Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Energy storage is the storing of some form of energy that can be drawn upon at a later time to perform some useful operation.
Energy storage involves methods and apparatus used to store heating, cooling, or power. In district energy applications these encompass a wide variety of applications, but all are designed to be recharged on a cyclical basis (usually daily, occasionally seasonally) and fulfill one or more of the following purposes:
* Increase system generation capacity: Demand for heating, cooling, or power is seldom constant over time, and the excess generation available during low demand periods can be used to charge the energy storage apparatus in order to increase capacity during high demand periods. This allows a smaller production unit to be installed (or to add capacity without purchasing additional units) and results in a higher load factor on the units.
* Enable dispatch of cogeneration plants: Combined heat and power, or cogeneration, plants are generally operated to meet the demands of the connected thermal load, which often results in excess electric generation during periods of low electric use. By incorporating thermal energy storage, the plant need not be operated continuously and can be dispatched within some limits.
* Shift energy purchases to low cost periods: This is the demand-side application of the first purpose listed, and allows an energy consumer subject to time-of-day pricing to shift energy purchases from high cost to low cost periods.
* Increase system reliability: Any form of energy storage, from a small personal computer uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to a large pumped storage project, will almost certainly increase system reliability.
* Integration with other functions: In applications where on-site water storage is needed for fire protection, it may be feasible to incorporate thermal storage into a common storage tank. Likewise, apparatus designed to solve power quality problems may be adaptable to energy storage purposes as well.
Energy storage as a natural process is billions of years old - the energy produced in the initial creation of the Universe has been stored in stars such as our Sun, and is now being used by humans directly (e.g. through solar cells) or indirectly (e.g. by growing crops). As a purposeful activity, energy storage has certainly existed since pre-history, though it was often not recognized as such. An example would be the use of logs or boulders as defensive measures in ancient forts - the logs or boulders would be collected at the top of a hill, and the energy thus stored would be released as a defense against invaders.
A more recent application was the control of waterways to power water mills for processing grain or powering machinery. Often complex systems of reservoirs and dams were constructed to store and release water (and the potential energy it contained) when required.
Energy storage only became a major concern, however, with the introduction of Electricity. Unlike the other common power sources at the time, such as natural gas, electricity had to be used as it was generated. This meant that changes in demand were difficult to cater for without either cutting supplies at times, or having expensive excess capacity.
Some areas of the world (Washington and Oregon in the USA, and Wales in the United Kingdom are examples) have used geographic features to store large quantities of water in reservoirs at the top of hills, using excess electricity at times of low demand to pump water into the reservoirs, then letting the water fall through generators to retrieve the energy when demand peaks.
A number of other technologies have been investigated, but to date no widely available, affordable solution to the challenge of mass energy storage has been found.
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About the Publisher: This report is published by Energy Business Reports, an energy industry think tank and leading source for energy industry information and research products.
To read more about this topic, see 'Energy Storage Technologies for Electric Power Applications'
Good News for Degree Holders: Pay Rates Are Up
It may be stating the obvious that your earning power over your lifetime is directly tied to your level of education. But competition is tougher than ever for high-paying jobs, and candidates just entering the work force are better educated than their predecessors. Everyone wants to know whether their freshly printed degree is worth their trouble.
Years ago, a bachelor's degree in your chosen field was the benchmark for success. Today, experienced workers are returning to college to amp up their earning power. Ultimately, in 2006, it's more about your preferred career field -- combined with a degree -- that determines the best-paid Americans.
Earning power aside, many students (or those just now entering college) are concerned that their bachelor's degree won't be worth much, and perhaps that it will be only the minimal entry ticket to a graduate program while they stumble about looking for meaningful work.
If anyone has told you that your bachelor's degree holds little value in a competitive job marketplace, they told you wrong. While you can certainly increase your earning power with greater educational attainment, the equation does not automatically disregard the high value of completing an undergraduate degree.
Hiring and Wages Are Up for New Graduates
A new survey of employers conducted by The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) reports that hiring will climb almost 13 percent for grads of the 2006 class than their counterparts last year. NACE claims more than 60 percent of surveyed employers are looking to recruit new grads to fill more positions than last year and another 22 percent will at least hire grads at last year's rates.
The largest recruiting sector will be in the service industry, where employers will add some 21 percent more graduate-employees over last year's levels. The federal government is also projected to increase entry-level hires of new graduates by a whopping 22 percent. Manufacturing sector will grow their recruiting efforts to lure new grads -- more than 8 percent over last year's hiring.
Even more encouraging is NACE data that predicts that employers' determination to hire new grads will continue into well into next year. If you're in line for a diploma and a handshake next spring, keep heart.
There's even better news. As a response to the increased demand for fresh gads, more employers will offer increased wages to lure job candidates. In a second report, NACE says that newly minted bachelor's degree holders are attracting higher offers than last-year's counterparts.
Business is Good, Engineering is Better
The top-earning new career field for 2006 appears to match last year's boon for business majors. Entry-level wages for new bachelor's-degree-in-business grads climbed more than 5 percent to an estimated $46,000. Economics and finance majors also witnessed a greater than 5 percent increase in entry wages to more than $45,000. Business administration majors had nearly a 4 percent increase to nearly $41,000, according to the NACE report.
It's no surprise that engineering grads are in high demand. One of the best leaps in beginning wages for new college grads will go to computer engineering majors, who stand to earn more than $54,000 -- greater than a 5 percent increase -- just for coming in the door. NACE figures also show nearly a 5 percent entry-level wage increase for chemical engineering majors joining the profession at more than $56,000 per year. Electrical engineers with a new bachelor's degree will also enjoy a nearly 4 percent entry wage just above $54,000.
NACE data on top-wage levels for bachelor's degree grads entering their field show a marked preference for field engineers -- predicted to earn some $51,162. Project engineers are not far behind at $49,888. New construction and design engineers come next, at $48,025. Financial analysts are expected to command a solid $46,448 beginning wage.
Earning Power Still Rises By Degrees
Following that good news, it still pays to examine the earning power of degree holders by their level of education experience. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that workers above 18 years old with a bachelor's degree earn nearly twice as much as their counterparts who only have high school diplomas.
Based on U.S. Census Bureau findings in 2002, the average annual earnings for high-school graduates was $30,400. Completing your associate's degree in your professional field will increase annual earnings to $38,200. Transfer to a four-year school and graduate with a bachelor's degree in the same field and your earning power rises to an average of $52, 500.
If you move directly from there to completing graduate work or return to school after working a few years and complete a master's degree, your salary in the same profession will increase upwards of $62,300 per year. Stay on the path and complete a professional degree or PhD in your field, and your annual earning power increases to between $89,400 and $109,600 annually. Of course, these figures are for national averages across all career fields. In specialized professions you may earn well above these averages.
To show specific increases, Jobweb reports this salary range for three selected professions based on entry degree levels:
• Computer engineering: $50,000 - $56,000 with a bachelor's degree, $52,000 - $77,000 with a master's degree.
• Business Administration: $32,500 - $46,000 with a bachelor's degree, $42,620 - $60,000 with an MBA degree.
• Civil Engineering: $40,000 - $47,000 with a bachelor's degree, $44,400 - $52,000 with a master's degree.
How does it all measure up after a life-time of employment? The U.S. Census Bureau determined that lifetime earnings for people who hold only a high school diploma can rise as high as $1 million. But complete an associate's degree and your lifetime earnings nearly double to $1.8 million.
It gets better as you continue your training. Lifetime earnings for average bachelor's degree holders top out around $2.1 million. Add a master's, professional, or doctorate degree and your lifetime earnings range between $2.5 million and $4.4 million.
When you consider the promising news for undergrads entering the workplace as well as the potential to increase lifetime earnings through continued educational progress, why wouldn't you crack open your textbooks?
Florida School Grades Confusing Issue for New Residents
School quality is always a concern for relocating parents. In a world where a good education is increasingly important, many parents even base their final decision about home choice on the reported quality of the schools in various neighborhoods.Here in Florida, the state’s A+ school reporting plan is supposed to give parents an easy way to compare schools with one another at a glance, but many question whether the system really reflects the situation accurately. When the Florida Department of Education released the school grades for 2007 a couple of weeks ago, there seemed to be more confusion and controversy than information in the published reports.If you were a parent trying to decide where to relocate, you’d be understandably confused by the newspaper reports announcing the gains and losses over the preceding year. In Orlando, the papers announced that school grades had taken a nose dive. In Palm Beach, they reported that there were dramatic improvements – and crushing drops. In Tampa, the papers admitted to confusion over exactly what the school grades were measuring, but reported a general dissatisfaction with the entire system. When the professionals are confused about what school grades mean, how can parents be expected to make an informed choice?How School Grades are DeterminedUnder the Florida education system, school grades are based on three major areas:
the performance of the school as a whole on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test in Reading, Math and Science at specific grade levelsthe improvement in grades of students in the school in Reading, Math and Science on the FCAT over the previous yearthe improvement of the lowest performing 25% of students in Reading, Math and Science in the FCAT over the previous yearIn addition, in order to receive any grade above an F, 90% of the school’s students must take the FCAT. In order to receive an A, 95% of the students must take the FCAT. Schools receive points on a scale of 0-800 based on those factors, and are assigned a letter grade based on those points.The system was originally instituted in 1999. In that year, 78 schools received a failing grade and another 600 received a D. Only 13% of the schools received an A rating. The state’s school grades overall have trended upward each year, with a couple of exceptions.In the intervening years, the standards for receiving a passing grade have been changed three times, each time tightening the requirements to “raise the bar”. Each time that the standards have been tightened, the results were predictable – more schools failed than in the previous year and a percentage of schools found that their school grade had dropped from the year before. In nearly every case, those grades were recovered over the next year as teachers and students adjusted to the new material they were required to know.The most recent adjustment to the grading system took place this year. For the first time in the 2006-2007 school year, the performance of students on the Science portion of the FCAT was taken into account in grading schools. Predictably, as has happened both other times that students had to meet higher standards, there are more schools than last year with F ratings, and a number of schools received lower grades than they did last year. If you take the comparative numbers against last year’s figures without adjusting for changes to the grading system, it certainly appears that the schools are losing ground in the fight to educate our children.If you take a longer view, though, the picture is far different. In 1999, only 13% of all Florida schools received an A rating. In 2007, that figure increased to 52% - despite the fact that the standards are much higher than they were just eight years ago. In 1999, nearly 50% of all Florida schools received a C rating. This year, that figure is 17%. The percentage of D rated schools went from 24.5% to 8%. The only figure that has remained unchanged is the F rating – with approximately 3% of Florida schools receiving an F rating.Even so, both parents and educators – and in many cases students – have serious concerns about the way that schools are graded, especially in light of the consequences of lower grades for schools. Many parents who have children in the lower graded schools are bewildered – they see that their children are being taught by teachers who care enough to work with them after school and push them to learn more. Teachers express concerns that they are forced to “teach the test instead of the children” – and in many cases to do so without the equipment and supplies necessary to teach effectively. These concerns aren’t unique to Florida. They mirror controversies and conversations that are being held in nearly every state across the nation.Through all of this, though, two facts stand out. The first is that accountability is a vital part of the public education process. There must be some method of measuring whether the schools are doing their jobs of educating children. The system that we’re using now may be flawed, but it does provide an overview of a school’s progress toward improvement, and it allows for adjustment and improvement of the system itself to measure more accurately. It allows the state to pinpoint schools and regions that need assistance in meeting standards so that resources can be focused there.The second fact is also undeniable. Since 1999, Florida schools have shown marked overall progress toward meeting the standards of education set forth by the state. In New Tampa, every one of the elementary schools received an A rating this year, despite the higher standards, and not a single school was rated an F.While the current system may be flawed, it does provide a starting point for parents looking for school information. Parents who want a deeper look can access the school’s full report card at the FDOE’s web site, and use the time-honored methods that parents have always used to decide on a school for their children. Schedule an interview with the school principal. Talk with neighbors in the neighborhoods you’re considering. Learn about the schools on a personal level. The more involved you are in the process, the easier it becomes to make an informed choice about your children’s education.
