By GARANCE BURKE
FRESNO, Calif., Mar. 28, 2010 (AP Online delivered by Newstex) -- After a year of crippling delays, President Barack Obama's $5 billion program to install weather-tight windows and doors has retrofitted a fraction of homes and created far fewer construction jobs than expected.
In Indiana, state-trained workers flubbed insulation jobs. In Alaska, Wyoming and the District of Columbia, the program has yet to produce a single job or retrofit one home. And in California, a state with nearly 37 million residents, the program at last count had created 84 jobs.
The program was a hallmark of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a way to shore up the economy while encouraging people to conserve energy at home. But government rules about how to run what was deemed to be a "shovel-ready" project, including how much to pay contractors and how to protect historic homes during renovations, have thwarted chances at early success, according to an Associated Press review of the program.
"It seems like every day there is a new wrench in the works that keeps us from moving ahead," said program manager Joanne Chappell-Theunissen. She has spent the past several months mailing in photographs of old houses in rural Michigan to meet federal historic preservation rules. "We keep playing catch-up."
The stimulus package gave a jolt to the decades-old federal Weatherization Assistance Program. Weatherization money flows from Washington to the states, where it is passed to local nonprofits that hire contractors to spread insulation and install efficient heaters in people's homes.
Energy officials said the stimulus infusion is on track to create thousands of career-pathway jobs and support an industry that lowers carbon emissions while saving consumers money.
"This is the beginning of the next industrial revolution with the explosion of clean energy investments," said assistant U.S. Energy Secretary Cathy Zoi. "These are good jobs that are here to stay."
But after a year, the stimulus program has retrofitted 30,250 homes -- about 5 percent of the overall goal -- and fallen well short of the 87,000 jobs that the department planned, according to the latest available figures.
As the Obama administration promotes a second home energy-savings (OOTC:HESV) program -- a $6 billion rebate plan -- some experts are asking whether that will pay off for homeowners or for the planet.
"A very rosy picture was painted that energy efficiency would be a great way to create jobs and save money," said Michael Shellenberger, an energy expert who heads the Breakthrough Institute, an Oakland-based think tank that is financed by nonpartisan foundations and works on energy, climate change and health care issues. "The Obama administration risks overpromising again."
Many states held off on weatherizing under the stimulus over concerns about a Depression-era law that requires contractors to pay workers wages equal to those paid for local public works projects. The U.S. Labor Department issued wage rules for every county in the country in September but after receiving about 100 complaints, changed the wage rates again a few months later.
Bureaucratic delays kept officials in Austin, Texas, from weatherizing anything while they waited to hire furnace technicians under a $7.4 million federal grant, of which they received the first installment this month.
The recession itself has compounded the problems, since hiring freezes in some states meant there weren't enough public employees to administer the program.
In California, where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered many state workers to take "Furlough Fridays," the program had created 84 jobs and weatherized 849 homes at last count, in December. Officials estimate several hundred jobs have been created since then.
Energy Department spokeswoman Jen Stutsman said the program produced 8,500 jobs nationwide from October to December 2009, but said she could not provide job creation figures for the last full year since federal guidelines for measuring the program's impact changed in the fall.
Zoi said the number of jobs created and homes completed would rise quickly as the program emerged from its startup phase, and that it was on target to meet overall goals. Now that the money is trickling down more quickly, auditors are fretting over how to make sure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands.
The Energy Department plans to hire one program officer for each state to watch for waste, fraud and mismanagement.
That also will help to ensure crews' performance is up to snuff.
In Illinois, the staff of the department's inspector general, Gregory Friedman, discovered that one agency weatherization inspector missed a dangerous gas leak on a newly installed furnace. State and local officials told auditors they would make sure the leak was fixed and retool statewide training materials.
In Indiana, where workers were required to go through a state weatherization training program, local managers say they have spent hours teaching new recruits to do their jobs properly.
"We keep getting inundated with all kinds of people who want a paycheck, but just aren't qualified to do this kind of work," said Bertha Proctor, who heads a nonprofit contracting agency in Vincennes, Ind.
Still, some of the stimulus program's flexible standards have allowed for innovation.
In Portland, Ore., local officials are reporting an energy-saving boon that has helped minority-owned businesses in the job-starved construction industry. Ohio, which had a strong weatherization program in place at the outset, had completed 6,814 homes by the end of last year, more than a fifth of the total nationwide.
Legislation authorizing a second energy savings program is moving slowly through Congress. Many details of the plan, including how long it will run and its total cost, still need to be worked out. The Obama administration said the "HomeStar" program would reward homeowners who buy energy-saving equipment with an on-the-spot rebate of $1,000 or more, and hope it could become as popular as last year's Cash for Clunkers money-back program for cars and trucks.
Micheline Guilbeault, 65, of Lawton, Okla., whose home was weatherized through the stimulus package, said she thought the new proposal would encourage more homeowners to go green.
"My house doesn't shudder anymore when the wind blows," Guilbeault said. "With the door that they just put in, I'm sure that the bill will go down because myself, I can feel the difference."
Still, some government watchdog groups said taxpayers shouldn't be on the hook paying for home improvements if the government has yet to release figures showing how much weatherizing saves.
"The government should have stayed out of the weatherizing business in the first place," said Leslie Paige of Washington-based Citizens Against Government Waste. "This is a way to rapidly expand and entrench an existing program without ever going back and looking at the rationale or intent or effectiveness."
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Home Automation
Researchers Study Demand-Responsive Dimmable Lighting
by Craig DiLouie, Lighting Controls Association
Posted March 2010
Electric bills paid by commercial building owners often have a consumption and a demand component. The consumption component is the amount of electric energy, measured in kWh, that the building consumes in a given month. The demand component reflects maximum demand, measured in kW, that the building uses over a given time period. Peak demand is the most expensive power that a generator produces and can represent a significant part of the electric bill.
Utilities, Independent System Operators (ISOs) and other power providers servicing commercial buildings share a common interest with their customers to reduce peak demand. This is because shaving the peak enables these organizations to satisfy customer demand while avoiding the high cost of building new capacity or having to buy very expensive power from other markets during an emergency or demand spike. Besides charging more for power used during peak demand periods, a number of utilities and ISOs offer financial incentives to building owners to curtail load on request, usually during an emergency grid event such as during brownout or imminent blackout conditions.
Role of code and standards
Demand response is now beginning to be required by codes and standards—in particular, at present, California’s Title 24-2008 energy code and ASHRAE 189.1 standard for designing high-performance green buildings.
California’s Title 24-2008, which became effective January 1, 2010, requires demand-responsive lighting controls in retail buildings that have a sales floor area larger than 50,000 sq.ft. The code defines demand-responsive lighting control as “control that reduces lighting power consumption in response to a demand response signal.” In this case, the lighting controls must be able to uniformly reduce lighting power by at least 15%. The requirement does not apply if the building’s lighting already has 50% or more of the total lighting wattage controlled by daylight harvesting controls.
Section 7.4.5.1 of ASHRAE 189.1 requires peak electric load reduction capability. The building must contain automatic systems capable of reducing peak electric demand by at least 10%, not including standby power generation.
The role of demand response in codes and standards is likely to intensify in the future. According to the Department of Energy, about 281 gigawatts of new generating capacity will be needed by 2025 to satisfy growing demand for energy, much of which will be allocated solely to satisfy peak demand. This is nearly a thousand 300MW power plants.
Role for dimmable lighting
To reduce peak demand, we can turn equipment off, turn it down or use it more efficiently. Strategies include equipment downsizing, duty cycling, thermal storage, improved maintenance, commissioning. Lighting, at first glance, has a small role to play. While we can use it more efficiently, it is difficult to turn lighting off in routinely occupied spaces for obvious reasons and cannot be turned down in many spaces without installing dimmable ballasts. But what if we did just that—replace every fluorescent ballasts in a commercial office with dimmable ballasts? It is commonly accepted that typical levels of automatic dimming, occurring in strategies such as a daylight harvesting, is unlikely to be noticed or found irritable by occupants. Researchers at the National Research Council Canada – Institute for Research in Construction (NRC-IRC) put this notion to the test, conducting a study to determine how far, how fast and over what period lighting can be dimmed before occupants notice and are adversely affected.
The researchers conducted two laboratory studies in full-scale office mockups where various dimming scenarios were studied with typical office workers performed office tasks, and then designed a field study, conducted during the summer, that included an open-plan office with 330 dimmable light fixtures and a college campus with 1,850 dimmable fixtures in several buildings. Load shedding was undertaken during afternoon hours over several days. The rate of dimming spanned one to 30 minutes with dimming reductions up to 40%. Occupants were warned that an experiment would be conducted over the summer involving afternoon dimming, but were not told which days.
In the field study, lighting loads were able to be reduced by 14-23% without occupant complaint. Based on this data coupled with the lab study data, NRC-IRC developed several recommendations.
Stage 1: This type of demand response involves dimming by amounts that are not noticed by the large majority of occupants. Dimming can occur rapidly, over as little as 10 seconds, by 20% with no daylight, 40% with low prevailing daylight, and 60% with high prevailing daylight. If dimming occurs slowly, over 30 minutes or more, and with no immediate expectation of diming occurring, levels may drop by 30% with no daylight and 60% with high prevailing daylight.
Stage 2: This type of demand response involves more load reduction, with steeper reductions in light levels but still acceptable to a large majority of occupants. Dimming can occur rapidly, over as little as 10 seconds, by 40% with no low daylight and 80% with high prevailing daylight. If dimming occurs slowly, over 30 minutes or more, and with no immediate expectation of diming occurring, levels may drop by 50% with no daylight and 80% with high prevailing daylight.
The researchers emphasize that these recommendations relate only to situations where load shedding is performed to alleviate the effect of temporary—and infrequent—grid stress events, with dimming lasting a few hours at most. The recommendations are not intended to replace current lighting practice and support daily load shedding
by Craig DiLouie, Lighting Controls Association
Posted March 2010
Electric bills paid by commercial building owners often have a consumption and a demand component. The consumption component is the amount of electric energy, measured in kWh, that the building consumes in a given month. The demand component reflects maximum demand, measured in kW, that the building uses over a given time period. Peak demand is the most expensive power that a generator produces and can represent a significant part of the electric bill.
Utilities, Independent System Operators (ISOs) and other power providers servicing commercial buildings share a common interest with their customers to reduce peak demand. This is because shaving the peak enables these organizations to satisfy customer demand while avoiding the high cost of building new capacity or having to buy very expensive power from other markets during an emergency or demand spike. Besides charging more for power used during peak demand periods, a number of utilities and ISOs offer financial incentives to building owners to curtail load on request, usually during an emergency grid event such as during brownout or imminent blackout conditions.
Role of code and standards
Demand response is now beginning to be required by codes and standards—in particular, at present, California’s Title 24-2008 energy code and ASHRAE 189.1 standard for designing high-performance green buildings.
California’s Title 24-2008, which became effective January 1, 2010, requires demand-responsive lighting controls in retail buildings that have a sales floor area larger than 50,000 sq.ft. The code defines demand-responsive lighting control as “control that reduces lighting power consumption in response to a demand response signal.” In this case, the lighting controls must be able to uniformly reduce lighting power by at least 15%. The requirement does not apply if the building’s lighting already has 50% or more of the total lighting wattage controlled by daylight harvesting controls.
Section 7.4.5.1 of ASHRAE 189.1 requires peak electric load reduction capability. The building must contain automatic systems capable of reducing peak electric demand by at least 10%, not including standby power generation.
The role of demand response in codes and standards is likely to intensify in the future. According to the Department of Energy, about 281 gigawatts of new generating capacity will be needed by 2025 to satisfy growing demand for energy, much of which will be allocated solely to satisfy peak demand. This is nearly a thousand 300MW power plants.
Role for dimmable lighting
To reduce peak demand, we can turn equipment off, turn it down or use it more efficiently. Strategies include equipment downsizing, duty cycling, thermal storage, improved maintenance, commissioning. Lighting, at first glance, has a small role to play. While we can use it more efficiently, it is difficult to turn lighting off in routinely occupied spaces for obvious reasons and cannot be turned down in many spaces without installing dimmable ballasts. But what if we did just that—replace every fluorescent ballasts in a commercial office with dimmable ballasts? It is commonly accepted that typical levels of automatic dimming, occurring in strategies such as a daylight harvesting, is unlikely to be noticed or found irritable by occupants. Researchers at the National Research Council Canada – Institute for Research in Construction (NRC-IRC) put this notion to the test, conducting a study to determine how far, how fast and over what period lighting can be dimmed before occupants notice and are adversely affected.
The researchers conducted two laboratory studies in full-scale office mockups where various dimming scenarios were studied with typical office workers performed office tasks, and then designed a field study, conducted during the summer, that included an open-plan office with 330 dimmable light fixtures and a college campus with 1,850 dimmable fixtures in several buildings. Load shedding was undertaken during afternoon hours over several days. The rate of dimming spanned one to 30 minutes with dimming reductions up to 40%. Occupants were warned that an experiment would be conducted over the summer involving afternoon dimming, but were not told which days.
In the field study, lighting loads were able to be reduced by 14-23% without occupant complaint. Based on this data coupled with the lab study data, NRC-IRC developed several recommendations.
Stage 1: This type of demand response involves dimming by amounts that are not noticed by the large majority of occupants. Dimming can occur rapidly, over as little as 10 seconds, by 20% with no daylight, 40% with low prevailing daylight, and 60% with high prevailing daylight. If dimming occurs slowly, over 30 minutes or more, and with no immediate expectation of diming occurring, levels may drop by 30% with no daylight and 60% with high prevailing daylight.
Stage 2: This type of demand response involves more load reduction, with steeper reductions in light levels but still acceptable to a large majority of occupants. Dimming can occur rapidly, over as little as 10 seconds, by 40% with no low daylight and 80% with high prevailing daylight. If dimming occurs slowly, over 30 minutes or more, and with no immediate expectation of diming occurring, levels may drop by 50% with no daylight and 80% with high prevailing daylight.
The researchers emphasize that these recommendations relate only to situations where load shedding is performed to alleviate the effect of temporary—and infrequent—grid stress events, with dimming lasting a few hours at most. The recommendations are not intended to replace current lighting practice and support daily load shedding
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Energy Crisis
Mar 9, 2010 USA Today
Poll: African Americans will pay higher energy bills to reduce global warming
African American voters want Congress to enact legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, even if it means higher energy bills, a just-released survey by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies has found.
The Washington-based think tank, which tracks voting trends in the black community, also found that African American voters are following this year's congressional races closely and plan to vote in large numbers.
The findings are the result of a survey conducted during the last three weeks of November. The Joint Center contacted 500 African American adults in each of
four states: Arkansas, Indiana, Missouri, and South Carolina. President Obama got sky-high approval ratings from black voters in all four states.
Large majorities of African Americans in all four states said they are willing to pay an extra $10 per month for electricity to combat global warming, the survey found. But the numbers drop off sharply if the hypothetical energy bills rise: Only about one in six of those surveyed said they would be willing to pay as much as $50 extra a month to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
While a majority of African Americans in all four states believe global warming is a problem, the Joint Center survey found a generation gap when it comes to Congress' proposed solution: Older black voters opposed the "cap and trade" system proposed in a House-passed bill. It would require companies that exceed government-set levels of greenhouse gas emissions to pay fines or buy credits from other companies. The youngest black voters -- those under 25 -- supported the plan.
The black voters surveyed said they are likely to vote in the fall midterm elections, a forecast that could bode well for Democrats running in some key Senate races. African Americans gave high marks to Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln, a top GOP target this year, and to Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, running against Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., to take the place of retiring Sen. Kit Bond, a Republican.
Poll: African Americans will pay higher energy bills to reduce global warming
African American voters want Congress to enact legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, even if it means higher energy bills, a just-released survey by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies has found.
The Washington-based think tank, which tracks voting trends in the black community, also found that African American voters are following this year's congressional races closely and plan to vote in large numbers.
The findings are the result of a survey conducted during the last three weeks of November. The Joint Center contacted 500 African American adults in each of
four states: Arkansas, Indiana, Missouri, and South Carolina. President Obama got sky-high approval ratings from black voters in all four states.
Large majorities of African Americans in all four states said they are willing to pay an extra $10 per month for electricity to combat global warming, the survey found. But the numbers drop off sharply if the hypothetical energy bills rise: Only about one in six of those surveyed said they would be willing to pay as much as $50 extra a month to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
While a majority of African Americans in all four states believe global warming is a problem, the Joint Center survey found a generation gap when it comes to Congress' proposed solution: Older black voters opposed the "cap and trade" system proposed in a House-passed bill. It would require companies that exceed government-set levels of greenhouse gas emissions to pay fines or buy credits from other companies. The youngest black voters -- those under 25 -- supported the plan.
The black voters surveyed said they are likely to vote in the fall midterm elections, a forecast that could bode well for Democrats running in some key Senate races. African Americans gave high marks to Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln, a top GOP target this year, and to Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, running against Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., to take the place of retiring Sen. Kit Bond, a Republican.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Enery Management
2. Obama to outline rebates for energy efficiency
Mar 2, 2010 Associated Press Online
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
WASHINGTON, Mar. 2, 2010 (AP Online delivered by Newstex) -- Consumers would collect on-the-spot rebates of $1,000 or more for buying insulation, water heaters or other equipment to make their homes burn energy more efficiently under a new rebate program to be announced by President Barack Obama.
Obama was traveling to Savannah, Ga., on Tuesday to outline the Home Star program. Obama called for energy rebates in his State of the Union address, and officials hope the plan will be as popular as last year's Cash for Clunkers money-back program for autos.
"We should put more Americans to work building clean energy facilities -- and give rebates to Americans who make their homes more energy-efficient, which support clean energy jobs," Obama said in January.
He has said shifting the U.S. toward cleaner, renewable sources of energy and making homes -- particularly older houses -- more energy-efficient will help accomplish three goals: reducing America's dependence on foreign energy sources, creating much-needed jobs and saving consumers money on their utility bills.
Obama was stopping at Savannah Technical College to visit students who are learning how to install insulation and other equipment.
The new program has two levels of rebates. Various vendors, ranging from small, independent contractors to national home improvement chains, would promote the rebates, give the money to consumers and then wait for reimbursement from the federal government.
Some details of the program, including how long it will run and its total cost, remain to be worked out with Congress, according to senior administration officials who spoke anonymously Monday to describe the program before Obama's formal announcement.
The price tag for Home Star could be in the range of $6 billion, said one official.
Cash for Clunkers was a $3 billion program that ran for about a month last year, from July 27 to Aug. 25.
Under the first level of energy rebates, to be called Silver Star, consumers would be eligible for rebates between $1,000 and $1,500 for a variety of home upgrades, including adding insulation, sealing leaky ducts and replacing water heaters, HVAC units, windows, roofing and doors. There would be a maximum rebate of $3,000 per home.
Under the second level, Gold Star, consumers who get home energy audits and then make changes designed to reduce energy costs by at least 20 percent would be eligible for a $3,000 rebate. Additional rebates would be available for savings above 20 percent.
"The simple act of retrofitting these buildings to make them more energy-efficient -- installing new windows and doors, insulation, roofing, sealing leaks, modernizing heating and cooling equipment -- is one of the fastest, easiest and cheapest things we can do to put Americans back to work while saving families money and reducing harmful emissions," Obama said in December while visiting a Home Depot (NYSE:HD) in Alexandria, Va.
Once the program is enacted, the administration expects millions of households will boost demand for insulation, water heaters and the like -- the same way consumers pumped up car and truck sales last year by trading in their gas-guzzling autos with more fuel-efficient models.
Senate Democrats included an energy rebate program in their jobs agenda.
Newstex ID: AP-0001-42475813
Mar 2, 2010 Associated Press Online
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
WASHINGTON, Mar. 2, 2010 (AP Online delivered by Newstex) -- Consumers would collect on-the-spot rebates of $1,000 or more for buying insulation, water heaters or other equipment to make their homes burn energy more efficiently under a new rebate program to be announced by President Barack Obama.
Obama was traveling to Savannah, Ga., on Tuesday to outline the Home Star program. Obama called for energy rebates in his State of the Union address, and officials hope the plan will be as popular as last year's Cash for Clunkers money-back program for autos.
"We should put more Americans to work building clean energy facilities -- and give rebates to Americans who make their homes more energy-efficient, which support clean energy jobs," Obama said in January.
He has said shifting the U.S. toward cleaner, renewable sources of energy and making homes -- particularly older houses -- more energy-efficient will help accomplish three goals: reducing America's dependence on foreign energy sources, creating much-needed jobs and saving consumers money on their utility bills.
Obama was stopping at Savannah Technical College to visit students who are learning how to install insulation and other equipment.
The new program has two levels of rebates. Various vendors, ranging from small, independent contractors to national home improvement chains, would promote the rebates, give the money to consumers and then wait for reimbursement from the federal government.
Some details of the program, including how long it will run and its total cost, remain to be worked out with Congress, according to senior administration officials who spoke anonymously Monday to describe the program before Obama's formal announcement.
The price tag for Home Star could be in the range of $6 billion, said one official.
Cash for Clunkers was a $3 billion program that ran for about a month last year, from July 27 to Aug. 25.
Under the first level of energy rebates, to be called Silver Star, consumers would be eligible for rebates between $1,000 and $1,500 for a variety of home upgrades, including adding insulation, sealing leaky ducts and replacing water heaters, HVAC units, windows, roofing and doors. There would be a maximum rebate of $3,000 per home.
Under the second level, Gold Star, consumers who get home energy audits and then make changes designed to reduce energy costs by at least 20 percent would be eligible for a $3,000 rebate. Additional rebates would be available for savings above 20 percent.
"The simple act of retrofitting these buildings to make them more energy-efficient -- installing new windows and doors, insulation, roofing, sealing leaks, modernizing heating and cooling equipment -- is one of the fastest, easiest and cheapest things we can do to put Americans back to work while saving families money and reducing harmful emissions," Obama said in December while visiting a Home Depot (NYSE:HD) in Alexandria, Va.
Once the program is enacted, the administration expects millions of households will boost demand for insulation, water heaters and the like -- the same way consumers pumped up car and truck sales last year by trading in their gas-guzzling autos with more fuel-efficient models.
Senate Democrats included an energy rebate program in their jobs agenda.
Newstex ID: AP-0001-42475813
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Home Automation
How sparks flew in Eskom boardroom
Hogan tells how Bobby Godsell and Jacob Maroga tore into each other over disputed resignation
Feb 25, 2010 11:27 PM | By SIPHO MASONDO
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan was forced to walk out of a meeting with then Eskom chairman Bobby Godsell following a fierce altercation between him and ousted former chief executive Jacob Maroga.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Hogan had to ask Maroga to leave a subsequent Eskom board meeting after he insisted on presiding despite a dispute over his status as chief executive.
These are some of the revelations contained in Hogan's responding affidavit filed at the Johannesburg High Court this week.
Maroga, who was fired in November, is suing the electricity utility and demanding reinstatement or R85-million for loss of income. He has accused the Eskom board and the minister of conspiring to fire him illegally, under the veil of a voluntary resignation.
In her court papers, Hogan refutes Maroga's claims and details dramatic events at the parastatal before and after his axing. The minister argued that, even if the court found that Maroga was unfairly dismissed, he should not be reinstated as chief executive.
A day after a heated Eskom board breakaway session - during which Maroga is said to have resigned - Hogan had a meeting with Godsell to discuss the matter. But as Godsell was describing the events leading to the resignation, Maroga walked into the room and handed the minister a letter.
"He said to me he had not resigned. A heated disagreement ensued between [Godsell] and [Maroga]. At that stage, I left the two gentlemen and proceeded to meet the rest of the board members," Hogan said.
An insistent Maroga, however, followed her into the board meeting.
"He then attempted to chair the meeting, which was plainly an inappropriate action on his part, whereupon he was politely asked by me to leave the meeting room."
Hogan also revealed that Maroga's troubles at Eskom began long before her May 2009 appointment as public enterprises minister and that, soon after taking office, she and her deputy, Enoch Godongwana, attempted to resolve the chief executive's differences with his management team.
In her papers, Hogan attaches a letter written by Eskom senior managers in July in which they accuse Maroga of failing to provide leadership at the troubled parastatal. The managers were angered by his decision to hire American consultants "without following due process". They warned of "continued haemorrhaging of Eskom's finances and some of its key staff" if Maroga were not axed.
"He appears unable to even make decisions in respect of simpler measures, for example, that all local travel is economy class, and other proposed operational savings, and these cannot be implemented as the entire proposal awaits Maroga's decisions for months," the managers said.
Hogan confirmed that, at the height of the crisis brought about by Maroga's refusal to vacate his office, despite the board's claim that he had resigned, President Jacob Zuma held separate meetings with both Eskom and Maroga.
According to Hogan, after Maroga's meeting with Zuma, the axed chief executive argued that he was still in charge at Eskom.
In a subsequent letter to Hogan, contained in her court papers, Maroga said: "I remain CEO and director of Eskom. The shareholder at the highest level [Zuma] has confirmed that any action regarding my status as chief executive and director of Eskom must be requested formally and granted by the shareholder. I have affirmed that no request has been formally lodged and none has been granted. I have been told all unauthorised action taken by the board of directors since October 28 2009 are rescinded. I am at work in my office at Megawatt Park. As a director, I will fully participate in all board activities."
Hogan pointed out that, in terms of the law, she is the "representative shareholder in Eskom" by virtue of being public enterprises minister. She said she approached Zuma about the letter and that the Presidency asked lawyer Yunis Shaik, brother of convicted fraudster Schabir, to mediate.
Maroga has alleged in court papers that Shaik attempted to force him to step down and, when he refused, Shaik became abusive.
"Who the f... do you think you are that you can hold the entire country to ransom?" Shaik said, according to Maroga.
"If I did not accept the termination of my contract he would ensure I never work for the government in any capacity again," Maroga said.
Hogan tells how Bobby Godsell and Jacob Maroga tore into each other over disputed resignation
Feb 25, 2010 11:27 PM | By SIPHO MASONDO
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan was forced to walk out of a meeting with then Eskom chairman Bobby Godsell following a fierce altercation between him and ousted former chief executive Jacob Maroga.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current Font Size:
Related Multimedia
AUDIO
Consumers slam Eskom price hike
AUDIO
Nersa approves Eskom's 25% hike
AUDIO
Careful with your investments ANC - Luyt
VIDEO
No Eskom please, we have solar
VIDEO
Eskom hike for our own good
Related Articles
•Eskom jobs shock
•Eskom increase a betrayal of the poor: SACP
•Nersa: Electricity to go up 24.8%
•Maroga 'failed to perform' - Eskom
•Eskom tariff hike decision looms
Hogan had to ask Maroga to leave a subsequent Eskom board meeting after he insisted on presiding despite a dispute over his status as chief executive.
These are some of the revelations contained in Hogan's responding affidavit filed at the Johannesburg High Court this week.
Maroga, who was fired in November, is suing the electricity utility and demanding reinstatement or R85-million for loss of income. He has accused the Eskom board and the minister of conspiring to fire him illegally, under the veil of a voluntary resignation.
In her court papers, Hogan refutes Maroga's claims and details dramatic events at the parastatal before and after his axing. The minister argued that, even if the court found that Maroga was unfairly dismissed, he should not be reinstated as chief executive.
A day after a heated Eskom board breakaway session - during which Maroga is said to have resigned - Hogan had a meeting with Godsell to discuss the matter. But as Godsell was describing the events leading to the resignation, Maroga walked into the room and handed the minister a letter.
"He said to me he had not resigned. A heated disagreement ensued between [Godsell] and [Maroga]. At that stage, I left the two gentlemen and proceeded to meet the rest of the board members," Hogan said.
An insistent Maroga, however, followed her into the board meeting.
"He then attempted to chair the meeting, which was plainly an inappropriate action on his part, whereupon he was politely asked by me to leave the meeting room."
Hogan also revealed that Maroga's troubles at Eskom began long before her May 2009 appointment as public enterprises minister and that, soon after taking office, she and her deputy, Enoch Godongwana, attempted to resolve the chief executive's differences with his management team.
In her papers, Hogan attaches a letter written by Eskom senior managers in July in which they accuse Maroga of failing to provide leadership at the troubled parastatal. The managers were angered by his decision to hire American consultants "without following due process". They warned of "continued haemorrhaging of Eskom's finances and some of its key staff" if Maroga were not axed.
"He appears unable to even make decisions in respect of simpler measures, for example, that all local travel is economy class, and other proposed operational savings, and these cannot be implemented as the entire proposal awaits Maroga's decisions for months," the managers said.
Hogan confirmed that, at the height of the crisis brought about by Maroga's refusal to vacate his office, despite the board's claim that he had resigned, President Jacob Zuma held separate meetings with both Eskom and Maroga.
According to Hogan, after Maroga's meeting with Zuma, the axed chief executive argued that he was still in charge at Eskom.
In a subsequent letter to Hogan, contained in her court papers, Maroga said: "I remain CEO and director of Eskom. The shareholder at the highest level [Zuma] has confirmed that any action regarding my status as chief executive and director of Eskom must be requested formally and granted by the shareholder. I have affirmed that no request has been formally lodged and none has been granted. I have been told all unauthorised action taken by the board of directors since October 28 2009 are rescinded. I am at work in my office at Megawatt Park. As a director, I will fully participate in all board activities."
Hogan pointed out that, in terms of the law, she is the "representative shareholder in Eskom" by virtue of being public enterprises minister. She said she approached Zuma about the letter and that the Presidency asked lawyer Yunis Shaik, brother of convicted fraudster Schabir, to mediate.
Maroga has alleged in court papers that Shaik attempted to force him to step down and, when he refused, Shaik became abusive.
"Who the f... do you think you are that you can hold the entire country to ransom?" Shaik said, according to Maroga.
"If I did not accept the termination of my contract he would ensure I never work for the government in any capacity again," Maroga said.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Home Automation
Schneider Electric Sponsors Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Build in Indiana to Provide Energy Efficiency Products, Donation
Employees from Peru, Ind., plant volunteer, supporting Schneider Electric’s community relations program in the United States and around the world
Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management, announced today its sponsorship of this week’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition build near the company’s Peru, Ind., facility. As Benefactor Sponsor, Schneider Electric will provide energy-efficient products, volunteer support from the local plant and a financial contribution to support the family receiving the custom-built home.
Today, Ty Pennington and the show’s design team will knock on the door of one lucky family in Indiana to notify it that it will receive a brand-new custom-built home. The family will then meet the Build team, sponsors and community that will be building its new home in just one week. The build will take place from Oct. 21 through 27 when the newly constructed house will be revealed to the homeowners, also known as the time for “Move that bus!”
“Schneider Electric has a long-standing commitment to both community involvement and sustainable development,” said Amy Huntington, president, Schneider Electric USA. “This sponsorship enables our company and employees from our facility in Peru to positively impact the lives of local residents by supporting this family in need.”
As part of its commitment to help people make the most of their energy, Schneider Electric will donate the following products, which will help reduce energy consumption and lower costs for the homeowner:
• Juno® Recessed LED Downlights, advanced LED technology resulting in brighter and whiter illumination, provide 50,000 hours of operation, resulting in more than 11 years of maintenance-free operation based on 12 hours of usage per day. Energy Star®-rated and environmentally friendly Juno LED fixtures save 85 percent in energy costs annually over traditional incandescent fixtures.
• Load Center and Circuit Breakers, including the Square D® 240V NQ lighting panelboard from Schneider Electric that is easier to get to a job site and install compared with similar products. This helps maximize a contractor’s ability to meet tight deadlines and keep a project on schedule. Square D QO® circuit breakers are easily recognized by the red Visi-Trip® Indicator, which makes it easy to spot a tripped circuit breaker. The Square D exclusive Qwik-Open® protection is standard on all 15A and 20A circuit breakers — trip reaction within 1/60th of a second. No other circuit breaker trips faster.
• Whole-house Surge Protection, namely the Surgebreaker® Plus whole-house surge protector, provides surge protection ratings of 80,000A, and whole-house protection for valuable appliances and home electronics with surge protection that addresses the electrical, telephone and TV systems.
In addition to product donations, Schneider Electric is making a cash donation to the family, bringing the company’s total donation to approximately $40,000. Throughout the build this week, employees from Schneider Electric’s facility in Peru will volunteer on-site. This facility, which manufactures panelboards for Schneider Electric, is a primary employer in the region.
Other business and community partners include: Hallmark Homes, Inc., Anderson University, Carter Lumber, BiltBest Windows, Reese Wholesale, ClimateMaster, J&N Stone, Modern Trailer Sales, Blakley’s Flooring, Madison Millwork and Ball State University.
For more information about this week’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition build, visit www.hallmarkextreme.com, the Web site of the primary sponsor of this build, Hallmark Homes.
For more information on Schneider Electric's Square D lighting controls, visit www.squaredlightingcontrol.com.
As a global specialist in energy management with operations in more than 100 countries,
Schneider Electric offers integrated solutions across multiple market segments, including leadership positions in energy and infrastructure, industrial processes, building automation, and data centers/networks, as well as a broad presence in residential applications. Focused on making energy safe, reliable, efficient, productive and green, the company's 114,000 employees achieved sales of more than $25 billion in 2008, through an active commitment to help individuals and organizations “Make the most of their energy.”
Employees from Peru, Ind., plant volunteer, supporting Schneider Electric’s community relations program in the United States and around the world
Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management, announced today its sponsorship of this week’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition build near the company’s Peru, Ind., facility. As Benefactor Sponsor, Schneider Electric will provide energy-efficient products, volunteer support from the local plant and a financial contribution to support the family receiving the custom-built home.
Today, Ty Pennington and the show’s design team will knock on the door of one lucky family in Indiana to notify it that it will receive a brand-new custom-built home. The family will then meet the Build team, sponsors and community that will be building its new home in just one week. The build will take place from Oct. 21 through 27 when the newly constructed house will be revealed to the homeowners, also known as the time for “Move that bus!”
“Schneider Electric has a long-standing commitment to both community involvement and sustainable development,” said Amy Huntington, president, Schneider Electric USA. “This sponsorship enables our company and employees from our facility in Peru to positively impact the lives of local residents by supporting this family in need.”
As part of its commitment to help people make the most of their energy, Schneider Electric will donate the following products, which will help reduce energy consumption and lower costs for the homeowner:
• Juno® Recessed LED Downlights, advanced LED technology resulting in brighter and whiter illumination, provide 50,000 hours of operation, resulting in more than 11 years of maintenance-free operation based on 12 hours of usage per day. Energy Star®-rated and environmentally friendly Juno LED fixtures save 85 percent in energy costs annually over traditional incandescent fixtures.
• Load Center and Circuit Breakers, including the Square D® 240V NQ lighting panelboard from Schneider Electric that is easier to get to a job site and install compared with similar products. This helps maximize a contractor’s ability to meet tight deadlines and keep a project on schedule. Square D QO® circuit breakers are easily recognized by the red Visi-Trip® Indicator, which makes it easy to spot a tripped circuit breaker. The Square D exclusive Qwik-Open® protection is standard on all 15A and 20A circuit breakers — trip reaction within 1/60th of a second. No other circuit breaker trips faster.
• Whole-house Surge Protection, namely the Surgebreaker® Plus whole-house surge protector, provides surge protection ratings of 80,000A, and whole-house protection for valuable appliances and home electronics with surge protection that addresses the electrical, telephone and TV systems.
In addition to product donations, Schneider Electric is making a cash donation to the family, bringing the company’s total donation to approximately $40,000. Throughout the build this week, employees from Schneider Electric’s facility in Peru will volunteer on-site. This facility, which manufactures panelboards for Schneider Electric, is a primary employer in the region.
Other business and community partners include: Hallmark Homes, Inc., Anderson University, Carter Lumber, BiltBest Windows, Reese Wholesale, ClimateMaster, J&N Stone, Modern Trailer Sales, Blakley’s Flooring, Madison Millwork and Ball State University.
For more information about this week’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition build, visit www.hallmarkextreme.com, the Web site of the primary sponsor of this build, Hallmark Homes.
For more information on Schneider Electric's Square D lighting controls, visit www.squaredlightingcontrol.com.
As a global specialist in energy management with operations in more than 100 countries,
Schneider Electric offers integrated solutions across multiple market segments, including leadership positions in energy and infrastructure, industrial processes, building automation, and data centers/networks, as well as a broad presence in residential applications. Focused on making energy safe, reliable, efficient, productive and green, the company's 114,000 employees achieved sales of more than $25 billion in 2008, through an active commitment to help individuals and organizations “Make the most of their energy.”
Monday, February 22, 2010
Lighting and Control
Waukesha, Racine, Madison to test energy efficient streetlights
Feb 19, 2010 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Laurel Walker
Feb. 19, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- WAUKESHA -- Anyone who's debated switching LED Christmas lights for the old strings, or who has bought a new refrigerator with bright white LED lights instead of the old soft-light appliance bulbs, will have a sense of what Waukesha is up to.
The city has $657,000 in federal stimulus money from the Department of Energy to spend on new streetlights that will trim its energy bill. But first, residents are invited to help with an experiment.
City crews have begun to install the first of 21 energy efficient streetlights of different types and manufacturers in the median of Moreland Blvd. from about Summit Ave. to Delafield St.
In this pilot program over the next three to six months, city workers will keep tabs on how easily the light poles are retrofitted with the new lights, how much energy is saved, how the light is distributed -- and what the public thinks of them.
Too bright? Too white? Do they spread enough light? People can comment on what they think by calling a city project engineer at (262) 524-3587 or e-mailing kjelacic@ci.waukesha.wi.us.
Fred Abadi, director of public works, said one of the first lights installed -- induction technology as opposed to LED -- already has been panned.
"The one installed last week was so terrible," he said. "We've already got complaints from people. It was so dark. There's not enough lighting."
More LED lights were installed Thursday afternoon. For the test, an energy efficient light will be installed in place of every other existing high pressure sodium light along a two-block stretch.
Eventually, the city will pick a preference and replace about 1,000 of its 1,400 streetlights -- the ones on metal poles that the city owns, Abadi said. Lights on wooden utility poles are owned by We Energies (NYSE:WEC) , though the city pays for the electricity they use.
Goal: Save $250,000
The city spends just more than $500,000 a year on electricity for street lights, project engineer Katie Jelacic said. It expects to save about half of that -- and help reduce carbon emissions in the process -- with the new lights.
The city doesn't have enough money to replace all of its lights, Abadi said. Jelacic added that another 700 ornamental lights won't be tampered with because of their decorative design and the inability to match fixtures.
As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, about $37.2 million was awarded to certain Wisconsin cities, counties and the state for energy efficiency projects in recent months.
Waukesha County, for example, got $2.2 million, much of what will be used for a new maintenance building at Retzer Nature Center that will use geothermal technology, energy-efficient lights in parking lots and buildings and possible solar energy for the jail, said Dale Shaver, parks and land use director.
Racine, Madison projects
Like Waukesha, a few other cities plan to replace streetlights with more energy efficient fixtures.
Racine is using its $795,000 federal grant to replace 1,000 of its 3,600 sodium lights, all that it can afford, said Richard Jones, commissioner of public works
So far -- with about 600 lights replaced with LEDs -- so good, he said.
"The majority of people like the fact that it's white light," compared to the amber glow thrown off and outward by the high pressure sodium street lights, Jones said. More of the LED light shines down on the street, making it "night-sky friendly," he said.
Jones said Racine expects a 40% reduction in its electrical use with the change to LED lights, which will translate into significant budget savings. While the old lights have a three- to five-year lifespan, he said he expects the LEDs to last up to 20 years.
Madison is testing about a dozen LED lights from two manufacturers on a section of E. Washington Ave., where reconstruction was finished last fall. While the cost was paid from the project budget, Madison has earmarked about $100,000 of its $2.38 million federal energy block grant for replacing street lights next year, said Dan Dettmann, traffic operations engineer.
By then, he said, technology might improve and costs on the LED lights could be lower.
Abadi, Waukesha's public works director, said different manufacturers give different estimates of lifespan and savings on the LED lights.
"The problem with LED technology is there is no history on it," he said.
Waukesha is among those communities making that history by relighting its byways.
Newstex ID: KRTB-0130-42190678
Feb 19, 2010 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Laurel Walker
Feb. 19, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- WAUKESHA -- Anyone who's debated switching LED Christmas lights for the old strings, or who has bought a new refrigerator with bright white LED lights instead of the old soft-light appliance bulbs, will have a sense of what Waukesha is up to.
The city has $657,000 in federal stimulus money from the Department of Energy to spend on new streetlights that will trim its energy bill. But first, residents are invited to help with an experiment.
City crews have begun to install the first of 21 energy efficient streetlights of different types and manufacturers in the median of Moreland Blvd. from about Summit Ave. to Delafield St.
In this pilot program over the next three to six months, city workers will keep tabs on how easily the light poles are retrofitted with the new lights, how much energy is saved, how the light is distributed -- and what the public thinks of them.
Too bright? Too white? Do they spread enough light? People can comment on what they think by calling a city project engineer at (262) 524-3587 or e-mailing kjelacic@ci.waukesha.wi.us.
Fred Abadi, director of public works, said one of the first lights installed -- induction technology as opposed to LED -- already has been panned.
"The one installed last week was so terrible," he said. "We've already got complaints from people. It was so dark. There's not enough lighting."
More LED lights were installed Thursday afternoon. For the test, an energy efficient light will be installed in place of every other existing high pressure sodium light along a two-block stretch.
Eventually, the city will pick a preference and replace about 1,000 of its 1,400 streetlights -- the ones on metal poles that the city owns, Abadi said. Lights on wooden utility poles are owned by We Energies (NYSE:WEC) , though the city pays for the electricity they use.
Goal: Save $250,000
The city spends just more than $500,000 a year on electricity for street lights, project engineer Katie Jelacic said. It expects to save about half of that -- and help reduce carbon emissions in the process -- with the new lights.
The city doesn't have enough money to replace all of its lights, Abadi said. Jelacic added that another 700 ornamental lights won't be tampered with because of their decorative design and the inability to match fixtures.
As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, about $37.2 million was awarded to certain Wisconsin cities, counties and the state for energy efficiency projects in recent months.
Waukesha County, for example, got $2.2 million, much of what will be used for a new maintenance building at Retzer Nature Center that will use geothermal technology, energy-efficient lights in parking lots and buildings and possible solar energy for the jail, said Dale Shaver, parks and land use director.
Racine, Madison projects
Like Waukesha, a few other cities plan to replace streetlights with more energy efficient fixtures.
Racine is using its $795,000 federal grant to replace 1,000 of its 3,600 sodium lights, all that it can afford, said Richard Jones, commissioner of public works
So far -- with about 600 lights replaced with LEDs -- so good, he said.
"The majority of people like the fact that it's white light," compared to the amber glow thrown off and outward by the high pressure sodium street lights, Jones said. More of the LED light shines down on the street, making it "night-sky friendly," he said.
Jones said Racine expects a 40% reduction in its electrical use with the change to LED lights, which will translate into significant budget savings. While the old lights have a three- to five-year lifespan, he said he expects the LEDs to last up to 20 years.
Madison is testing about a dozen LED lights from two manufacturers on a section of E. Washington Ave., where reconstruction was finished last fall. While the cost was paid from the project budget, Madison has earmarked about $100,000 of its $2.38 million federal energy block grant for replacing street lights next year, said Dan Dettmann, traffic operations engineer.
By then, he said, technology might improve and costs on the LED lights could be lower.
Abadi, Waukesha's public works director, said different manufacturers give different estimates of lifespan and savings on the LED lights.
"The problem with LED technology is there is no history on it," he said.
Waukesha is among those communities making that history by relighting its byways.
Newstex ID: KRTB-0130-42190678
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