Monday, February 21, 2011

How I spent My Summer Vacation

One of the best ways to not only get experience, but find out if a certain profession or certain business sector will hold your interest is through an internship. Internships, with the right organization, can be enlightening, engrossing, and even entertaining.

The Office of Lt. Governor Becky Skillman is seeking students who are interested in internships primarily during the summer of 2011.  Interns working with the Lt. Governor may work in her office,  or in one of the agencies under her supervision.  those include, the Office of Community and Rural Affairs, the Indiana Tourism Office, The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, the Indiana State Department of Agriculture and of course the very best place to spend your summer vacation…the Indiana Office of Energy Development.

The time to start the process is now.  If you would like more information regarding summer internship opportunities,  please send an email to oedinfor@oed.in.gov.

Friday, February 4, 2011

POWER SHORTAGES AND ROLLING BLACKOUT SHOULD WAKE US UP!

News from the Southwest United States and especially Texas should serve as a wakeup call for all of us.  Natural gas shortages and rolling blackouts are taking place in New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and California and there are various reasons why, but I want to make some key points of concern we all need to think about.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iNNMw-dDPvOB21bkooBnPMUWa58w?docId=538ccbe2b8594d4d92d3c07a0a310729

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20110204/D9L5RP6G1.html

First off, this isn’t new to Texas.  They had prior shortages and blackouts and part of that can be blamed on the weather.  Both situations have happened during unseasonably cold weather and unexpected energy use skyrockets.  Texas is also on its own grid system and therefore is not able to take power from other US sources and in this case has relied on Mexico to send power.  Indiana is part of a larger Regional Transmission Operator that can send power to us from far away points of production if our need arises.

Second, and I think most concerning is that this shows that with growth in population and economy energy production must also keep up.  Many people suggest energy conservation and renewable power is cleaner and effective in reducing the need for new power plants.  This is nice theory but simply conservation and renewable power cannot totally reduce the need for new production facilities and Texas is the perfect example of what we could face when our production capacity cannot keep up with demand.

The basic issue is that nuclear, coal and natural gas are the three major sources of power that can work 24/7 and are reliable to the user.  When either new natural gas wells are not allowed to come on line, or new power production facilities are disallowed, utilities begin to scramble when unlikely weather conditions can change usual patterns.  Unfortunately if new production continues its slow nearly non-existent rise due to political concerns and bureaucratic barriers, then situations like these will not only happen when there is extraordinary weather but these shortages and rolling blackouts could become more frequent and in more places in the United States.

Shortages and blackouts would be new to almost all Americans and send quite a shock into the economy.  While many countries deal with shortages and blackouts as daily life, they are also countries that cannot support large industries and  a thriving economy because of unreliable energy.  The thing is , the United States doesn’t have to go this direction, we have the technologies and resources to use our coal, nuclear and natural gas more efficiently and cleaner.  Make sure you take the time to learn more about how the US gets it energy and where it all comes from.  A good site is the Energy Information Administration:   http://www.eia.gov/

Stay warm and safe Indiana.