Erin Del Llano
Out of the hundreds of standards that will ultimately be needed to run the nation’s emerging Smart Grid, the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) announced it has determined about 80 of them in its new report. Smart grid standards have received a lot of PR in the past few months as many predict they will be the top road block to the market maturing and having its full impact.
Released during this year’s GridWeek conference in Washington, DC, the draft is open for comments for the next month. Jeff St. John at Greentech media did a solid overview of the release. Designed to guide utilities and vendors as they roll out services, products and software, these standards are being born out of a Smart Grid Conceptual Reference Model, which NIST is using as a guide to identify and keep track of all the various systems and requirements.
NIST highlights two groups that are being formed to help direct the future of the Smart Grid—where savvy and well networked Smart Grid businesses will be participating:
--Smart Grid Interoperability Panel: a public-private partnership established by NIST at the end of this year to offer more permanent organizational structure to support the ongoing evolution of the framework.
--Smart Grid Architecture Board: a subcommittee to the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel, which will lead the development and management of the Smart Grid Conceptual Model.
While many panelists and board members have likely been identified by NIST, there still should be opportunities for Smart Grid businesses to lobby themselves into the groups. Take the Cyber Security Coordination Task Group (CSCTG) for example, where security companies are helping build the requirements that address all cyber security elements of the Smart Grid.
Not selected by the NIST? Well, the releases of new standards and regulations will offer repeated PR opportunities for businesses to offer insight, commentary and thought leadership to the media—and help get their company and technology recognized.
Take this report, for example. What’s noticeably absent? What does NIST need to focus on in Phase 2? What are your thoughts?
Tags:
grid+security,
gridweek,
Smart Grid Architecture Board,
Smart Grid Interoperability Panel,
smart+grid+pr
Posted by Erin DelLlano on October 7, 2009 at 12:15 PM
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At last week’s GoingGreen West 2009 conference the issue of water -- safe, clean, reliable water sources to be exact -- got a good deal of attention. Maybe because, despite the heavy fog that was wrapped around the Golden Gate Bridge, California labors through its third straight year of drought?
The panel “The Water Grid & Water Markets” covered a variety of current and very cool near-future technologies. From water quality IT dashboards (IBM) to off grid, mini-desalination plants (Energy Recovery) to subsurface water storage (Schlumberger Water Services), there’s a plethora of solutions available and emerging that address the growing water crisis. It’s clear that the biggest challenges are not great new ideas or innovations but rather finding ways to lower costs and leverage public policy to drive adoption.
One technology that I’ve been coming back to is on-site water recycling. “Gray” or wastewater recycling systems are nothing new; however, the process traditionally has received fairly lousy PR. Often likened to sewage, grey water actually comes from showers, dishwashers and other household sanitation, except the toilet. Graywater is an important part of solving the crisis, but like all things water related, California struggles with graywater provisions. Expensive systems, low rebates and restrictive mandates have resulted in fewer than 10 residential systems permitted and legally installed in Los Angeles every year.
Hopefully that is changing. In late July the Department of Housing and Community Development’s (HCD) Codes and Standards Division announced the adoption of the state’s new graywater standards. If successful, these new standards could make it easier for systems to be implemented and safe water be reused. According to the HCD, these systems can help a family of four reduce its annual water consumption by 22,000 gallons of water--from the laundry system alone.
With countries like China practicing well-established regulations of water reclamation for hotels, institutions and schools for years, the US seems behind the curve yet again in our water use practices. However, California’s HCD new standards are helping lower the cost of greywater systems and encouraging adoption, and seem to be a big step in the right direction. We’ll have to keep an eye on them in the coming months to see how the program takes hold.
Posted by Erin DelLlano on September 22, 2009 at 12:51 PM
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Few regions of the country have been hit harder by water scarcity issues than California. From Santa Cruz, Monterey, Long Beach, Carlsbad and Huntington Beach-seawater desalination has been turned to in a big way to combat the problem. It also has had to fight an uphill PR and Public Affairs battle thanks to outdated perceptions around the process, especially regarding energy costs. In working with Energy Recovery, Inc., a company that manufactures an energy-saving pump for seawater reverse-osmosis (SWRO) desalination, we've seen firsthand how much misinformation persists with government, media and general public audiences.
On Wednesday, the
Marin County water board approved (unanimously) the creation of a $105 million dollar desal plant. Unfortunately, town halls in San Rafael (where the plant will be) echoed the inaccurate perceptions around what this will mean for people's drinking water as well as NIMBY-related aesthetics objections—all which aren't helping to pull California out of its water emergencies. Water recycling and conservation are great and more of each is needed, but those measures alone won't help save a water system built to serve 18 million people in a 36 million resident state.
Venture capitalists realize that water is the next looming crisis nationally and something that goes beyond the bounds of local communities. By building plants along the California coast—and other coastal regions such as Florida and Texas—more of the existing water can go to agriculture, lessening the need to draw water from river deltas and reducing the impact on fish and wildlife along rivers and their tributaries. That is why companies in reverse osmosis membranes, carbon nanotubes and other technologies are beginning to see a significant amount of private investment.
At least the proposed Marin County desal plant is raising the issue, and presenting an opportunity for stakeholders in the industry to teach people how new technologies are improving the process by reducing energy consumption and impact to wildlife. Perhaps then more people will appreciate how and where desalination fits in as one piece to solving the water crisis—which includes recycling, conservation, and most importantly, education.
Tags:
carbon+nano,
desal,
desal+pr,
desalination,
desalination+pr,
Energy+Recovery,
Marin+County,
reverse+osmosis,
SWRO,
water+conservation+pr,
water+crisis
Posted by Erin DelLlano on August 20, 2009 at 5:24 PM
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President Obama’s visit today at the site of a planned wind energy manufacturing plant in Iowa reminds us of the president’s dedication to renewable energy and creating more green collar jobs. Even more interesting than his well covered PR visit are the reports from Washington that the Interior Department is planning to announce new rules that will pave the way for wind turbines off the East Coast. Finally.
This move by the Obama administration could usher in a powerful new era for wind energy in this country. Currently, the US has zero offshore wind parks in operation. That’s right, not a one. Considering reports by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) that predicted by 2020 the EU will have between 20GW and 40GW of offshore wind energy capacity—you can say the US getting “blown away” by our European peers. (Sorry.)
From reduced turbulence, to higher wind speeds to increased transmission options, offshore offers tremendous opportunities to advance wind technology and ensure that it is a significant part of our renewable energy efforts. Currently, wind makes up less than 2 percent of all electricity generated in the US today. With offshore installations, such as Cape Wind off of Massachusetts’ Nantucket Sound, looking like their time may have come, we might actually have a real shot of reaching President Obama’s goal of 10 percent of electricity coming from renewable sources by 2012. And for individuals concerned with the environmental impact these wind parks will have, several environmental groups—including the Audubon Society—have backed offshore projects.
It will be interesting to see how these rules impact businesses throughout the wind energy industry, and this news promises to offer some great discussions at the upcoming WINDPOWER 2009 show. We’ll have to hold tight to see what the report from the Interior says before we can understand their impact, and find what new public relations and public affairs opportunities these companies can pursue.
But so far, this is shaping up to look like a meaningful Earth Day. And wasn’t it time?
Tags:
green+collar+jobs,
offshore+wind,
renewable+resources,
wind+technology,
Windpower+2009
Posted by Erin DelLlano on April 22, 2009 at 2:56 PM
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