EleBlog

31 Dec, 2009

Integrated Electrical Services (stock symbol IESC) came out recently with its annual report on FY09, which ended 9/30. Here are the recent annual sales of the company:


This is just ugly. IES was originally a "roll-up" -- a combination of companies (all of them non-union electrical contractors) put together with the help of a lot of money and a lot of stock. It was the idea of a bunch of high rollers (who, I think, made money). I believe even many of the ECs who sold into IES made money -- a lot of it.

At one time early on (1999), the CEO of IES said that, in five years, the company would have $3 billion in sales. It seemed possible at the time. People in the electrical manufacturing business and electrical distribution (larger distributors) freaked out.

At the time, I wrote a number of columns that said -- Won't Happen. I was, of course, right (funny how you remember and cite the times you got it right, and ignore the times you were so far off-base a grandmother could pick you off). As an example, here's a paragraph from a column posted in April 1999:


That was then. This is NOW.

- - - - -

As of the end of 2009, IES has the following distinguishing characteristics:

1. At $666 million, it still remains the largest pure-play electrical contracting company in which you can invest. Yes, EMCOR is much bigger -- but an investment in EMCOR stock gets you involved in two other businesses (Mechanical contracting and Facilities Services).

2. The company is still being reorganized. If you have read what IES management says about the company, it is still getting a handle on itself. Yes, that shouldn't be the case after 11 years of existence. But it is.

3. IES is not a national company. Many of the original components (significant local electrical contracting companies) were purchased, "rolled up" into IES -- and then disgorged in the 2000s. The company seems to relentless change focus (I don't think that's a good thing, but maybe it will turn out to be one of these days).

Here's what the boss, Michael Caliel, said in the Q4 release:


4. If you compare FY05 with FY09, sales are down almost 21% in the past four years. This does not seem to be a reason to run out and buy stock, does it?

5. According to the company's recent release on Q4 results, the backlog of work has declined in the past year from $337M to $241M (28%). This is not good. Note that this is NOT out of line: EMCOR's backlog declined in the same time from $4.42B to $3.39B, or 23%. Somehow, to the naked eye, $241M looks puny, whereas $3.39B looks . . . well, healthy.

6. On the other hand, there were other EC roll-ups launched in the late 1990s, including -- most notably -- two (Building One Services and GroupMAC) that merged into a damn big one, Encompass Services . . . which went out of business shortly thereafter. So you can debit IES for a number of years of flailing about in the water, or you can credit the company with a big positive = It HAS Survived!

IESC's Q4 release.

31 Dec, 2009

An article that's now four months old, the Atlantic ran a short "ideas" piece on the real impacts of IKEA's "low-price, high-style" furniture retailing approach.

Question for the house: IS IT GREEN?

Here's the Atlantic article's answer:


The article includes a quote from an environmental activisit: "IKEA is the least sustainable retailer on the planet."

31 Dec, 2009

The Nov/Dec issue of the magazine Intelligent Utility had a 1.33-page article, "Smart Skeptics," on how consumer advocates are looking with some real suspicion at The Smart Grid. It's one of three articles in the issue on this subject.

Here's a link that will take you to the online issue of the magazine, page 10. A comment of note:

31 Dec, 2009

Tim Morgan, described (by The Ledger of Lakeland FL) as "an electrical contractor and CEO of the former Electric Company, a major electrical contracting firm," is now from TMI Green Energy LLC of Lakeland. He was part of 25 people from the state of Florida that comprised "the Florida delegation" to the Copenhagen climate change conference.

From the article:

The company acts as a contractor, finding and designing the equipment needed for a solar-power project and then subcontracting with installers.

The Florida delegation, operating under the title of "Green Jobs for Florida," holds official observer status at the conference, according to the group's consulting firm of Bryant, Miller, Olive.

31 Dec, 2009

"When someone hands you lemons, make lemonade." That's the old adage and, if it ever applied to real life, it does NOW.

CE Pro magazine offered a fine example of that: Simply Home Cinemas (a professional installer of consumer electronics) --


Story here.

28 Dec, 2009

I'm a bit behind on reporting from the EcoBuild conference & show, held Dec. 7-10 in Washington, D.C. It was a pretty good event. I'm behind b/c I've not yet written up (3 or 4 or 5 short reports) for the blog on TEDMAG.com.

However, there was so much happening at this event (a lot of different construction industry groups and "green"-type people in separate meetings) -- that even when I get the work done, I won't "cover" everything . . . mainly because I could not possibly be everywhere.

So: To get you a bit more (and a bit earlier) than I will get you -- see this piece on the High-Performance Building sessions at EcoBuild. A (VERY INTERESTING!!!) slice of the piece -- bolding added by EleBlog:

28 Dec, 2009

NBT is a program "to help develop the next generation of U.S. industrial tradespeople." The guy leading the thing: John Ratzenberger, who starred (as the nerdy postman Cliff Clavin" in the TV show "Cheers." The story is posted to the Maintenance Technology magazine site.

Feature.

28 Dec, 2009

Interested in Power Over Ethernet? Power Electronics offers this "PoE Spotlight" page. 

28 Dec, 2009

From an old (April) post I saved on GreenBiz.com, here's a bit on hotel energy efficiency:

And why not? Hotel owners apparently worry that some guests may not like the loss of control or the inconvenience of arriving at a slightly colder room in winter or slightly warmer room in summer -- even though the owners could keep room temperatures just a few degrees from 70 or 72 and guests could enjoy something else (lower costs, more amenities) in return for a few minutes of waiting for the room to heat or cool.

By the way, travelers in Europe and Asia have come to expect the key card system. How do markets account for that?

Item here.

28 Dec, 2009

John Crudele writes about economic/financial stuff for the NY Post. I hate the NY Post for a lot of reasons, but I think Crudele does a more than passable job. He points out economic trends and stats that many other commentators/reporters miss. And he does it in a tight word allocation each time, which (I happen to know for a fact) is not very easy.

His 12/24 column was outstanding. It was about Trinie Jestine, 28, who is from the Bronx, lived with 15 other people in a four-bedroom (one bathroom) apartment, and served in the U.S. military. He ended up in a shelter when he came back. NOW, he has a job.

Crudele picked Jestine -- a regular guy who has been somewhat unfortunate, but just now got lucky -- as his "man of the year." It beats all heck out of TIME's choice, Ben Bernanke.

Story: Real man of the year.

28 Dec, 2009

Common sense will tell you that the statistics kept by our government -- on everything -- aren't accurate enough to be reliable. It's a big country. There are all of these places here (states, counties, cities, towns, etc.). The gathering of statistics is as good as it can be, but it's not perfect . . . and everyone knows this.

Or so I thought. I was wrong. Here, read this, about housing:

Single-family building permits tell a more encouraging story. After peaking at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 464,000 in August, they fell to 452,000 in September and 449,000 in October, most likely because the initial tax credit was about to expire.

But in November, there was a strong rebound to 473,000, the highest since September 2008. The increase appears to be because builders have begun to rebuild their inventory of lower priced houses that that were sold because of a boost from the tax credit and in anticipation of increased demand resulting from its extension and expansion.

I found it here.

This appears to "make a big deal" about a shift upward from a SAAR of 449,000 single-family building permits in October to 473,000 in November. By simple subtraction, that's a difference of 23,000 on a base of 449,000

But wait: It's a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR). That means the October numbers were bumped and teased around to come out at 449K, and the November numbers were similarly adjusted and twisted/rejiggered by economists to come out at 473K.

Without casting any aspersions on the integrity of the economists who did the work, let's say that such a difference in SAARs from one month to another (or even over a six-month period) MEANS NOTHING.

Nada, nil, zilch, zippo. ZERO.

I find this kind of search for positive numbers to be ridiculous. So should you!

28 Dec, 2009

I am down (negative) on CFLs, for a variety of reasons. I am TRYING (trying, really I am) . . . to NOT be down on LEDs.

For one thing, no one (even someone who is "right" 100% of the time) should be down on everything.

For another, LEDs don't have the same number of problems that CFLs do, in my opinion.

However, LEDs -- again, my opinion -- just are not "there" yet.

Let me give you 2 quick examples:

1. I just leafed thru a direct-mail catalog with an LED "light bulb" (shaped just like a 60-watt incandescent). It replaces a 60W bulb with a 12W bulb-shaped thing chock full of LEDs. The cost: $59. The cost of an incandescent: Let's put it at 50 cents for argument's sake.

Now, let's say you keep the light in the socket on for 10 hours a day, for the sake of argument. The savings of the screw-in LED will be 10 x 48 = 480 watts. Over two days, let's round it up to 1 kilowatt. Over 365 days, let's round it up -- again -- to 200 kilowatt hours.

A kilowatt hour costs about 11 cents (a bit less, actually), in U.S. average price. Let's say the incandescent burned out once during the year, so you replaced it. Here's the cost of the incandescent:

50 cents x 2 bulbs = $1.00

11 cents x 200 kWh = $22.00

So it will take roughly 3 years for the LED to repay its initial cost. In the interim, a typical homeowner has paid the electrical bill in monthly increments.

Note that I've rounded up all of the numbers here in favor of LEDs. Electricity might cost less than 11 cents/kWh where you live; incandescents are said to burn out after 1,000 hours, but many last a lot longer. And some LEDs do, actually, give up the ghost before "forever."

Final note: I've seen where a 60-watt-equivalent LED might cost $40, not $59. So the payback might be two years. But this still requires a human being to put out $40 up front for a light bulb, instead of 50 cents (or less) for the incandescent.

I'M NOT SAYING LEDs ARE A RIP-OFF. I'm saying that you have to be very "green" to jump on this bandwagon.

2. Then, today, a friend of mine told me he noticed the story -- which has been around for about 2 weeks or so -- about LEDs using in municipal traffic lights having a problem. The deal: They don't give off a lot of heat, so the lights are freezing over. According to at least one source, this problem has already led to many traffic accidents, and perhaps one death.

The solution: Install a heating element with the LEDs in the traffic light, to prevent the thing from freezing over. I'm not sure what that's going to cost (I am sure it's going to prolong the return-on-investment on the savings from putting the LEDs in the traffic lights . . . right?).

See this report.

24 Dec, 2009

Only North Dakota posted an employment increase in Construction Employment over the past 12 months, according to AGC's analysis.

24 Dec, 2009

I am beginning to fall in a deep state of something resembling "love" with the writing (on the IAEI blog) of one Greg Smith. I've never met him. But I can read, and you should read this blog post -- on an inspection at a window-blind manufacturing plant -- from which I snip the following:

What he didn’t realize was that the maintenance man on shift was standing right behind him. “Maintenance people have families too,” was the maintenance man’s response. The shift supervisor was embarrassed and quickly left the area, leaving us with the maintenance guy to work on correcting the rest of the items on the issues report.

“It’s not what you don’t know, it’s what you ‘know’ that ain’t so.” A recurring problem in the world of product safety concerns people who want to make decisions about safety who are actually ignorant of the subject. People and organizations who have no business making decisions about electrical safety need to be exposed and their ulterior motives revealed. Check back for the next entry.

The bolding is from Smith, not me. Yes, "love" is NOT too strong a word.

24 Dec, 2009

While visiting the EGSA blog, I came across this (admittedly, OLD) item:


Kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it? ConEd is the NYC utility. Isn't there anyone (or any group of electrical people, maybe) closer to NYC to have grabbed the $67M from ConEd?

And look at the work to be performed (via Willdan) -- for small biz:


If you're like me, you might immediately wonder who the F this "Willdan" is -- this is from the company's "about" page:

Willdan has dedicated itself to providing public agencies with reliable engineering and consulting services for more than 40 years. Combining depth of staffing, state-of-the-art technical resources, and local offices rooted in their communities, Willdan has earned its reputation as a problem solver across a wide range of client interests. We understand the concerns of government agencies – especially those of local government.

Our operating brands (linked below) offer a broad scope of expertise that uniquely qualifies us to serve the needs of cities, counties, and special districts, as well as state and federal agencies.

And here's a quote from Willdan's release on the ConEd deal:


If EleBlog correctly interpret that (and maybe . . . ) -- it seems to mean that Willdan ain't very big in the Northeast. It is a crying, screaming, steaming SHAME that no one in the electrical industry (a consortium of distributors and contractors, maybe?) could have stepped up and filled this bill for ConEd, a very nice price tag.

24 Dec, 2009

Apparently, YES -- in traffic light applications.

Why? They don't run hot, so in cold weather, they ice over . . . causing traffic accidents at this time of year and (according to the NEMA Blog) perhaps -- already -- one death.

24 Dec, 2009

I'm not sure why copper prices are so high (OK, I really AM sure it's China, but I don't really have a single fact on which to hang that). But yesterday copper bounced (BIG) back up above the $3.20/pound mark -- see www.kitcometals.com.

According to a 12/24 Bloomberg report, it's all about the dollar. Well, maybe.

24 Dec, 2009

In the blog I write for TEDMAG.com, I recently unloaded a bunch of pieces on how electrical distributors can have an impact on the productivity of electrical contractors (and their field electricians) -- esp. in a period in which the electrical workforce is growing older.

Why is the workforce growing older?

1 - the older electricians are not going to be able to retire precisely when they would like, thanks to the current economic situation.

2 - electrical contractors are not training enough apprentices to become journeymen right now.

That link above goes to the final column of several, which includes links to the previous pieces posted by TEDMAG and to other interesting stuff (some of it written by me, Joe Salimando, going back to the year 2001) on the subject of productivity.

21 Dec, 2009

John Mauldin writes a weekly missive on investing. He supposedly has 1 million readers!!! He says he saw what's here when it was coming, but I read the guy's stuff every week, and I don't remember him hitting a warning gong like a madman.

Perhaps my memory is selective. Or perhaps Mauldin isn't a genius (this is not a sin!). I read his writing for the following reasons:


So I read the guy. Recently, he has been riding a theory -- in some detail -- about how "employment is likely to be uncomfortably high for a number of years, and that assumes we do not go back into recession."

Employment? NO -- he meant UNemployment. He made a writing mistake that his editor didn't catch.

However, he provided a visual scenario for all of us -- see below. It's perfectly clear, isn't it?

You can draw one of several conclusions:

21 Dec, 2009

Worth your time to read: A release from Census about China's population. From the release (bolding is from EleBlog):

21 Dec, 2009

Found this via Engineering News-Record -- a blog on the Tempest Company site. Tempest apparently does estimating and project control.

Here's a part of what Don Short posted on 12/7, on the state of construction in Texas:

 There is a stark contrast in medical projects in the area.  One project, east of Houston near Katy, has ongoing construction for a larger sized facility.  The other, south of Houston near Clear Lake, is partially built with construction suspended at this time.

 The greater Houston area has many empty offices, flex office/warehouse space, and other commercial buildings bordering their loop roads.  There is some commercial construction in spite of all the vacancies.  Construction equipment rental companies have plenty of equipment inventory available for rent on their lots.  Not a good sign. 

 The lack of private projects has made an impact upon engineering firms in the area.  Some offices have cut down staff levels by seventy-five percent with the remaining staff wondering when the next project will come in the door.  Others have cut out the third party consultants and reduced working hours along with pay.  The steps they are taking are very similar to those being undertaken by the construction firms.

21 Dec, 2009

Chapel Electric Co. cmplained about the bidding process for installation of new security equipment at Dayton International Airport (Ohio), a bid won by Wagner-Smith.

See the Dayton newspaper story here.

What's interesting about this is that two significant ECs were the competitors in a big electronic security job. According to the story:

21 Dec, 2009

Somehow, I ended up on the e-mail list for TheGreenBuilder.com, where Ron Jones pontificates every so often. I like what he said in the 12/15 e-mail -- "Ditch The Climate Change Debate."

I have had similar thoughts -- which round out to, "do you mean we (the human race) are going to keep wasting energy and doing other idiotic things just in case we are NOT the cause of global warming?"

Here's what Jones had to say (three sentences I liked):

1. "We don't have to reach some final, indisputable conclusion on the 'climate' debate to know that there are plenty of good reasons to take steps to replace 18th and 19th century technologies and the polluting energy sources that have been fueling them."

2. "I have also fished a variety of streams, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs throughout North America where the fish populations face collapse from human-caused pollution and where signs are posted to warn against consuming the fish that are there."

3. "It's time to clean up our act and 'create a better world'—whether global warming is a hoax or not."

Amen. I found Jones' piece posted here.

21 Dec, 2009

No, the headline doesn't refer to politicians. It is, instead, a technology -- supported by $5.4M in U.S. government $ -- from SustainX, Inc. The company will use the money to "develop and eventually deploy a full-scale demonstration of its method for storing large amounts of energy using compressed air."

Energy storage is gonna be HUGE. Reason: Solar and wind aren't "unreliable" -- they just don't produce relentlessly or on a you-can-bet-on-it schedule. If a given utility or state (or country) is going to go with a lot of solar/wind/etc., it needs energy storage . . . in heavy amounts . . . both to store the energy generated when we don't need it (i.e., when the wind blows at night) and also to make up for the times when power isn't available when we DO need it (i.e., the sun doesn't shine at night).

Release.

17 Dec, 2009

Copper is moving wildly -- trading like a commodity, as I used to hear people say -- lately. It was up 7 cents two days ago, over the $3.20/pound level (again). Today, it bounced down to $3.08.

Here's a Bloomberg story (filed 12/17) noting a drop to $3.12. Apparently, it then fell another 4-plus cents.

Does this mean something? I don't know. Most commodity market moves are dominated by technical traders, but I'm pretty sure this hasn't been the case for copper. Either that, or the dominant traders in copper are manic depressives who just can't get their medication right.

The red metal was roughly $4/pound in June 2008, fell to $1.25 in December 2008, and now is hanging around above $3 (see chart below, from www.kitcometals.com).

Good luck figuring this out. 

17 Dec, 2009

If you're not, you're missing the boat -- so says Stan Shook, writing for Electrical Contractor magazine. He writes the Estimating column in each month's issue.

Of course, one sponsor of this site (at right) is McCormick Systems . . . but even if you don't buy what McCormick has to sell, you should get into computerized estimating.

Incidentally: The story "on page 58" that Stan references in his column is this roundup of what software suppliers (McCormick and its competitors) have on offer.

17 Dec, 2009

I've had this gut feeling that the November employment report from the FedGov -- only 11,000 more people added to the list of unemployed in the month -- was WRONG.

Here's the problem with this, for me:


Herewith, two items that encouraged me in me "the data is off" thinking:

We're Not Done With The Jobs Report --

“My concern today that I was premature in heralding significant employment improvement last Friday is fed by some of the recent concurrent economic data.” He cites several competing reports, the NFIB report, the ISM services report, the JOLTS report, and withholding tax data, which all paint a weaker picture than the BLS report.

“The withholding income tax data does not lie because tax withholding is automatic. The payroll survey lies because the birth/death model contribution is a ‘plug number’ based on a past employment picture that looks nothing like employment in this recession, which is the worst in three generations.”

Gluskin Sheff’s David Rosenberg takes note  note of a little known (I’d never heard of it) calculation the BLS does, the “adjusted” household survey, which tries to reconcile the establishment and household surveys. According to that figure, the nation lost 109,000 jobs in November.

“This may well be the nugget that everyone missed because the Household Survey does a much better job at picking up what is happening in the small business sector,” Rosenberg wrote.

AND

What's Wrong with the November Employment Numbers -- this one is deeply technical, you have to read it (I did) a coupla times to understand it. Here's a slice:

There was a general sense of surprise at the November results, but no one has a clear concept of what went wrong.  TrimTabs has entered an objection, and I agree.  The estimates of job change from our model, and the other approaches that I report each month (including TrimTabs), will prove to be better estimates than recent BLS reports.

It will take some months before we see the actual data to prove this, but I intend to follow up with some estimates.  Meanwhile, I doubt that employment has improved as much as the current report indicates.  It is not consistent with other economic data.

And finally, readers should note that this had nothing to do with BLS bias, manipulating the numbers, or creating "phantom jobs" on demand for President Obama.  It is all about methodology, and the inherent limitations on the survey approach.  The BLS team devised a good approach and implemented it in consistent fashion.  The change in the credit markets - not a normal recession -- seems to have undermined their empirical models.

17 Dec, 2009

A guy who works teaching folks at Alfred State U. (in New York) is both a faculty member (he is an assistant prof. in the Electrician, Computer & Robotics dept.) and an electrical contractor (runs a small electrical contracting biz on the side). 

17 Dec, 2009

Six of them, short, on BAS, from FacilitiesNet.com. Turns out it's all about the Pittsburgh airport (presented in small, digestible bites). From Part 6:

17 Dec, 2009

From Electronic House magazine: A ditty about a Wi-Fi-connected bathroom scale. "It records your body weight . . . to your Twitter account."

Welcome to the future.

15 Dec, 2009

Were you me, you would get to meet a lot of interesting people in the electrical industry. One of them is David Pinter of Zwicker Electric, a company that's one of the larger ECs in the New York City area. Pinter runs it.

On its website, NECA has a recent (11/27/09) article on the role Pinter played in negotiating a Project Labor Agreement in NYC. The article ends with this:

That reminded me of an article I wrote, "Burger With The Boss," about a dinner (that I attended) that Pinter hosted for some of his company's workers. Such dinners were (back when I wrote it, in 2006, anyway) a regular event.

Click on the "burger" link to see the 4-page PDF, which Zwicker has on its website.

15 Dec, 2009

From Barry Ritholtz's blog (which I read every week to keep up with a brilliant guy's thoughts on the financial situation, the economy, and the market): The Word of the Year for 2009 was "unfriend."

I kid you not.  

15 Dec, 2009

Lots of electricians decide they want to be contractors. Many times, this IS NOT a bad decision. But there are differences between a guy who owns a company and a guy who does what a company owner asks.

One of the differences is that a contractor has to know what a Balance Sheet is, what's on it, and why it matters.

Along those lines, Nation's Building News -- the weekly published by the home builders -- recently ran a 1,279-word article, Your Balance Sheet Can Point You in the Right Direction.

It's worth your time.

15 Dec, 2009

Years ago -- when I was still the Publisher of Electrical Contractor magazine -- I toured a smart house in California with the mag's West Coast salesman. The idea of the visit was to talk to the president of the company that supplied the "smart" system and, eventually, to get him to advertise in the magazine.

a. That didn't work. The company did not buy an ad. I don't think it had the money.

b. I don't remember the name of the company.

c. I do remember the tour distinctly. It was of this guy's house. The system had a voice-interactive system (you talked to it, it talked to you). He had equipped the system with the voice of Betty Boop. I am not making this up.

d. The system was remarkable. It hells bells and whistles all of the place -- bells and whistles up the ying-yang. The guy had stables not far from his house, the system monitored the conditions out there (it would spray to suppress bugs if need be). I thought it was wonderful.

e. This HAD to be before May 1, 1998, because I stopped being Publisher on that date.

Fast-forward to last week, when I read this story (from Canada) on how "New technologies let older homes become smarter."

Read the story (697 words). There's stuff about security, automatic window shades (that respond to the sun/lack of sun) and drapes0, video on multiple TVs, a panic button, blahblahblah. "Sensors can warn of fire, water leaks, and sudden temperature drops."

I have to tell you: Other than perhaps better use of the Internet and more whole-house entertainment, the story makes it seem as if there's not much happening in "smart houses" today than was happening in 1997-98.

Two points:

1. If this is all there is, you could have had it -- most of it, anyway -- from the Betty Boop-offering guy in the mid- to late-1990s.

2. BUT -- and this is an important but -- I think there IS much more than this, and it's IMPORTANT. It's about senior citizens, sensors, health care, and aging-in-place. I'll find some of it and post it here in the next days/weeks.

15 Dec, 2009

The more I learn about Electric Vehicles (and I did go to the PlugIn2009 conference this past August, which -- OK, OK, OK -- does NOT make me an expert!!!) --- the more I get discouraged. At least for the short-term prospects.

In preparation for the big Copenhagen climate change conference (a nightmare, by the way), the New York Times ran a few articles> One of them was about Denmark's ambitious plans for EVs. This is from the article:

Mr. Agassi, a press-smart Israeli-American entrepreneur who was formerly a top executive at the software giant S.A.P., has cast his company’s efforts in moral terms, because of the large contribution that gasoline and diesel cars make to global warming. But so far, the results are falling short of the rhetoric.

In January 2009, Mr. Agassi promised that Denmark would have 100,000 charging spots in place and several thousand cars on the road by 2010. But with that deadline approaching, no Better Place cars are on the road and only 55 charging spots are ready.

According to Better Place, 2011 has always been the target for its mass debut, and that has not slipped. The company plans a road test of electric cars during the climate conference.

In addition to the charge points, Better Place’s vision calls for a network of stations where a robotic device could replace a battery in less time than it takes to fill a tank of gas.

These switching stations are needed because batteries have a limited range of about 100 miles, and recharging takes up to five hours, so changing batteries en route would make long journeys more convenient.

Consumers would buy the cars but get batteries from Better Place and pay a fee for the miles they drive, relying on the charging stations for local driving and the switching stations for longer trips.

But even local supporters of Better Place worry that the switching stations, which could cost as much as $1 million each to build, are impractical, largely because the stations may need to stock a wide range of batteries to accommodate cars from different manufacturers.

Let's add up what's in just this "snip" from the NYT story -- 

1. Denmark won't even come close to the goals for 2010.

2. Plans for switching stations are "impractical" (if not pie-in-the-sky crazy).

3. There are 55 charging spots slated to be ready by the end of this year, not 100,000. Not even 100. In other words, not even 1/10th of 1% of what was envisioned.

Jeepers creepers!!!

15 Dec, 2009

There's so much going on with The Smart Grid that I don't think any one human being can get it all in focus. I try, but I know I fail. For example, I went to GridWeek this past September -- and also 9/08 and 9/07. So what? I couldn't be in every room of the meeting. And being in every room probably is what was required.

I've taken to going over what's posted at SmarGridNews.com. For an example of how no one of us can get the full picture, see: "Smart Grid Data Surge . . . You Can't Ignore It."

Here is "the minimum case" as presented in the article:

 

 12 (reads/hr) X 24 (hrs/day) X (365 days/yr) X 16K (bytes/read) yields roughly 1.7GB/meter/year

 

If that's a WOW!!! to you, it sure is to me. The author of that piece points out that, to cope with this surge, people in charge of TSG will probably throw security out the window.

12 Dec, 2009

" . . . the market for energy management systems — stuff like wireless sensor networks, lighting controls, and heating and cooling management in buildings — will turn into a $6.8 billion-a-year market by 2020 and will generate investment of $67.6 billion between 2010 and 2020."

from Pike Research, as posted to Earth2Tech.

12 Dec, 2009

A feature in The Daily Republic (of Mitchell, SD) notes that Muth Electric is moving its HQ.

Facts in the article:

12 Dec, 2009

A story on what is supposed to be the "first U.S. commercial LED-lit building" -- in Auburn, Wash. -- quotes Aleksey Guyvoronsky, owner of 5-Star Electric (also of Auburn). Here's the snippet:

12 Dec, 2009

American Executive magazine (11/09) contained a 1,335-word profile of Continental Electric Construction Co., one of the biggest electrical contractors (and a lot more) in the Chicago area.

Here's what the company does, from the article:

12 Dec, 2009

A post in Mike Holt's CODE FORUM wit the title above provoked a bunch of replies. I went over to take a look -- there are 15 pages of it. 

12 Dec, 2009

. . . when testing electricity.


It's a list put together by the editors at Plant Engineering.

12 Dec, 2009

Found this story in the Cornish Guardian, which is on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. A guy named Mike Sergeant went to work at the old St. Lawrence's Hospital in 1960. He just retired after 49 years (the hospital is gone, he was working for the health authority). In all that time, "he has only had one or two days' sickness leave."

Yes, as you already have imagined -- he was an electrician. He retired in November at the age of 66. The piece isn't online.

07 Dec, 2009

I look around for indicators that might tell me where the economy is REALLY going. One of the places I look is David Bodamer's "Traffic Court" blog. He just recently posted a roundup on November retail sales, with stuff I didn't actually hear or read anywhere else (which might mind my mind went kerplooey, I don't know).

I particularly liked the quote he pulled here, from Retail Metrics:

The bottom line is that comp store sales VERY disappointing ahead of the critical December Holiday shopping season. Facing the easiest monthly comparison this decade, retailers managed to eek out a very soft 0.7% increase. This despite increased ad spending and earlier sales events. The standard line from any retailers was a stronger YOY Black Friday weekend was not enough to offset very weak sales throughout most of the month.

Let me ask you? Did you see (in the past week) the words "Giant Mess" associated with November's retail sales anywhere in the mainstream or bizniz media?

07 Dec, 2009

There's been a rally in the U.S. stock market since March. Well, sometime in 2008-09 -- thanks in part to solar photovoltaics and the effort to make buildings more efficient and sustainable -- a rally also begin in something called DC Power. It's going to be sustainable, unlike the stock-market thing.

In other words: DC Power is here, and it's here to stay. It's gaining ground, and it's going to get bigger. Three pieces of evidence:

1. The EMerge Alliance. Read up on the site, it's all about distributing DC power.

2. Press release from GE about a "Direct Current" Data Center System.

3. Coverage by yours truly of a presentation by the GSA's Kevin Kampshroer (look down to the subhed on "Dual Power Distribution").

07 Dec, 2009

Can you afford the lowest bid?

That's the question asked by Jim Slack, Jr., on a blog (it's from Slack & Co., a contractor). He wrote:

Sadly, a truth exists in our industry that is becoming harder and harder to ignore: there are subcontractors who are intentionally submitting incomplete estimates so they will be the lowest price on bid day. They know that being the low bid means they win work. As long as there is a feeling among subcontractors that price is the only factor general contractors consider, the bidding game will continue to be played dishonestly. Not only does this behavior tarnish the integrity of our industry, but it also ultimately hurts projects and owners.

 

Action must be taken on both sides of the equation to improve the bidding process. General contractors must ensure they are comparing scopes of work when reviewing bids. And subcontractors must remember their responsibility to be good stewards of the owner’s money—meaning they must in good faith, present a bid that is complete to the best of their knowledge.

This was timely when he wrote it (back in April) -- and it's even more appropriate to think about right now.

07 Dec, 2009

Over at the FOA Newsletter page (newsletter for November), Jim Hayes has posted stuff form the Nov. 2-5 TIA Cabling Meeting. It centers on a discussion about a technical issue -- lowering the standard for connector loss in installed cable plants. There's also a bit on "what happened to the TIA fiber optic committees?" It includes this bit:

If you get over to the site and can't find this (it's high up on the newsletter page), Jim has probably updated the thing to December. Go up to the top, look for "Archives" and click on the link for the 11/09 previous issue.

07 Dec, 2009

I didn't create the headline on this item -- Greg Smith, blogging over at the IAEI Magazine site, did. Here's a snippet from his diatribe (which is wonderful -- you really ought to click over and read the thing):

The experts included professional engineers, electrical inspectors / NEC Code experts, electrical contractors, testing laboratory engineers and other knowledgeable individuals.

The ignorant-about-electrical-safety side included Chamber of Commerce spokespeople, a manufacturer facility manager, and an economic development director. Their “Code expert” was a man who invented a way to get cat urine out of carpet.

When the electrical safety experts stood up to testify, the attorney for the manufacturing facility could only try to sidetrack the discussion with attempts to suppress important technical information.

It was fascinating and disgusting to see the amoral tactics used by the attorney, to see the “end justifying the means.”

In short, the question is: Why can't people do the right thing? And the answer is . . . because we're not as honest as, say, chimps, elephants, or mole rats.

07 Dec, 2009

While the November employment report had a big surprise for economists & media types (namely, a much lower number), for those of us in the construction/electrical space, there wasn't a lot to cheer:


See a report on this (and more) in the blog posted today on TEDMAG.com.

04 Dec, 2009

NOTE: I'm repeating this item -- there's a limited amount of time to take advantage of this offer.

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As you can see, there's a banner ad at right for EcoBuild. It's been there in previous years.

Well, this year the folks who run that event (which I plan to attend, by the way -- it's in my hometown!) asked if we could go one step beyond. Look below, and you'll see the deal they are offering - to YOU!

Take advantage of this! Go to www.aecEcobuild.com and enter the EleBlog code -- ELBF9EKC. Read on!

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04 Dec, 2009

The July-Aug issue of BICSI News included a two-page article, The 568-C Family of Standards ("a summary of content and recent revisions"). This is awfully handy if you're not constantly staying on top of events in the 568 world.

Note that this 3-page article (pages 18-19-20) is accessible online via one of those "online digital magazine" dingbats, which I (as an old geezer, apparently) -- hate. But the article is worth your effort to learn how to use the thing, and the thing IS pretty intuitive.

04 Dec, 2009

The Lighting Control Association in October posted this 2,100-word "primer" on control wiring in a lighting and control system, by my friend Craig DiLouie. 

04 Dec, 2009

Do you know what a snubber is? It's "a cost-effective method of reducing switching-induced transients," according to this 1,100-word feature in Consulting-Specifying Engineer. 

04 Dec, 2009

Download the 23-page (PDF) ENERGY MATTERS newsletter from the U.S. Dept. of Energy. It's from the Industrial Technologies Program. If you do any electrical work in any industrial facility, you need to check this out -- just to keep up-to-date with what's being talked about by the only source (the only one that I know about, anyway) that works daily on industrial energy savings. 

04 Dec, 2009

"10 things you should put in your house in 2010" is the latest version of an annual (or so it seems) feature from BUILDER magazine, the leading publication in the housing biz.  In the recent past, the EleBlog has reviewed this -- and seen not-so-doggone-much in the electrical category. This year, there are two electrical entries:


Better this than nothing -- but only marginally, doncha think?

04 Dec, 2009

TEDMAG recently posted a two-part piece (by me, Joe Salimando) on the construction/economic outlook for 2010 and beyond. It includes (in part one) links to all of the pieces posted to the Special Report blog on the subject of the 2010 construction outlook -- coverage of various outlooks.

Part One: 2010

Part Two - 2011 & After

02 Dec, 2009

The NECA Show is now a site sponsor for The EleBlog -- see the display ad at right.

I'm particularly proud of this one. Of the 5 banners at right, three are paid. I work for McCormick Systems, Capital Lighting & Supply, and TED magazine. The EcoBuild ad is a freebie (I gave it to the show sponsors because I like Green events -- so sue me).

I don't work for the NECA Show. I've attended every one of the NECA annual events, however, from 1979 to 1983, 1990 to 1999, and 2001 to present. I missed the 1984-89 NECA shows due to the fact I was "in" another industry (I was the Editor of Waste Age magazine in that period, which is from where I get my green bona fides, so to speak).

And I missed the 9/00 NECA Show in Seattle because I was in the hospital, dying of Legionnaire's Disease. Thanks to my wife, and the doctors and nurses at Fairfax Inova Hospital, I cheated death. Ha!

02 Dec, 2009

Construction put-in-place data for October 2009 came out yesterday from the Dept. of Commerce. As is usual, the EleBlog focuses on Table 2, which is NOT seasonally adjusted.

In the year's first 10 months, total construction spending is down 12.6%, to $794B. In the month of October itself, $81.5B of construction was recorded, down from almost $95.6B in 10/08 -- that's a decline of 14.7%.

Some 10-month "private" comparison numbers:

RESIDENTIAL (private) -- down 30.8%.

NONRESIDENTIAL (private) -- down 9.5%

PUBLIC -- up 4.4%.

. . . note that Total Private Construction was down 19.4%.

02 Dec, 2009

Rosendin Electric, based in San Jose, Calif., but all over the place, really (it's one of the largest ECs in the nation), issued a release noting that it has received an award "for its outstanding safety program and its ability to create a corporate culture in which 'safety is everyone's responsibility'." 

02 Dec, 2009

The Financial Times (which is flung onto my sidewalk every morning) carried a feature, "Fabulous Prefab" -- this past weekend. Here's a slice:


OK, some translations:

According to this online calculator, 60 sq. meters = 645 sq. ft. That seems small, doesn't it (by American standards) -- ? You gotta shrink to be green, I guess.

90,000 pounds = $150,000. If you add 30% as it says above,  you get $195,000.

That's $195,000 for a 645 sq. ft. home, or $302 per sq. ft.

02 Dec, 2009

12/31/09 is the deadline for your RCDD exam application -- if you want to get in before BICSI changes the knowledge base on which the exam is created. Check out the CSE magazine notice. 

02 Dec, 2009

From NASA: Monster Waves on the Sun are Real.

. . . have you ever sat down and thought about how much we're STILL finding out about the real world, what's all around us? It's stunning. It makes you wonder (OK -- it makes me wonder) about how much we STILL do not know!

02 Dec, 2009

Every once in a while, something that someone else wrote in the construction industry hits me right between the eyes. It's SOOOOOOOO..... obvious! It's so dosh-gone SMART. It's brilliant!

. . . that's when I sit down and talk to myself. So if you see me, and I'm mumbling, it's NOT into a cell phone.

Most recently, this came upon me after reading: Use abandoned phone numbers to boost remodeling business.

If you're a contractor of ANY kind -- forget the remodeling piece of that headline -- you NEED to read this.