This article was posted 10/14/2008 and is most likely outdated.

10 More Ways to Become a Third World Utility
 

 

Subject - 10 More Ways to Become a Third World Utility

October 14, 2008
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10 More Ways to Become a Third World Utility

According to Jim Burke

 

One of the advantages of old age is you can say more of what you actually think. Having been in the utility business for over 40 years, I’ve seen many things. I’ve noticed that many ideas are re-invented every 10 or 20 years and my insight into the fate of some of these ideas is misinterpreted as “unusual insight”. I’m thinking “fool me once…etc.” There have been a number of Imagethings which concern me.

Some years ago I wrote a paper “10 Ways to Become a Third World Utility” that was very well received….a big surprise to me!! I’ve got another 10 here, which are meant to be constructive and parallel what many of you are really thinking but not in a position to broadcast to the world.

Below is a quick list of the 10 more ways. Click here to read Jim’s paper in its entirety.

1. Allow the Lawmakers to Do the Engineering
2. Let Computer Programs Replace Intuition and Experience
3. Mirror the Airline Industry
4. Provide No Career Path in Engineering
5. Don’t Take a Stand
6. Encourage DG’s
7. Withdraw support of colleges and universities
8. Support Global Warming Alarmists
9. No Research or Papers
10. Don’t State Your Case to the Public

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Comments
  • Just like what is happening in the Philippines. The non-engineering congress is debating whether to lower a utility's system loss to 8%, despite:

    a) no one here has ever done it b) there is no capital to upgrade facilities

    The only reason for the new limit seems to be political in nature.

    robbie tan
    Reply to this comment

  • Thank you for this article. I have a good friend who left his job as a utility company engineer when the company was turned over to accountants and consultants. I don't disagree with persons who want to reduce the use of fossil fuels, but there is a dangerous perception that we can totally rely upon wind and solar power. The public is technically illiterate, and they don't understand that utilty companies must have dispatchable load that they can use when needed. That means we need to continue to build natural gas and coal power plants until nuclear power is expanded, or we will find ourselves in the dark on a hot summer evening when the wind is calm.

    Jim Cook
    Reply to this comment

  • This is spot on.

    One reason China's economy is growing gangbusters is that their top political leaders are engineers, not lawyers and dare I say pickpockets. I imagine the same is true in India.

    We need more professionals and tradesmen in the congress and the legislature - people who have had a job, made a payroll, and made something for society, instead of critics (lawyers) who have made nothing and criticize and hamper those who try and do.

    I've only met one real businessman who ran for office. He was a contractor who was also involved in little league and other community programs, and he was well versed on the issues of importance for the town council. He was handily defeated by a clueless banker's wife who had no idea what the town's annual budget was or how many people it employed because she had the right letter after her name for party affiliation.

    Matt
    Reply to this comment

  • The guy seems to believe that distributed generation doesn't work, based on some fuzzy examples of home power systems. He doesn't seem to explain why wind power is growing at 30% per year. A 2MW wind turbine is nothing like the homebrewed systems he cites as counterexamples.

    Wind generation is growing at 30% per year because investors and utilities have realized that it is cheap to install, pays back quickly, has zero fuel cost and has a plus that it doesn't produce any carbon.

    Extrapolating a "Mother Earth News" style homemade solar generating system to criticize a well-run, well-engineered, grid tied wind farm made up of rows of 2MW turbines is like saying we could never get a spacecraft into orbit because Jimmy's Estes rocket went phffft and didn't fly well.

    Lawrence
    Reply to this comment

  • Mike --

    Good find!!

    This is so true.

    Sadly, it also applies to most of our domestic electrical industry.

    Regards . . .

    Jim

    Jim Nasby
    Reply to this comment


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