Daily Archives: February 28, 2017

Forbes

Why Trump's Infrastructure Plan Needs Regulatory Technology Reform First Forbes Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska, frustrated by the red tape of regulatory bottlenecks, has made federal permitting reform a focus of both his legislative agenda and a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed. The senator wants to limit new regulations, put a ...

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Why Trump's Infrastructure Plan Needs Regulatory Technology Reform First - Forbes

Science Daily

New technology offers fast peptide synthesis Science Daily This technology could help researchers rapidly generate new peptide drugs to test on a variety of diseases, and it also raises the possibility of easily producing customized cancer vaccines for individual patients. Pentelute is the senior author of a ... and more »

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New technology offers fast peptide synthesis - Science Daily

Urban sprawl is the reality for two out of three people living in Europe. This edition of Real Economy comes from the Spanish city of Valencia.

As we move to urban economic powerhouses for jobs and opportunities we also have to deal with critical issues like economic hardships, such as housing, transport and pollution. And that is really forcing cities to start thinking of how to become smart cities.

Around 80 percent of Europes energy is used by us as city dwellers, but we contribute around 85 percent of the continents GDP. Now as the worlds urban population is set to double by 2050, it might be a good idea for us to understand what a smart city is.

Crash course: smart city

Everyday we connect lifes dots, to wake up, go to work, socialise and sleep.

Smart cities connect the dots as well. Between humans, society, information and communication technology.

Connections that know when your next bus to work will arrive, and is capable of controlling the traffic to decrease congestion. Finding you a parking space.

Sensors that light street lamps, call emergency services or warn about pollution levels in real time.

Smart cities take all the elements of urban life, creating a technological platform that allows citizens, businesses and governments to communicate and work together.

Smart cities have until recently been large ones like Barcelona or Amsterdam, but smaller cities are catching up, piloting or planning to implement smart city strategies.

Leading the way in Europe with the largest number of these smart cities are the UK, Spain and Italy.

Europe has put urban development at the heart of its plan for 2020. With a significant chunk of its European regional development fund earmarked to help smart cities, along with other funds that can be mixed and matched by cities and national governments.

The logic? Well it is quite simple: that smaller cities after the crisis are going to have a tough time raising the cheap funding they need to do the infrastructure transformation a smart city requires - municipal budgets have been cut and debt levels tend to be quite high.

Fanny Gauret set out to see how Valencia is starting ITS Smart transformation.

Inspired by Europes large smart cities, Valencia began its transformation in 2012. Im heading to the centre of urban innovation to find out how far theyve come.

Tools like AppValencia allow locals get real time information on buses and bikes, alerts about the city, and even pay bills online. This is integrated into the smart city management platform a first in Spain.

It is a horizontal platform, in the way that it integrates the information collated from all services and also the external information generated by companies, explained Rafael Monterde-Diaz, CEO, Las Naves Urban Innovation Centre, Valencia City Council. The citizens are able to use the data. The private sector in general can develop apps, solutions that the city can benefit from, because it gives us a solution for a service, but also it is a viable business model that allow them to generate profitability.

Valencia has budgeted over one billion euros for its transformation. More than half of that amount will be contributed by the European structural and investment funds.

An example of how the change will help Valencias residents is the traffic management control centre.

Basically we have real time control of what is happening in the principal avenues of the city, added Monterde-Diaz. The control of traffic lights, we can change the frequency to facilitate emergencies, for example, or avoid traffic jam.

The system reduces pollution and can lower costs for utilities so its getting another six million euros from the Spanish government and the EU. Companies such as Telefonica are helping it happen.

In the business world we have dedicated to themes around the Internet of Things, and amongst them, smart cities, Kim Faura, General Manager Catalonia, Valencian Community, Balearic Islands and Murcia Region, Telefonica Spain, told Euronews. We have in our pocket a sensor that gives a lot of information. It is said that by 2020, millions of things will be connected.

Our smart city strategy has allowed us to learn a lot about the resources we have in the city, said Monterde-Diaz.

Parking spots, street lamps, rubbish skips, they are in place, but now we need that these objects speak to us, and theyll communicate over the internet allowing us to manage more efficiently.

It is now up to Valencia to communicate and interact with the citizens, universities and companies to fully develop its strategy.

Because that smart digitalization is critical to our booming urban population growth.

Conversation with Xiao Puig, President of the Valencian government.

A coherent strategy and building trust among citizens is imperative for a successful smart city. In a region like Valencia, that job falls on Xiao Puig. He is the president of the Valencian government.

Maithreyi Seetharaman, Euronews: How are you building trust for a smart vision for Valencia and what is that vision?

Ximo Puig: We came from a situation of mistrust in the public sector fundamentally because of problems from the past. It is still difficult but progressively results support the process and gradually there are more citizens, more companies that trust in this system of innovation that affects all of us and that most certainly is lead by the public sector together with the private sector.

Maithreyi Seetharaman, Euronews: What is the state of Valencias economy and how are you going to use technology to build on the strengths and curtail the weaknesses?

Ximo Puig: The Valencian economy has grown 3.9 percent in the past year. Valencian companies and workers are overcoming great challenges We have a problem in adapting education to new companies and this is a fundamental element. We also have an issue with language skills. We have a problem with everything related to the incorporation of education into an innovative society. For example, The Valencian community will be the first community in Spain to be connected on line. This is a fundamental element to finally bringing all citizens, all families, all companies together into a real information society.

Maithreyi Seetharaman, Euronews: How hard has it been for you to raise the money that you need from the capital markets or have you had to turn to grants and funding.. and in some ways do you think it sets some kind of precedent or example for other cities who are trying this strategy around Europe?

Ximo Puig: We have to combine funds. Private funds like banks, companies and there is also the non-profit sector. There are diverse possibilities of capital contribution from the private sector but of course we need European funds, we also need our own funds. It is a process.

We have the same problems as other different European regions. It is evident that there are more advanced regions and less advanced ones. In the end, this is about Europe having a project in favour of all of European regions facing this fundamental challenge which is an information society, a communication society.

Maithreyi Seetharaman, Euronews: Mr. Puig, on that note thank you for your time.

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How 'smart city' technology is connecting Europeans - euronews

Forbes

Entrepreneurs To Launch Technology Globally That May Revolutionize How We Care For Aging Parents Forbes In the heart of every caregiver is a knowing that we are all connected. As I do for you, I do for me. Tia Walker, The Inspired Caregiver: Finding Joy While Caring for Those You Love. Two entrepreneurs in Middle America are about to launch a system ...

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Entrepreneurs To Launch Technology Globally That May Revolutionize How We Care For Aging Parents - Forbes

Knoxville Chamber(Photo: NEWS SENTINEL FILE)Buy Photo

Before long, companies might be able to use a drone to fly around inside a factory or warehouse and use radio frequency technology to checkinventory or equipment, Dale Conerly told a group at the Knoxville Chamber on Tuesday.

His company is still developing this, but for now, there are lots of more down-to-earth uses forradio frequency identification equipment, Conerly, sales engineer for Chattanooga-based Barcom Inc., told about 50 people gathered for a meeting of the Chamber's Manufacturer's Roundtable on Tuesday.

The group meets monthly to share ideas about problems and issues faced by all the companies involved. They host guest presenters and sometimes arrangetours of each other's facilities. Scott Snyder, materials manager with Morgan Olson, invitedConerly to tell the group about what Barcom offers.

The equipment is a more sophisticatedversion ofbar code systems used in stores. Barcom makes different kinds of electromagneticribbons that can be attached to equipment and materials to contain information that can be retrieved by a RFID reader. For manufacturers, the equipment could be used for tracking the location of equipment in a factory, keeping tabs on its maintenance schedule, or other uses. Conerly said one use of the technology in manufacturing is ina "closed-loop"system.

"A closed-loop system would be if I am manufacturing an automobile seat and it's going through a process from cell to cell to cell, and I have it on a skid or carrier, and I want to know the work in process," he said. "I can put an RFID tag on that skid and I can process and track that skid through the system usingRFID. No one has to scan it; no one has to put a bar code on it."

Jennifer Moore, in charge of business development for Mesa Technologies Inc., said she could see potential uses for the technology.

"We are a custom manufacturer," she said. "We build equipment for other manufacturers."

Mesa puts together systems that manufacturers can use to automate parts of their operations. RFID might be something that could be incorporated in some processes, she said. Moore said the roundtable meetings have been helpful.

"It's nice to have a forum where we can discuss issues together and get expert people to help," she said. "We are all collectively solving issues in common that we all have."

For more information on the Manufacturer's Roundtable, visit http://www.knoxvillechamber.com/manufacturer%E2%80%99s-roundtableor contact Sam Hart at 865-637-4550.

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Sky's the limit for RFID technology, Chamber told - Knoxville News Sentinel

Politicians who talk about the future of clean coal as part of the U.S. energy mix need look no farther than the Kemper County Energy Facility in Mississippi to see both the promise and the peril that the technology has to offer.

Kemper is years behind schedule and billions of dollars over the $2.2-billion cost estimate given in 2010 when construction began. And a recent financial analysis paints a dim picture of the plants potential for profit.

A decade ago, integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC)was heralded as the enabler ofa continued and even expanded use of coal for electric power generation. The process starts byturning coal into synthesis gas, a combination of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The syn gas can then be cleaned of impurities, and burned to drive a turbine. Excess heat goes to power steam turbine. Dozens of U.S. projects were proposed. Equipment manufacturers and engineering firms alike focused resources to developing the technology.

Southern Company, whose utility business units operate 44,000 megawatts of installed capacity and generate electricity for 9 million customers across the southern United States, saw an opportunity for IGCC at a location in Kemper County, Miss.

In many ways, a better site for IGCC could scarcely be found. Kemper is close to an estimated 4 billion metric tons of mineable Mississippi lignite, a low-rank coal with high moisture and ash content. Southern owns the lignite fields and saw a way via IGCC to use that coal for power generation. Whats more, Kemper is close to mature oil fields, which became candidates for enhanced oil recovery (EOR)the use of carbon dioxide captured from the power plants coal gasification process to push out the oil.

The clean coal opportunity extended beyond Kemper County and Southern Co. Low-rank coals make up roughly half of the proven coal reserves in the United States and worldwide. Southern, along with KBR and in conjunction with the U.S. Energy Department, developed its own version of IGCC calledTransport Integrated Gasification (TRIG). That technology was developed to work with lower-rank coals and presented an opportunity to market domesticallyand evenexport the technology.

The Kemper County IGCC Project is a scale-up of a test plant that was already in operation in Alabama. The combined cycle portion of Kemper Countyhas worked well and has been generating electricity since August 2014 with conventional natural gas.

Its the gasification part of the plant that is proving problematic.

For one thing, the company found that many of the original design specs needed changes, delaying the project and boosting its cost. One design flaw miscalculated pipe thickness, length, quantity, and metallurgy. After these changes were made, additional changes needed to be done to support structures.

For another thing, integrated gasification is something akin to a chemistry set that has been bolted onto a conventional power plants front end.IGCC technology is intended not only to produce syngasbut also to create marketable byproducts from the gasification process, such as carbon dioxide. Thecaptured carbon dioxide from Kemper was earmarked to help stimulate production at nearby oil fields through EOR.

On paper, at least, IGCC offers an elegant approach to use coal for electric power generation, create cleaner burning synthetic gas, capture and reuse carbon dioxide, and manufacture chemical byproducts for sale. In practice, however, Kemper Countys technology is proving to be troublesome, expensive, and potentially uneconomic to run.

In mid-February, Mississippi Powerthe Southern Co. utility that is hosting the projectextended the expected in-service date of Kemper County until mid-March, the latest in a series of rescheduled dates.

The utility said in a statement that while integrated operation of the facilitys gasifiers and combustion turbines has continued for periods since late January, the schedule adjustment is needed because of issues experienced with the ash removal system in one of the gasifiers.

In particular, the plant has had a reoccurring issue in operating both of its gasifiers reliably over an extended period without forming clinkers ash fused to the gasifier walls. Neither gasifier has operated for longer than about six weeks without clinkers occurring. These chunks of ash are enough to impact the plants operating efficiency and bring the facilitydown for maintenance.

The issues dont end there. Aconfidential report[PDF]by URS, made public by in early Februarythe Mississippi Public Service Commission, outlined seven key technical milestones in addition to the clinkers that it said had yet to be achieved.

Most of the milestones focused on the gasification technology and the plants ability to deliver byproducts (including carbon dioxide for oil recovery) that met environmental specs.

Engineering challenges aside, a separate report called into question the plants overall economic viability. In particular, long-term natural gas price forecasts now suggest that the Kemper IGCC may not be competitive when compared to natural gas combined cycle units at the nearby Plant Sweatt site.

In a 19 February earnings conference call, Thomas Fanning, chairman, president and CEO of Southern, said:When we had this plant certificated(in 2010), we all thought that gas prices were going to be double digits. By 2016, however, that assessment had changed, resulting in a reduction of gas price forecasts of 25to 30 percent.

Hydraulic fracturing largely can be thanked for the change in fortune. Indeed, as far back as 2011 natural gas prices nationally were low enough to economically displace coal-fired generating units across multiple states.

Coal from parts of the Appalachian and Illinois basins were displaced first as natural gas prices fell and the fuels nagging price volatility eased. Among the last to be impacted would be inexpensive, low-rank coals that required little handling to move from the mine mouth to the power plant. Just such a scenario began to hit the Kemper IGCC in late 2016.

We know that gas forecasts have changed a lot over time, Fanning said on the analyst call. And with respect to whether we should recover it or not, I don't thinkI mean as a matter of fairness, I cannot imagine that the company is going to be held accountable for changing gas price forecasts.

What Fanning was alluding to was the fact that state officials who oversee Mississippi Power ultimately will decide whether or not the Kemper IGCC plant is used and useful and how the company can account for and recover the expenses related to its construction.

Regulators already have capped the amount that Mississippi Power customers must pay at just under $3 billion. But another $4 billion need to be accounted for and allocated through regulatory hearings that are expected to start once Kemper County enters service.

As for the upcoming regulatory process, Fanning said:We certainly have taken our lumps, but we have delivered what was certificated back in 2010. He expressed confidence that the Kemper IGCC would deliver what was required when IGCC technology was seen as offering an opportunity to develop clean coal for electric power generation.

Certainly there's a lot of different ways the regulatory process could unfold from there, Fanning said. That's our starting point.

IEEE Spectrums energy, power, and green tech blog, featuring news and analysis about the future of energy, climate, and the smart grid.

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Kemper County and the Perils of Clean Coal Technology - IEEE Spectrum