World Energy Engineering Congress

WEEC is well-recognized as the most important energy event of national and international scope for end users and energy professional in all areas of the energy field. It is the one truly comprehensive forum where you can fully assess the "big picture" – and see exactly how the economic and market forces, new technologies, regulatory developments and industry trends all merge to shape your critical decisions on your organization's energy and economic future.

Globalcon

Presented by the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) and Hosted by National Grid, along with a powerful cross-section of cosponsors to present this industry conference and expo which addresses innovative energy management programs, distributed generation strategies, HVAC and building systems success stories, green buildings, the role of renewables, energy procurement updates, power quality solutions, and more.  GLOBALCON offers more training opportunities than ever before with a multi-track conference program, intensive seminars, and an energy, power, and facility management expo.

Fortnight Editorial: 132 Thousand Residential Solar Jobs?

Either labor productivity is real low in residential solar, or …

The number of solar industry jobs, now said to be 209 thousand, is widely reported and cited. President Obama included, as during his speech last April, announcing a program to train retiring military and veterans to work in solar.

The source for the number of solar jobs is an annual survey conducted by The Solar Foundation. The findings of the latest survey were published a couple of weeks ago in the "National Solar Jobs Census 2015." 

Electric Rates Losing Ground to the CPI

December CPI up 0.7 percent, while electric rates down 1.2 percent

The Labor Department reported last week the Consumer Price Index, the CPI, for December 2015. 

The CPI for all goods and services increased 0.7 percent during the twelve months through December. That's a low rate of inflation. The CPI for electricity specifically decreased 1.2 percent during the same twelve months. That's a medium rate of deflation.

Electricity's Variable Cost All-Time Low Percentage?

Pertinent to rate design debate, variable falling further behind fixed cost

The public naturally believes that most electric utility costs are variable, if only because utility bills are mainly based on per kilowatt-hour rates. Utilities' fixed costs, for generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure, are largely invisible to the average person.

New House Sales Driving Electricity Sales

South now 57% of new house sales, Northeast/Midwest just 16%

November 2015 new house sales were 4 percent greater than the prior month and 9 percent greater than November 2014. More importantly, from the perspective of the electric utility industry, as well as the natural gas utility industry, new house sales in the South were 5 percent greater than the prior month and 19 percent greater than November 2014.

What happens in the South is crucial to the national numbers on electricity. To show why, look at the regional breakdown of electricity sales.

Evaporating Hydro

Produced a third of our electricity, but soon it’ll be blown away by wind

Coal has always produced the most electricity for the grid, compared to other sources, until a few recent months when coal was temporarily surpassed by natural gas. That's what the panelist said, in a seminar last week about electric utilities.

It's true that coal has led. But hydro ran neck and neck with coal well into the 1930's. And up until 1947, hydro produced over a third of the grid's electricity.