EHS This Week: Emission Trends in Canada, Massachusetts brings Solar Power to Public Housing and More!

On this week’s edition of EHS This Week we’ve got the week’s top stories in environment, health and safety news:

  • Emission Trends in Canada
  • Massachusetts brings solar power to public housing
  • NIOSH warns of prolonged standing at work

Remember to write us with your suggestions, questions and comments. Also, if you are an industry expert and ever want to take part in the program, we’d love to have you. Until next week, enjoy the program!

EHS This Week Resources

For more information on the stories and resources mentioned in this week’s podcast, check out the links below.

  • Canada’s Emission Trends Report 2014.Click here
[audio: 2014/12/EHSTW-121214.mp3]… Read more...

Benefits of mobile on the rise for energy and utilities companies

More and more, here in the Intelex Energy and Utilities team, we’re seeing a strong need for mobile access in all areas of the Energy-Utilities community. Energy is generated and delivered in a variety of ways throughout the world and reaches out far from centralized stations and hubs. Therefore, the need to have mobile access on a residential, commercial and/or corporate level is becoming much more of a ‘must-have’.  

Whether it’s through downloaded apps or web-based access, residential and commercial customers can quickly report an outage and check on restoration status or have at-a-glance visibility into outages within their communities.  They can easily access their account summary and history, make payments or submit a meter reading.  Utility companies themselves are able to relay information throughout the organization very quickly, 24 hours a day.

Outside of the direct impact on customers, these companies can leverage the right web-based mobile solutions … Read more...

Think wind power can’t meet our needs? The EU is getting closer to proving you wrong.

While climate talk has by no means been centre stage in this year’s presidential election, it’s quite a different story across the pond. In recent years, the comparatively progressive European Union member states have been turning up the dial on climate concern, and it’s not all hot air. They’ve undertaken a number of initiatives recently, particularly on the wind front, and the numbers are in…and they’re impressive, to say the least.

Though wind power is rarely taken seriously in North America, it’s practically a religion across many parts of Europe. That could be fueled in part by a 2009 European Environment Agency report that confirmed that the continent’s onshore and offshore wind energy potential, harnessed, could meet the EU’s overall energy needs many times over.

A significant milestone was announced last week when the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) reported that more than 100 GW of wind power have … Read more...

EPA extends power plant emissions deadline…slightly

While its ambitious agenda to curb greenhouse gases (GHG) has been delayed, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is still moving ahead in full force to have power plants – one of the biggest contributors of GHGs – cut emissions drastically.

The EPA announced late last year it would move to push new, strict emissions performance standards on plants and refineries. The move faced stiff opposition from U.S. Republicans, as well as some others opposed to imposed limits on emissions, since it was viewed as a move by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to make up for the fact President Barack Obama failed to pass promised environmental legislation in his first term in office. However, the EPA had a legal mandate from the Supreme Court to move forward on carbon emissions cuts.

This week the EPA indicating it is budging, but only slightly. Its new deadline for proposing a GHG performance standard has … Read more...