In North Carolina, fragile burn victims are getting improved care, thanks to the generosity of the state’s electric cooperatives.

Officials from N.C. co-ops, the University of N.C., and UNC Hospitals at the dedication of a new burn care unit, which bears the co-ops’ name. (Photo By: Lindsey Listrom)

The state’s 26 co-ops and their partners and vendors have given $500,000 over a five-year period to help build the newly dedicated Acute Burn and Wound Unit at the Jaycee Burn Center, UNC Health Care. And they plan to donate another $500,000 to the center over the next five years.

Dr. Bruce Cairns, the center’s medical director, said the co-ops’ financial support “will transform our ability to care for our patients and their families. We cannot possibly thank the cooperatives and their membership enough for their continued support.”

The co-ops’ recent donation adds another 15 beds to the center, for a total of 36 beds. The new unit allows the center to consolidate patient care, which increases efficiency.

“The burn center originally had 21 beds, but it was consistently maxed out,” said Dale Lambert, CEO of Randolph Electric Membership Corp., Asheboro, and a member of the center’s advisory board. “Patients were scattered around the hospital. The whole wing was completely redone.”

The co-ops’ involvement with the burn center dates back to the early 1970s, when they matched an initial $40,000 grant from founder John Stackhouse. Since then, their support has topped more than $1 million, which includes the funds given so far to the new burn unit.

As in years past, the source of the $500,000 pledge will come from proceeds of an annual CEO golf tournament, said Lambert, who attended the Jan. 26 ribbon-cutting in Chapel Hill.

“The burn center is one of the foremost research centers of its kind in the world, and we’re interested in furthering areas of study in electrical burns, wound care and pain management,” said Lambert.

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It is vital that the electric power industry reaches consensus on the latest version of the North American Electric Reliability Corp.’s cyber security standards, NRECA said.

The electric power industry is seeking consensus on standards to protect systems against cyber threats. (Photo By: Buretsu)

“It is important to demonstrate to policymakers and regulators that we take grid reliability and cyber security seriously,” noted Barry Lawson, associate director, power delivery and reliability.

Lawson spoke after industry stakeholders turned down NERC’s latest set—Version 5—of proposed critical infrastructure protection standards. Their approval is needed before the reliability watchdog can submit the standards to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Version 5 is “basically a complete rewrite and overhaul of NERC’s cyber security standards,” Lawson noted. When FERC approved Version 3 four years ago, he said, the commission issued about 100 directives for future changes in the standards.

Version 4 has been approved by industry and NERC, and is awaiting FERC’s approval. It addressed the commission’s directive on setting well-defined criteria for the identification of critical assets and critical cyber assets, replacing a policy that allowed wide discretion in such identification. Version 5 responds to all remaining directives.

One of the reasons for Version 5’s lack of support was that its standards’ applicability to some smaller entities and certain other assets “would not result in any material improvement to the security of the bulk energy system,” Lawson explained.

The second comment and ballot period for Version 5 will be in the March-April time frame. “It is hoped that the industry stakeholders drafting the standards will make the revisions necessary for an affirmative ballot,” he added.

Lawson noted that the vice chairman of the drafting team is Philip Huff of Arkansas Electric Cooperative, Little Rock, and the panel includes David Revill of Georgia Transmission Corp., Tucker. NRECA is participating in many of the team’s activities as well.

“NRECA and the co-op representatives on the drafting team will continue to work for co-op views and positions,” Lawson emphasized. “We urge co-ops to be involved, to work with NRECA on comments, and to vote.”

Once Version 5 is approved, hopefully by the end of 2012, it will be filed with FERC for approval.

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Here is the weekly update for key fuel prices that affect rural electric co-ops. In some cases, these represent averages across the country or in particular regions, and might differ from local market prices. (Source: Energy Administration Information, Bloomberg for coal prices)

Coal 8800 Btu Spot Prices (Powder River Basin)

Week ending January 27: $10.80 per ton
One month ago: $12.60 per short ton
One year ago: $13.55 per short ton

Natural Gas Spot Market (Henry Hub)

Week ending January 31: $2.51 per million Btu
One month ago: $2.98 per million Btu
One year ago: $4.42 per million Btu

U.S. Crude Oil Spot Prices (West Texas Intermediate)

Week ending January 27: $99.35 per gallon
One month ago: $99.81 per gallon
One year ago: $86.11 per gallon

On-Highway Diesel Prices

Week ending January 30: $3.85 per gallon
One month ago: $3.78 per gallon
One year ago: $3.44 per gallon

Retail Gasoline Prices

Week ending January 30: $3.50 per gallon
One month ago: $3.36 per gallon
One year ago: $3.16 per gallon

Residential Propane Prices (October-March only)

Week ending January 30: $2.87 per gallon
One month ago: $2.86 per gallon
One year ago: $2.81 per gallon

The Weekly Digest contains brief summaries of some of the most important stories recently posted on ECT.coop. Click on the issue date on the Weekly Digest page to open a PDF that is suitable for printing and distribution. (Each is about 188 kb.)

Issue of Feb. 3, 2012

Issue of Jan. 27, 2012

Issue of Jan. 20, 2012

Issue of Jan. 13, 2012

Issue of Jan. 6, 2012

Issue of Dec. 30, 2011

Issue of Dec. 23, 2011

FORT MYERS, Fla.—“There are a lot of snake oil salesmen that are selling black boxes that claim to do all kinds of stuff and do nothing,” was the blunt warning from Ken Black of the energy advisory firm E Source.

Ken Black of E Source came to NET 2012 to help co-ops identify promising new technologies. (Photo By: Michael W. Kahn)

But he came here to NET 2012 to help co-ops sort the technological wheat from the chaff.

One thing E Source likes isn’t new, but rather a new way of thinking about a technology that’s been underutilized in commercial settings: ground source heat pumps.

The obstacle has been that they were designed for the peak load, making them expensive to install. “Buildings operate the peak load maybe 6 to 8 percent of the time,” Black said.

But what if the ground source heat pump was sized for the other 92 percent to 94 percent of the time, with a boiler or cooling tower added to cover peak?

“There is the ‘aha moment’ that the market had with the pump,” Black said. “There is the evolution of the creation of what’s called the ‘hybrid ground source heat pump.’”

The hybrids can save significant amounts of energy, with much lower up-front costs.

Another technology E Source likes is a wireless lighting control from Enlighted. Although the technology isn’t new, Black told the Jan. 31 session he is impressed by how well Enlighted works, and how simple it is for an electrician to install.

Everything is integrated: A new ballast is installed in each fixture, and to that ballast a wireless networking technology is added, along with a sensor.

“You can control a whole room, a whole floor, a whole building,” Black said, leading to “some significant energy savings.”

Touchstone Energy® member co-ops may access E Source reports. Registered users of cooperative.com should click here.

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In 1993, I was one of 19 volunteers who went to Honduras and installed a small hydroelectric system that would barely serve three or four homes in the United States. It was a remote rural area, but a missionary had a vision of building a medical clinic there. The problem was that no electric grid existed.

Anthony Ahern

The missionary asked if I would get involved. I said yes, but frankly I could not have imagined the request would turn into a 20-year personal and spiritual commitment to help.

I’ve been in Honduras many times since then to work on other projects and occasionally to repair and upgrade this humble little electric system. Last March I returned as a volunteer to work on a bridge project led by the Chicago chapter of Engineers Without Borders. Since the bridge project was close to the hydroelectric system, I was able to make an inspection.

I found that the electricity output was down by 30 percent. I forwarded the photos and data readings to the manufacturer of the hydro system. The conclusion was that the impeller and water nozzles likely were worn.

After securing the replacement parts and sending them to Honduras, I was back in late August, along with three other volunteers, for the repair effort. It was a great relief to me that with the new parts installed, the system came up to 100 percent power on the restart.

Today, with power from this little hydroelectric system, the medical clinic is staffed with a full-time doctor. Every year, several surgery teams of U.S. doctors and nurses typically perform 50 operations during a week-long trip. Numerous babies have been born, with the aid of electric lights instead of kerosene lanterns.

When surgeries aren’t being performed, the electricity powers an elementary school, a church and a discipleship training school.

I sometimes think all of that would not have happened—either to the people of this Honduran village or to me—if I hadn’t been asked to become involved or if all the other people involved in this effort had not been willing to help.

As a great nation, we tend to think of projects on a grand scale. But often the small steps we can help others take have more impact than can be imagined. One step at a time is how folks learn to make progress.

Twenty years ago, none of us could have foreseen the challenges and difficulties that would lie ahead. But I wonder if it would have made a difference. I’ve concluded that sometimes we are the better for not knowing the future—and taking one step at a time.

Anthony J. Ahern is president and chief executive officer of Ohio Rural Cooperatives, Inc., and Buckeye Power, Inc., Columbus, Ohio.

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FORT MYERS, Fla.—Political gridlock in Washington is leaving electric cooperatives hanging on critical issues impacting their ability to provide reliable, affordable electricity, NRECA CEO Glenn English warned.

NRECA CEO Glenn English said political gridlock hinders co-ops’ ability to plan ahead. (Photo By: Michael W. Kahn)

“It has become particularly divisive,” English said of the political landscape. “We have fewer and fewer people who are in the middle. We’ve become more polarized. And that makes it more difficult to reach an agreement, a compromise, a common objective.”

Speaking to the NET 2012 conference here Feb. 1, English said the end result is “we don’t get much done as far as the government is concerned.”

That’s bad news for electric co-ops, because as English noted, “There are matters that we need to get resolved—matters that certainly are going to affect the electric bills of all of our members.”

“Right now,” English continued, “we have questions with regard to what fuel we should use going forward to the future. What are going to be the rules? What are going to be the requirements? What can we use? What can we not use?”

“All of those decisions must be reached in order for our generation and transmission [co-ops] to decide what the best approach to take is,” English said. G&T’s “need certainty to make good business decisions to keep costs as low as we possibly can.”

Forty years worth of conflicting, inconsistent rules and regulations only add to the uncertainty, English said. “On top of that we have court decisions,” which further complicate matters.

Given the situation, English asked, “How do you make a decision that’s going to impact by billions of dollars the cost of electric power?”

Co-ops would prefer to work with elected officials on these issues, and to that end, English said, “We’re very hopeful that we’re going to see in 2012 some kind of resolution to this issue as to what direction the country should go.”

If that’s the case, he added, come 2013 Congress can hopefully get “back on track, moving forward and starting to resolve some of these issues—giving us the opportunity to bring some certainty to those folks who provide the electric power for this country.”

But getting to that point won’t be easy.

“This is going to be a big fight,” English warned. “Electric cooperatives are going to have to have our A game engaged in order to help achieve a good, positive outcome,” in which environmental objectives are met, while electricity remains as affordable and reliable as possible.

To help make that a reality, English offered a word of advice.

“Get involved. Get engaged,” he said, urging co-op staff and management to meet congressional candidates and “give them the same message: Let’s get the nation’s business done.”

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The world’s leading auto manufacturers brought their wares to the nation’s capital, and while style sells, fuel economy and electric vehicles, hybrid technology and alternative fuels are the big story.

Ford’s CMAX Energi captured a lot of attention at the 2012 Washington Auto Show. It also won the 2012 Green Car Vision Award. (Photo By: Derrill Holly)

“Electric vehicles are a near certainty to be the vehicle of choice for city dwellers in the not so distant future,” wrote organizers of the 2012 Washington Auto Show in their official program guide.

The 10-day show at the Washington Convention Center featured more than 700 vehicles in 750,000 square feet of exhibit space, Jan. 27-Feb. 5.

About 65,000 square feet of the exhibit space was dedicated to the “Advanced Technology SuperHighway.” Vehicles and other exhibits on display showcased developments in electric, hybrid, hydrogen, clean diesel, natural gas, ethanol, biofuel and advanced petroleum technologies.

“This exhibit tells the story of the range of solutions evolutionizing the automotive industry,” said show officials.

Ford’s C-MAX Energi won the 2012 Green Car Vision Award, giving the automaker back-to-back wins following its 2011 victory for the Ford Focus Electric.

“Designing new cars from the ground up to accept both internal combustion and alternative power plants is an extremely important strategy,” Cogan said.

With the Energi’s electric range of 20 miles and operating range of 500 miles, industry analysts expect it to compete with Toyota’s Prius line when it debuts later this year.

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Federal regulators have given a New York City-based developer the go-ahead to generate electricity using innovative technology in its own back yard.

Workers prepare to lower a turbine to the bed of New York’s East River in 2006 (Photo By: Kris Unger/Verdant Power, Inc.)

Well, not exactly its back yard, but under a river flowing through the city. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s license allows a 10-year pilot project for generating power through hydrokinetic energy, the tidal currents of the East River.

The Jan. 23 authorization for the Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy Project followed a demonstration in which the applicant, Verdant Power, periodically operated six turbines mounted on the bed of the river, which is actually a tidal strait.

The demonstration, from 2006 to 2009, accumulated 9,000 turbine-hours of operation, delivering 70 megawatt-hours of electricity to two end users. Verdant reported “excellent hydrodynamic, mechanical and electrical performance.”

Under its license, the company will develop a 1-megawatt project, deploying as many as 30 turbines in a staged approach. According to FERC, the project will generate an estimated 2.4 million kilowatt-hours annually, at a cost of more than 93 cents per kwh. That would be almost 87 cents per kwh more expensive than alternative power, as estimated by FERC staff.

However, the commission said, “This project’s value lies in its successful testing and demonstration of Verdant’s turbine technology, and the project’s ability to raise the profile of, and advance, the emergent tidal energy industry.”

The commission said it has seen “rising interest in the possibility of developing hydrokinetic projects,” and has issued 100 permits for studying the feasibility of specific undertakings.

Nine entities are in the pre-filing stages of developing applications, and three have filed applications, to be considered under the agency’s Hydrokinetic Pilot Project licensing procedures, FERC reported.

Co-ops have been involved in tidal power, according to Andrew Cotter, Cooperative Research Network program manager.  He said CRN has co-funded a demonstration of the Verdant system on a river in Canada’s Ontario province through a collaborative partnership with an international research group

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INDIAN WELLS, Calif.—Rebate isn’t in the vocabulary at Midwest Energy.

“Our approach to doing energy efficiency is not to just throw incentives at it,” said Michael Volker, director of regulatory and energy services at the Hays, Kan.-based co-op. “Our whole point is addressing the reasons energy efficiency isn’t happening—that there are barriers. Let’s tear down the barriers and then let the [member] do what they probably should be doing anyway.”

Midwest Energy’s How$mart program helps members make energy efficiency improvements. (Photo By: Midwest Energy)

At a Jan. 24 learning lab at CEO Close-Up, Volker outlined Midwest Energy’s How$mart program. It provides members with cash to make energy efficiency upgrades, including new heating and cooling systems and insulation. But please don’t call it on-bill financing.

“It is really, truly utility service,” Volker said. “It truly is utility investment.”

No up-front capital investment is required with How$mart. A fixed surcharge is added to a member’s bill. “Terms can be up to 15 years for residential programs, 10 years for non-residential,” Volker said. The surcharge, he said, “has to be less than the savings.”

“Savings on the energy bill are greater than what the investment in energy efficiency is, so it lowers the bill,” Volker said. And unlike financing that can add to credit card debt, members view How$mart differently. “They are just looking at it as part of their utility bill—and their utility bill is less than it was.”

If the member moves, the investment doesn’t. When a property is sold, the buyer must be notified about the repayment due the co-op.

“With it staying at the premises it’s staying where the energy efficiency is, which makes a lot more sense than the investment following the [member],” Volker said.

He acknowledged there were some initial issues with notification, which have been largely resolved by Midwest Energy filing liens that make buyers aware of the obligation. And if a member with a surcharge fails to pay bills, “we have the same ability to disconnect, under the same terms and conditions as regular utility service.”

Midwest Energy strives to access low-cost money when available, to make investments in energy efficiency go further. The various sources have included some of the stimulus money that Kansas received.

Since beginning in July 2007, Midwest Energy has invested $3.9 million in How$mart, leading to improvements at 680 buildings, with another 150-200 pending. The typical How$mart charge on a monthly bill is $41-$42, with an estimated savings of $49.

“We’ve saved almost 1.4 million kilowatt hours per year through this program,” Volker said, adding there’s another benefit.  “We’re making the members happy.”

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