Foreign Headlines
ASIA—The Nation of Thailand reported
that “Philips sees a bright future for the lighting business in Asia.” The subject
here isn’t export, but making Asian cities more livable and sustainable. Lighting
is believed to account for about 19% of Thailand’s electricity consumption.
CHINA—the government said “it will set up an alliance
of 16 manufacturers and research institutes to promote common standards and
accelerate research and development of electric vehicles.” The alliance is to
invest roughly $14.7 billion between now and 2020, according to various media
reports.
Included in the group: Dongfeng Motor, State Grid (reportedly the main Chinese
utility).
From Zhang Xin, an analyst at Guotai Junan Securities (Beijing), as relayed
by the Associated Press (Aug. 19): “The message is that the government really
wants to boost the new energy car industry. It really matters who gets the
lead in this market and who sets the standards. China lags the advanced countries
in conventional auto technology, but this area offers new opportunity.”
CHINA II—according to The Nikkei Weekly (Aug.
9): “In its latest blueprint for new energy industries, China’s National Energy
Administration is planning government spending of [$738 billion] over the 2011-2020
period to promote clean-energy technologies. The investment will focus on five
areas: Wind, solar, and biomass power generation, as well as electric vehicles
and smart grids.
“The blueprint is due to be submitted to the government shortly and will
likely be officially adopted by next year.”
CHINA III—according to Industry Week (Aug.
9), the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has told 2,087 firms
“that produce steel, coal, cement, aluminum, glass, and other materials to close
their old and obsolete facilities by the end of September.”
INDIA—Echelon was to host an energy-efficient
and smart grid conference in Mumbai Aug. 25-26.
MALAYSIA—the first international summit on data
centers is to be held Sept. 29-30 in Kuala Lumpur.
SINGAPORE—the Aug. 24 issue of The Business Times
noted the formation of a “multi-energy Energy Efficiency Programme Office” and
said that manufacturing accounts for almost 60% of the island country’s total
energy consumption.
SOUTH AFRICA—the city of Durban conducted a four-hour
raid on wire thieves and found 1,540-plus pounds of copper wires (“believes
to have supplied about 500 homes”) according to the Daily News (Aug.
19).
TASMANIA—residents here “have been warned to beware
of people offering free checks of their household wiring,” according to the
Australian Broadcast. “There is the potential for the offers to be bogus.”
THAILAND—Aug. 18 from the Thai press: “The Teera-Mongkol
industry managing director is confident the strong value of the Thai currency
will not deter the export of lighting products, because the value of the Chinese
currency is still higher.”
U.K.—the Electrical Contractors Association
here found out (through a survey) that consumers put “good manners at the top
of the list” in picking an electrician. But the ECA warned that just because
the worker is nice doesn’t mean he knows what he’s doing, according to the Aug.
13 Aberdeen Press and Journal. From David Pollock, group CEO for ECA:
“My advice is to ask friends and neighbors to recommend a sparkie they have
used before and then get a range of quotes.”
U.K. II—a plug-in EV has won the “best new technology”
award at the National Recycling Awards in the U.K., according to Waste-Management-World.com.
It’s from Geesink Norba UK.
Training
Home builders on electrical
apprenticeships—Fred Humphreys of the Home Builders Institute talked
about the benefits of electrical apprenticeships—and Nation’s Building News
carried an article on what he had to say. It included this:
“Electricians, in particular,
are held to a higher standard because of the nature of the work. Employers want
to hire bright, articulate apprentices because their students will have to go
to customers’ homes and speak professionally with them about the job.”
New rules for Michigan electrical
apprentices—registration with the U.S. Dept. of Labor Office
of Apprenticeship is now mandatory. See MikeHolt.com notice and link.
PV accreditation—IREC
awarded “ISPQ Accredit Training Program” status to the JATC of NECA and IBEW
Local 26 in Washington, D.C. Release.
Utah EJATC—a Deseret News story talked about the wind turbine and solar arrays used
to train electrical apprentices.
© 2012 The Electrical Distributor. All rights reserved.