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Volume 2 • Issue 4
MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR
Are you AC or DC?
Among my holiday reading, a book suggested by Gregory Reed, PhD, at Electro-Federation Canada's recent Future Forum conference, which relates the history of electrical distribution. Of particular interest, a period at the end of the 19th century, involving Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and Westinghouse, and known as the war of currents. This war could resurface, at least in debates. In this edition Professor Reed presents nine reasons why power distribution could shift from AC to DC, and Pierre McDonald reports on CAN/ULC-S801, which establishes safety performance requirements for electrical utilities. Good reading!
Line Goyette
Managing Editor, Electrical Industry Newsweek
linegoyette@kerrwil.com
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Technology
9 Reasons Why DC May Replace AC
By Gregory Reed
Direct Current (DC) electric power is an emerging disruptive technological area that has the potential to stimulate economic growth, inspire innovation, increase research and development opportunities, create jobs, and simultaneously advance environmental sustainability. The technology and applications offer the promise of enhanced energy efficiency, improved power quality and reliability, and inherent alignment with renewable and clean energy development. So much so that DC power is beginning to evolve towards replacing AC as a worldwide standard for electricity delivery infrastructure, in many applications. These nine reasons help explain why.
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Codes and Standards
Now Available: CAN/ULC Standard on Electric Utility Workplace Electrical Safety
By Pierre McDonald
ULC's Standards Committee on Electric Utility Workplace Electrical Safety has approved CAN/ULC-S801, Standard on Electric Utility Workplace Electrical Safety for Generation, Transmission, and Distribution. With so much at stake when maintaining electrical systems, the power line industry now has a revised standard to help ensure proper work habits, procedures and safety equipment will get people home after a day's work. The standard applies to the construction, operation, maintenance and replacement of electric utility systems used to generate, transform, transmit, distribute or deliver electrical power or energy to consumer services or their equivalent. It provides safety performance requirements for electric utilities, workers and employers involved in work on or near electric generation, transmission and distribution systems.
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Economy
November Investment in New Housing Construction Up 3.7% Year Over Year
Alberta registered the largest year-over-year gain, followed by British Columbia and Ontario. In Alberta, investment was up 18.4% to $972 million. In British Columbia, investment rose 10.7% to $687 million. Ontario saw a 4.5% increase in spending to $1.4 billion.
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Peers and Profiles
Kuehl Electric: Full Service Provider
Southampton, ON is the home of Kuehl Electric. A licensed electrician in the province of Ontario Kuehl Electric is a fully insured, licensed and authorized Electrical Safety Authority contractor. They install stand-by and portable generators, as well as supply and install electrical material with a focus on exceeding electrical code-compliant work.
Kuehl's team of ESA-compliant electricians have been trained and are well respected locally for their work in residential, industrial, farm, and commercial projects. With a fleet of three fully equipped service vehicles, Kuehl's team have been involved in numerous projects from energy efficiency and energy star installations right though and including new and commercial retrofits.
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Survey Says
Consulting Engineers: Types of Projects
Among five types of projects tracked from 2012 to 2014, three predominate.
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Survey Says From Recent Issues
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Product Focus
Single-Phase Smart-UPS On-Line Uninterruptible Power Supply with Unity Power Factor Capability
Schneider Electric has expanded its family of single-phase Smart-UPS On-Line uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) with new 5 - 10kVA models. Delivering the most manageable, reliable, dense and efficient UPS in its class, the 5kVA UPS units have a power factor of 0.9, while the 6 - 10kVA units feature unity power factor capability, helping reduce complexity when specifying power protection while providing more real power for active power factor corrected electronics. Features include:
• switchable outlet groups
• hot-swappable batteries
• intelligent battery management with predictive battery replacement
• faster recharge time
• added resilience
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From Our Last Issue
- Case Study: Stepping Away From An Arc Flash Hazard
It was a pesky glitch: an intermittent problem that tripped the breaker and interrupted the 480 V power to one of two 100-horsepower fan motors driving the dust filtration system at an Ohio asphalt plant.
But not a major safety problem. At least that's how it looked.
For Jeff Conover, asphalt performance manager for Oldcastle Materials, the job was to find the cause and get the plant running right.
- What to Expect in the Year Ahead: Crystal Ball Gazing for 2015
Someone with his finger on the pulse of change is Mark Hutchinson, the Director of Green Building Programs at the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC). In a Q&A interview, he takes us through everything from green building products to green building certification to predominant energy technologies.
- The Power of Email Marketing Your Electrical Business
As an electrical business owner, you probably already realize the opportunities available to you on the Internet, but you probably don't have the time or money to invest in a full-blown web presence. The obstacles and costs in building and maintaining a profitable website tend to keep a lot of electrical businesses on the sidelines when it comes to serious online marketing. Learn more about
* How to get started
* How to collect customer email addresses
* What's in it for your customers
* What kind of results you can expect
- Community, Residential, and Commercial Energy Storage: Global Market Analysis and Forecasts
Distributed energy storage is one of the fastest-growing markets for energy storage globally. In particular, residential and commercial energy storage have far exceeded industry expectations for growth and market volume in 2014 and are poised grow into significant markets. Although there is renewed interest in community energy storage in Western Europe, this segment will continue to lag behind the residential and commercial markets.
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THE ELECTRICAL STOCK MARKET
 Track the stock market performance of 25 publicly traded electrical equipment suppliers and electrical wholesalers. Updated weekly.
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