays and lesbians in the United States was inexorable, and certainly other advocates have helped drive the debate. But as much as any individual, Wolfson served to shape and accelerate the still emerging reality of same-sex marriage. (Disclosure: Wolfson was a classmate in college and law school.)
Wolfson began practicing law as a prosecutor, first for Brooklyn District Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman, then for Iran-contra prosecutor Lawrence Walsh. But he moonlighted on gay rights issues and eventually joined Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, where he argued, and lost,Home Energy Management System the Supreme Court case involving the Boy Scouts' right to exclude gay scoutmasters.
But marriage remained his priority, if not one universally shared by those gay rights advocates who feared pushing too far too fast. Ten years ago, when Wolfson founded Freedom to Marry, not a single state allowed same-sex couples to marry. Today, 13 states and the District of Columbia recognize the right to marry.
In 2011, after New York joined those ranks, Wolfson married his partner of 10 years, Cheng He, a molecular biologist and management consultant. Just before our interview, Wolfson was consulting with an immigration lawyer about his husband, a Chinese-born Canadian citizen eligible for a green card in the wake of the DOMA ruling.
Still, his work is far from done. For starters, 29 states have constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. Only a Supreme Court ruling can trump those.
"There's no question where it's going. The only question is how soon we can bring it home, and I believe it's a matter of years, not decades," Wolfson said. "At every stage of this campaign we were told, 'You can't win in court.' We were told, 'You can't win in the legislatures.' 'You can't win Republicans.' 'You can't win beyond the coasts.' 'You can't win at the ballot box.' We've overcome every one of those. We will make this happen."
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
A few gay couples had tried to make the argument in the 1970s, following the Supreme Court's declaration that laws prohibiting racial intermarriage were unconstitutional, and were summarily laughed out of court.
At the time, the nascent legal movement on gay rights was focused more on combating anti-sodomy laws, overturning policies that excluded gays from being allowed to enter the country, dealing with issues of workplace discrimination. Some gay rights advocates didn't see the point of pressing for inclusion in a traditional, patriarchal system. For others, marriage seemed a nice notion but a foolish priority, given the hostile landscape of existing injustice.
Wolfson saw it differently. "You can't say you're for equality but acquiesce in exclusion from the central social and legal institution of this and every other society," he said. "What I felt was we needed to transform the movement from 'we want to be let alone' to 'we want to be let in.'"
Wolfson's quest for the freedom to marry -- he used the term same-sex marriage in his paper, but now bristles at its connotation of difference from "regular marriage" -- has been transformed from quixotic to attainable.
With the Supreme Court ruling striking down the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal government is out of the business of discriminating against couples on the basis of their sexual orientation.
Still, for the time being at least, America remains a patchwork nation when it comes to marriage rights. It will require another, major step for the court, one that Wolfson believes is inevitable, to declare that marrying the person you love, regardless of sexual orientation, is a fundamental constitutional right.
Wolfson's story demonstrates the force of idea combined with execution. It demonstrates how society can be reshaped by the power of a seemingly radical idea matched with -- indeed, married to -- a carefully calculated, inch-by-inch strategy for putting it into practice.
The movement toward marriage equality for gays and lesbians in the United States was inexorable, and certainly other advocates have helped drive the debate. But as much as any individual, Wolfson served to shape and accelerate the still emerging reality of same-sex marriage. (Disclosure: Wolfson was a classmate in college and law school.)
Wolfson began practicing law as a prosecutor, first for Brooklyn District Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman, then for Iran-contra prosecutor Lawrence Walsh. But he moonlighted on gay rights issues and eventually joined Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, where he argued, and lost,Home Energy Management System the Supreme Court case involving the Boy Scouts' right to exclude gay scoutmasters.
But marriage remained his priority, if not one universally shared by those gay rights advocates who feared pushing too far too fast. Ten years ago, when Wolfson founded Freedom to Marry, not a single state allowed same-sex couples to marry. Today, 13 states and the District of Columbia recognize the right to marry.
In 2011, after New York joined those ranks, Wolfson married his partner of 10 years, Cheng He, a molecular biologist and management consultant. Just before our interview, Wolfson was consulting with an immigration lawyer about his husband, a Chinese-born Canadian citizen eligible for a green card in the wake of the DOMA ruling.
Still, his work is far from done. For starters, 29 states have constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. Only a Supreme Court ruling can trump those.
"There's no question where it's going. The only question is how soon we can bring it home, and I believe it's a matter of years, not decades," Wolfson said. "At every stage of this campaign we were told, 'You can't win in court.' We were told, 'You can't win in the legislatures.' 'You can't win Republicans.' 'You can't win beyond the coasts.' 'You can't win at the ballot box.' We've overcome every one of those. We will make this happen."
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
2013年7月1日 星期一
The seminar will be concluded with a panel discussion
Energy experts are scheduled to join a seminar at the Celylon Chamber
of Commerce (CCC) auditorium on Friday, July 5 to discuss ways and
means to reduce the consumption of energy.
The event, titled ‘Unlocking the benefits of Energy Conservation’ is organized by the CCC and the energy experts will share their knowledge on how energy consumption can be reduced.
Among the experts are: Dr Tilak Siyambalapitiya, Managing Director of the Resource Management Associates (Pvt) Ltd, and Bandula Thilakasena, Additional General Manager, Corporate Strategy Division of the Ceylon Electricity Board. Dr Siyambalapitiya will speak on the current status and future outlook of the electricity sector in Sri Lanka and Mr Thilakasena will elaborate strategies to reduce the Electricity & Fuel Consumption.
These will be followed by three case studies on the industrial, hotel and logistics sectors. These will be delivered by Iresha Somarathna, Head of Energy and Environment Management of Brandix Lanka Ltd,; Srilal Miththapala, Project Director and Consultant of Greening Sri Lankan Hotels Programme at CCC Solutions (Pvt) Ltd.; and Binupa Liyanage, Director, Logiwiz Ltd.
The seminar will be concluded with a panel discussion and an open forum where the speakers will be joined by two panelists: Harsha Wickremasinghe, Deputy Director General Operations, Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority and Gamini Herath, Deputy Director General, Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka to respond to any queries from the participants.
The recent escalation in electricity tariffs was estimated to increase the electricity bills of most industrial, hotel and commercial enterprises by about 20% - 30%. The tariff change included medium to large consumers in the general purpose category (ie. Non industry and non hotel enterprises) to be levied tariffs under the Time of Day scheme where different tariffs apply based on the time of use of electricity.
Apart from increase in electricity tariffs, the increase in fuel prices made time and again has also led to rise in travel and energy costs. Energy costs have a significant impact on cost of products and services and affect the competitiveness of businesses. Careful management of consumption and use of low energy consuming equipment etc can help businesses to reduce the electricity and fuel bills substantially.
The company late last month secured $5.5 million in Series-A Financing from investors Westly Group and RockPort Capital that is says will enable it to expand its services such as HB Match, an online platform that pairs building owners with qualified building professionals.
HB Match provides an online tool for building services providers to create free, online portfolios of their work, and produces detailed evaluations of these companies based on the project criteria of real estate decision-makers in search of specialists. The result is an efficient process to quickly and thoroughly compare, vet and select the best solution provider for the specific requirements of the project, saving time and resources, Honest Buildings says.
Sitt Asset Management, a New York-based real estate investment firm, used HB Match to compare qualified service providers for multiple capital improvements at 450 Broadway, a turn-of-the-century commercial building in Manhattan for which Sitt is currently executing a complete fa?ade restoration and modernization program in preparation for retail tenancy.
Abe Hedaya, director of operations for Sitt Asset Management, says HB Match saved the company “significant money with no effort on our part.” It also saved time — instead of Sitt Asset Management spending hours searching for firms, Honest Buildings provided the company a list of the most qualified, best-priced options, Hedaya says.
Eneractive Solutions, an energy consulting, engineering and project development firm with offices in the tri-state area, won close to $200,000 in consulting services contracts using Honest Buildings. HB Match includes detailed case studies that show Eneractive Solutions’ work on an array of facilities.
In addition to its HB Match solution, Honest Buildings’ scalable technology is helping municipalities and utilities develop next-generation,Home Energy Management System sustainable buildings and communities.
To date, the states of New York, through its Build Smart NY program, and Connecticut, through its Connecticut Property Assessed Clean Energy or C-PACE program, are using Honest Buildings’ unique HB Platform service to power state-wide online networks that highlight their initiatives, showcase the work being done to improve buildings and provide property owners with tools needed to pinpoint the most qualified vendors for their building projects.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
The event, titled ‘Unlocking the benefits of Energy Conservation’ is organized by the CCC and the energy experts will share their knowledge on how energy consumption can be reduced.
Among the experts are: Dr Tilak Siyambalapitiya, Managing Director of the Resource Management Associates (Pvt) Ltd, and Bandula Thilakasena, Additional General Manager, Corporate Strategy Division of the Ceylon Electricity Board. Dr Siyambalapitiya will speak on the current status and future outlook of the electricity sector in Sri Lanka and Mr Thilakasena will elaborate strategies to reduce the Electricity & Fuel Consumption.
These will be followed by three case studies on the industrial, hotel and logistics sectors. These will be delivered by Iresha Somarathna, Head of Energy and Environment Management of Brandix Lanka Ltd,; Srilal Miththapala, Project Director and Consultant of Greening Sri Lankan Hotels Programme at CCC Solutions (Pvt) Ltd.; and Binupa Liyanage, Director, Logiwiz Ltd.
The seminar will be concluded with a panel discussion and an open forum where the speakers will be joined by two panelists: Harsha Wickremasinghe, Deputy Director General Operations, Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority and Gamini Herath, Deputy Director General, Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka to respond to any queries from the participants.
The recent escalation in electricity tariffs was estimated to increase the electricity bills of most industrial, hotel and commercial enterprises by about 20% - 30%. The tariff change included medium to large consumers in the general purpose category (ie. Non industry and non hotel enterprises) to be levied tariffs under the Time of Day scheme where different tariffs apply based on the time of use of electricity.
Apart from increase in electricity tariffs, the increase in fuel prices made time and again has also led to rise in travel and energy costs. Energy costs have a significant impact on cost of products and services and affect the competitiveness of businesses. Careful management of consumption and use of low energy consuming equipment etc can help businesses to reduce the electricity and fuel bills substantially.
The company late last month secured $5.5 million in Series-A Financing from investors Westly Group and RockPort Capital that is says will enable it to expand its services such as HB Match, an online platform that pairs building owners with qualified building professionals.
HB Match provides an online tool for building services providers to create free, online portfolios of their work, and produces detailed evaluations of these companies based on the project criteria of real estate decision-makers in search of specialists. The result is an efficient process to quickly and thoroughly compare, vet and select the best solution provider for the specific requirements of the project, saving time and resources, Honest Buildings says.
Sitt Asset Management, a New York-based real estate investment firm, used HB Match to compare qualified service providers for multiple capital improvements at 450 Broadway, a turn-of-the-century commercial building in Manhattan for which Sitt is currently executing a complete fa?ade restoration and modernization program in preparation for retail tenancy.
Abe Hedaya, director of operations for Sitt Asset Management, says HB Match saved the company “significant money with no effort on our part.” It also saved time — instead of Sitt Asset Management spending hours searching for firms, Honest Buildings provided the company a list of the most qualified, best-priced options, Hedaya says.
Eneractive Solutions, an energy consulting, engineering and project development firm with offices in the tri-state area, won close to $200,000 in consulting services contracts using Honest Buildings. HB Match includes detailed case studies that show Eneractive Solutions’ work on an array of facilities.
In addition to its HB Match solution, Honest Buildings’ scalable technology is helping municipalities and utilities develop next-generation,Home Energy Management System sustainable buildings and communities.
To date, the states of New York, through its Build Smart NY program, and Connecticut, through its Connecticut Property Assessed Clean Energy or C-PACE program, are using Honest Buildings’ unique HB Platform service to power state-wide online networks that highlight their initiatives, showcase the work being done to improve buildings and provide property owners with tools needed to pinpoint the most qualified vendors for their building projects.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.
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