UMA MEMBER COMPANIES IN THE NEWS:
HOLLAND & HART NAMED “UTAH PRO BONO LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR”Utah Business Daily
Holland & Hart’s Salt Lake City office has been named the “Utah Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year” by the Utah State Bar. This annual award is given to a Utah law firm that demonstrates an outstanding commitment to the community through significant pro bono efforts. In 2010, 51 attorneys in Holland & Hart’s Salt Lake City office provided over 8,100 hours of professional and pro bono publico services to the Utah community.
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BOEING CONFIRMS 787 DELIVERY IN 3RD QUARTER
Today in Manufacturing
Boeing will deliver its first 787 jet in third-quarter 2011 and roll out two of the long-delayed new planes each month after that, a company executive said ... continue
BOEING SLAMS LABOR BOARD
Today in Manufacturing
Boeing says federal labor regulators unfairly twisted or misquoted statements to make a case that Boeing illegally retaliated against union workers ... continue
YOUR ELECTRIC BILL: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DEMAND AND USAGE
Rocky Mountain PowerKey Points
The term kilowatt-hour (kwh) refers to the quantity of energy used.
The term kilowatt (kW) refers to the electric power or pace at which this energy is used.
Commercial and industrial users generally pay a kW demand charge on the peak pace at which they use power.
Energy users often confuse the concepts of kW (kilowatts or 1,000 watts) and kwh (kilowatt-hours or 1,000 watt-hours).
The term kwh refers to the quantity of energy used, while the term kW refers to the pace at which this energy is used.
For example, a 60-watt light bulb burns power at the pace of 60 watts (or 0.060 kW). In one hour, the bulb will consume 60 watts times one hour, or 60 watt-hours. In 12 hours, that same bulb will have consumed 60 watts times 12 hours, or 720 watt-hours (0.72 kwh).
Assume that your organization has 200 of these 60-watt bulbs that operate for 12 hours each day. The way to calculate your bill for a 30-day period is as follows: Energy Use = 200 bulbs X 60 watts X 12 hrs X 30 days divided by 1,000 = 4,320 kwh. This is the quantity of power consumed. If you were paying $0.10/kwh (the national average), the total cost for the 200 bulbs would be $432.
For the previous scenario, your organization is consuming power at the pace of 12 kW (200 bulbs X 60 watts each divided by 1,000 to get kilowatts). This pace of using power is also called demand. Commercial and industrial users generally pay a demand charge. Residential customers do not because their individual demand is relatively low and not highly variable.
Utilities instituted demand charges because some industrial and commercial customers have high demands for electricity over short periods of time, then very little demand the rest of the time. Since electricity is a nearly instantaneous production-to-consumption product the utility has to install peak load requirements capacity for all of their generation, transmission and distribution equipment.
Having this excess capacity on-hand all the time costs money, a cost that is shared by the utility and the customer who occasionally, but not always, need this capacity on-line to meet higher demand use.
The demand meter calculates the average use during a 15-minute period. A demand meter records the highest peak energy 15-minute period, counting the pulses in every interval, and then dividing by the appropriate time frame to complete the calculation. The meter does incorporate the customer’s instantaneous spikes in demand but averages the demand pace occurring over the 15 minute period. For example, a five-second spike would represent only one-half of 1 percent of the 15-minute (900 second) demand period. So, if a large motor starts up at the beginning of a shift and many small motors start up soon afterward, the cumulative load of all of the small motors added to the large motors that are running the entire 15-minute period will result in a peak demand that overwhelms the effect of any spike.
Heavy industrial users with many high horsepower motors appreciate that demand meters do not measure the highest instantaneous peak. If demand meters worked by measuring instantaneous rather than average demand over a particular interval, then the startup of a motor would present a significant cost. Consider that the motor starting current lasts for 2 to 3 seconds and may be 6 to 10 times the locked rotor current of a typical motor that does not have a soft start or a reduced voltage start feature. If this were the case, a 250 horsepower motor would contribute over 1,200 kW on an instantaneous demand meter, as compared to about 200 kW that would be measured on an averaged interval demand meter
STRATEGIES TO REDUCE DEMAND CHARGES
Rocky Mountain PowerKey Points
The monthly demand charge for a commercial or industrial facility might be one-quarter or more of the monthly electricity bill.
Reducing power usage during peak demand periods can help reduce electricity bills.
Demand management tips include: turn off unnecessary lighting; aggressively manage computer and printer energy use; allow space cooling temperatures to rise as high as 78°F.
Energy use at your facility is measured in two ways – energy and demand. During the billing period, a demand meter calculates average use during 15-minute intervals and records the highest peak-energy 15-minute period. You can reduce your electric bill substantially by reducing power usage during peak demand periods.
Curtailment strategies
According to the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) there are several areas to reduce demand. Start with the least important or non-critical loads such as non-safety lighting and HVAC. Consider installing sub-metering to identify high-intensity loads to be shed during peak demand periods. The following strategies will help you reduce demand charges:
Air conditioning
Allow room temperatures to rise as high as 78°F.
Turn down or turn off cooling in rooms that are not used.
Begin shutting off cooling devices an hour before the workday ends.
If possible, allow employees to wear casual attire to reduce the need for more cooling.
Raise the temperature of chilled water during peak demand times.
Turn duty-cycling air handlers off but ensure you maintain good airflow.
Make sure vents are not blocked by anything that diminishes their efficiency.
Office equipment/appliances
Turn off printers when not in use.
Turn off monitors when not in use.
Activate ENERGY STAR® power-down features.
Turn off computers that are not equipped with ENERGY STAR® features when leaving the office for more than 30 minutes.
Turn off personal appliances such as coffee pots and radios, when not in use.
Turn off or unplug chilled-water drinking fountains.
Turn off unnecessary loads such as decorative fountain pumps.
Eliminate the use of portable heaters.
Lighting
Turn off all lights in unoccupied spaces.
Use daylighting strategies to reduce the need for overhead lights.
Reduce decorative or display lighting.
Find energy-efficient alternatives to corridor lighting (use fewer and more efficient lights).
Long-term strategies
Install an energy management and control system to allow for the shedding and monitoring of loads from one central location. If non-critical loads are not separately switchable, modify systems to allow terminating.
Install motion sensors and separate lighting circuits to allow turning off unneeded lights. Some facilities have installed switching to separate public areas from workspaces.
Convert your roof to a reflective surface.
For water pumping operations including wastewater facilities, pipeline operations and hospitals, pump material using a small pump over long periods instead of using a high-horsepower pump over a short period.
Consider variable speed drives to reduce overall motor operating load.
If the compressed air load is more than 150 horsepower, airflow audits and evaluations can lead to reducing the overall compressed air requirements by as much as 50 percent.
Consider thermal energy storage systems for producing chilled water and ice at night, so the cooling capacity of the chiller can be tapped during the heat of the day when it is needed.
Use slower-charging battery chargers for forklifts.
Shut off select elevators and escalators (but ensure accessibility needs are met).
Rocky Mountain Power’s Web-based Energy Profiler Online information service can help you analyze your facility’s metered energy data to fine tune operations and control costs. Ask your account manager or visit Rocky Mountain Power’s website to learn more.
Today in Manufacturing
Lower unemployment, bankruptcies and foreclosures in March reduced the nation's economic stress to its lowest point this year, according to the monthly analysis ... continue
Quick Manufacturing News
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reports that workers who are stressed incur health care costs that are 46% higher, or an average of $600 more per person, than other employees. Click to continue
Today in Manufacturing
Intel Corp. said Wednesday that it has redesigned the electronic switches on its chips so that computers can keep getting cheaper and more powerful ... continue
Chad Moutray - ShopFloor Blog - NAM
Manufacturers added 25,000 jobs in April, according to a report issued by ADP. The Labor Department’s employment numbers will be released on Friday, and the ADP numbers are closely examined to gauge where the official figures will be.
Overall, the economy added 179,000 net new jobs in April, which was below the consensus estimate of 200,000 that many economists had predicted. The goods-producing sector as a whole added 41,000 new jobs, with 26,000 of those stemming from medium-sized firms with between 50 and 499 employees. Small goods-producing payrolls with less than 50 employees generated 14,000 new jobs.
For manufacturing, this was the seventh consecutive month of positive gains in employment, mirroring other economic indicators. But, it also represented a slight fall-off from March, which experienced a net gain of 35,000 new jobs.
Overall, this report lends further support for continued growth in the manufacturing sector,
albeit with some relative cooling off in April. We would expect a similar trend with Friday’s BLS report.
Carter Wood ShopFloor Blog – NAM
We saw our first “Dream Machine” recycling container on a downtown street corner yesterday evening. The photos are of the northeast corner at 13th and F NW.From “Nation’s Capital is First City to Partner with PepsiCo Dream Machine Recycling Initiative, Quadrupling Recycling Bins in Downtown D.C.”
WASHINGTON, March 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) today announced a partnership with the DowntownDC Business Improvement District (BID) and the District Department of Public Works (DPW) that will make Washington, D.C. the nation’s first city to partner with the Dream Machine recycling initiative. A total of 363 recycling bins will be placed throughout the DowntownDC BID area, offering a convenient and rewarding recycling option for people while they are on-the-go and advancing the BID’s Greening Downtown DC initiative.
PepsiCo’s Dream Machine recycling initiative, which aims to place both interactive kiosks and bins, was created in partnership with Waste Management (NYSE: WM) and Keep America Beautiful.
With approximately 1,500 Dream Machines located in more than 20 states to date, the program aims to increase the U.S. beverage container recycling rate from 34 to 50 percent by 2018….
Jeremy Cage, senior vice president of Innovation and Insights at PepsiCo and head of the Dream Machine recycling initiative, commented, “We are thrilled that our nation’s capital is the first city to offer the Dream Machine program to its community. With collaborative partnerships like this one, we are confident that we can help provoke behavioral change by making recycling more convenient, and we encourage others to join us as we strive to make positive change for our planet.”
For all the bottles and cans recycled in a Dream Machine bin or kiosk in Washington, D.C., and across the nation, PepsiCo will make a contribution to the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV), a national program offering free, experiential training in entrepreneurship and small business management to post-9/11 U.S. veterans with disabilities.
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