EleBlog

30 Oct, 2006

As some know, this site is about the electrical industry -- and elephants. I don't push elephant stuff too hard; this is only the 4th post on the subject in a year.

See this link, a story forwarded to me from the Phila. Inquirer: "Elephant Exhibit Will Close."

It could be positioned as depressing news. But there is plenty of good news embedded in here:


First, I've not been to the Philly zoo, but I've been to Baltimore (the Maryland Zoo) -- and of course to my home zoo, the National Zoo in D.C. I'm not an elephant (blame Evolution!), but from what I think I know about these creatures, the Baltimore facility is -- at present -- a MUCH nicer place than is the National Zoo.

. . . if you're an elephant, that is. How so? The Bawlmore elephant exhibit has shade. There's room for the elephants to move aaround. There are only two of them, so the extra room they have (compared with the D.C. elephants) seems like even more space. There's a buffer (space) between the elephants and the people.

In D.C., the elephants have little room. There is true now, with only two adults and one juvenile in the National Zoo (three have died); it was even more the case a while ago, when there were four adult ladies crammed into the same space.

Second, there's this, also from the newspaper:


Third, to be fair, note that the National Zoo plans to do something similar -- enlarge its area for elephants. Info about that here. One reason is that Kandula, the Asian boy, turns five later this month. He's wonderful to watch and it's crazy to cram him into that tiny space.

Fourth (to get back to the Philly immigrants) . . . there's the destination for Dulary -- the Elephant Sanctuary. If you look to the right and down, you'll find links to info about elephants. #1 on the list here is the Sanctuary. It's a wonderful place . . . and has, over time, been the destination for any money I've been able to shake free.

Here's a release on the Sanctuary's site on the Dulary move.

- - - - -

In an ideal world, I'd prefer -- as an elephant-fanatic type of guy -- that Philadelphia have elephants in its zoo. After all, there IS a zoo there; the people in that city deserve to see the planet's smartest, biggest, finest animals; and somehow, four elephants ended up in Philadelphia . . . why move them and disrupt their lives?

[Life behind bars is far from ideal for elephants, but if these creatures somehow got to Philadelphia, they could do a lot of good by being seen!]

BUT: It's not an ideal world.

In this lesser, real version of existence, the places where the Philly herd will end up are wonderful . . . so this "bad" news actually spins itself to be pretty good.

Unless, of course, you live in Philadelphia.

30 Oct, 2006

The U.S.G.S. issued its "Copper in July" report (in October). I've pasted below the full text of the report's first page; there are 10 additional pages of data.

- - - - -

Average daily U.S. mine production of recoverable copper
declined by about 2% in July from that in June yet remained
well above production in July 2005, according to data compiled
by the U.S. Geological Survey. Production in July 2005 was
reduced by a workers strike at ASARCO Incorporated that
began on July 2. Despite the strike in 2005, U.S. production for
the first 7 months of 2006 was up only minimally from that
during the first 7 months of 2005.

Production in the first 7 months of 2006 fell short of
expectations at several new mines. Constellation Copper Corp.
(Denver, CO) reported that production for June and July at their
Lisbon Valley Mine in Utah was less than their earlier
projections owing to the compounding effects of lower than
expected ore throughput, lower than anticipated ore grades, and
below-budget additions of acid and water to the leach pads.
Electrowon production for June and July was 442 metric tons (t)
and 289 t, respectively. In response to the poor performance,
several operational changes, including tighter ore control to
reduce the inclusion of acid-consuming waste rock, were
implemented. Ramp-up to full capacity of about 2,000 metric
tons per month (t/mo) of electrowon copper was expected by
yearend (Constellation Copper Corp., 2006).

At Revett Minerals Inc.’s (Spokane Valley, WA) Troy Mine
in Montana, production for the second quarter totaled only about
926 t of copper in concentrate. Production during the second
quarter had been expected to reach capacity of about 1,000 t/mo
of copper, but mill throughput was less than expected owing to
water inflow occasioned by rapid snow melt and unusually
heavy spring rains that limited access to the lower portion of the
mine (Revett Minerals Inc., 2006).

Though expected to increase during the second half of the
year, production at Phelps Dodge Corp.’s domestic mines in the
first half of 2006 was about 10,000 t lower than that in the first 6
months of 2005, principally owing to lower production at its
Bagdad Mine in Arizona. On July 10, Phelps Dodge received
the final requisite permit, an air quality permit from the Arizona
Department of Environmental Quality, for its Safford, AZ,
project. Construction of facilities was slated to begin in August
(Phelps Dodge Corp., 2006, p. 5, 11).

Though consumption of refined copper for the first 7 months
of 2006 was up by more than 1% from that of the first 7 months
of 2005, consumption in July fell by almost 7% from that in
June and was down by about 6% from that in July 2005.
According to the American Bureau of Metal Statistics, Inc., the
apparent consumption of wire rod in July fell by almost 18%
from that in June owing to seasonal weakness, and shipments by
U.S. brass mills fell by 20% in July from June’s level to the
lowest level since 2001. Particularly hard hit was the copper
tube market, where high copper prices and a weaker housing
market resulted in a 27% drop in shipments from those in June.

The copper tube market is viewed as the copper market segment
most vulnerable to substitution by other materials owing to high
copper prices (American Bureau of Metal Statistics, Inc., 2006a, b).

= = = = =

CLICK HERE to download the 11-page PDF.

30 Oct, 2006

On 10/27, I posted info from Mike Holt on electrical quizzes. I today received this e-mail from Mike -- be advised:

=====

Our newsletter titled "Free Quizzes and Exams are Available Online!" which was sent out on 10/26 promoting our Theory quiz created some confusion. Many people were correct in responding that several questions seemed to be flawed. The issue occurred with the scoring of the quiz. There was a bug in the coding of our True/False questions. The questions and answers were entered in correctly, but when the results page displayed it showed that several of these True/False questions were True when actually they were False. Our webmaster fixed the issue and the scoring is now correct. If you would like you can take the quiz again and everything should be fine now. http://www.mikeholt.com/MQE/StudentClassExamListRemote.php?cid=7

30 Oct, 2006

HomeToys.com was nice enuf to post (free of charge) a press release on the EleBlog Report #5, which contains data on electricians + contractors. See it here (you might have to page down a bit).

27 Oct, 2006

Here's a communication from Mike Holt that I thought I'd share:

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We at Mike Holt Enterprises try to provide as much as we can to the industry at no charge. For this reason we’ve created many free quizzes and exams that are available for you to take anytime online. This month we are highlighting our Free Basic Electrical Theory Quiz.

Do you know where electricity comes from? To be able to say yes to that question, you must understand a bit about the physics of matter. What value does a brief study of the nature of matter have for the student of electrical theory? The understanding that comes from that study lays the foundation for understanding electrical theory. Only when you know the theory can you truly have confidence in the practical aspects of your electrical work.

This is a great way for you to test your strengths and weaknesses in Basic Electrical Theory. Take our 25 question Theory Quiz now (click here).

Click here to view other free quizzes and exams that are available on our website.

26 Oct, 2006

. . . must come down. Here's a news bulletin that moved this morning from Marketwatch.com:

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The median sales price of a new home fell 9.7% in the 12 months ending in September, the fastest price decline in nearly 36 years, the government said Thursday. The government reported that sales of new homes unexpectedly rose 5.3% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.075 million, the most in three months and well above the 1.05 million expected by economists. New-home sales are down 14.2% in the past year. Inventories of unsold homes fell 1.9% to 557,000, representing a 6.4-month supply at the September sales pace. It's the second consecutive decline in inventories. The inventory peaked at 7.2 months in July. Inventories are up 14.4% in the past year.

24 Oct, 2006

Comstock Partners is an investment firm that posts a brief weekly commentary to the Web. Like some others (including me), Comstock is in the "end-of-the-world is coming" camp, meaning the firm expects that a further correction is coming for the stock market (and the economy).

In the past two weeks (10/12 and 10/19), the Comstock columns have provided info about the housing market:

From 10/12:

 . . . statements from the homebuilders directly contradict the opinions we’ve been hearing from various observers that the housing market is stabilizing.  William Lyon Homes said that for the three months ended September 30 new home orders were down 40% and new home orders per average sales location down 54%.  Their cancellation rate was 39%. 

For the same period DH Horton’s net sales orders were down 25% while their cancellation rate was 40%.  Lennar management added that, “…conditions in the homebuilding industry continue to weaken.  This market deterioration is driven primarily by excess supply as speculators reduce purchases and return homes to the market…We are experiencing slower sales and higher cancellations.”  These statements indicate that the deterioration in the housing market is far from over.

From 10/19:

While housing starts blipped up from August to September, they are down 17.9% from a year earlier, and new housing permits dropped 6.3% from August and 27.3% from a year ago.  National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) chief economist David Seiders was surprised by the disconnect, and stated that builders seemed to be working through a backlog of permits they held for properties where they had not previously started construction.  He added that a rise in either starts or permits at this point would not be a good thing in view of record inventories already on hand. 

In addition some observers cheered when the NASB housing index for September rose to 31 in September from 30 in August.  However, this was virtually meaningless as the August number was the lowest in 15 years and the index peaked at 72 in 2005.  The NAHB also reported that 77% of builders were offering incentives to help move new homes out of their inventories.

This week Washington Mutual CEO Kerry Killinger stated, “The housing market is clearly weakening with the pace of housing price appreciation slowing in  most regions of the country…We are also experiencing somewhat higher delinquencies and loan losses.”

Gary Gordon of mortgage lender Annaly Capital Management asserted that the housing industry conditions are going to get worse.  He is looking for new single family home sales to decline 25% to 30% from the 2005 peak and for new single family home starts to decline 40%.

Sub-prime lender Accredited Home Lenders cited intense competition and rising loan delinquencies and what it called “increasing turbulence and tension in the sub-prime lending industry.”  New Century, another sub-prime lender, tightened its lending requirements in response to supervisory guidance.  88% of its loans are sub-prime, 17% interest only and 42% stated income, meaning documentary backup supporting assets and income are minimal or non-existent.  Large home builder Ryland said third quarter new orders were down 45.6% and backlog 35%.

24 Oct, 2006

From the 10/2 issue of VARBusiness magazine, here's a revealing, quick-take interview. This the full text (find it online here) --

Channel veteran Rob McKernan returns to his power-protection roots at American Power Conversion as vice president of channels and strategic partners. He speaks with VARBusiness executive editor Chris Gonsalves about the evolution of APC's partner programs and UPS vendors.

VB: What brought you back to APC from Oki Data?

McKernan: I was really excited by the prospect of power and cooling systems providing an entire new revenue stream for service providers. There's new and exciting opportunity here. Four years ago, an IT VAR didn't touch these power systems. Now our partners are getting in and getting trained, and the margins are higher than they've ever been.

VB: Why have these power systems gone from the world of electrical contractors to IT VARs, and how can the channel capitalize?

McKernan: APC has done a great deal of innovation and invested a lot in training so that these infrastructure elements are easier to deploy and manage. A VAR with a skillset in servers and racks is now the best choice for handling this stuff.

VB: Can VARs move up the value chain in basic infrastructure elements the way they do with other gear?

McKernan: Sure. The good news is that [the VAR] grows as the end user grows. A partner sells the basic system and stays in for the postsales service. Then there's the typical need for more power, more rack space. As partners move to higher data-center operations, they see both the solution sale and the recurring revenue.

24 Oct, 2006

An article I found in a database (it's not online) -- from the August issue of US Business Review -- profiles KenMor Electric, which says it is the largest "merit shop" (or non-union) electrical contractor in Houston. The company has been in business for 30 years. What interest me is the article's last two paragraph, which followed info about "a smaller labor pool" and the cost of copper:

"To combat these challenges, [Joe] Martin says KenMor has changed its focus to bring in more prefabricated work. The company's new, two-acre facility in Houston features an increased emphasis on prefab work, with nearliy a dozen employees devoted solely to it. In the past, the company had no more than three workers doing prefab work.

"The benefits of prefab are twofold. First, by working in more controlled conditions, there are fewer mistakes and waste resources. Second, working in a central location is a more attractive prospect for many workers. 'We see that as being a more efficient use of labor and possibly more attractive to get people into the trade,' Martin says."

Joe Martin is EVP of KenMor.

20 Oct, 2006

For many years, I've been a subscriber (free) to the High-Speed LAN e-mail-only newsletter from Network World. Jeff Caruso writes it, and he does a great job. The info is concise and useful. I can't say all of it relates to the physical instructure (structured cabling and related stuff) -- but if you're in the datacom/VDV or automated building systems business, you probably will want to subscribe. See instructions below.

Here's the beef of the most recent NL:

--------------------------------------------

Cabling 360

By Jeff Caruso

Systimax Solutions from CommScope this week said it is taking a "360-degree" approach to product design.

As an aside, isn't it interesting how much the term "360" is being used these days in product and program naming? I'm thinking of Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Symantec's Norton 360 in the area of products, and CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 and Yahoo 360 in the area of programming. And yes, we at Network World latched onto this trend with the Network World 360 podcast.

It's trendy, I guess, but it also gets across the message of completeness.

In Systimax's case, the "360" applies to a new "design philosophy" that "aims to redefine enterprise infrastructure performance through a holistic integration of form, function and usability that SYSTIMAX expects will help its customers solve many unmet or latent needs."

The company isn't being very specific right now, except to say that its structured cabling products will both be "aesthetically pleasing" and contain performance innovations for better efficiency and ease of use. Bandwidth, speed, product reliability and product usability will all be considerations. It will be interesting to see what becomes of this.

Systimax makes a range of cabling products, from the copper-based GigaSpeed X10D system for 10 Gigabit Ethernet over copper, to a range of fiber-optic systems for Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet. Systimax says its business partners install about 1,000 miles of its cable every day in about 120 countries around the world.

The first products to be developed using the new design philosophy will be announced later this month, the company says.

--------------------------------------------

To subscribe to the High-Speed LANs newsletter -- or any of the other 70-plus e-mail newsletters from Network World -- go here. You'll find the High-Speed LAN sign-up dingbat under "network hardware" [do not confuse it with the LAN News Alert, which is a different e-publication]. Note that there are two Data Center newsletters listeded under "network management."  

19 Oct, 2006

A report from the NECA Convention & Show, plus info on Housing -- and much more -- can be found in the EleBlog Report I just posted, dated 10/18/06. It's #6. Click here to see it.

18 Oct, 2006

In September, there were 46 EleBlog posts. I've put them together in one MS Word document -- click here to see it.

17 Oct, 2006

My feeling is that oil prices are temporarily low, and will rebound -- and keep bouncing up. This had better not happen immediately after Election Day, or the Conspiracy Theory Chorus will really hit some high notes.

On prices: The 10/7 NY Times included a q-and-a with Paolo Scaroni, chief exec of Eni -- the Italian oil company. The Times writer (Jad Mouawad) noted that Scaroni "doesn't mind speaking frankly about his industry's challenges," which is why, I guess, this fella makes a good interview.

Here's his answer on oil prices:

"First of all, prices are not very high. $60 a barrel is not very high. If they were high, the American consumers in particular would behave differently. As long as each American consumer burns 26 barrels of oil a year against 12 for Europeans, this means that the prices are not high. High means that people start to say that I can use my energy better.

"Today, a barrel of oil is worth half a barrel of Coca-Cola. So you should put things into perspective . . ."

Mouawad's follow-up was: "Are you saying the American economy is wasteful in its energy use?"

Scaroni: "Certainly it doesn't use energy efficiencly. Look, if in America cars had the same efficiency as European cars, we would save the total production of Iran. That's 4 million barrels a day."

- - - - - 

Along the same lines as Scaroni's oil-Coke comparison, here are the prices of various items at 42 gallons (which is one barrel of oil), from an Aug. 22 column I wrote for tedmag.com:

Comparative per-barrel	1 barrel = 42 gallons
prices of everyday stuff
Crude oil	$75.00
Valu Time vinegar (online)         $2.58/gal.	$108.36
Diet Coke, loss leader sale online	$93.33
Diet Pepsi “sale” price my local supermarket	$123.21
Gasoline at retail $3.00/gal	$126.00
Milk -- fat free, by the gal.        $3.39	$142.38
Milk – fat free, by the half-gal. $2.09	$175.56
Prego pasta sauce (two for $3 sale)	$316.23
Wine – “two buck chuck”	$427.93
LaChoy all-purpose soy sauce (15 oz bottle)	$892.42
Starbucks coffee 20 oz venti skim latte in Oakton, Va. $3.58	$962.30
Aunt Jemima pancake syrup      (24 oz)	$1,041.60
Clairol Herbal Essence shampoo (25 oz)	$1,310.14
A-1 steak sauce (15 oz)	$1,895.94
SPF30 sunblock (Coppertone) (8oz)	$5,369.28
Single-Malt Scotch – Glenlivet	$8,571.49
…Glenfiddich Ancient Reserve (18-yr-old)	$16,223.43
Amarone wine (in a restaurant) $85 a bottle   25 ounces	$18,278.40
Dolce & Gabbana 6.7-oz shower gel (at Sepphora online) = $30	$24,071.64

17 Oct, 2006

This is WAY off the beaten path for electrical folks, but I found interesting the recent Color Trends report from The Rohm and Haas Paint Quality Institute. Judging from the Web site, they issue such a report annually. See it here.

17 Oct, 2006

I printed out a 9/22 report on the demise of Amaranth, the hedge fund, from Bloomberg.com. I read it only recently, which puts me behind. This is one of the most frightening short pieces I've ever read, and not because the hedge fund in question blew up!

1. It mentions something called Spacs. Read the item for a definition of this crap.

2. It refers to something called a Start. Another thing that needs 'splaining.

3. There is a regurgitation of a quote in the item, from something writer Susan Antilla posted a year earlier: "There is a lot of private equity and hedge fund capital out there having a tough time finding a home. Too much money chasing too few deals."

That's the way the whole financial world feels to me at this time. Maybe it's true? Find the article here.

17 Oct, 2006

"Capital Gravitating to Hot Spots" is the headline on an item in a monthly newsletter, Global Real Estate Monitor, that comes from National Real Estate Investor magazine. My belief has been that the flood of easy money sloshing around the world -- and especially making its way to the United States -- has led to a commercial real estate boom (especially office buildings) that is not merited by demand.

Thus, if I am right (and who knows -- even acorns find blind squirrels!) . . . we are overbuilding now. If that's true, sooner or later nonresidential construction will sink again, and fall hard.

However, that's NOT what this item was about. Read it here. The piece that interested me:

"Looking around the world, there are a lot of places that just make me scratch my head,” says Ross Moore, senior vice president of market and economic research at Colliers International in Boston.

Tokyo, he says, is one. The city has 12.4 million sq. ft. of office space under construction, equivalent to nearly 2% of existing inventory. By contrast, Manhattan has 5.5 million sq. ft. under construction, equal to about 1.5% of inventory. The U.S. economy is expected to grow 3.4% this year, faster than Japan’s 3%. “We follow Tokyo pretty carefully, and [that construction] makes no sense to me,” says Moore.

So the stuff that mystifies me (and, apparently, at least one other person) is not happening only in the United States.

17 Oct, 2006

McGraw-Hill Construction offers a Blog that tends to consist of longer think pieces. I try to check it out regularly, to see what's up. Here are two items I thought of note to electrical construction folks. Get to the blog by clicking here.

a. Excel: As Good As It Gets For Preconstruction Management? (from 10/10 -- right on top of the blog right now). From the blogger:

"I just finished a report on preconstruction management software and decided to share some of my finding in a post here at ENR.com . . . What was most amazing to me is how many construction firms perform takeoff and estimating in Microsoft Excel® (about 60%), rather than using a packaged application designed specifically for takeoff and estimating."

b. Foremen Who Don't Know How To Manage -- page down to the 9/22 entry. I especially like this (the blogger quoted an author):

“There are a million things that new foremen need to learn and yet for the most part we, as an industry, essentially set up for failure, the very people we depend on to build the work, make the money and hopefully not kill someone in the process,” says Raef. “True, most of these lessons are eventually learned over time and admittedly, some of the hardest lessons learned are those that are least forgotten. The problem is, when we take this default approach to teaching first-time foremen how to be a boss, we create hours of needless confrontation, turf battles of biblical proportions and imprint poor attitudes and egos that take a lifetime to change.”

17 Oct, 2006

"Know Your Numbers: Construction Spending" is an informative piece posted 10/2 to Fool.com. If you refer to, rely on, or live-and-die with the government's construction numbers, you'll want to read this. One nugget: "For private non-residential construction, the Census Bureau relies on information gathered by McGraw-Hill . . . and conducts a limited amount of independent analysis and surveying to fill in the gaps in the data."

NOTE: You might have to register (Free) to see the article -- which is here.

17 Oct, 2006

In 2004, as Editor of Rexel's Power Outlet magazine, I put together a four-issue series (PO is a quarterly) that talked about "Visions 2014."

One author I invited to write was Dr. Tom Glavinich, who does a lot of work for NECA and a few other subcontractor associations, and is always on the cutting edge of construction thinking. He wrote an article, which ran 5 pages in the magazine, titled "Buildings Get Brains."

It's two years old, but still relevant. Download the PDF by going here.

17 Oct, 2006

VARBusiness magazine put "Buildings With Brains" on its cover (9/18 issue). Two things:

a. To read the 1,824-word story, go here. To whet your appetite, here's the lead:

"Barbizon/63 is no ordinary condominium complex. It's luxurious, yes, and the design in some ways is extra rich: Several units feature spacious terraces surrounded by brick and sandstone arches. Others showcase 14-foot-high rosette windows. But even those tony decorative touches aren't exactly what sets this complex apart from others of its ilk.

"Here's the kicker: Residents of this upscale property on the Upper East Side of Manhattan can use an IP telephone and touch screen to control lighting, play music and raise the temperature in their units. That's because the complex runs a single IP-based network for building-management systems and IT.

"This is no sci-fi movie set. It's the future of real estate—and where VARs need to be if they want to avoid extinction and evolve into 21st-century technology providers."

b. Download a 1-page PDF, a really neat graphic -- here.

14 Oct, 2006

I've been on the road -- at the Electro Ebiz Forum (9/26-28) and the NECA Convention & Show (Oct. 5-10). So I'm a bit behind on (a) posting stuff here, and (b) writing up bits + pieces from what I saw on the road. And to boot, today's my birthday -- I turned 53 at 7:00 a.m. So this won't be a big work day.

BUT: I'll catch up in the next week-plus, which means a lot of posts coming Oct. 16-25 or so. Stay tuned!

12 Oct, 2006

Each month, the U.S. Geological Survey emits a report on Copper. The one for June, just out, consisted of one page of verbiage and 10 pages of data. Below, I've pasted the words -- some interesting stuff! To download the whole thing and look at the data, click here.

- - - - - - -

Average daily U.S. mine of copper in June 2006 was essentially unchanged from that in May, according to data compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey. While mine production for the first 6 months of 2006 was down by about 2% from that of the equivalent period of 2005, production for the second half of 2006 is expected to increase significantly above that for the second half of 2005, when strike activity at
ASARCO Incorporated mines reduced domestic output.

Annual production for 2006 is expected to total about 1.22 million metric tons (Mt), an increase of about 5% compared with production in 2005. Reported consumption of refined copper for the first 6 months of 2006 was up by about 2.5% from that of the equivalent period of 2005.

Copper smelter production fell sharply in June owing to a shutdown of ASARCO Incorporated’s Hayden smelter in Arizona on June 17 following partial collapse of the roof of the building that houses Hayden’s two anode furnaces. Though the furnaces were not damaged, the smelter remained closed for 5 weeks during cleanup and reinforcement of the overhead cranes. Reconstruction of the roof, however, was not expected until later in the year. Asarco reportedly was able to meet its cathode obligations from inventories during the shutdown (Barry, 2006).

According to preliminary data compiled by the International Copper Study Group (ICSG) (2006), the refined copper market in the first half of 2006 was nearly balanced, with a minimal production surplus of 13,000 metric tons (t). World refined production totaled 7.36 Mt in the first half of 2006, an increase of 6% compared with that of the same period of 2005: Primary production was up by 5% and secondary production was up by 10%.

Global mine output in the first half of 2006 (7.18 Mt) remained essentially unchanged from that of the same period of 2005. Mine production in the first half of 2006 fell short of expectations held at the beginning of the year owing to production disruptions from operational failures and labor unrest.

On the demand side, world refined copper use increased by about 2.6% during the first half of 2006 compared with use in the first half of 2005. Increased use in the European Union-15 (EU-15) (15%) and Japan (7%) accounted for most of the growth, while use in the remainder of Europe (excluding the EU-15 countries) was essentially flat; use in the rest of Asia (excluding Japan) was down by 3.4%, mainly owing to an 8% decrease in Chinese apparent use; and use in North America grew by about 1.4%.

Apparent use in China for the first half of 2006 may understate actual use, based on industry reports of a drawdown of unreported Government stocks.

References Cited

Barry, Sean, 2006, Asarco reopens copper smelter in Arizona following roof collapse: American Metal Market, v. 114, no. 29-4, July 27, p. 8.

International Copper Study Group, 2006, Copper—Preliminary data for June 2006: Lisbon, Portugal, International Copper Study Group press release, September 13, 1 p.

10 Oct, 2006

A story in last Saturday’s Washington Post (10/1) caught my wife’s eye – “Electrical Surge Fries Appliances in Hundreds of Arlington Homes.” Arlington is a Virginia suburb of D.C.

What happened? Pike Electric, in the employ of Dominion Virginia Power, “allowed two power lines to touch. The contact sent a rush of power into as many of 600 homes.” Even appliances that weren’t in use were fried.

No one appears to have been hurt. The story made the first page of that day’s “Metro” section primarily because Dominion did such a miserable job of customer relations. Here’s a paragraph from near the story’s bottom:

“Pike officials said yesterday that they are still waiting for reports to come in from adjustors and have not determined how reimbursement will be handled. They said that it is the first time such an incident has occurred, so they do not have a policy on how to proceed."

10 Oct, 2006

I was unable to find this online – a letter in the 9/06 print Scientific American on the CURRENT utility of the slide rule.

This is of interest to me, because as a youth at Brooklyn Technical High School, standard student equipment included a slide rule. My proudest possession at the time was a gift from my cousin Anna – a tie clip that looked like a slide rule (and actually worked!).

Writer: 1^st Lt. Christopher Lusto, USMC – a fire direction officer for a battery serving in Iraq. He reacted to an article SA ran headlined, “When Slide Rules Ruled.” Here’s the relevant piece:

“I – a 24-year-old artillery lieutenant – would like to inform you that the slide rule is alive and well in the artillery community in the form of the graphical firing table. Despite having $40,000 fire-direction computers to calculate data, we still use our trusty ‘sticks’ to double-check the solutions.

“And should our high technology fail, we retain the ability to deliver accurate and timely fire support, all thanks to a few dollars’ worth of wood and plastic . . . I’m happy we can do our part to keep a little piece of scientific history out of the museum and in the field.

10 Oct, 2006

“The Media Room of Your Dreams,” from Business Week (9/27). Online version includes a slide show(!) – see bottom of Web page. 1,102 words.

“6 Steps to Finding The Right Generator,” from Building Operating Management (9/06). Sidebar with links to orgs that offer generator code requirements. 1,714 words.

“Lower Temperatures, Increased Ventilation Boost Student Performance” – headline on a release on ASHRAE research. “Lowering the temperature and increasing ventilation in classrooms increases student performance by 10% to 20%.” Beats heck out of more studying!

“Whirlpool Automates Energy Management,” from Energy & Power Management, (9/06). Disclaimer: I am a columnist for E&PM. 2,233 words. The piece is a “three-fer” – talks about data centers, automation, and energy management.

“Data Center Criticality Levels,” – also from E&PM, 9/06; same disclaimer as above applies. This piece proposed a new classification system for “critical facilities.” 1,862 words

10 Oct, 2006

The Case Design/Remodeling list of “7 emerging home trends for 2007” was posted by the folks at BuildingOnline. Here’s #5:

Safety Lighting
With the flip of a switch, lighting can dramatically change the feel of a room from a cold and distant space into a safe and inviting living environment. The trend for 2007 focuses on safety with lighting control systems designed for the home. Now homeowners have the simple convenience of remote control lighting from outside of the home with the convenience to control individual room lights from each dimmer. The system can also adjust multiple lights at the touch of a button using the wireless controller, saving on energy and also extending the life of light bulbs by allowing you to dim your lights.

I’m not sure that the omission of home automation/home networking means much. Case might be presenting 7 things with which its national crew of handymen is comfortable. Read the item here

10 Oct, 2006

Ken Silverstein of EnergyBiz Insider offered a piece with the headline above (9/25 – click here to see it). Note: You might have to register (free) to get there.

Among other things, the article says:

•             Coal is 5 cents per kilowatt hour;
•             Natural gas is now priced at 6-8 cents/kWh;
•             Wind energy is at 4-7 cents/kWh.

And:

•             “Wind's predictability is a selling point.”

Renewable Energy Access isn’t a blog, per se, but there are 18 reader comments following the article. The piece printed out on 8 pieces of paper, of which 2.33 are Silverstein’s piece, and close to 5 are comments.

10 Oct, 2006

According to a note in the 9/9/06 issue of The Economist:

“The United States is the world’s biggest producer of green-house gases, though not for long.

“Every year, China is building power-generating capacity almost equivalent to Britain’s entire stock, almost all of it burning coal – the dirtiest fuel.

“It will shortly overtake America, and India is not far behind.”

I’m not (yet) a hard-core believer in global warming. I have friends who argue that global warming is not necessarily caused by human beings.

I sure hope they are correct!

10 Oct, 2006

The AGC posted a press release on work chief economist Ken Simonson has been up to on construction inflation. Click here to see it.

AGC’s release reefers ya to a 12-page PDF – “an analysis by Simonson of overall construction materials costs” which goes back to early 2004. Download it by clicking here

ConstrucTech reports on the quarterly Turner Building Cost Index – which shows construction inflation up 10.3% year-over-year. Wowsa! Read it here. .

05 Oct, 2006

Recent postings to TEDMAG.com, where I have a weekly column:

10/4 -- "News Nuggets" -- slants on business news.

9/27 -- The Creep of Inflation -- see the table of spot prices vs. average prices actually paid for crude oil.

9/20 -- Reversion To The Mean: Something To Fear -- no kidding!

03 Oct, 2006

Through two-thirds of the year, here are the construction spending numbers of note – remember, these are “real” unadjusted-for-any-bogus-baloney figures:

            Private residential construction -- $426.67B, up 2.5% over 2005.

            Public construction -- $174.08B, up 10.0%

            Nonresidential private construction -- $192.48B, up 16.5%

Here’s the whopper: Nonresidential construction was up 23.85% in August 2006 (over August 2005), unadjusted. Of the $27.47B in private nonres construction in August, $11.2B (or 40.77%) was in just two categories, Office buildings and “commercial” – the latter being a catch-all category that’s about two-thirds retail.

And here’s the kicker: Office buildings and commercial were up “only” 20.65% in August ’06 over their August ’05 numbers. That actually TRAILS the month’s overall nonresidential gain!

03 Oct, 2006

Through 67% of 2006, construction spending is up 7.2% in the U.S., according to the Census Bureau, to $793.2B. Those are real (not seasonally adjusted) numbers. In August, construction spending (preliminarily) was up 3.86% (over August ’05). I’m sure they’ll revise the ’06 number by just a bit.

July 2006 was revised down just a bit – to $109.98B from $110.56 as originally reported last month. July ’06 was up 4.27% over July 2005.

So here’s the summary through two-thirds of the year:

• Construction spending in 8 months, up 7.2%
• July-August construction spending in 2006 at $223.85B, or 28% of the 8-month total.
• July-Aug ’06 up 4.06% over the same two months in ’05.

Here’s the link to the current Census release.

02 Oct, 2006

The Mechanical Contractors Assn. of America (MCAA) now offers two publications on electrical safety.

One "will help contractors develop an electrical safety program that is specific to their company’s needs if their technicians perform work on or near live parts of HVAC units that are pushing 480 volts or less." That's Model NFPA 70E Electrical Safety Program for Service.

Also offered: Electrical Safety Guidelines for Mechanical Service (Based on NFPA 70E – 2004) Safety Training Kit. Yes, I know -- it's a goshdurn long name. But read the release, the kit includes a lot of stuff.

Each publication is offered to non-members (as well as MCAA members, who get a lower price). See the three-page release here.

02 Oct, 2006

Saw the 9/27 USA Today while on the road. Here's the lead on a page 3A item:

"At least seven men in five states have been fatally electrocuted since July while hacking through power lines to steal wire made of copper, which has been commanding near-record prices, police say."

This is nuts. Read the piece here.