~ Gesticht àls Gesticht ter Voorkoming v/d Maatschappelijke Randdebiliteit ~
~ HÉT "progressief" Orgaan Der "Hangmatsocialisten" ~ Gesticht àls Gesticht ter Voorkoming v/d Maatschappelijke & Politieke Randdebiliteit
22-05-2010
Nooit te laat voor een deftige begrafenis: zie Copernicus...
Het Vaticaan is niet meteen bekend voor de snelle erkenning van gemaakte
fouten. Dat is nog alle dagen duidelijk te merken. Soms duurt het
héééééééééééééééél lang zoals voor Galilei, maar dat is intussen
rechtgezet. Er was ook nog Copernicus...en vandaag kreeg kreeg ook deze
brave man eindelijk gelijk en werd hij kwistig met wijwater besprenkeld
tijdens zijn herbegrafenis. Het is tenslotte nooit te laat denken ze
daar in Rome. Waarschijnlijk tikt de klok daar wel zeer zeer traag. Het
krijgt wat minder media-aandacht dan de vorige belangrijke Poolse
begrafenis toen het over veel mindere kalibers ging en waarvan sommigen
waarschijnlijk zelf verantwoordelijk zijn voor het neerstorten van het
eigen vliegtuig....maar dit terzijde...
Laten we de laatste eer
betonen aan een belangrijke wetenschapper en mis vooral ook de
kronkelredeneringen niet van de kerk en de bisschoppen...
By
VANESSA GERA, Associated Press Writer Vanessa
Gera, Associated Press Writer Sat May 22, 11:43 am ET
FROMBORK, Poland Nicolaus Copernicus, the
16th-century astronomer whose findings were condemned by the Roman Catholic Church as heretical,
was reburied by Polish priests as a hero on Saturday, nearly 500 years
after he was laid to rest in an unmarked
grave.
His burial in a tomb in the cathedral where he once
served as a church canon and doctor indicates how far the church has
come in making peace with the scientist whose revolutionary theory that
the Earth revolves around the Sun
helped usher in the modern scientific age.
Copernicus, who lived
from 1473 to 1543, died as a little-known astronomer working in what is
now Poland, far from Europe's
centers of learning. He had spent years laboring in his free time
developing his theory, which was later condemned as heretical by the
church because it removed Earth and humanity from their central position
in the universe.
His revolutionary model was based on complex
mathematical calculations and his naked-eye observations of the heavens
because the telescope had not yet been invented.
After his death,
his remains rested in an unmarked grave beneath the floor of the
cathedral in Frombork, northern Poland, the exact location unknown.
On
Saturday, his remains were blessed with holy water by some of Poland's
highest-ranking clerics before an honor
guard ceremoniously carried the coffin through the imposing red
brick cathedral and lowered it back into the same spot where part of his
skull and other bones were found in 2005.
A black granite
tombstone now identifies him as the founder of the heliocentric theory, but also a
church canon, a cleric that ranks below a priest. The tombstone is
decorated with a model of the solar
system, a golden sun encircled by six of the planets.
At
the urging of a local bishop, scientists began searching in 2004 for the
astronomer's remains and eventually turned up a skull and bones of a 70-year-old man
the age Copernicus was when he died. A reconstruction made by
forensic police based on the skull showed a broken nose and other
features that resemble a self-portrait of Copernicus.
In a later
stage of the investigation, DNA taken from teeth and bones matched that
from hairs found in one of his books, leading the scientists to conclude
with great probability that they had finally found Copernicus.
In
recent weeks, a wooden casket holding those remains has lain in state
in the nearby city of Olsztyn,
and on Friday they were toured around the region to towns linked to his
life.
The pageantry comes 18 years after the Vatican
rehabilitated the Italian astronomer
Galileo Galilei, who was persecuted in the Inquisition for
carrying the Copernican Revolution
forward.
Wojciech Ziemba, the archbishop of the region
surrounding Frombork, said the Catholic
Church is proud that Copernicus left the region a legacy of "his
hard work, devotion and above all of his scientific genius."
Saturday's
Mass was led by Jozef Kowalczyk, the papal nuncio and newly named
Primate of Poland, the highest
church authority in this deeply Catholic country.
Poland also is
the homeland of John Paul II,
the late pope who said in 1992 that the church was wrong in condemning
Galileo's work.
Jacek Jezierski,
a local bishop who encouraged the search for Copernicus, said that he
considers Copernicus' burial as part of the church's broader embrace of
science as being compatible with Biblical belief.
"Today's funeral
has symbolic value in that it is a gesture of reconciliation between
science and faith," Jezierski said. "Science and faith can be
reconciled."
Copernicus' burial in an anonymous grave in the 16th century was not linked to
suspicions of heresy. When he died, his ideas were just starting to be
discussed by a small group of European astronomers, astrologers and
mathematicians, and the church was not yet forcefully condemning the
heliocentric world view as heresy, according to Jack Repcheck, author of
"Copernicus' Secret: How the Scientific
Revolution Began."
The full attack on those ideas came
decades later when the Vatican was waging a massive defense against
Martin Luther's Reformation.
"There is no indication that
Copernicus was worried about being declared a heretic and being kicked
out of the church for his astronomical views," Repcheck said.
"Why was he just buried along with everyone else, like every other canon
in Frombork? Because at the time of his death he was just any other
canon in Frombork. He was not the iconic hero that he has become."
Copernicus had, however, been at odds with his superiors in the church
over other matters.
He was repeatedly reprimanded for keeping a
mistress, which violated his vow of
celibacy, and was eventually forced to give her up. He also was
suspected of harboring sympathies for Lutheranism,
which was spreading like wildfire in northern Europe at the time,
Repcheck said.
Copernicus' major treatise "On the Revolutions
of the Heavenly Spheres" was
published at the very end of his life, and he only received a copy of
the printed book on the day he died May 21, 1543.
De verkiezingscampagne begint aardig op dreef te komen. Onze geliefde
sossen trachten het voorbeeld van de CD&V te volgen, en halen een
oud boegbeeld uit de kast. Toch één klein verschil Dehaene leeft nog een
klein beetje, juist voldoende om het geld van zijn bestuursmandaten in
zijn zakken te steken. Het boegbeeld van de sossen is dood en begraven:
het is Assiel Sarbon beter bekend als Achille Van Acker. Om met deze
figuur de verjonging verder te zetten dat zien we niet meteen zitten.
Maar jongeren hebben ze daar niet meteen nodig bij de Vlaamse sossen. Ze
hopen waarschijnlijk de groep kiezers tussen de 70 en 100 aan te boren
en zo hun steile klim als beleidspartij verder te zetten ...richting de
kiesdrempel. Maar we willen een helpend handje uitsteken om de
jongeren tenminste deze verdienstelijke Brugse Belg te leren kennen:
Achille Van Acker was een echte selfmade mens. An
z'n elf joar ei tie moetn stoppn van no 't schole te goan vo tuus te
kunnen elp'n by z'n oeders.
Achter da tie eerst gewerkt had in 't
socialistisch syndikoot (socialistischn
vakbond) , is tie in 1927 in 't Parlement gerocht vo de BWP, de Belgische
Werkliedenpartij, wa da nu SP.a is
(Socialistische Partij Anders).
Z'n eerste drie goevernementen een
èn nie lange meegegoan deur de Keuniengskwestie
met da styf moeilik werekeren van Leopold III. Da was
één van de moeilykste momentn vor 't land.
Z'n grotste verdienste
was da tie 't sistèm van de Sociale Zekerheid
eit ip z'n poaten gezet, wa datter toe vandage vooren gezorgd eit da
vil geweune menschen an d'ormoe ontsnapt zien.
J'is ook bekend
omdat ie achter den orloge de Belgische koolpitten were in gank ei
gestoken. Je was ton (oender andere) minister van Steenkolen.
Achille
klapte Brugs en in t Brugs dialect wordt de Fransche J uutgesprookn
lik Z en de CH lik S. (Ze kykn no de mats teegn Sarleroi en goan no de
Zeruzalemkerke). Lik veel Bruggeliengn kost n die klankn ook nie
uutspreekn ot n Frans klapte. Ze voundn da nateurlik styf komiek en ze
zeien: 'Assiel parle le bruzois dans les deux langues nationales' en dr
wierdn moppn verteld à la manière d'Assiel. Ot n minister van
steenkool wierd kreegt n zn lapnoame Assiel Sarbon.
CNNreports on a proposal by Hewlett-Packard to deploy
sensors across the planet in order to gather data.
In
the 1990s, a researcher named Kris Pister dreamed up a wild future in
which people would sprinkle the Earth with countless tiny sensors, no
larger than grains of rice.
These smart dust particles, as he
called them, would monitor everything, acting like electronic nerve
endings for the planet. Fitted with computing power, sensing equipment,
wireless radios and long battery life, the smart dust would make
observations and relay mountains of real-time data about people, cities
and the natural environment.
Now, a version of Pisters smart dust
fantasy is starting to become reality. [...]
The latest news
comes from the computer and printing company Hewlett-Packard, which
recently announced its working on a project it calls the Central Nervous System for
the Earth. In coming years, the company plans to deploy a trillion
sensors all over the planet.
The wireless devices would check to
see if ecosystems are healthy, detect earthquakes more rapidly, predict
traffic patterns and monitor energy use. The idea is that accidents
could be prevented and energy could be saved if people knew more about
the world in real time, instead of when workers check on these issues
only occasionally. [...]
Even when deployed for science or the
public, some people still get a Big Brother feeling the uncomfortable
sense of being under constant, secret surveillance from the idea of
putting trillions of monitors all over the world.
Its a very,
very, very huge potential privacy invasion because were talking about
very, very small sensors that can be undetectable, effectively, said
Lee Tien, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy
advocate. [...]
Clearly, there are security concerns and privacy
concerns, [Pister] said, and the good news is that when the radio
technology was being developed for this stuff, it was shortly after all
of the big concerns about Wi-Fi security. Weve got all the security
tools we need underneath to make this information private.
Further
privacy concerns may arise if another vision for smart dust comes true.
Some researchers are looking into making mobile phones into sensors.
In
this scenario, the billions of people roaming the Earth with cell
phones become the smart dust.
Het was weer een tijdje geleden dat we nog iets hoorden van de Creg.
Jullie kennen hem toch? De energieregulator...en ook de CREG begint zich
te ergeren, net zoals wij. Niks menselijks is hen dus vreemd en we zijn
blij het eens van een ander te horen. Lees hier hun persbericht van 18
mei
De
CREG reageert op de tariefverhogingen voor de distributie van
elektriciteit en gas en laakt de kwalijke gevolgen van de wetgeving De
tarieven voor het gebruik van de distributienetten vertegenwoordigen
vandaag de grootste post van de elektriciteitsfactuur en tot 35% van de
gasfactuur van een residentiële klant. Deze component zal in de toekomst
nog stijgen, met name om de hierna beschreven redenen. In september
2008 werd de wetgeving betreffende de distributienettarieven herzien.
Volgens de Europese richtlijnen echter heeft de nationale regulator als
opdracht deze tarieven, of ten minste de methodologieën om de tarieven
te berekenen, vast te stellen of goed te keuren. In juni 2008 heeft de
CREG een voorstel van koninklijk besluit betreffende de tarieven
opgesteld, waarin ze een nieuwe methodologie voor het bepalen van de
tarieven vaststelde. Dit voorstel werd uitgewerkt in de continuïteit van
de toepasbare wetgeving. Het hield rekening met het algemeen belang,
waaronder het belang van de consumenten, en waakte erover aan de
distributienetbeheerders (DNBs) een billijke winstmarge te verzekeren.
Dit voorstel, dat de wetgever als zodanig had moeten goedkeuren, werd
gewijzigd als gevolg van interventies van de DNBs en ondanks de
Europese wetgeving. De door de CREG voorgestelde maatregelen, meer
bepaald op het vlak van efficiëntie- en productiviteitswinst, redelijk
beheer van de kosten en berekening van de billijke winstmarge, werden
aangepast in het voordeel van de DNBs en soms ten koste van de
bevoegdheden van de regulator. Deze wijzigingen hebben voor de
huishoudelijke afnemers van de DNBs, voor wie de tarieven in 2009
werden goedgekeurd, een aanzienlijke stijging van de
distributienettarieven voor elektriciteit en gas meegebracht. Deze
stijging komt bovenop de grote verhoging die de distributienettarieven
in 2008 al hadden gekend als gevolg van gerechtelijke beslissingen die
werden genomen in het kader van de beroepen die de DNBs hadden
ingediend tegen de beslissingen van de CREG; daarbij hadden ze
aangevoerd dat de wetgeving betreffende de tarieven onduidelijk was. Tussen
2007 en 2009 zijn de distributienettarieven dus gemiddeld gestegen met
bijna 35% voor elektriciteit en met 28% voor gas. Voor een gezin van 4
personen vertegenwoordigt dit een stijging van respectievelijk 53 per
jaar op de elektriciteitsfactuur en 65 op de gasfactuur. Deze
herhaalde stijgingen doen alle inspanningen van de CREG teniet. Die
inspanningen hadden geleid tot een gemiddelde daling van de tarieven met
25% tussen 2002 en 2007. Bovendien heeft de CREG sinds maart van dit
jaar de rapporten van de meeste DNBs ontvangen betreffende de
toepassing van hun tarieven in 2009. Uit een eerste analyse van deze
rapporten blijkt dat de DNBs samen positieve saldi op de beheersbare
kosten rapporteren van respectievelijk 28,1 miljoen voor de
distributie van elektriciteit en 15,8 miljoen voor de distributie van
gas. Ze rapporteren daarentegen negatieve saldi op de niet-beheersbare
kosten van respectievelijk 224,8 miljoen voor elektriciteit en 30
miljoen voor gas, met inbegrip van respectievelijk 73,7 miljoen en
7,8 miljoen die te wijten zijn aan de daling van de verdeelde volumes
elektriciteit en gas als gevolg van de economische crisis. Op te merken
valt dat de grens tussen beheersbare en niet-beheersbare kosten niet
heel duidelijk is en dat dit systeem al in 2005 werd ingevoerd in de
wetgeving die heeft geleid tot de herziening van de berekening van de
distributienettarieven in 2008. Persbericht Nr 86 2/2 Diezelfde
wetgeving bepaalt dat de saldi op de beheersbare kosten worden
toegekend aan de DNBs en, wanneer die saldi positief zijn, een
verhoging van hun inkomsten vertegenwoordigen. Anderzijds
vertegenwoordigen de saldi op de niet-beheersbare kosten, wanneer ze
negatief zijn, een onvoldoende dekking van de kosten van de DNBs en
bestaat het risico dat ze aan de klanten worden aangerekend. De
consumenten kunnen dus verwachten dat de component distributie op hun
factuur opnieuw zal stijgen. Bijgevolg maakt de CREG zich zorgen over
de bijzonder negatieve gevolgen voor de consumenten waartoe de
wetgeving betreffende de distributienettarieven in het verleden
aanleiding heeft gegeven en ook in de toekomst zal meebrengen. Sinds
eind 2008 heeft de CREG de politieke overheden meermaals, maar vergeefs,
gewaarschuwd voor de herhaalde stijging van de distributienettarieven,
voor de problemen die voortvloeien uit de wetgeving betreffende de
tarieven en, tot slot, voor de kwalijke gevolgen die de CREG heeft
vastgesteld op het vlak van de beheersbare en niet-beheersbare kosten
van de DNBs. De CREG herhaalt haar wens dat de toepasbare wetgeving
betreffende de distributienettarieven zo snel mogelijk zou worden
herzien met strikte inachtneming van de nieuwe Europese richtlijnen
inzake elektriciteit en gas die in 2009 in werking zijn getreden. Deze
richtlijnen, die in het Belgisch recht moeten worden omgezet, bieden een
unieke kans om, enerzijds, de huidige wetgeving betreffende de tarieven
bij te sturen en, anderzijds, de aan de regulator toegekende
bevoegdheden te herstellen en aldus te komen tot billijkere
distributienettarieven.
en in De Standaard lezen we bijna
onze eigen woorden uit onze vroegere bijdragen over energie... altijd
leuk, zullen we maar zeggen...
BRUSSEL - De Creg verwacht dat de
distributienettarieven zullen exploderen. Dat is ten dele te wijten aan
de economische crisis. Maar ook de overheid treft schuld, zegt de
federale energieregulator. De distributienettarieven zijn nu
verantwoordelijk voor 35procent van de jaarfactuur.
De Creg wijst erop dat zijn bevoegdheden om de
redelijkheid van de tarieven te controleren, sterk uitgehold zijn door
de wetgeving. Daarbij komt nog dat de distributienettarieven meer en
meer dienen om de nodige centen te verzamelen voor de financiering van
het energiebeleid. Dat gaat van de toekenning van gratis stroom, over
allerlei energiepremies (zoals voor dakisolatie en de aankoop en
plaatsing van budgetmeters) tot de financiering van de openbare
verlichting in heel het land. De voorbije weken was er nog heel wat
commotie over het feit dat de subsidies voor elektriciteitsproductie uit
zonnepanelen eigenlijk gefinancierd worden via het
distributienettarief.
Dit alles heeft er tussen 2007 en 2009 al
toe geleid dat een gezin van vier personen 53 euro meer moet betalen
voor de distributie van elektriciteit en 65 euro voor de distributie van
aardgas. Maar in 2013 zal dat bedrag nog oplopen, waarschuwt de Creg.
De
voorbije weken heeft de energieregulator van de
distributienetbeheerders in ons land -in Vlaanderen in hoofdzaak Eandis
en Infrax- te horen gekregen dat ze vorig jaar met grote tekorten
geconfronteerd werden om alle kosten die ze moeten maken voor
elektriciteit en aardgas, te dekken. Het tekort voor elektriciteit liep
in 2009 op tot 224,8 miljoen euro, voor aardgas ging het om een tekort
van 30 miljoen euro.
De wetgeving voorziet dat de netbeheerders
die tekorten kunnen recupereren. Dat zal gebeuren vanaf 2013. De Creg
waarschuwt dat er tot en met 2012 nog ettelijke honderden miljoenen
euro's tekorten zullen bijkomen.
Dat de verbruiker tot 2013 safe
zit, komt omdat volgens de huidige wetgeving de distributienettarieven
slechts om de vier jaar aangepast mogen worden.
We vonden het voorstel van onze sossen, 200 meer pensioen per maand als
je tot je 65 bleef werken al niet echt denderend. Nu blijkt plots dat
het zelfs doodgewoon maf is. Het enige dat je inderdaad kan zeggen is
dat het betaalbaar is en dus geen budgettaire ontsporingen zou
veroorzaken. Doodeenvoudig omdat je de 200 zelf uit je zak betaalt. Dat
doe je natuurlijk ergens met je pensioen alytijd maar dit is
erger...Wie tot 65 wil blijven werken, wat nota bene toch nog steeds de
wettelijke pensioenleeftijd is hier in dit landje zou dan maar meteen
minder moeten verdienen en met het verschil financier je dan de 200
extra... Elke ware sos pleegt hier onmiddellijk harakiri of loopt over
naar het Vlaams Behang. Je gelooft het niet? Wij konden eerst onze
oogjes niet geloven maar we lazen het geschreven en gedrukt:
BRUSSEL -
Natuurlijk zijn de omstreden pensioenplannen
van de SP.A betaalbaar. De kiezer betaalt ze namelijk zelf.
Van onze redacteur
Viagra voor castraten', goedkope verkiezingsbeloften',
verkiezingspraat', mercantiel socialisme'... Het pensioenplan van de socialisten oogst heel
wat kritiek.
Politieke tegenstanders vinden dat de Vlaamse
socialisten te veel voor Sinterklaas spelen. Bovendien moet een volgende
regering besparen. Dan is er voor een verhoging van de pensioenen met 200 euro totaal geen
ruimte.
De socialisten genieten van deze controverse. Op deze
manier haalt hun voorstel voortdurend de media. Dat is ook logisch,
omdat de andere partijen nog niet klaar zijn met hun
verkiezingsprogramma.
Maar te meten aan het aantal
lezersbrieven is ook de kiezer er niet van overtuigd dat deze belofte
echt betaalbaar zal zijn. Aan de ene kant is dat begrijpelijk. De
financiering van het SP.A-voorstel kan niet in twaalf seconden tijd
worden uitgelegd.
Toch hoeft niemand zich echt ongerust maken.
De kiezer betaalt de verhoging vooral uit eigen zak.
Nieuw
Suez-contract
Het pensioenvoorstel
bestaat uit twee delen. Vooreerst wil de SP.A de Inkomensgarantie voor
Ouderen optrekken, waardoor elke oudere een inkomen ontvangt dat boven
de armoededrempel uit steekt.
De kostprijs ervan bedraagt 300
miljoen euro per jaar. De socialisten willen dat bedrag recupereren door
een hervorming van de notionele interest (een gulle belastingaftrek
voor bedrijven) en een heronderhandeling van het Suez-contract
(Electrabel wordt steenrijk door de langere levensduur van de
kerncentrales).
De verhoging van het pensioen met 200 euro per maand kost heel
wat meer. Dit plan kan evenwel slechts op de middellange of lange
termijn worden gerealiseerd. De SP.A wil namelijk de tweede pensioenpijler (het bijkomend pensioen dat via de werkgever wordt
opgebouwd) veralgemenen en uitbouwen.
Gezamenlijke
inspanning'
Met een gezamenlijke inspanning door overheid,
werkgevers en werknemers in het kader van het sociaal overleg kunnen we
de pensioenen op middellange termijn
met 5 tot 10 procent laten stijgen', zo staat het letterlijk in het
verkiezingsprogramma.
Gemakshalve kleeft de partij daar het
bedrag van 200 euro op. Maar wie de zin goed leest, begrijpt dat de
werknemers die verhoging van hun pensioen
voor een groot stuk meebetalen.
Toekomstige
loononderhandelingen zullen immers eindigen in een stuk loonsverhoging
en een stuk pensioenvorming. Wie na
zijn 65ste meer pensioen wil
trekken, zal tot zijn 65ste minder verdienen. De overheid kan daar
vervolgens een stukje bovenop leggen, op voorwaarde dat we met zijn
allen zo lang mogelijk werken. Anders is daarvoor geen geld.
Dus
ja, het pensioenplan van de SP.A is
betaalbaar. Maar nee, het zal niet voor onmiddellijk zijn. Bovendien
zullen we de verhoging vooral zelf betalen en zullen we moeten werken
tot onze 65ste verjaardag.
Bijgevolg hebben de critici van de
SP.A het bij het verkeerde eind. De socialisten zelf gaan in hun
communicatie ook niet vrijuit. De werkelijke draagwijdte van hun
boodschap is namelijk niet zo populair. Maar wel degelijk realistisch.
Dat
van die notionele intresten kan er nog in. Al de rest is weer typische
bullshit. Het heronderhandelen van het Suez-contract. Komt weer uit de
koker van de windbaas zelf. Hoe dikwijls denken ze dat nog te
"heronderhandelen"? Het is toch ook de kiezer die betaalt want het komt
onmiddellijk in de stroomprijs terecht vermits er geen concurrentie is
op de elektriciteitsmarkt... Maar de strafste kost is wel het luikje
dat de ouderen minder zullen verdienen via een ingreep in het sociaal
overleg, lees de CAO's...Erg vernieuwend als idee. Zeker voor de sossen.
Maar dit is pure liberale kost, waarde kameraden. Dit is
loonsvermindering op basis van leeftijd, beste kameraden. Wie dus al zo
ijverig is om tot zijn 65ste door te werken en dus bij te dragen tot de
pensioenen van de anderen + dat er minder lang pensioen aan deze bezige
bijen zal moeten uitgekeerd worden, wordt hiervoor beloond door minder
te verdienen. Ons boerenverstand zegt dan meteen, stop met werken, en
vraag je (laag) pensioen aan. Maar het zelfde werk doen voor minder loon
om daarna minder lang een hoger pensioen te trekken...????? Wij geven
hier onmiddellijk een negatief stemadvies...voilà. Dit is ons realisme
We dachten vandaag geen letter te publiceren vermits we hier allemaal in
de diepste rouw zijn gedompeld. Al twee keer vrij kort na elkaar
verliezen we grote Vlaamse idolen. Eerst Nonkel Bob en nu Bobbejaan... Graag
een minuut ingetogen stilte voor onze
Bobbejaan........................................................................
Maar
het leven gaat verder, tot wanneer de Golf van Mexico één groot oliebad
is geworden en dan wordt het stilaan tijd om onze plaatsen te
reserveren bij Nonkel Bob en Bobbejaan. Het kan best een vrolijke bende
worden want hier op deze aardkloot zijn ze erg goed hun best aan het
doen om alles om zeep te helpen. Vandaag gaat het daar dus ook over. En
misschien zijn de fabricanten van de pesticiden en de Rilatine wel de
zelfden?
May 17, 2010 In a
representative sample of US children, those with higher levels of
organophosphate pesticide metabolites in their urine were more likely to
have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) than children with
lower levels, indicating less exposure to these compounds, researchers
report in the June issue of Pediatrics, published online May 17.
"Each
10-fold increase in urinary concentration of organophosphate
metabolites was associated with a 55% to 72% increase in the odds of
ADHD," first study author Maryse F. Bouchard, PhD, of the Department of
Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Montreal, Quebec,
Canada, told Medscape Psychiatry.
Previous similar
investigations, Dr. Bouchard noted, have focused on "special groups with
high levels of exposure, such as children from agricultural
communities, and reported pesticides-related cognitive deficits
(involving memory and attention), and behavioral problems. The present
study is the first investigation on children's neurodevelopment to be
conducted in a group with no particular pesticide exposure."
"Groundbreaking
Study"
Michael L. Goldstein, MD, who was not involved in the
study, said the study results are "very interesting findings from a
very well-done study from a good database." The report, he said,
"certainly got my attention when I read it; I was really impressed by
it. I think it is a groundbreaking study, added Dr. Goldstein, a
specialist in child neurology with Western Neurological Associates in
Salt Lake City, Utah, and a faculty member of the American Academy of
Neurology.
The findings are based on cross-sectional data on 1139
children, aged 8 to 15 years, from the National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey (2000-2004). One hundred nineteen of the children met
current diagnostic criteria for ADHD. When children taking ADHD
medication were included as case subjects, there were 148 cases.
Six
urinary dialkyl phosphate (DAP) metabolites, resulting from the
degradation of different organophosphates, were measured in urine to
provide an indicator of the body burden of common organophosphates. The
proportions of children with urinary DAP concentrations below the
detection limit were between 35.7% and 80.0%. Most children (93.8%) had
one or more detectable metabolites of the 6 DAPs measured. Sex,
race/ethnicity, and fasting duration were not significantly associated
with DAP metabolite concentrations (all P > .3).
For the
most commonly detected pesticide metabolite, dimethyl thiophosphate
(64.3%), those with levels higher than the median of detectable
concentrations had nearly twice the odds of ADHD (adjusted odds ratio
[OR], 1.93; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.23 3.02) compared with
children with undetectable levels. The adjusted OR was higher when
children taking ADHD medication were included as case subjects (adjusted
OR, 2.12; 95% CI, 1.32 3.43).
Link Makes Biologic Sense
Several
biological mechanisms might underlie an association between
organophosphate pesticides and ADHD.
"It is very well established
that organophosphates disrupt brain neurochemical activity. Indeed,
their efficacy as pesticides result from their toxic effect on the
central nervous system of insects," Dr. Bouchard noted.
"In
particular, organophosphates disrupt the activity of acetylcholine, a
neurotransmitter also implicated in ADHD. In addition, certain
organophosphates affect growth factors, several neurotransmitter
systems, and second messenger systems. These changes in brain activity
could well result in ADHD-like symptoms," she said.
Dr. Goldstein
said the data on organophosphate pesticides and ADHD "look like the data
we saw 30 to 40 years ago with lead exposure, and it may turn out to be
the same thing that even small exposures (to organophosphate
pesticides) are very harmful to kids."
Need for Replication of
Results
The current study, Dr. Bouchard's team points out, had
several limitations the most important one being the use of only 1
spot urine sample to assess organophosphate exposure.
"Given the
cross-sectional nature of our analysis, we cannot rule out the
possibility that children with ADHD engage in behaviors that expose them
to higher levels of organophosphates," they write.
However, given
that DAPs are eliminated from the body after 3 to 6 days, their
detection in the urine of most children studied indicates continuing
exposure.
Approximately 40 organophosphate pesticides are
registered with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the
investigators note in their report. In 2001, 73 million pounds of
organophosphates were used in both agricultural and residential
settings. Diet is a major source of pesticide exposure for children.
According to a 2008 US report, detectable concentrations of the
organophosphate malathion were found in 28% of frozen blueberry samples,
25% of strawberry samples, and 19% of celery samples.
"This is
the first study to link exposure to pesticides at levels common in the
general population with adverse health effects," said Dr. Bouchard.
"These findings should be replicated before strong conclusion can be
made. However, it seems prudent to reduce pesticides exposure by
reducing their use in agriculture."
Industry Response
In
a written statement to Medscape Psychiatry, CropLife America, an
industry group representing the developers, manufacturers, formulators,
and distributors of plant science solutions for agriculture and pest
management in the United States, said their review of the study "leads
us to believe much more research is needed to ascertain if there is a
direct link between exposure to organophosphate pesticides and the
development of ADHD in children.
"All crop protection products are
extensively reviewed by regulatory agencies before approval for market
use. Many scientific factors are examined by government pesticide
regulators, based on extensive laboratory testing, all of which are
intended to guarantee safety for the environment and people, including
children," the statement reads. "The class of crop protection compound
that is the subject of this study has been approved and registered by
the US EPA, and when used according to the label, the EPA has determined
it to be safe."
The study was supported by a grant from the
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The study authors
and Dr. Goldstein have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Pediatrics.
Published online May 17, 2010.
Leuk is
anders...als we nu Rilatine in de Chocotofs of in de Nutella deden, zou
dat geen goeie oplossing zijn?
We merken al een tijdje dat in Griekenland vooral de werkende bevolking
en dan zeker de laagste lonen erg zwaar worden getroffen door de
besparingsplannen van de zogenaamde "linkse regering". Voor de zoveelste
keer mag een sociaal-democratische regering de crisis afwentelen op
haar kiespubliek. Dit is het klassieke recept dat we ook reeds meerder
keren hebben mogen meemaken in eigen land...crisis? Wel zet de sossen in
de regering en je ramt de looninleveringen en de verhoging van
belastingen door de strot van de werkende bevolking... Hoe zit dat nu
juist met de Griekse banken die ook wel een rol hebben gespeeld, en dan
zeker geen schitterende rol...? We horen daar nauwelijks iets over.
Behalve dan het hilarische berichtje dat de Griekse regering OVERWEEGT
juridische stappen te ondernemen tegen de banken...Ze zijn nog aan het
nadenken...over dat besparingsplan op de rug van de werkende bevolking
hebben ze natuurlijk veeeeeeeeeeeeeel minder lang moeten nadenken... En
we zijn toch niet de enigen die sommige zaken in de mot beginnen te
krijgen en ons daar erg hard aan ergeren...en om de ergernis wat te milderen hebben we een fotootjes van Hillary C. gevonden dat moet duidelijk maken dat...ja wat...we weten het eigenlijk zelf niet meer...
Republicans in Congress are trying to block the U.S. Treasury Department from
supporting U.S. tax funded International Monetary Fund contributions to
the so-called "bailouts" in Europe, which, as economist Mark Weisbrot explains, aren't bailouts for working families at
all - for working families, the IMF programs guarantee extreme hardship,
and most Europeans would be much better off if these IMF packages
collapse - but bailouts of European banks with bad loans.
The
purpose of the IMF packages is to force European working families to pay
off the banks' bad loans through economic austerity, rather than
forcing the banks to take their losses on their bad bets, which would be
capitalism, or at least the capitalism they lecture us about it in
school and on the nation's op-ed pages when the politically weak are on
the chopping block. As we know from the recent Latin American
experience, if a country like Greece defaulted on the bad debt and got
it over with, economic growth could resume. But the IMF is more of a
collection agency for the big banks than an institution concerned with
boosting economic growth and employment or reducing poverty.
The Wall
Street Journalsays the House Democratic leadership is unlikely
to bring the Republican measure to a vote, and that's certainly true -
the House Democratic leadership is likely to do whatever U.S. Treasury
wants, and U.S. Treasury is likely to want whatever Wall Street banks
want, and Wall Street banks are likely to see this as an issue of banker
solidarity - this time the taxpayer financed IMF slush fund is being
used primarily to benefit European banks, but the next IMF bailout could
primarily benefit New York banks. One hand washes the other.
However,
a majority of Members of the House can force a vote on an issue through
a discharge petition. A discharge petition isn't an everyday thing, but
a U.S. taxpayer- funded bailout of European banks at a time when U.S.
measured unemployment is nearly 10% - the real rate may be nearly double
that - and we're being asked to fork over $33 billion more for pointless slaughter in Afghanistan
- isn't an everyday thing either.
And these European bailouts
are arguably a much worse deal than the hated Wall Street bailout for
U.S. taxpayers - there is no plausible story that they are needed to
save the U.S. economy, and they are coupled with cruel austerity
packages to make working families in Europe scream. Imagine the Wall
Street bailout, now coupled with a plan to cut the wages of American
workers and raise the retirement age for Social Security. Why should the
majority of American working families go along with this?
If
past votes on IMF banker bailouts are any guide, House Republicans are
likely to move as a disciplined bloc. So the question boils down to
this: is there a decent handful of progressive and conservative anti-IMF
Democrats in the House who are willing to throw in their lot with
Republicans to try to block anti-worker IMF loans in Europe?
There
are some hopeful precedents in the past. The first time the Wall Street
Bailout came to the floor, the House blocked it. And in 1998, a group
of House Democrats led by Dennis Kucinich, Peter DeFazio, and Bernie
Sanders joined with House Republicans to repeatedly block the
then-princely sum of $18 billion in tax dollars for the IMF to bail out
banks from their bad loans to Asia.
And that was back when the
AFL-CIO supported the IMF. Lately President Trumka's AFL-CIO has been
bashing the Wall Street banks. What if the AFL-CIO decided to go rogue
on the IMF? Support for the IMF from many House Democrats could no
longer be assured.
And what if Greek- and Eastern
European-Americans lobbied Congress against the IMF? It could be a whole
new ballgame. Who knows what could happen when white workers in Europe
start to resist the IMF's Africa treatment? Maybe Americans would
notice.
The Wall Street Journal points out that the U.S.
share of the votes in the IMF is "only" 17%, so if only the U.S. votes
no, the IMF packages can still go through. But that assumes that the
rest of the world would all support the IMF extreme austerity bailout
loans. Of course European governments will likely support them, because
the European finance ministries are controlled by the European banks,
just as the U.S. Treasury department is controlled by Wall Street. But
why should Brazil, Argentina, Russia and China - countries which have
all rejected IMF extreme austerity policies - vote for the European
banker bailout and antiworker austerity packages, if the "consensus" of
the IMF is broken?
There is a "murder on the Orient Express"
quality to these anti-taxpayer and anti-worker bailouts - if you can
convince everyone that they are inevitable, and that everyone else is
going to go along, the antidemocratic bailouts can proceed. But once a
rebellion begins, there's no telling how far it might spread.
De Griekse crisis: een eigenaardig verhaal...of business as usual?
Iedereen heeft het steeds over Griekenland. Hoe slecht het land in het
verleden werd bestuurd. Hoe ze zelfs hun cijfers vervalsten...allemaal
waar maar men vergeet er steeds bij te vertellen dat cijfers best kunnen
worden nagekeken. Geen kat binnen de Europese instellingen deed dit
ondanks de vermoedens die er toen reeds waren. We zijn nog steeds gewoon
om aan Lourdespolitiek te doen. Met andere woorden, wachten op wonderen
als alles slechte gaat...of toch niet helemaal want sommige economische
activiteiten verliezen nooit het Noorden. Maar weinig kranten of andere
media hebben hier veel aandacht aan besteed. We hebben het over een
interventie van de vroegere "rooie Daniel" die een aantal
beschuldigingen maakte die toch wel een erg raar licht werpen op de
Griekse crisis en op het Europese hulpplan. Terwijl de Griekse regering
volop bespaart op de lage lonen en pensioenen durft men blijkbaar niet
raken aan bewapening en dat in een land dat toch wel wat geld uitgeeft op dat vlak...
La presse française a donné peu d'écho aux accusations
de Daniel Cohn-Bendit, qui assure que l'aide à la Grèce aurait été
conditionnée à la poursuite des contrats d'achats d'armes en cours avec
des pays européens comme la France, l'Allemagne (sous-marins), ou la
Hollande. Contrats signés avec le gouvernement grec qui a précédé celui
dirigé depuis septembre dernier par Papandreou.
Une dépêche AFP diffusée jeudi à 13 h 36 cite Cohn
Bendit selon lequel : "M. Fillon et M. Sarkozy ont dit à M.
Papandréou : «Nous allons lever des sommes pour vous aider, mais vous
devez continuer à payer les contrats d'armement qu'on a avec vous,
signés par le gouvernement Caramanlis» a assuré le leader Verts au
Parlement européen." L'AFP a fait une dépêche citant le démenti de
l'hotel Matignon.
Une brève de 10 lignes dans
Libération, et une colonne dans le quotidien argentin La Nacion : ce
sont les seuls échos trouvés par @si dans les médias traditionnels, à
cette accusation de Cohn-Bendit. LeParisien.fr et le Figaro.fr ont repris la dépêche AFP jeudi, mais la version
papier n'en a pas soufflé mot. Dans une interview sur France Info samedi
8 mai où Cohn-Bendit assure : "Ce n'est pas une révélation, cela
fait des semaines qu'on le dit... On n'a pas révisé ces contrats. ...
S'il faut dégraisser le mamouth que l'on parle de tout." Cohn-Bendit
réclame une initiative de paix européenne entre la Grèce et la Turquie,
ce qui permettrait, selon lui, de diminuer le budget des armées de ces
deux pays.
PARIS
- France and Germany, while publicly urging Greece to make harsh public
spending cuts, bullied its government to confirm billions of euros in
arms deals, a leading Euro-MP alleged Friday.
Franco-German
lawmaker Daniel Cohn-Bendit said that Paris and Berlin are seeking to
force Prime Minister George Papandreou to spend Greece's scarce cash on
submarines, a fleet of warships, helicopters and war planes.
"I
met Mr. Papandreou last week. I was in Athens. I've known him for a
long time," Cohn-Bendit told reporters, accusing Germany's Chancellor
Angela Merkel and France's President Nicolas Sarkozy of blackmailing his
friend.
Cohn-Bendit accused France and Germany of making their
contributions to an IMF-led rescue package for the debt-ridden Greek
economy contingent on Athens honoring massive arms deals signed by
Papandreou's predecessor.
"It's incredible the way the Merkels and
Sarkozys of this world treat a Greek prime minister," he declared,
adding that Papandreou had recently met Sarkozy and French Prime
Minister Francois Fillon in Paris.
"Mr. Fillon and Mr. Sarkozy
told Mr. Papandreou: 'We're going to raise the money to help you, but
you are going to have to continue to pay the arms contracts that we have
with you'," Cohn-Bendit said.
"In the past three months we have
forced Greece to confirm several billion dollars in arms contracts.
French frigates that the Greeks will have to buy for 2.5 billion euros.
Helicopters, planes, German submarines."
Despite its economic
woes, which recently deepened spectacularly when its credit rating was
downgraded, Greece is one of Europe's biggest arms buyers, seeking to
keep pace with its regional rival Turkey.
Cohn-Bendit, a former
leader of the 1968 student revolt in Paris, is leader of the Green group
in the European parliament.
Old Enemy May Help
Greece Trim Its Budget Deficit (Update3)
(Updates with Erdogan, Papandreou comments starting in third paragraph.)
By
Patrick Donahue and Ben Holland
May 14
(Bloomberg) -- Fear of Turkeys army led Greece to become the European
Unions biggest military spender as a share of the economy in the past
decade. Now, détente between the neighbors offers Prime Minister George
Papandreou a route to squeeze extra savings from his countrys army.
Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during a visit to
Athens today, said the neighbors and strategic rivals should work to
cut military spending. Matching cuts from Turkey would help Greece make
the reduction in military expenditures it pledged in return for $139
billion of International Monetary Fund and European Union loans to stave
off a debt default.
Investments in the arms
industry could be made in health, in education, or transferred to the
poorest people in society, Erdogan told a press conference in Athens
today. Papandreou said the countries will seek a common future of
understanding, friendship, trust and cooperation.
Greece has spent 50 billion euros ($62 billion) on the military in the
past decade, with the budget rising each year since 2003 as the army
added fighter jets, submarines and tanks. They are mostly for defense
against Turkey: the two NATO members came close to war over territorial
rights in the Aegean Sea in 1996. While ties have improved, pilots
regularly engage in mock dogfights above its waters. A Greek pilot was
killed in 2006 after colliding with a Turkish plane.
Unarmed Flights
Turkey and Greece
are allies, not competitors and we might together decide to reduce
the defense allocation of our respective budgets, said Egemen Bagis,
Turkeys minister for EU membership negotiations, in an interview in
Istanbul late yesterday before departing for Athens.
As a step toward building confidence, Greek planes
flying over the Aegean should take off unarmed as Turkish planes in the
region do, Erdogan said. Papandreou said Turkish planes should stop
violating Greek airspace, and submit their flight plans in advance.
Papandreou has to slash Greeces budget deficit to 3
percent of gross domestic product by 2014 from last years 13.6 percent
to meet its commitments to the IMF and EU. Concern that he wont be able
to meet that target sent yields on 10-year Greek debt to 12.4 percent
last week before European central banks started buying the bonds of
indebted EU nations after agreeing to a $1 trillion bailout. Yields rose
36 basis points to 7.71 percent today.
Education,
Not Arms
Erdogan met Greek President Karolos
Papoulias in Athens today, and with Papandreou presided over a joint
Cabinet meeting attended by 10 Turkish ministers who accompanied him on
the trip, together with their Greek counterparts. The two countries
signed agreements to collaborate in areas including tourism, energy,
transport and cultural exchanges.
Greek military
spending was 3.6 percent of gross domestic product in 2008, the EUs
highest, and the country with a population of 11 million was the worlds
fifth-biggest weapons importer between 2005 and 2009, according to the
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Beneficiaries of the spending include Duesseldorf-based steelmaker and
shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp AG, which is supplying submarines for the Greek
navy under a contract worth more than 2.5 billion euros ($3.2 billion).
Greece fell behind on payments to the company last year.
Turkeys population is 72 million and its 600,000-strong
army is the second-biggest in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
after the U.S. Turkeys Finance Ministry says defense spending will be
about $10 billion this year, or 1.5 percent of GDP. SIPRI, whose
estimates are typically higher than government figures, says it was 2.1
percent of GDP in 2007.
No Peace Dividend
The conflict with Turkey has been overwhelmingly the
thing thats been keeping Greek military spending as a share of GDP and
the arms purchases high since the Cold War ended, said Sam
Perlo-Freeman, head of SPIRIs military expenditure project. In the
rest of Europe its been for the most part completely flat or declining
over the last 10 years.
Papandreou has announced
defense savings of about 500 million euros this year. The cuts were
visible on March 25, Greeces independence day, when celebrations lacked
the usual tank parades and air displays.
For
Erdogan, cutting military spending may help curb the political influence
of Turkeys army, which has ousted four governments since 1960.
Throughout a seven-year premiership Erdogan has clashed with generals
who view his Islamist-rooted party as a threat to Turkeys secular
system.
Coup Plot Trial
Dozens of military officers are facing trial on charges of plotting to
oust Erdogan. Prosecutors say the plan involved attacks on non-Muslim
minorities and provoking Greece into shooting down a Turkish plane, to
destabilize Erdogans government.
If they can
strike some kind of deal with the Greeks, it would help Erdogan increase
leverage over the military, said Wolfango Piccoli, an analyst at the
New York-based Eurasia Group, which measures political risk. It will
take time because with military spending the cutting needs to be
gradual, it cant be done overnight.
Turkey keeps
about 30,000 troops on Cyprus since a 1974 invasion to reverse a coup
by supporters of union with Greece. In 1996 Turkey and Greece exchanged
threats over ownership of uninhabited rocks in the Aegean. Other
disputes include definitions of airspace and territorial waters.
There is more or less a consensus in this country that
there is a challenge, a threat from Turkey, making some areas of the
military budget hard to cut, said Thanos Dokos, the director of the
Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy in Athens.
Still, the Greek armed forces were in need of an
overhaul in spite of the crisis, Dokos said. The crisis will be an
opportunity to trim them down.
--With assistance from Mark
Bentley in Istanbul, James G. Neuger in Brussels and Maria Petrakis in
Athens. Editors: Louis Meixler, Ken Fireman.
To contact the
reporters on this story: Patrick Donahue in Berlin at
pdonahue1@bloomberg.net; Ben Holland in Istanbul at
bholland1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for
this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net; Peter Hirschberg
at phirschberg@bloomberg.net.
We zouden liegen moesten we durven beweren dat speciaal voor Rerum Novarum van "de tsjevenbond" we weer eens ons stokpaardje berijden. De slimme meters dus. Waar het hart van vol is loopt de mond van over...%Maar we schrijven dit keer niet zelf lelijke dingen over deze speeltjes. We steken voor jullie de grote plas over en we kijken hoe het daar verloopt. Want volgens Obama himself waren die slimme meters ook in staat tot wonderen. Ze zouden de Amerikaanse economie een booste geven en het energieprobleem oplossen...We hadden het hier al eerder over de Amerikaanse saga der slimme meters en we breien er nog een stukje aan...hop naar de New-York Times, niet meteen een blogje als Kitokojungle dachten we...
Just as the
bamboo-munching bears put a cute face
on the campaign for endangered species, the digital devices known as
smart
meters have been hailed by experts as the interface to educating
consumers
about their electricity use as the nation aims to overhaul its grid and
energy
use.
But the smart meter has
not been the cuddly and
beneficial device smart-grid enthusiasts promised, or need, to win
public
interest.
And recent lawsuits and
complaints about smart
meters being responsible for higher electricity bills in early-mover
programs
in California and Texas have exposed a major problem in
experts' assumptions about the meters: Having energy usage information
is not
the same as understanding it or being able to act upon it.
If a consumer did not
understand how weather, fuel
prices or inefficient water heaters affected their electricity before
the new
meter was installed, they won't understand after it is installed either
without
additional educational efforts. And any changes that occur in their bill
will
be blamed on the tangible, newfangled element in the equation: the smart
meter.
"The value of the smart
meter is not
immediately recognizable by the consumer, and that's a problem," said
Eric
Dresselhuys, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for
Silver
Spring Networks. Silver Spring is one of the
leading providers of the software and hardware platform that connects
smart
meters and other equipment to utilities.
Silver Spring and
other companies working in the smart-grid industry are quickly
coalescing to
address this gap in consumers' understanding of electricity use and the
smart
meter. Silver Spring, General Electric Co., the GridWise Alliance, Best
Buy Co.
Inc., the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and several other
companies
unveiled the SmartGrid Consumer Collaborative last month. The
collaborative's
mission is to research consumers' concerns and develop a message to
engage the
consumer to understand the benefits of the smart grid.
The companies are hoping
to quickly stymie a
growing belief among consumers that smart meters are just another way
for
utilities to make money.
"We have a lot to do to
begin informing
consumers and a lot to do to market differently with consumers," Bob
Gilligan, vice president of GE's Transmission and Distribution Business,
said
in an interview before the coalition was announced. "I think it's really
not out there yet for most consumers; there is a lot more to be done."
"The smart grid is not
smart until the
consumer is actually engaged," added Katherine Hamilton, president of
the
GridWise Alliance.
But Ralph Izzo, chairman
and CEO of New Jersey's
Public Service Enterprise Group, said better marketing may not be the
answer to
addressing the gap in consumer understanding of electricity use or
changing
consumer behavior.
"I think we tend to
overstate the contribution
that sophisticated technology can and should make," Izzo said.
"I feel like just
shouting, 'Stop. Apply some
common sense,'" he said. "Before we start championing
multibillion-dollar investments in smart grids that control set-back
temperatures on refrigerators because there is or isn't going to be a
Super
Bowl ... we need to get folks to caulk around their windows," he said.
Advanced technology and
smart meters should be
available to gadget-hungry consumers who will engage with the
technology, Izzo
said. But at the same time, regulators should enable utilities to do
more basic
weatherization and other energy saving measures.
Mutiny on the bounty
Recent lawsuits filed by
customers against PG&E
Corp. in Bakersfield, Calif., and Oncor in Dallas, Texas, accusing the
meters
of inflating electricity bills have introduced a considerable chill
among the
industry in the past few months.
The suits and other
complaints involve some of the
biggest players in the smart-grid and smart-meter space -- including
Silver Spring, Landis+Gyr and IBM Corp. -- and could have
significant implications on how quickly utilities and state regulators
move
forward with meter installation programs.
The utilities and
companies involved say there is
no problem with the meters or the data communication. Instead, unusual
weather
and other circumstances have caused users' bills to increase.
1
But the companies
acknowledge PG&E, Oncor and
the industry probably did not adequately communicate and educate their
customers about what the smart meter would and would not do. Promises
and
reality could cause significant issues down the road if better
communication
about the smart grid is not developed, Malcolm Unsworth, president and
CEO of
Itron Inc. said at the EnergyBiz Leadership Forum last month. Itron is a
leading manufacturer of meters.
"The hype
must be replaced by smart strategy and results," Unsworth said.
GE's Gilligan agrees. "I
think we have to be
careful not to set too high an expectation in the near term in terms of
differences they will see," he said. "I think we need them to see why
there is need a for change. ... We have to keep building the message we
are
positioning for a 21st century America."
The "why" is key,
according to Nancy
Brockway, principal of NBrockway & Associates, a utility and
electricity
consultant. The industry and regulators must change their message and
"spinach" attitude regarding smart meters, she told the National
Electricity Delivery Forum in February.
"The problem that I see
from the consumer
perspective is we are not sure if the consumer wants it, and we don't
know if
consumers want to pay for it," she said. "One thing that will turn
off the ability to get from here to there is the 'eat your spinach'
mentality
-- it's good for you, it will be good for you ... so eat your spinach."
"The more these enormous
costs are shoved down
these people's throats, the more they may turn on this thing that they
might
like," Brockway said.
Plugging consumers into
the
equation
The firms behind the
SmartGrid Consumer
Collaborative want to change that mentality by reaching out to consumers
and
attempting to understand them better through research.
"We can't get buy-in
until we educate,"
said John McDonald, general manager of marketing for GE's digital energy
business, during a teleconference announcing the collaborative.
Guido Bartels, general
manager of energy and
utilities at IBM, said the education must reach beyond the technology to
the
"foundational layer" of electricity in society. "Not everyone
realizes how fundamental electricity is" to the economy, Bartels said.
The simple problem of
consumer ignorance about
electricity and the solutions needed to address it has been
underestimated by
many companies, Bartels said. "One of the things IBM is learning, is
that
these are complex projects; they need careful planning ... and some of
these
[meter] roll-outs lacked that."
The collaborative is not
the only effort moving
forward on the issue. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is also
working
on a national plan to develop an educational campaign on energy use as
part of
efforts to promote "demand response" -- a voluntary decrease in
energy use at peak use times -- activity usually enabled in part by a
smart
meter (Greenwire,
Nov. 5, 2009).
Dan Delurey, executive
director for the Demand
Response and Smart Grid Coalition, said the two efforts could work in
collaboration, especially on consumer research.
"We need it all," Delurey
said.
"There is a lot of suffering going on right now from substance having
gotten out ahead of communications."
PSEG's Izzo said stepping
back and slowing down a
bit on the massive roll out of smart meters could be beneficial for
everyone.
Focusing on straightforward changes such as weatherization and lighting
would
likely do a lot more toward benefiting and informing consumers about the
electricity use of various appliances and drafty houses than devices
that
"you have to ping 14 places around the planet to control," he said.
To be fair, Izzo said,
sophisticated, programmable
technology was very beneficial for customers willing to participate in
PSEG
pilot projects.
"But the attraction to
most customers is low,
and penetration rates are very, very low," Izzo said. "That resulted
in many of our regulators saying, 'Wait a minute, so we are going to do
this
ubiquitous change out in technology for all customers and then watch
only a
handful of customers take advantage of that? That doesn't make a lot of
sense.'"
Instead PSEG is taking a
two-pronged approach that
targets customers interested in smart meter and other high-tech devices
but
does the simple "low tech" fixes of insulation and light bulb
switching -- for which New Jersey regulators have allowed the utility to
earn
some revenue -- with the majority of other customers.
"If I would have to say
what one area would
have the greatest impact right now it would be the low-tech,
bread-and-butter
programs," Izzo said.
Correction: A previous version of the story
incorrectly associated
Itron Inc. with lawsuits against PG&E Corp. and Oncor. Itron is not a
party
to either lawsuit.
Vandaag ergerden we ons een een kemelbult aan het opiniestuk dat
Brigitte Raskin meende te moeten neerpennen in De Morgen. Gewoonlijk
leest minstens één welwillend oog haar stukjes in de plaatselijke
pajotse Randkrant. Niet echt zwaar op de hand maar leesbaar met een
politiek krols kantje aan. Maar onderstaand gezwijmel tart onze
verbeelding. De meeste lezertjes zullen al wel stilaan weten dat we geen
bewonderaars zijn van de zogenaamde "linkse" Gravensteengroep". Hier
kan al misschien een diepere oorzaak gevonden worden voor onze huidige
wrevel en ergernis. Want het is haar volste recht de stelling van Stijn
"Pleuris" over niet stemmen te bekritiseren maar dan moet je zelf wel
een soort rechtlijnige logica volgen. Hoe rijm je dan dat je hier zwart
op wit schrijft dat je als lid van de Gravensteenbende zelfs maar durft
te overwegen op een Franstalige lijst te stemmen in
Brussel-Halle-Vilvoorde? Die Gravensteners ropen bij nacht en ontij en
ook wel tijdens beter weer, dat Vlaanderen in feite los moet uit
België...in elk geval meer rechten moet verwerven en dat B-H-V
onverwijld moet gesplitst worden. Dan komt hier een niet volledig
hersenlam lid van die bende doodleuk beweren dat ze overwoog Ecolo te
stemmen... Gelukkig weerhield de deelname van Frank VDB haar om deze
diabolische keuze te moeten maken. Lezen jullie als lid van het kiesvee
dat we voor dat soort mensen zijn, in haar stukje één kritische komma
over het feit dat Frankske nu wel verzoend is met Janneke en Mieke bij
de SP-a maar dat hij één van de weinige kopstukken is die effectief wil
zetelen binnen de federale structuur. Lieten, Smet e.a. presenteren zich
aan de kiezer maar willen niet op federaal niveau zetelen. In mijn tijd
heette dat soort praktijken boerenbedrog! Basta! En we willen dat nog
aannemen van partijen die plat populisme als enige ideologische
achtergrond hebben, maar niet van de sossen! We zitten in volle
economische crisis, het werkvolk mort, ok, zij hebben de verkiezingen
niet gewild maar ze zeggen toch maar mooi dat het historische
verkiezingen zullen worden...tja, Waterloo was voor Napoleon ook een
historische veldslag... Ook de literatuur van de rooie Voorzitter,
annex senator is niet mis...klagen en zagen over zijn pietluttige
onverkiesbare plaats op de lijst die dan toch niet helemaal
onverkiesbaar zou zijn terwijl hij reeds de helft van Vlaanderen van de
ondergang heeft gered zonder mandaat... Gelukkig maar dat we intussen,
zoals hij het graag wil, nog niet alle banken hebben genationaliseerd
samen met Opel en de ganse en energiesector of ze hadden moeten Euro's
bijdrukken om ons met een Grieks rampenplan II te komen redden. Als ie
dan nog de republiek zal hebben uitgeroepen en het alternatief voor de
Lange Wapper hebben uitgewerkt, waarvan het eerste de minst moeilijke
klus lijkt te worden, dan zijn we hier allemaal al lang mekaars haren
aan het uitvlooien omdat we toch niks beters meer te doen hebben omdat
we intussen door de rest van de wereld opgesloten werden in een
reservaat voor primaten. Ja we zijn dus gebelgd en pisnijdig ...maar
stemmen zullen we, ondanks de oproep van Stijn Meuris gewoon uit respect
voor diegenen die erin hebben willen geloven. Maar we zouden graag
kandidaten vinden die onze stem waard zijn...we kijken reikhalzend uit
naar dergelijke witte raven...Want zeggen dat de pensioenen met 200 naar omhoog moeten maar dat we daarvoor met zijn allen tot 65 jaar moeten blijven werken lijkt ons niet meteen de meest wervende slogan. Tenzij voor een partij die zichzelf wil opheffen of zich wil terugtrekken voor een ideologische herbronning ergens diep in de Gobiwoestijn.
Een
jaar na zijn liquidatie als Vlaams minister is Frank Vandenbroucke
(sp.a) terug als lijstduwer voor de Senaat. Brigitte Raskin reageert
verheugd. Brigitte Raskin is schrijfster, onder andere van Het
koekoeksjong en De gestolen prinses.
Lijstduwer
voor de Senaat, het lijkt een plaats van niks, maar we weten wel beter.
Heel Vlaanderen kan en zal je daar zien staan
Beste Frank,
Wat een excellent verkiezingsnieuws! Na het onnozel
weetje dat zanger Meuris niet gaat stemmen en het opgeklopt bericht dat
journalist Bracke een kamerlijst van de N-VA trekt, de opmerkelijke
bevestiging dat politicus Vandenbroucke voor zijn eigen partij opkomt.
Dat laatste mag dan de gewone gang van zaken zijn, ik was er niet gerust
in. Toen ik je in het tv journaal op 1 mei als de eerste de beste
militant tussen het publiek naar de speech van Bruno Tobback zag staan
luisteren, sloeg ik er mijn eigen Sampol-artikel (Samenleving en
politiek. Tijdschrift voor een sociale democratie, nvdr) over mijn eigen
politieke ontmoediging op na en las: "Maar die verdomde einzelgänger is
nu dan in zijn partij weggehoond (als linkshandige architect en
betrouwbare aannemer) en het is wachten op de volgende verkiezingen om
het effect van dat weg-met-Vandenbroucke volledig in te schatten." En ik
voelde me een pikzwarte kat die je politieke weg was overgestoken.
Gravensteengroep Maar
oef, de sp.a en haar voorzitster blijken toch niet zo onverstandig en
lichtvaardig te zijn als ik hen in dat artikel voorstelde.
Sp.a-lijstduwer voor de Senaat, het lijkt een plaats van niks, maar we
weten wel beter. Heel Vlaanderen kan je daar zien staan en heel
Vlaanderen zál je daar zien staan. Dat je op mij kunt rekenen voor je
campagne, weet je. Laat ze maar komen, de uit te delen folders of van
die fotokaarten die het vorige keer goed deden. Toen voerde ik ook de
maximumfactuur en dienstencheques als overtuigingsstukken aan, nu zal
het ook over de Belgische impasse moeten gaan. Geen nood, daar sla ik
ook mezelf op na: "Vlaams-rechts, voor velen is dat eenstemmig gezang,
ook omdat Vlaams-links niet opklinkt als duet. Vlaams en links lijkt
zelfs hoe langer hoe meer een contradictio in terminis [.].
Vandenbroucke ja, die wil links én Vlaams zijn en als Vlaams minister
wilde hij dat de sp.a (toen federaal in de oppositie) actief zou
deelnemen aan de gesprekken over de staatshervorming (om Vlaams-links
daarin óók een stem te geven)." Daar voeg ik dan de sp.a-nota over de
sociale staatshervorming aan toe, die jij hebt geschreven en die de sp.a
je hopelijk in de volgende weken breeduit laat verdedigen in de media,
zodat een freelance militant als ik daar kan op inpikken. Dat links
Vlaanderen zo onverstandig en lichtvaardig zal zijn niet massaal op jou
en je partij te stemmen, of dat er nog altijd zogenaamde progressieve
kierewieten als zanger Meuris valse liedjes zullen zingen, kan ik me in
mijn enthousiasme voor de goede zaak al niet meer voorstellen.
Wat
mij bezielt om je dit zo openlijk te schrijven, heeft overigens ook met
mijn eigen imago te maken. Op mijn "Van weg-met-Collard tot
weg-met-Vandenbroucke" in Sampol kreeg ik boze reacties van trouwe
socialistische kiezers. Enerzijds deelden zij mijn verontwaardiging over
het partijpolitiek gedoe in de sp.a, anderzijds namen ze het me kwalijk
dat ik niet van plan scheen te zijn ook een trouwe socialistische
kiezer te blijven. Hierbij getuig ik dat ik dat weer wél van plan ben:
vorige week dacht ik er nog aan dan maar op Ecolo te stemmen (aangezien
ook Vlamingen balorig op Franstaligen kunnen stemmen in het ongesplitste
B-H-V), vanaf deze week ga ik opnieuw voor jou en de sp.a, terug
opklinkend als duet.
Tegelijk zet ik de puntjes op de i's in mijn
naam. In zijn analyse van de Vlaams-nationalistische outing van
Siegfried Bracke schrijft Walter Pauli in De Morgen van 5/5 dat ook
anderen "richting N-VA, of beter richting radicaal confederalisme,
zoniet separatisme" evolueren. Waarna mijn naam valt in het lijstje van
mensen die meedraaien in de Gravensteengroep. Dat doe ik, ja, behoren
tot die club van Vlamingen die het beu zijn dat Vlaamse eisen telkens
met (extreem-)rechts gedachtegoed worden geassocieerd. Maar daarom wil
ik hoegenaamd niet dat mijn naam wordt geassocieerd met een groei "weg
van de socialistische kameraden", laat staan met een evolutie "richting
N-VA", alsof die partij een monopolie heeft op het "meer federalistisch
discours". Vandaar dat ik met overtuiging laat weten dat ik zo'n dappere
"eenzame dwaas" ben (om het ook in de woorden van Pauli te zeggen) die
zich nog tot de Vlaamse socialisten bekent. Waarbij ik er dan op reken
dat jij politiek aantoont dat links en Vlaams wél te combineren zijn,
ook op federaal vlak, en dat je en passant herhaalt wat je al eerder
aantoonde: dat Bart De Wever nog rechtser is dan hij Vlaams is.
Ik heb de tiende
plaats aanvaard op de Senaatslijst van de SP.a. In gangbare termen is
dat geen verkiesbare plaats, tenzij we 60.000 Vlamingen verzamelen die
er anders over denken.
Waarom dan toch meedoen?
Ten eerste omdat we
uitzonderlijke tijden beleven. De wereld wordt overspoeld door de tweede
financieel-economische tsunami in twee jaar tijd. Er dreigt een sociaal
bloedbad in heel Europa. Griekenland is daar de voorafspiegeling van.
In die context ga ik écht niet te lang stilstaan bij mijn eigen plekje
op de lijst. Minder dan ooit kan de linkerzijde het zich veroorloven om
in verspreide slagorde naar de verkiezingen te trekken. Dit geldt a
fortiori voor België en Vlaanderen, waar de rechterzijde meer dan ooit
aan zet is. Rechts tracht zich bovendien nog te versterken door om
communautaire themas naar de kiezer te trekken. Maar de contouren van
de sociale strijd tekenen zich op de achtergrond duidelijk af. Er is een
links bruggenhoofd in het parlement nodig. Maar niet alleen dat: het
overheersende discours over economie moet doorbroken worden. Het moet
weer naar links. Socialistische verkozenen met een ruggengraat zijn
daarbij essentieel.
Ten tweede kwamen deze verkiezingen halsoverkop. Minder
dan ooit had de partijbasis daarbij de kans om haar stempel te drukken
op de lijstvorming. Dat is dan maar zo. Ik zal roeien met de riemen die
men mij geeft. De tijden zijn er niet naar om van een verkiezing weg te
lopen.
De kiezer beslist
Ten derde staat Rudi Kennes op een
verkiesbare vierde plaats op de Kamerlijst in Antwerpen. Voor het eerst
in jaren opent zich het perspectief om een socialist met een
uitgesproken links en syndicaal profiel verkozen te krijgen in het
parlement. Voorwaar geen overbodige luxe in deze turbulente tijden. Rudi
kan daarbij een ondersteunende campagne van op de Senaatslijst
gebruiken. Hij moet niet enkel verkozen worden, hij moet met zoveel
mogelijk voorkeurstemmen verkozen geraken.
Ten vierde is geen enkele plaats op
de lijst onverkiesbaar. Ook niet de tiende plaats op de Senaatslijst.
Wie van elf naar vier kan springen zoals ik vorig jaar deed kan ook van
tien naar drie springen en verkozen geraken. De kiezer beslist. Voor de
Stijn Meurissen van deze wereld luidt de boodschap: we snappen jullie
ongenoegen, maar doorbreek de particratie en herstel de democratie, in
plaats van op 13 juni in je bed te blijven liggen! Hetzelfde geldt voor
de kiezers van Vlaams Belang en Lijst De Decker: we snappen ook jullie
ongenoegen, maar de tijd van die demagogen is gelukkig voorbij. Zij
vielen door de mand.Doe dus iets nuttigs met je stem! Welkom terug bij
de SP.a, maar schud mijn partij maar eens goed wakker.
De missing links
Voor de kiezers van
de PVDA geldt een variant op deze boodschap: minder nog dan voor de
Kamer is het realistisch dat de PVDA een verkozene zou hebben in de
Senaat. Wie de SP.a niet links genoeg vindt maar voor wie linkse
verkozenen geen overbodige luxe zijn vindt op plaats tien van de
Senaatslijst van de SP.a de missing links tussen linkser en links. Op
het sociaal-economische vlak staat SP.a Rood trouwens voor een
financiële- en een energiesector in openbare handen, een onvervalste
vermogensbelasting en de afschaffing van de notionele intrestaftrek. Laat
je niet verWeven
Sedert begin mei is het verschil tussen de Belgische en
Duitse rentes op staatsobligaties aan het toenemen. Is dat omdat de
macro-economische parameters voor België slecht zijn? Integendeel: de
groei in ons land is nog steeds hoger dan in de rest van de Eurozone,
terwijl ons begrotingstekort lager is dan het gemiddelde. De financiële
markten ruiken echter een institutionele crisis en politieke
instabiliteit. Met andere woorden: de communautaire crisis begint ons
pakken geld te kosten.
Terwijl de N-VA met behulp van Siegfried
Bracke Vlaanderen tracht te verstrikken, heb ik daarom een andere
boodschap: laat je niet verWeven in het communautaire spinnenweb! Voor
Vlaams Belang, N-VA en LDD zijn vormen de communautaire problemen een
politiek handelsfonds. Zij hebben geen baat bij een oplossing. Ze zijn
een deel van het probleem. Zij zullen de communautaire stem
misbruiken om een sociaal bloedbad à la Griekenland aan te richten. Een
disciplinering van het overheidsbudget om de schulden af te bouwen en de
rentesneeuwbal te doorbreken op vraag van "de markten" (lees: de
speculanten en bankiers), niet door linkse voorstellen als een
vermogensbelasting, het aanpakken van belastingsontduiking of een wet
tegen ontslagen bij winstgevende bedrijven, maar wel door loonbevriezing
en het in vraag stellen van onze sociale zekerheid. Splits
B-H-V voor mijn part, maar begrijp dan dat dit enkel kan via een
onderhandelde oplossing. Maar los vooral de sociale problemen in Brussel
en de rand op! Zorg voor de heropbouw van de Brusselse infrastructuur,
voor sociale woningbouw in Brussel én in Halle-Vilvoorde zodat de
sociale verdringing die vaak onder het taalprobleem schuilgaat bestreden
wordt. Bouw scholen in de hoofdstad, bouw een gewestoverschrijdend
openbaar vervoersnet uit. Investeer en werk samen in een Marshallplan
voor Brussel. Werk aan de inbreiding van Brussel. De
tewerkstelling in de bouwsector van Brussel, Vlaanderen en Wallonië zal
er wel bij varen!
Leve de republiek
Samen met de SP.a ben ik voor een grote
staatshervorming. Samen met de SP.a vind ik dat die staatshervorming
sociaal moet zijn. Ik verschil echter grondig van mening met de partij
over het arbeidsmarktbeleid. Dat is zeker niet de spil van een sociale,
laat staan socialistische staatshervorming. De arbeidsmarkt verder
splitsen betekent sociale concurrentie in het leven roepen tussen de
gewesten. Bovendien levert een gesplitste arbeidsmarkt in en rond
Brussel en op de taalgrens operationele problemen op. De grenzen van de
regionalisering zijn bereikt en zelfs overschreden. Hetzelfde kan worden
gezegd van het milieubeleid, het wetenschapsbeleid of onze
vertegenwoordiging in het buitenland. Waarom eigen Vlaamse Huizen of
aparte Vlaamse hulpmissies naar Haïti?
Een sociale staatshervorming moet België
democratischer, transparanter en efficiënter maken. Het kan beter en
goedkoper. Het herfederaliseren van bevoegdheden mag geen taboe zijn.
Het afschaffen van het Koningshuis evenmin. Socialisten zijn
republikeinen, geen oudbakken Belgicisten: Vive la république/leve de
republiek! Er moet één federale kieskring komen voor het federaal
parlement. De kiesdrempels moeten worden afgeschaft
Kwelgeesten
De afgelopen jaren
bewezen heb ik bewezen geen politiek mandaat nodig te hebben om aan
politiek te doen. In Antwerpen vocht ik samen met Ademloos en
Straten-Generaal tegen de Lange Wapper, bewerkstelligde ik een bocht
van de SP.a in dit dossier en redde ik mijn woonplaats Deurne van een
kathedraalbrede autosnelweg. De strijd werd dus deels met succes
bekroond maar is nog niet gestreden. Net zoals de legendarische
Antwerpse kwelgeest dreigt ook de Lange Wapper bij nacht en ontij terug
te keren.
Ik zette ook de solidariteitscampagne Zomer van Opel op
poten. Om samen met Rudi Kennes de kwelgeest van de werkloosheid op een
afstand te houden, en omdat een sociale en ecologische auto-industrie in
ons land mogelijk is.
Ik had geen politiek mandaat ter beschikking om deze
gevechten te leveren. Ik leverde ze in mijn schaarse vrije tijd en op
eigen kosten. In tegenstelling tot veel andere politici beloofde ik dus
niet, maar handelde ik in de plaats. Wie zegt eerst zien en dan
geloven heeft dus al kunnen zien. Maar deze manier van werken heeft
natuurlijk zijn grenzen. Een verkozen mandaat zou me toelaten de
belangen van werkende mensen veel beter te verdedigen. Daarom reken ik
ook op uw steun op 13 juni.
Het is tegenwoordig een trend om als bedrijf allerlei charters en andere
ethische codes te kunnen voorleggen om zogezegd op een verantwoorde
manier zaken te doen en te produceren in landen waar men wel eens de
minimale arbeidswetgeving met de voeten treedt. Zo een mooi voorbeeld is
het Zweedse Ikea. Maar wat lezen we nu op een zeer lezenswaardige
Amerikaanse site ? Lees zelf maar en vooral, tracht je even in te leven in "The beautiful way of life" van de Amerikaanse werkvloer... we zouden zelfs durven suggereren om even weg te blijven uit de zo sympathieke en sociale winkel met de handige meubels...
IKEA has admitted that freedom of association is not applicable in
China. Even in the land of the free, a union campaign at an IKEA
supply plant makes Danville, Virginia, sound like an export processing
zone in Bangladesh. Photo: yarnzombie.
After three decades of footloose production driven
by the outsource-everything imperative, the storyline is familiar: an
image-conscious brand operating in a repressive environment seeks to
downplay workers complaints with assurances that all the local rules
are being followed.
This particular story has a couple of twists,
however. The repressive environment is the state of Virginia, where
union organizers have labored mightily to get a mere 4.7 percent of
Virginians protected by union contracts.
Moreover, the brand is
the Swedish home-supply megastore IKEAhailing from a land of
social-democratic harmonywhich boasts in its annual reports about
strong and long-standing ties to the global woodworkers union, BWI.
And
on top of it all, the $281 million factory in Virginia (known as
Swedwood) is an actual IKEA subsidiary, not the typical supplier
factory with an arms-length relationship to the brand that buys its
goods.
So one might think that honoring workers right to
organize in the land of the free should be a simple matter of Just
ask Kjell to phone up Bengt and Anders, OK?
In reality, a labor
journalist from the Swedish metalworkers union magazine had to jump
through hoops just to pose a few questions to the Virginia factorys
manager, Bengt Lundgren. The resulting
article recounts the struggle of the Machinists (IAM) union in
terms that make Danville, Virginia, sound more like an export processing
zone in Bangladesh or the Dominican Republic: workers terrified to
meet, racial discrimination and favoritism, a worker humiliated by
urinating on himself after being denied a bathroom break.
Heres a
quote from Lundgren: I have absolutely no dialogue with the union.
That's how the American system works.
What about that
much-vaunted relationship with BWI, the global union federation? The
article continues: When BWI general secretary Anita Normark visited
Danville along with some of her colleagues, she had to wait two days
before they let her in. Kjell Dahlström, former chairman of the union
Skogs- och Träfacket, had the same problem, even though he is a member
of IKEA's team for monitoring IKEA manufacturers around the world.
Unions
cooperation in monitoring foreign factories is a net negative. What may
be won in a few casesgetting some workers back pay or a few union
activists rehiredis far outweighed by the public relations benefit to
the companies, who can claim they are partnering with progressive
forces.
NO RIGHTS IN CHINA
In IKEAs just-released sustainability
report, the company is obviously at a loss to explain how workers
in an un-free nation can organize resistance to a brutal boss. The
report says the right to freedom of association is not applicable in
China, which is IKEAs largest source of products.
Compared to the
mental gymnastics engaged in by other companies addressing this issue,
this is a refreshingly honest appraisal. It should be the starting point
for anyone working to improve conditions for workers anywheresince all
the worlds workers compete with Chinas $3-a-day wage,
party-controlled unions, and low environmental standards.
Most of
the report, however, is boilerplate corporate social responsibility
language with pseudo-scientific measurements of everything from wages
and benefits to harassment, abuse and disciplinary actions.
Especially
dubious is the 99.2 percent freedom of association ranking that IKEA
gives itself for its Asian production occurring outside China (which
includes fellow union-crushing states like Vietnam)and, of course, the
100 percent score for North America, which includes Danville, Virginia.
In Danville, USA IKEA's subsidiary breaks a number of
its own rules. The union is not allowed in here. Swedwood is bitterly
criticized by its employees. When it comes to responsibility for the
persecution, fingers point all the way up to the Swedish top executive.
I'll
be happy if five show up, says Bill Street while the steakhouse staff
sets a long table.
Ten show up. Hesitantly and dubiously, they
take a seat; six men and four women. They all work at Swedwood furniture
factory and they are all black. They don't want to give their name and
they absolutely don't want to be photographed. They are afraid; afraid
of their employer, Afraid of their Swedish employer, Swedwood and IKEA.
If
they find out that we came here, we'll get fired, they say.
The
city is Danville a sleepy rural town in the American south with its
golden days behind it. Once upon a time, there used to be a gigantic
textile factory here that employed more than 3,000 people and thousands
of workers worked their fingers to the bone in the flourishing tobacco
industry. Those days are gone. Danville is no longer a success story. It
is a town on the skids.
This is the location IKEA chose for its
production of "Expedit" bookcases, "Pax" wardrobes and "Lack" side
tables. The company was lured by various subsidies from the state of
Virginia and the city of Danville along with a number of different funds
and programmes as well as cheap labour. Bill Street is in charge of
the wood division of the American union IAMAW. For the past year and a
half, he has been trying to organise the workers at Swedwood which is
not easy. He's not even allowed to visit the factory.
If they
let me in, they'd be unionized within a week, says Bill Street with
confidence. Backed by American law, the Swedish management has banned
him from coming closer than a couple hundred metres to the facility.
That's where he can stand and pass out his flyers. The only way he can
actually talk to the workers is to knock on doors or to invite them to
dinner at the steakhouse in the strictest of secrecy.
All of the
Swedwood workers we met over a period of three days had the same
message: they are threatened, they are bullied and the management is
fostering an anti-union atmosphere; They can force us to do
anything they want. If you complain, they say Don't bother coming
back. They fire people for no reason. Most of the workers are
afraid. Without the union, we have no protection. Blacks are
treated worse than whites when it comes to promotions and transfers.
Whites get the best shifts.
In the US, unionizing has always
been a struggle. Actually, war is probably a more accurate term.
Swedwood was supposed to be an exception based on Bill Street's previous
experiences with IKEA. He worked hard to convince his own union that it
wasn't necessary to declare war on this particular factory. It's owned
by IKEA. It's run by Swedes. Nice company; nice people.
I have
no problem going to war, but I have a vision here, says Street. Using
Danville as an example, I want to demonstrate a new model of social
dialogue. Show how Swedes think where we talk to each other instead of
going to war. Now he knows better.
My colleagues in the union
were quick to say We told you so, says Street. So, it's back to the
same old story of war instead of dialogue.
In Danville, Bill
Street knocks on the doors of supporters people who in great secrecy
signed a petition to have IAMAW represent them at work. We weave our
way between churches on identical side streets with small houses, almost
like berries. None of those we meet want to go public they're not
willing to let us use their name or photo but they trust Bill Street
and speak candidly.
One man was about to go off shift on Friday
when the supervisor said See you tomorrow. But, I'm off this
weekend, the worker pointed out. See you tomorrow, I said, repeated
the supervisor and that was the end of the story.
A family man
with young children tells us that he has had to work every weekend since
Christmas; Swedwood doesn't care if you have a family and children.
Whoever
you ask, he or she can think of three to five colleagues that have been
fired. Several have been encouraged or threatened to not get the
union involved. An insidious point system leads to termination for the
slightest misdemeanour. Things that would not even been noted at
Swedwoods factories in Sweden are a demerit here. After a few demerits,
you get a reprimand; then you're out.
Several of those we met
spoke of a man who had problems with his bladder. Time and time again,
he asked if he could go to the restroom, but was told no. One day, he
ended up urinating on himself. His wife came to the factory with a
change of clothes. He changed in the men's room and was given a demerit
for leaving his workstation. After two weeks, he went to the restroom
without permission to avoid another accident. Then he was fired.
This
does not come from one or two militant supervisors if there are any.
It comes from regular, scared workers from the Swedwood factory. They
work in different shifts with different supervisors. It is a culture
that runs from the top down, they claim. A culture that, according to
the workers, is sanctioned by the top dog, Swedish Bengt Lundgren.
Bill
Street explains When Lundgren took over, we were warned that things
were going to go from bad to worse.
He knows everything, says
a female worker.
There are rules and regulations, says Bengt
Lundgren in response to the criticism. And we follow the rules and
regulations that are in place. Dialogue is handled via the employees. I
have absolutely no dialogue with the union. That's how the American
system works.
Not even the international union is welcome, even though
Swedwood signed a global agreement with the BWI in Geneva. When BWI
general secretary Anita Normark visited Danville along with some of her
colleagues, she had to wait two days before they let her in. Kjell
Dahlström, former chairman of the union Skogs- och Träfacket, had the
same problem even though he is a member of IKEA's team for monitoring
IKEA manufacturers around the world.
This is a clear violation
of our agreement, says Dahlström irritated.
Dagens Arbete's
journalist was also denied access to Swedwood's factory in the US. The
interview with factory manager Bengt Lundgren took place from a hotel
room in Danville by conference call, with HR manager Anders Schönström
as monitor in Ängelholm. Bengt Lundgren responded to question after
question with the same answer: I'll answer that question one more
time. If the members come together and get 50 percent or more, they are
more than welcome. Until then, we are under no obligation to associate
with the union.
Naturally, Swedwood and IKEA dismiss the
criticism. HR manager in Sweden, Anders Schönström, states that Dagens
Arbete is making serious accusations. It's one group's word against
another's he says in response to employee accusations.
People
are incredibly grateful for how much we do for the employees, claims
Schönström. Our representatives feel insulted since they think they're
doing a good job. They feel that we are much better than other companies
in the US when it comes to these matters.
Anders Schönström
also feels that Swedwood follows the rules that are in place; All
employees have free choice. Our employees are free to organise in the
manner they think is right. We also respect if people don't want to be
part of the union. I feel that we are following IKEA's code of conduct
in Danville.
Bob Ramsay of the international union BWI was one
of the individuals who had trouble visiting the Danville factory last
year. He is hardly impressed by Swedwood's handling of the situation
there.
The employees have no free choice. They are scared to
death to show a positive attitude towards unionizing. The employer
hardly needs any excuse to fire people.
Ramsay doesn't think
that Swedwood can solve the problems in Danville, even though the
Swedish union GS is pressing on in Sweden; If anything is going to
change, there has to be direct orders from IKEA in Sweden that enough is
enough. It's time to change your attitude and talk to the union about
this. It's going to have to start costing IKEA money, according
to Bob Ramsay. Money and image. That's the only way to get results.
Swedwood
is IKEA, says Monika Jocic at IKEA's information department. You have
to go through the organisation that is responsible. The ball is in
Swedwood's court.
We are seriously worried about Swedwood's
and IKEA's attitude, says Per-Olof Sjöö, chairman of the Swedish
woodworkers' union and deputy chairman of the international woodworkers'
union in Geneva. We will act in one way or another, likely through ILO
and OECD, which monitor union rights throughout the world.
It
would be pretty easy for Swedwood to solve the problems. Just let in
Bill Street from the American union. Let him explain during working
hours how the union works and then let the workers decide for
themselves if they want to be part of it or not. The law in the US
permits this.
Or, you could do it the difficult way. Bill
Street's union, the International Association of Machinists and
Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) takes Danville by storm with an onslaught of
recruiters. This is called a blitz. They knock on doors and collect
signatures from Swedwood workers. It is expensive, likely to cost at
least 100,000 dollars in Danville.
If more than 50 percent of
the employees want Bill Street to represent them in a union, a date is
set for a ballot vote. It takes about six weeks to get this type of
permit from a government agency. During that time, the employer can
convince the employees to vote no. Special companies known as union
busters can be called in. They are experts at undermining unionizing
activities.
First, we have to fight to form a union and take a
vote. Then we have to fight to work out an agreement. Once we've done
that, we have to fight to keep our members.
But, if we can't
convince 65 percent to sign, we don't ask for a vote, says Bill Street.
If we can't get 65 percent, it's too easy for the company to break us.
We nonetheless lose 40 percent of all votes. Six weeks gives the
company plenty of time to scare the shit out of the workers.
Facts:
How
employees earn demerits:
As described by the
employees: Your daughter gets sick. You take her to the hospital and
turn in a doctor's note when you get back one demerit. Death in the
family; you stay home one demerit. Going to the restroom when not on
break one demerit.
After the fourth demerit, you are
called into the HR manager and are given a dressing down. This is called
a verbal. With the fifth demerit, you get a written warning. The
seventh is called a final. The eighth is a final-final. The next
time, you're fired. Ninth: Go home and don't come back. You're out of
a job.
Rules that IKEA/Swedwood breaks:
It
goes without saying, writes Swedwood that we promote diversity, have a
fair and open workplace and treat all of our workers with respect.
Employees have the right to organise and join a union and we reject
discrimination in every form.
IKEA's code of conduct,
Iway, also applies in full force to the subsidiary Swedwood: IKEA
suppliers must ensure that workers are not prevented from organising.
And
...are not prevented from entering into collective negotiations...
between employer and employee representatives chosen by the workers.
Listen
to the interview:
The scene: a hotel room in Danville,
Virginia USA. A telephone and a journalist from Dagens Arbete. On the
other end of the line: the manager of the Swedwoods factory a few
kilometres away in the same town. Listen to the interview at da.se
350
people work at Swedwoods factory in Danville, which is 100 percent
owned by IKEA and was built in 2008. The factory manufactures the
products Expedit, Pax and Lack for IKEA. According to management,
there are currently 350 workers at the factory, of which 61 percent are
white.
Danville is located in southern Virginia in the USA. In
2007, the town had 44,000 residents, of which 53 percent are white, 44
percent are African American and 1.3 percent are Spanish speakers. Only
4.1 percent of all workers in Virginia are members of a union.
Text
and photos: Anders Elghorn; originally Published by Dagens Arbete
De strijd tegen de olievervuiling in de Golf van
Mexico is in een bepalende fase terechtgekomen. Volgens experts is het
gelukt om de stalen koepel over het olielek op de bodem van de zee te
plaatsen.
De 100 ton zware koepel
moet de olie opvangen en dan vervolgens naar een schip overpompen.
Voordat dat echter kan gebeuren, moet de koepel eerst nog worden
vastgemaakt aan de bodem. Dat meldt de Amerikaanse tv-zender CNN.
There was a
diary up a full 3 hours ago that speculated that the dome designed to
help plug the disasterous BP oil leak had failed. The diarist had
issues of confidentiality of sources however, as of about 10 minutes ago
it is official.
According to Doug Suttles BP Director of
Operations the containment dome did not work because of gas hydrate
crystal formation which apparently caused two problems with the
apparatus. the crystals changed the boyancy of the device, and the
crystals caused the plumbing for funneling the oil up to the capture
ships to fail.
The BP flack has mentioned several avenues to fix
these problems, from heating the apparatus to several other "industry
specific" techniques they will try and employ.
As of now the dome
has been lifted off the source of the leak and placed on the sea floor.
Improvements to diary to come.
4:41 p.m. |
Updated Officials for BP on Saturday encountered a
significant setback in their efforts to attach a
containment dome over a leaking well on the seabed of the Gulf of
Mexico, forcing them to move the dome aside while they find another
method to cap the crude oil flowing into the Gulf since April 20.
Officials
discovered that gas hydrates, ice-like crystals lighter than water, had
built up inside the 100-ton metal container. The hydrates threatened to
make the dome buoyant, and they also plugged up the top of the dome,
preventing it from being effective.
I wouldnt say it has failed
yet, Doug Suttles, BPs chief operating officer, said at a news
conference in Robert, La. What we attempted to do last night hasnt
worked.
As a consequence, crews had to lift the dome off the well
and place it on the seabed.
BP officials said they had
anticipated a problem with hydration but not this soon in the
operation. Since last week they had been cautioning that this type of
procedure had never before been attempted at 5,000 feet below the
surface.
The news on Saturday came as BP has struggled to find any
method to stem the majority of the oil, leaking at least 5,000 gallons
barrels roughly 210,000 gallons per day.
For now,
they have put the dome 650 feet to the side of the leaking well, while
we evaluate options, Mr. Suttles said.
The containment dome was
supposed to be the largest-scale method to cap the majority of the oil
flow so far. Other efforts continued on Saturday, as BP said that the
drilling a relief well, which would be able to collect the oil at one
source of the leak, had reached 9,000 feet.
Weather prevented
crews from doing a controlled burn of some of the oil, as they had done
successfully on Friday, but they were still able to lay protective boom,
said Rear Adm. Mary Landry of the Coast Guard.
Naar aanleiding van de olieramp in de USA, publiceren we vandaag een
bijdrage uit een onverwachte hoek. Je kan niet altijd de rooie vlag
laten wapperen:
Once again, in a matter only of a few years, the eyes
of the world are turned with suspense toward the Gulf Coast. Sadly, the
oil spill is following a path similar to Hurricane Katrina and
threatening the coast of Louisiana as well as neighboring states.
As citizens of God's creation, we perceive this monumental spill of
crude oil in the oceans of our planet as a sign of how far we have moved
from the purpose of God's creation.
Our immediate reaction is to
pray fervently for the urgent and efficient response to the current
crisis, to mourn painfully for the sacrifice of human life as well as
for the loss of marine life and wildlife, and to support the people and
communities of the region, whose livelihood directly depends on the
fisheries of the Gulf.
But as the first bishop of the world's
second-largest Christian Church, we also have a responsibility not only
to pray, but also to declare that to mistreat the natural environment is
to sin against humanity, against all living things, and against our
creator God. All of us -- individuals, institutions, and industries
alike -- bear responsibility; all of us are accountable for ignoring the
global consequences of environmental exploitation. Katrina -- we knew
-- was a natural calamity. This time -- we know -- it is a man-made
disaster. One deepwater pipe will impact millions of lives in several
states as well as countless businesses and industries.
Therefore, we must use every resource at our disposal to contain this
disaster. But we must also use every resource to determine liability for
the fact that 11 people have died and 5,000 barrels of oil are flowing
daily into the delicate ecology of the Gulf of Mexico. In exchange for
the benefits and wealth generated by deep underwater drilling,
individuals, institutions, and industries assume responsibility for
protecting the earth and its creatures from the well-known potential
hazards. In this instance, they have clearly failed in those
responsibilities; that failure must be acknowledged and strong measures
taken to avert future catastrophes.
Although we are halfway
around the world from this incident, our interest in it is deeply
personal. We visited Louisiana and its bayous only four months after its
devastation by Hurricane Katrina and we returned there just last
October to convene our Eighth Religion, Science, and the Environment
Symposium, "Restoring Balance: The Great Mississippi," in New Orleans.
At that time, we noted:
Although the time we have been on the
planet is insignificant in the context of the life of the planet itself,
we have reached a defining moment in our story.
Let us
remember that, whoever we are, we all have our part to play, our sacred
responsibility to the future. And let us remember that our
responsibility grows alongside our privileges; we are more accountable
the higher we stand on the scale of leadership. Our successes or
failures, personal and collective, determine the lives of billions. Our
decisions, personal and collective, determine the future of the planet.
In the spirit of responsibility, the White House and certain
Congressional leaders have declared that, before beginning new offshore
drilling for oil, there must be greater understanding of the
environmental impact and responsibility for such endeavors. We support
this approach. For, as confident as interested parties were that a
disaster like this could not occur because of watertight controls and
fail-safe mechanisms installed, those controls and mechanisms failed,
with the horrific results we witness unfolding each day.
Until
such understanding and responsibility have been determined, may God
grant us all the strength to curtail the spill, the resources to support
the region, and the courage to make the necessary changes so that
similar tragedies may be avoided in the future.
Infrax rekent meerkost groene stroom niet door aan klanten
donderdag 06 mei 2010, 10u07
Bron: belga
Netbeheerder Infrax gaat geen hogere distributienettarieven aanrekenen
omwille van de meerkost die het succes van de vele productie-eenheden
van groene stroom, vaak zonnepanelen, met zich meebrengen.
De
netbeheerder, ontstaan uit de vroegere zuivere intercommunales,
bevestigt zo wat Vlaams minister van Energie Freya Van den Bossche
woensdag zei in het Vlaams Parlement.
Deze week ontstond commotie
nadat de andere Vlaamse netbeheerder, Eandis, vrijdag liet weten dat het
de meerkost van de groenestroomproductie voor het elektriciteitsnet zou
willen doorrekenen aan de consument. Dat zou resulteren in een 20
procent hogere factuur.
De wens van Eandis vloeit voort uit de
opmaak van de meerjarentarieven voor de periode 2009-2012 waarin Eandis
jaarlijks 20 miljoen euro uittrok voor de betaling van
groenestroomcertificaten. Dat bleek ruim onvoldoende.
Infrax klopt
zich donderdag op de borst dat het die budgettaire oefening wel goed
gemaakt heeft. "De Raad van Bestuur van Infrax heeft, samen met de
aandeelhouders de budgetten nog eens grondig gecontroleerd.
Wij
hebben geen prijsstijgingen nodig omwille van dit succes van de groene
stroom. Bij de opstelling van de budgetten is rekening gehouden met deze
snelle groei", luidt het. "Dat het snel zou gaan met de zonnepanelen
stond al lang in de sterren geschreven."
Infrax verdeelt
elektriciteit in 68 gemeenten, voornamelijk in Limburg en delen van
West-Vlaanderen en Antwerpen.
tiens
tiens tiens nochtans herinneren we ons het volgende...op 5 juni 2008 in
De Standaard en trouwens ook in onze archieven vonden we het terug
BRUSSEL - Om de zonne-energiehype te financieren zal in
2010 al bijna 6euro extra worden aangerekend.
Een gezin met een gemiddeld elektriciteitsverbruik zal in 2010
5,94 euro extra moeten betalen om zonne-energie te subsidiëren. Dat
zegt Infrax, het netbedrijf van drie zuivere Vlaamse
distributie-intercommunales (Interelectra, Iveg en WVEM). Het bedrag
dient voor de uitgaven aan groenestroomcertificaten voor fotovoltaïsche
stroomproductie (PV). De meerkosten zullen dan 3,5 keer hoger zijn dan
vandaag. Twintig procent van alle Vlamingen is aangesloten op het
elektriciteitsnet van Infrax.
De
algemeen directeur van Infrax, Paul De fauw, pleitte er gisteren voor de
kosten voor de uitbouw van zonne-energieproductie te verdelen over alle
Vlaamse gezinnen.
Eigenaars
van een PV-installatie krijgen per 1.000 kilowattuur die opgewekt
wordt, een bijkomende vergoeding bovenop de gemiddelde prijs voor de
productie van elektriciteit. Het gaat om 450 euro per 1.000 kilowattuur.
Infrax is verplicht om die prijs te betalen, maar kan daarna niet
anders dan die dure certificaten tegen een veel lagere prijs verkopen
aan de leveranciers.
Voor
groenestroomcertificaten schommelt de marktprijs vandaag rond 110 euro.
Het verschil mag worden verrekend in het distributienettarief.
Infrax stelt echter vast dat het bedrag dat het op de
particulieren en de kmo's kan verhalen heel snel aan het stijgen is. Dat
komt doordat de Infrax-regio's goed zijn voor 41procent van alle
groenestroomcertificaten (GSC) voor zonne-energie in Vlaanderen, terwijl
in zijn werkingsgebied slechts 20procent van alle klanten woont. 'We
zijn het slachtoffer van onze successen op het vlak van de stimulering
van duurzaam energieverbuik', stelt Paul De fauw van Infrax.
Dit jaar zal Infrax 679.000 euro verhalen op de
elektriciteitsverbruikers in de gebieden die het bedient. In 2009
verwacht Infrax zelfs een spectaculaire toename van de
zonne-energiekosten tot 7,4 miljoen euro. De verwachting van de top van
Infrax is dat de uitgaven voor de certificaten voor zonne-energie nadien
sterk zullen blijven stijgen.
Er wordt onder meer verwezen naar het project van de Limburgse
Reconversiemaatschappij LRM om samen met de Groep Machiels een
PV-centrale van 4,5MW piekvermogen te bouwen op het vroegere slibbekken
van de mijn in Heusden-Zolder. Die wordt bestempeld als de grootste
zonnecentrale van de Benelux.
Wat
moeten we nu geloven buiten het feit dat het ongeloofwaardig overkomt
wat er nu gezegd wordt? Eerst komen klagen en proberen de kosten bij de
anderen te leggen en nu komen juichen....hier klopt iets niet...
en
kijk
INFRAX is er dus maar mooi in geslaagd de anderen er te
laten voor opdraaien zoals ze gevraagd hadden dus kunnen ze nu met hun
mooie praatjes komen...of weer een mooi voorbeeld hoe er tegenwoordig
over die dingen wordt gecommuniceerd....
Vlaamse
gezinnen en bedrijven hebben de jongste tijd massaal geïnvesteerd in
fotovoltaïsche panelen. Daardoor explodeert de steun die de
netbeheerders daarvoor uittrekken. Vorig jaar liep de factuur op tot
45,6 miljoen euro. Dit jaar verwacht de Vlaamse energieregulator Vreg
dat het bedrag meer dan verdubbelt tot ruim 100 miljoen euro. Dat bedrag
wordt integraal doorgerekend aan de verbruikers.
(tijd) -Wie
zonnepanelen plaatst, krijgt in Vlaanderen een financieel duwtje in de
rug dankzij de groenestroomcertificaten. Zon certificaat krijg je voor
elke 1.000 kilowattuur productie en is op de markt iets meer dan 100
euro waard.
Maar de netbedrijven zijn verplicht die certificaten
op te kopen tegen een gemiddelde prijs van 350 euro om investeringen aan
te moedigen. Vorig jaar was dat zelfs 450 euro. De netbeheerder
verkopen de certificaten vervolgens op de markt en nemen het verlies op
als kosten in de tarieven.
Met het succes stegen ook de kosten.
Dit jaar verwacht de Vreg dat de groenestroomcertificatenkosten oplopen
tot een tiende van de kosten van het netbeheer. We wijzen er wel op dat
dit niet 10 procent van de totale elektriciteitsfactuur is,
relativeert Vreg-directeur André Pictoel. Maar hij voegt er meteen aan
toe dat de kosten goed in het oog moeten worden gehouden.
West-Vlaanderen
en Limburg tellen de meeste zonnepanelen. Dat betekende tot voor kort
dat inwoners uit die regio meer bijbetaalden dan elders in Vlaanderen.
Maar door een onlangs goedgekeurd solidariteitsmechanisme
worden de kosten tussen de regios nu genivelleerd. Zo betaalden klanten
uit de regio van de intercommunales IMEA (Antwerpen) en Imewo (Gent)
miljoenen voor de vele zonnepanelen in het werkgebied van de
intercommunales Inter-Energa (Limburg) en Infrax West (West-Vlaanderen).
ATHENS, Greece Greek anger over new austerity
measures erupted into flaming protests Wednesday in Athens, as rioters
tried to storm Parliament, hurled Molotov cocktails at police and
torched buildings. Three people were killed in the melee, trapped in a
burning bank.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets as
part of nationwide strikes to protest new
taxes and government
spending cuts demanded by the International
Monetary Fund and other European nations before heavily indebted
Greece gets a bailout to keep it from defaulting.
In Berlin, Chancellor Angela Merkel called
the bailout critical for all of Europe.
Nothing less than the
future of Europe, and with that the future of Germany in Europe, is at
stake, Merkel told lawmakers. We are at a fork in the road.
In
the streets of the Greek capital, demonstrators chanted Thieves,
thieves! as they attempted to break through a riot police cordon
guarding Parliament and chased ceremonial guards away from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of
the building.
Tear gas drifted across the city center as rioters
toss paving stones and fire bombs
at police. Firefighters struggled to put out the flames as at least two
buildings were set on fire. Protesters set up burning barricades and
torched cars and a fire truck.
Fire Brigade spokesman Panayiotis
Falaras said three bodies were found in the wreckage of a Marfin Bank
branch on the route of the protest march, and another five people were
rescued from the burning buildings balcony.
We took 15 minutes
to get to the site because it was very difficult to get there, he said,
adding that it was not clear whether those who died had suffocated from
the smoke or burned to death.
Parliament speaker Filipos
Petsalnikos said the dead were two women and a man, and Parliament held a
minute of silence for the dead.
The marches came amid a 24-hour
nationwide general strike that grounded all flights to and from Greece,
shut down ports, schools and government services and left hospitals
working with emergency medical staff. The Acropolis and all other
ancient sites were closed and journalists also walked off the job, suspending television and
radio news broadcasts.
Some media including state television and
the Ta Nea newspaper Web site later broke the strike to report on the
deaths.
The loans are aimed at preventing Athens debt troubles
from becoming a wider crisis for the euro by engulfing other financially
troubled countries such as Spain and Portugal. Greece faces a May 19
due date on debt it says it cant repay without the bailout.
But
the rioting underlined skepticism that the Greek government could keep
up its end of the bargain, helping drive the euro below $1.29 for the
first time in over a year.
Union reaction until now had been
relatively muted by Greeces volatile standards, although the country
has been hit by a series of strikes. But anger mounted after Prime
Minister George Papandreou on Sunday announced cuts in salaries and
pensions for civil servants, and another round of consumer tax
increases, as a condition of the bailout.
In Berlin, Merkel urged
parliament to quickly pass the countrys share of the bailout 22
billion over three years by Friday.
Violence also broke out in
the northern city of Thessaloniki, where another 20,000 people marched
through the city center, with youths smashing windows of stores and fast
food restaurants.
The outpouring of anger appeared much more
spontaneous than the frequent set piece battles between police and
anarchist youths who often spark violence during Greek demonstrations.
Greek
unions concede that the cash-strapped government was forced to increase
consumer taxes and slash spending, including cutting salaries and
pensions for civil servants.
But they say low-income Greeks will
suffer disproportionately from the measures, which aim to save 30
billion ($40 billion) the countrys current budget deficit through
2012.
These people are losing their rights, they are losing their
future, said Yiannis Panagopoulos, head of GSEE, one of the two
largest union organizations. The country cannot surrender without a
fight.
IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned that the crisis
could spread to other countries despite the rescue packages efforts to
contain it.
Everyone must remain extremely vigilant, to this
risk, Strauss-Kahn said in an interview published in French newspaper Le
Parisien Wednesday.
I completely understand the Greek
populations anger, its incomprehension at the size of the economic
catastrophe, Strauss-Kahn said. But Greeks must also understand that
without these measures, the situation would be infinitely more
serious, he said.
Those who are feeling the crunch are outraged
that they have to pay for what they see as politicians mismanagement of
their countrys economy.
Well be on the streets every day,
every day! You never win unless you fight, said 76-year-old
Constantinos Doganis, who gets 345 a month from his farming pension
fund.
Its our fault too, all the mistakes made by politicians
over 30 years, all the people who cheat on their taxes, he said. But
they are behaving like buzzards the Germans borrow money at 3 percent
and then lend it to us for 5. Why?
Despite the strike, the draft
bill of the new austerity measures is to be voted on Thursday. Prime
Minister George Papandreous Socialists hold a comfortable majority of
160 in the 300-seat Parliament, and with a simple majority of 151 votes
needed, the bill is expected to be passed easily.
Associated Press
writers Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greg Keller in Paris and APTN crews
in Athens contributed.
We stellen vast dat niet alleen B-H-V op de onderhandelingstafel zal
komen maar eveneens de verlenging van de levensduur van onze
kerncentrales. We zullen toch weer niet het nutteloze debat zien
herrijzen over het al dan niet langer openhouden. Het is ook tegen onze
zin dat die dingen langer zullen draaien maar op dit ogenblik zien we
dus wel geen alternatief. Spijtig maar het is nu eenmaal zo en niet
anders. We hebben zo een sterk vermoeden dat GDF-SUEZ wel een
ondertekend papiertje ergens in een lade zal bewaren waarop een akkoord
staat tussen minister Magnette en zijzelf...of het al dan niet door het
parlement werd goedgekeurd zal weinig verschil uitmaken denken wij. Maar
we kunnen natuurlijk verkeerd zijn...we kunnen in feite alleen maar
hopen dat Electrabel zijn oude kerncentrales zal willen langer open
houden. WXant als we zo verder blijven aanmodderen zou de consument
(nogmaals) de dupe van dit spel kunnen worden. Stel dat ze die drie
centrales dicht gooien dan houden we ons hart vast. Want waar helen we
dan zo maar onmiddellijk meer dan 1200Mw alternatieve elektriciteit
vandaan? Tegen dan zal hoogstens 100Mw offshore geïnstalleerd zijn...
Kerncentrales toch sneller
dicht door val van regering
Door de val van de
regering-Leterme blijft de wet op de kernuitstap onverkort van kracht.
De verlenging van de levensduur van de oudste kerncentrales komt er
niet, bij gebrek aan goedkeuring in het parlement. De nucleaire
industrie legt zich daar niet bij neer.
Het omstreden
protocol dat de federale regering vorig najaar met de Franse energiereus
GDF Suez sloot om de drie oudste kerncentrales in Doel en Tihange tien
jaar langer open te houden, is een van de belangrijkste projecten die
sneuvelen door de val van de regering. "Het is niet omdat er een andere
regering komt dat het akkoord tussen de Belgische staat en GDF Suez over
de levensverlenging van de kerncentrales niet langer zou gelden",
waarschuwt een kaderlid van GDF-Suez.
Het protocol maakte een
einde aan de wet op de kernuitstap van 2003. Maar de deal vond zijn weg
niet naar het parlement. Een wetsontwerp van minister van Energie Paul
Magnette (PS) bleef uit. "Sommigen, niet wij, hebben de val van de
regering gewild. Dit is een van de gevolgen", zegt zijn woordvoerster
Marie-Isabelle Gomez.
De zaak komt nu ongetwijfeld op de
onderhandelingstafel bij de vorming van een nieuwe federale regering.
Volgens de Belgische nucleaire industrie, verenigd in het Nucleair
Forum, hoort het dossier daar niet thuis. Het akkoord dat de top van GDF
Suez destijds met premier Herman Van Rompuy en Magnette sloot, blijft
nog steeds geldig, vindt het Forum. (Johan Corthouts)
04/05/10 04u52
Erg leuk vinden
we volgende bijdrage want daar waar ons blogje er nooit in geslaagd is
om het grote publiek te bereiken doet Facebook (deze keer met
Hoofdletter) veel beter...
De aangekondigde prijsverhoging van Eandis valt
niet in goede aarde bij de consumenten. Op Facebook hadden zich
gisteravond al 12.000 Vlamingen verenigd die weigeren extra te betalen
voor de zonnepanelen van hun buurman.
Vrijdag gooide netbeheerder Eandis de knuppel in
het hoenderhok. Onze energiefactuur zal met 20 procent stijgen omdat
Eandis pakken geld moet betalen aan bedrijven en particulieren die
zonnepanelen installeerden.
De reacties op de sociale
netwerksite Facebook blijven niet uit. Inmiddels zijn er al 12.000 leden
die weigeren meer te betalen aan Eandis. De Facebookgroepen luisteren
naar namen als: 'Neen Eandis, wij gaan geen 20 procent bijbetalen', of:
'Ik wil niet betalen voor de zonnepanelen van mijn buurman'.
Danny De Doncker (43) uit Putte is de oprichter van die laatste
Facebookgroep. 'Zaterdagavond lanceerde ik de oproep', zegt Danny De
Doncker, die webdesigner is. 'Ik was toen best kwaad, want het is altijd
hetzelfde. Allemaal mooi, die subsidies, maar uiteindelijk draait de
burger ervoor op. Ik had gedacht dat alleen wat vrienden zouden reageren
op mijn oproep. Maar dat ik op maandagavond al meer dan 5.000 leden
had, deed mij wel schrikken. Ik wist niet dat het zo hard leefde.'
De webdesigner heeft zelf geen zonnepanelen, zijn buurman wel. 'Ik denk
dat hij wel zal kunnen lachen met mijn oproep. Ik heb helemaal niets
tegen zonne-energie. Installateurs van zonnepanelen hebben mij al kwade
berichten gestuurd. Maar ik heb zelf ook al overwogen om er te
installeren, dat is mijn punt niet. Ik vind het gewoon niet eerlijk dat
de kleine consument moet opdraaien voor de kosten. Ik denk wel dat het
een krachtig signaal is als we samen 100.000 leden kunnen mobiliseren.'
en
volgens ons hebben ze overschot van gelijk want voor dergelijke
beleidsblunders hoeven we met zijn allen niet op te draaien! Basta.
Wanneer we merken dat tomatentelers inderdaad meer verdienen met het
kweken van groenestroomcertificaten ipv met tomaten dan moet er
ingegrepen worden. We begrijpen tenandere die ganse heisa niet omwille
van de verklaringen van Eandis nu. Een jaar geleden beweerde Eandis net
het zelfde maar toen spraken ze nog van een verhoging van 1,5% van de
total elektriciteitsfactuur en toen reageerde niemand...nu spreekt men
van 20% en het kot is te klein. Ondanks het feit dat de boodschap toen
ook al duidelijk was... rarara. Misschien worden de mensen zich
eindelijk bewust van de ganse troep en dat het hen heel wat zal
kosten...
Voor diegenen die willen vergelijken met de
verklaringen van net een jaar geleden of maart 2009... je moet er wel de
commentaren over de slimme meters bij nemen...:
en daar zijn onze geliefde zonnepaneeltjes ook weer terug
Hohoho, beste lezertjes, het zijn momenteel hoogdagen voor ons. Tot
voor een paar dagen stonden we vrijwel alleen, als piepklein blogje, te
roepen in de woestijn dat we ons groen en blauw ergerden aan de slimme
meters en ook de zonnepanelen. En kijk nu eens, beste lezertjes, we
krijgen stilaan gelijk...en nu ook over onze zonnepanelen op de
zuidgerichte villadaken, zoals we dat hier al lang trachten duidelijk
te maken... Wij zijn dus trots, apetrots, dat we bij de eersten waren
om dat in te zien. Blijkbaar waren al die slimme "specialisten" en
"beleidsmakers" niet eens in staat om een correcte analyse te maken. In
feite hadden ze niet door dat ook in energiekwesties dubieuse praktijken
gebruikt worden om hun waren te slijten. Net zoals het blijkbaar
volstaat om op een yoghurtpotje het woordje "bio" te laten drukken om de
verkoop te stimuleren, lukt het om de term "groene of hernieuwbare
energie" te scanderen om iedereen een zonnepaneel aan te smeren...mits
de nodige subsidies. Blijkbaar is het nog steeds niet doorgedrongen bij
de specialisten en beleidsmakers dat de energiemarkt fundamenteel is
gewijzigd en het niet langer meer opgaat dat de collectiviteit blijft
opdraaien voor de kosten en vooral de baten die de rijkere bobo's zich
kunnen permitteren. Plastisch uitgedrukt zouden we het kunnen
samenvatten dat niet iedereen wil opdraaien voor de kosten van de
plaatsing van zonnepanelen met een jaarlijks rendement in Belgie tussen
de 13 en 15% en in Duitsland blijkbaar tot 30% om hun zwembaden te
verwarmen en hun jacuzzi en sauna's te verwarmen. Ondertussen zit zo een
dikke 10% van de bevolking erover te piekeren of ze vanaf de volgende
maand niet beter terug met kaarsen zullen verlichten en waar ze nog het
geld zullen vinden voor een zakje extra-vervuilende anthracieteitjes. Je
moet al een rijke mens zijn om groen te kunnen leven...
BRUSSEL -
Elektriciteit zal duurder worden door het succes van groene stroom, zo
waarschuwt Eandis.
Stroomnetbeheerder Eandis gaat aan
de regulator toestemming vragen om de distributietarieven de komende
jaren telkens met 10 procent te verhogen. Op die manier kan worden
voorkomen dat die tarieven in 2013 in één klap met 50 procent de hoogte
in zouden gaan. Dat heeft Eandis-voorzitter
Geert Versnick vrijdag gezegd op de algemene vergadering van Eandis. Een stijging van de
distributietarieven met 50 procent betekent dat de totale stroomfactuur
met een kleine 20 procent de hoogte zou ingaan.
Oorzaak van het
verzoek zijn de groenestroomcertificaten, waarvan er de komende jaren
veel meer moeten worden uitbetaald dan budgettair voorzien was. Eandis betaalt die certificaten uit aan
producenten van groene stroom. Dat zijn beheerders van windmolens en
biomassacentrales, en ook gezinnen en bedrijven die hun daken met
zonnepanelen hebben uitgerust.
Eandis
trekt nu al aan de alarmbel, omdat het bedrijf voor vier jaar vast zit
aan de huidige tarieven. Pas in 2013 kunnen de distributietarieven
verhoogd worden. Door de massa groenestroomcertificaten dreigt op dat
moment een nogal bruuske verhoging. Eandis
is van plan om aan regulator Creg te vragen de tarieven nu al
geleidelijk op te trekken. Daarvoor zou het principe van de
meerjarentarieven verlaten moeten worden.
'We willen nu de
aandacht vestigen op dit probleem, omdat de omvang ervan steeds groter
wordt en we met een onderbudgettering zitten', legt Eandis-woordvoerder Simon Van Wijmeersch
uit. Eandis heeft voor de vierjarige
periode 80 miljoen euro voorzien voor de groenestroomcertificaten,
terwijl er eigenlijk 300 miljoen nodig is.
Of de verhoging nu
wordt doorgevoerd of in 2013, zeker is dat stroom duurder zal worden.
Dat hoeft ook niet te verbazen. Het is een logisch gevolg van de
beleidsbeslissingen die de regering de afgelopen jaren heeft genomen.
België moet minder afhankelijk worden van fossiele brandstoffen. De
doelstelling is om over tien jaar 13 procent van de energie duurzaam op
te wekken. Om die doelstelling te bereiken heeft de regering
zonnepanelen gestimuleerd door een forse vergoeding van de
groenestroomcertificaten. Dat heeft ervoor gezorgd dat het aantal
zonnestroominstallaties gestegen is van 3.000 in 2007 tot 61.000 nu.
Ook is er veel energie gestoken in de bouw van windmolens op zee.
Tegelijk zijn er ruime premies voor wie zijn huis wil isoleren of een
energiezuinige verwarmingsketel plaatst.
Al die methodes om
energie op te wekken en te besparen zijn duur. De extra kosten worden in
de stroomfactuur verwerkt. Dat die stroomfactuur de komende jaren zal
stijgen, is het logische gevolg daarvan.
Hoeveel die stijging
zal bedragen, is het onderwerp van veel speculatie. De Waalse regulator
Capwe berekende vorig jaar al dat een gemiddeld Waals gezin in 2020 zo'n
750 euro voor zijn elektriciteit zal betalen, tegen 670 euro nu.
Vlaams minister van Energie Freya Van den Bossche (SP.A) kondigde
zaterdag aan dat ze 'een herevaluatie van het ondersteuningsmechanisme
voor grote projecten' wil. Nochtans is de vergoeding voor groene stroom
van bestaande installaties een recht dat voor 20 jaar verworven is,
zowel voor particulieren als voor bedrijven.
De vergoeding van
de groenestroomcertificaten wordt wel afgebouwd voor panelen die de
komende jaren worden geïnstalleerd.
Wij nodigen ook
iedereen uit om de reacties op dit artikel te lezen...het begint bij de
meesten stilaan duidelijk te worden...
maar het kan altijd beter want in Duitsland begint ook de politiek zich
zorgen te maken over hun eigen dwaze beslissingen zoals reeds eerder in
Nederland was gebeurd (zie eerdere bijdrage). Vooraleer zoiets zal gebeuren in Belgistan of in Vlaanderen zullen er nog zeker 56 B-H-V's moeten gesplitst worden...
SPIEGEL ONLINE
04/22/2010
04:16 PM
Revolt of the Sun Kings
Solar Industry Fights
to Save Subsidies
By Frank Dohmen, Nils Klawitter
and Wolfgang Reuter
Government subsidies for solar
energy in Germany have reached absurd proportions, as ordinary consumers
pay out billions to support solar power. Now plans to reduce the
subsidies are encountering massive resistance from the industry and a
number of German states, which benefit from the current arrangement.
Stuart
Brannigan believes that the subsidization of solar power practiced in
Germany is extremely exaggerated. Brannigan, a British citizen, says
that it's "absolutely necessary" that it be drastically reduced in size.
It's a surprising remark, considering that Brannigan is the European
managing director of Yingli Green Energy, a Chinese solar energy company
which largely has German government subsidies to thank for the fact
that it has been able to grow from a small business into a major player
in just six years. Brannigan hasn't exactly made any friends in the
photovoltaic sector, especially not in Germany, with comments like this.
Yingli
opened up shop in 2004 as a small photovoltaic business, producing
solar cells, in Baoding south of Beijing. At the time, the company was
manufacturing 6 megawatts worth of solar panels a year -- enough for the
roofs of houses in a few villages.
The company now boasts annual
sales of more than $1 billion (740 million). Yingli is a sponsor of the
upcoming football World Cup in South Africa. It is referred to in the
media as a "solar giant." And Germany is the reason why it is a giant.
Guaranteed
Prices
Almost half of Yingli's production is shipped to
Germany, which is an attractive market for solar producers, largely
because of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) enacted in 2000. The
law guaranteed a price of up to 0.57 ($0.76) per kilowatt-hour for
electricity derived from solar power that was fed into the grid. The
so-called feed-in tariff has since been reduced to a maximum of 0.39,
which is still six times the normal producer price. But Brannigan can
live with the new reductions. The cuts may actually benefit Yingli in
particular, because other producers can't compete with China's low wage
costs.
Nevertheless, says Brannigan, "Germans can be proud of this
law." Without the help of lawmakers, he says, Germany would hardly have
seen such dynamic development of renewable energy sources. What was
once a niche industry has turned into a sector with global importance.
The solar industry is responsible for almost 80,000 jobs in Germany
alone.
But lawmakers have overshot the mark by far, at least when
it comes to subsidies for solar energy. Anyone who installs solar panels
benefits from guaranteed feed-in tariffs for the next 20 years. That
means that, over a 20-year period, Germany's electricity customers will
pay a total of around 14 billion in subsidies -- just for the solar
panels that were installed in 2009. And that cost is likely to rise in
the future, because Germans are mounting more and more solar collectors
on their roofs. Economists estimate that all the solar panels installed
by 2013 will cost German consumers more than 70 billion. Thanks to the
generous subsidy program, crops on some fields have been replaced with
arrays of shimmering, bluish modules mounted on automated stands and
tilted toward the sun. And all of this is being done for an amount of
electricity that meets only 1.1 percent of German demand.
The
German government has also recognized that the system cannot continue in
its current form. In addition to an annual reduction of about 10
percent in feed-in tariffs, in place since 2009, the subsidy program
will be drastically reduced by another 16 percent on July 1.
'Wave
of Bankruptcies'
The industry is horrified. Solar
manufacturers have taken out full-page ads in newspapers, addressed
directly to "Dear Chancellor Merkel," begging her not to touch the EEG.
Frank Asbeck, CEO of the German photovoltaic giant Solarworld and an
unofficial solar industry spokesman, fears a solar eclipse and sees a
"wave of bankruptcies" headed for the industry. In the wake of the 2009
crisis, he says, the solar sector is still on shaky ground, with most
companies remaining in the red -- except, of course, Solarworld.
In
fact, Asbeck has created the only fully integrated solar company in
Germany. Solarworld handles everything from silicon processing to
manufacturing modules to recycling old products. In Freiberg, a town in
the eastern German state of Saxony where Solarworld has its production
plant, Asbeck is known as the "Sun King."
He has developed a
highly automated production system in this former silver mining center,
where 1,200 employees produce as much as 6,000 workers do at Yingli.
Asbeck estimates that the Germans have about an 18-month technological
head start over the Chinese. But whether that advantage still exists is
debatable. "We too use European equipment," says Brannigan, noting that
he spent about $350 million on such equipment in 2009.
Germany's
Market Share Declining
The EEG was long a blessing for the
industry, particularly German solar producers. The guarantee of sales
created a market and spurred on the industry to introduce series
production. But the modules did not become significantly less expensive,
at least not until the Chinese and the Taiwanese put the Germans under
pressure by flooding the market with cheaper products.
As a
result, the German producers' share of the market for solar cells and
modules is steadily declining. In 2007, one in five solar cells
installed anywhere in the world came from Germany. Today it's only 15
percent, and Germany's market share continues to decline.
Even
with the compensation for electricity fed into the grid continuing to
shrink, falling material costs have kept the production of solar panels
extremely attractive to this day. Some systems promised returns of up to
30 percent. The industry grew accordingly, and so did the costs for
ordinary electricity consumers.
According to figures compiled by
the German Environment Ministry, consumers subsidize every job in the
solar industry to the tune of about 150,000 a year. However, the solar
publishing group Photon last year estimated the subsidy to be 218,000.
Good
Image
Unlike subsidized coal, however, solar energy has a
good image. It is seen as environmentally friendly and future-oriented.
For this reason, politicians have consistently shied away from making
sharp cutbacks. Even now, the government is still sidestepping the
issue. Only a few weeks ago, it postponed the 16-percent cut, which had
originally been planned for April, until the summer.
It's true
that renewable energy provides us with clean electricity, and with
rising commodities prices and increasingly scarce resources, it could
even become cheaper than conventionally generated electricity in the
foreseeable future. But we haven't reached that point yet.
On the
contrary, the current system of high subsidies leads to social
inequality, because anyone who doesn't own a house that can be equipped
with glittering solar panels is paying for the environmental investments
of affluent dentists or attorneys.
"In 2010, a large household
with an annual electricity consumption of 7,000 kilowatt hours will pay
at least 100 in solar power subsidies alone," says Holger Krawinkel of
the Federation of German Consumer Organizations.
Supporting the
Sunny States
These subsidies are also problematic for another
reason. Ultimately, citizens in Germany's cloudier northern states and
poorer eastern states are paying for the solar systems being installed
in the prosperous and sunnier southern states.
Last year, about 40
percent of all German solar arrays were installed in Bavaria. Of the
roughly 14 billion in subsidies that the EEG guarantees owners of
systems installed in 2009, about 5.5 billion will go to Bavaria.
Not
surprisingly, Bavarian Governor Horst Seehofer is sharply opposed to
reductions in solar subsidies, despite having criticized the subsidies
as being far too high only a few months ago. In particular, Seehofer is
trying to prevent the planned elimination of the subsidy for solar
arrays installed in open fields, a lucrative business for more and more
Bavarian farmers. Meanwhile, the environmental experts within the
center-right Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and pro-business Free
Democratic Party (FDP) -- the parties that make up Germany's coalition
government -- are deeply divided over the issue, on both the federal and
state level.
There are many indications that the case will end up
before the mediation committee of the two houses of the German
parliament, the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, which represents the
states. If only one of the eastern German states, where much of the
solar industry is located, refuses to play along, the CDU/CSU and the
FDP will lose their majority. Saxony-Anhalt has already threatened to
use its veto.
Smaller than Reality
The messy
situation and the excessively high subsidies have a lot to do with a
simple trick the industry has been playing on politicians for years: It
simply made itself appear to be smaller than it really was.
The
EEG law calls for the feed-in tariffs to be reviewed and adjusted at
regular intervals. In the past, members of the Bundestag have
consistently used industry projections of newly installed solar output
per year as the basis for these calculations. And it was precisely these
projections that were always relatively low (see graphic). So low, in
fact, that what would have been an appropriate reduction in the rates
didn't seem necessary.
In 2007, the Environment Ministry, using
existing forecasts for 2009, assumed that electricity from solar energy
had to be subsidized to the tune of about 2 billion, because the
industry associations had projected the installation of new modules that
would provide about 600 megawatts of power. The real number was 3,800
megawatts, with costs of about 14 billion over the next 20 years.
Even
energy expert Hermann Scheer, a member of the German parliament for the
center-left Social Democrats who is one of Germany's most prominent
solar proponents, now says that the subsidies "cannot continue in their
current form." But he also warns against taking overly abrupt steps.
Scheer is now proposing a gradual reduction with smaller cuts, which he
argues can also bring about the 30-percent reductions in cost over the
next two years that many experts are calling for. According to Scheer,
the industry didn't do itself any favors with its efforts to shrink the
numbers. "I have always warned against underestimating the real new
installation figures."
Back to Its Old Tricks
But now
the industry is already back to its old tricks. The industry,
especially Solarworld CEO Frank Asbeck, is putting up fierce resistance
-- apparently with success. Under a plan proposed by Environment
Minister Norbert Röttgen (CDU), those who consume the electricity
produced by their own systems will be able to largely minimize the
reduction in feed-in tariffs. Sources at competing solar companies call
this move "pure Asbeck." Asbeck, for his part, concedes that the
industry association, BSW, introduced a similar proposal into the
discussion with the environment minister.
At first, there was a
joint plan to promote the subsidy for solar arrays installed in open
fields, but Asbeck isn't as interested. US competitor First Solar's
thin-film photovoltaic modules are often less expensive for use in open
fields. For that reason, Asbeck is focusing on rooftop installations,
and Solarworld is already selling an assembly kit for personal use. It
consists of a battery and a solar module, so that customers can consume
up to 100 percent of the electricity generated.
Asbeck's friend
Scheer believes that the new provision for personal use is unnecessary.
He says that it allows new loopholes to develop that can no longer be
monitored. He also points out that this sort of thing isn't even
necessary. According to Scheer, solar technology is an excellent
technology. It doesn't trouble him that its share of electricity
generation is so tiny, despite the massive subsidies. He believes that
solar energy's time will come. In 10, 20 or 30 years, says Scheer, this
technology could be responsible for significant portions of the power
supply.
Asbeck has the same goal in mind. He has just spoken with
Larry Hagman, who once played the villain J.R. Ewing on the television
series "Dallas" and is now being recruited to appear in a commercial for
Solarworld. "He's a real environmentalist," says Asbeck. In the
proposed advertisement, Hagman is sitting in a rocking chair, as J.R.
Ewing. When his brother and family rival Bobby appears in the frame,
J.R. says: "It was a great idea that we got out of that dirty oil
business just in time." "And then he laughs in that cackling way," says
Asbeck.
Jullie hebben toch ook gemerkt dat wij in
alle talen hebben gezwegen over 1 mei? Snuggere lezertjes hebben wij!
Wij vinden dat er al te veel geluld wordt over de rooie toekomst en de
verdediging van de kleine man. Elke bijziende tuinslak merkt zo
onmiddellijk dat de realiteit er spijtig genoeg helemaal anders uitziet.
Het is immers niet omdat je een paar keer per jaar en zeker op 1mei wat
orakeltaal uitkraamt dat alles beter moet, de armoede uitgeroeid en nog
meer fraaie woorden dat we daar in de dagelijkse realiteit veel van
merken. We moeten dus vaststellen dat de kloof tussen de potentiële
linkse kiezer en de linkse partijen nooit zo groot geweest is. Wij
houden dus onze bek en we spreken over zeer concrete dingen zoals ons
favoriete kluifje: de slimme meters. Gisteren waren we reeds blij
jullie de eerste formidabele resultaten van de massale plaatsing van die
slimme metertjes te mogen voorstellen. Een kniesoor kan echter
zeggen dat die firma er een knoeiboel van heeft gemaakt en daarom
zochten we nog andere voorbeelden uit de praktijk op. We zijn zo
gestoten op een plaats die als een vloek klinkt in de oren van alle fans
van slimme meters: Bakersfield. Het zegt jullie meer dan waarschijnlijk
niets en daarom geven we wat uitleg. Ofg tenminste we laten jullie wat
Amerikanen vertellen waarvoor Bakersfield staat. En we beginnen stilaan
te begrijpen waarom in het pilootproject van Eandis de analoge meter
samen met de slimme meter blijft functioneren. Maar lezen jullie maar
mee en let vooral op de "dynamische tarieven" zoals men in Vlaanderen
ook graag zou toepassen zonder er bij te vertellen dat de tarieven
volledig vrij zijn en dat Vlaanderen nergens een bevoegdheid heeft om in
te grijpen moesten de tarieven plots de pan uit swingen zoals in
California...
Pacific
Gas and Electric Co. announced Wednesday that it will test its
controversial SmartMeters side by side with older analog meters at 150
homes, in the utility's latest effort to defuse public suspicions about
the new devices.
Since last summer, PG&E customers have
complained that the new, digital SmartMeters overstate electricity usage
and lead to higher bills, a charge the utility has consistently denied.
So PG&E will pick 150 homes throughout Northern and Central
California and test the new meters against the old for three months to
see if any discrepancies emerge.
Both meters will be tied into the
same electrical line and should, in theory, show the same usage.
"We
want to make sure our customers have confidence in this technology,"
said PG&E spokesman David Eisenhauer.
Data from the test will
be made public at the end of those three months, Eisenhauer said.
State
energy regulators have already hired a consulting firm to investigate
the meters' accuracy. But so far, regulators have refused to halt
deployment of the advanced meters, which relay their information to the
utility via wireless communication
California was
the first state in the US to move ahead with full-scale deployment of
smart meters. That decision can be traced back to the energy crisis of
2000-01 which analysts showed was caused in part by the failure to
transmit dynamic pricing signals to retail customers.
In
response, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) held
evidentiary hearings into policies to promote advanced metering, demand
response and dynamic pricing. To fill a much needed gap in knowledge,
it authorized a two-year long pilot with dynamic pricing involving a
random sample of some 2,500 residential and small commercial and
industrial customers of the states three investor-owned utilities.
Each
of the utilities filed a business case for the deployment of advanced
metering infrastructure (AMI) based on a combination of demand response
benefits, which were anchored around the findings of the dynamic pricing
pilot, and operational benefits in distribution. The CPUC approved all
three business cases and meter deployment began at a rapid pace,
hitting rates of 18,000 meter installs per day.
All was going
well until another crisis erupted last autumn in the southern central
valley town of Bakersfield. Some residents who were served by Pacific
Gas & Electric Company complained that the smart meters were
doubling and tripling their energy bills. Town hall meetings,
encouraged in party by criticisms that were voiced by a state senator,
were held in Bakersfield and in Fresno, a town further up the valley.
The senator called officials of both the utility and the CPUC to task
and called for an independent inquiry to be held (which has recently
been initiated).
In December, the New York Times carried an
article entitled, Smart Electric Utility Meters, Intended to Create
Savings, Instead Prompt Revolt. This was widely cited in the industry.
And more recently, Christine Hertzog posted an article on the Energy
Collective website with the provocative title, Is PG&E killing the
smart grid? [http://theenergycollective.com/TheEnergyCollective/63512].
Ms.
Hertzogs article did not dwell on the Bakersfield problem. It also
criticized PG&Es attempts to alleviate the problem by asking
permission from the CPUC to replace its five-tiered inverted rate
schedule with a three-tiered inverted tier rate schedule. She stated,
The proposed flattening of this program rewards electricity guzzlers at
the expense of energy-conscious consumers. It is akin to asking
drivers of gas-sipping cars to subsidize the gas for Hummers. Solar
companies are already on record stating that this tariff change, if
approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, would remove
financial incentives for many homeowners to add solar generation and
thereby defeat two key Smart Grid objectives increased renewable
energy and more active consumer participation.
PG&Es rate
design reform proposal also received extensive coverage in the print
media. It was praised by a leading daily that serves the warmer
climates in the east bay as a long overdue reform while it was panned by
a daily that serves San Francisco as being anti-conservation.
The
rate design proposal also came under fire from the solar lobby and from
low income advocates (who have steadfastly opposed smart meters). Why
are these disparate groups united in their opposition? Simply put, they
are concerned that the subsidies they have been getting from years are
about to be reduced or eliminated.
Their arguments to preserve
the five tiered rates would have merit if those rates were based on
PG&Es marginal costs. But they are not. The five-tiered rate
design is the unintended consequence of a law that was passed by the
state assembly during the height of the energy crisis, Assembly Bill
1X. That law froze the rates on the first two tiers for as long as it
took to pay off the bonds that the state through its Department of Water
Resources had sold to pay off the costs of the crisis. It guaranteed
that subsequent inflation in energy costs would have to be recovered
from customers who consumed in the upper tiers (three to five).
The
first tier was the price that customers would pay for buying a
baseline amount of power. This amount varied with climate. The
second tier applied to the next 30 percent of usage. The third tier
applied to usage above the second tier but less than 200 percent of
baseline. The fourth tier applied to usage above 200 percent and below
300 percent while the fifth tier applied to usage above 300 percent.
The
fifth tier rate is now around 50 cents per kWh which has to be the most
precious price that one has to pay for a unit of electricity anywhere
in the US. Under PG&Es proposal, a new third tier that would be
created that covers all usage that now lies in tiers three, four and
five. The new third tier price will be 29.8 cents per kWh. Contrary to
the view being espoused that the new rates will be anti-conservation,
they will provide plenty of incentive for energy efficiency since the
second tier rate is under 13 cents per kWh and the new third tier will
represent a doubling of price.
Before the energy crisis, PG&E
had a two-tiered inclining block rates. This was intended to provide
an incentive for energy efficiency and was based on marginal cost
studies. The rise in prices between the lower and upper tiers was less
than 20 percent.
When the five tiered rate was introduced in
2001, the rise in prices between the first and fifth tiers rose to an
astonishing 100 percent. Now it stands at nearly 500 percent. Not only
does this have no relationship to marginal costs, it creates a grossly
unfair system of subsidies where users in the first two tiers are
subsidized heavily by users in the upper tiers.
Of course,
given the nature of rate of return regulation, PG&E will still get
the same total revenue from its customers, whether they are on a
five-tiered or a three-tiered rate design. The issue is cross-subsidies
between customers, not cross-subsidies between the utility and its
customers.
As for solar installations, it is true that many
developers and customers invested in roof-top photovoltaic systems on
the assumption that fifth tier rates would continue to rise as they have
done in the past decade. But just because uneconomic solar investments
were made in the past is no reason to ask for their continuance.
In
summary, the five tiered rate has no basis in marginal costs and should
not be used as a guide to making long-term investments. It is bad
economics and bad politics. Indeed, it is one of the factors that
contributed to the Bakersfield problem. Weather in July 2009 was a lot
warmer than weather in July 2008. That pushed up usage, especially for
customers in upper tiers. A rate increase earlier in the year of 8
percent was pushed entirely into the upper tiers due to the freeze on
the first two tiers. It is not surprising that bills went up
dramatically for some customers who, without the benefit of any
analysis, blamed it on one thing they knew had changed: their electric
meter. This is another instance of the Post hoc, ergo propter hoc
fallacy.
en
als jullie wat meer uitleg willen over "gedifferentieerde tarieven"
waarvan iedereen gelooft dat het goedkoper zal uitkomen...als men
tenminste een ingenieursdiploma op zak heeft. Want lees maar mee... met
een aantal bloggers uit gebieden waar smartmeters ingeburgerd zijn...
Think
last summer's PGE bills were high? Hold on to your wallet, they're
about to soar to new heights.
I thought I had my finger on the
pulse of utility rates in our area. I was wrong. Seems PGE had
another rate hike Jan 1, 2010. This is bad news for our city since those
dollars will leave our local economy and affect those that are most
vulnerable. The ray of hope, though, is that as a community we may get
serious about efficiency, catapult the local PV industry even greater
heights, and create much needed green jobs.
The economics are
sound. The financing mechanisms, however, are still working their way
through the halls of federal and state offices. But they're coming!
Last summer I received a Pacific Gas & Electric bill that knocked
my sandals off. I decided to compare Fresno's electricity rates with
other hot cities. I discovered that Fresno's rates are absurdly high.
As of this January, it costs $241.93 to use 1,000 kilowatt hours a
month in Fresno. That much juice costs $121 in Las Vegas, $111.83 in
Phoenix, and only $83 in Tucson. Are you surprised?
The cost of
1,000 Kwh is $125.05 in Sacramento, $119 in Orlando, $108.61 in Chicago,
$100.17 in Salt Lake City, $95.37 in Atlanta, $88.04 in Memphis, $87.99
in San Antonio, and just $63.09 in St. Louis.
So what's up with
PG&E? It uses a rate system with five tiers, each more expensive
than the next. The lowest tier is 11.88 cents. The highest is 47.39
cents per kilowatt hour after the first 1,070 Kwh.
Most cities
have tiered rates. Tucson has three tiers. Its highest tier is reached
after 3,500 Kwh, when the rate goes up to 11.3 cents per kilowatt hour.
That's less than Fresno's lowest tier.
If we use 3,000 Kwh in a
month, the cost in Fresno is $1,156.61. But 3,000 Kwh costs only $269 in
Tucson, $400.37 in Phoenix, and $347.34 in Las Vegas. It costs $465.45
in Sacramento, $257.28 in Mobile, $274.50 in Houston, and only $164.85
in Tampa.
PG&E has a new "SmartMeter" option. If you sign up
for it, on 15 "smart days," (hot days) when electricity is in short
supply, PG&E will charge 60 cents more per hour on top of the 47.39
cent rate, for a total charge per Kwh of $1.07, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The reward for this will be a reduction of the off-peak rate, down to
(ahem), about 43 cents per Kwh for the top tier.
In other words,
PG&E has a plan to use SmartMeters to charge you an insane
additional 60 cents per Kwh on top of its already insane rate of 47.39
cents per hour on the very hottest days, when you need your air
conditioner the most!
A SmartMeter option is also available in
Phoenix. If a customer signs up for it, the highest peak rate is 21.6
cents from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., in return for an off-peak rate of just 5.4
cents per Kwh.
My wife and I moved to Fresno in 1975. We raised
three kids here. I can tell you that for decades it did not cost an arm
and a leg to stay comfortable in the summer. Now it does.
The
Public Utilities Commission has kept rates down for the lowest tiers, so
many PG&E customers in cooler areas have not seen an increase in
their already low electricity bills.
But, last summer, with very
little notice, the highest tier rate was raised an incredible 23%.
That's why we now pay 47.39 cents per Kwh after the first 1,070 Kwh.
This is the reason why last summer some people in Fresno had $500, $700,
or even $1,000 PG&E bills. Brace yourself, because it will happen
again.
Now, imagine you are a major employer, and you are
thinking about moving a business to Fresno. Would you move here if you
knew that you and your employees would pay thousands of dollars more for
electricity in the coming years?
Can anything be done? The
short answer is no. The Public Utilities Commission doesn't care,
obviously.
You could sell your old house and buy a brand new
smaller well-insulated home, but that is not the solution for most
people. So, my advice if you want to pay less for electricity this
summer is to empty your pool, and then buy a swamp cooler and some
candles.
Get ready. PG&E is planning the same nasty surprise
on your utility bill.
Under a plan submitted to
the state Public Utilities Commission, rates would be reduced for people
who use the most electricity and increased for people who conserve. If
they're approved, the new rates would take effect in May 2011.
PG&E's proposal is a good deal if you live in the
San Joaquin Valley with its sweltering summers and soaring air
conditioning bills. And it's conveniently timed for PG&E's campaign
in Kern County, where voters many of them already angry about the
introduction of wireless SmartMeters last year will decide an advisory
measure in November that asks if they want to replace the San
Francisco-based utility with a publicly owned utility district.
(PG&E also is sponsoring Proposition 16 on the June 8
ballot, which is intended to block creation of public utility
districts. We'll comment on that in a separate editorial.)
If you live in one of California's cooler coastal
counties, PG&E's proposed rates are a lousy deal.
PG&E wants to squeeze its five rate tiers into
three, with more people falling into the highest tier. For a Sonoma
County resident using 550 kilowatt-hours per month, that means paying
about $130 more annually. Meanwhile, people using 1,500 kilowatt-hours a
month would save about $1,200 a year.
I asked my friendly neighbors. And friends,
colleagues, sometimes even total strangers. Everybody seemed to be
paying less than $100 every month. And here I was going poorer day by
day by paying hefty electricity bills to PGE for all of last three
years. Last months bill was just a wake-up call. Something was really
wrong here!
I reached a point where I was almost
convinced that either somebody is stealing away my electricity or, I
have a faulty appliance or two that is/are leaking electricity all the
time.
After much
deliberation, I decided to act a little sane before going berserk.
Why is my electricity bill so high? For the
first time since I moved out of living in an apartment, I searched for
PGE bills. Couldn't find them. Oh, I enrolled for electronic delivery,
no paper statements! Doh.
I
logged in to PGE and looked at the bill details. Ah, there's a slab
system. Dumb me. So yes of course my electricity usage is high but the
troubling part is that I pay more than 3 times what others in my
neighborhood pay. So why is the baseline so low? Does this mean that
everybody else is able to manage within 340 kWh every month?
It was time again to consult friends. It was a
big help when a friend allowed me to look at his bill. Wait his
baseline quantity is almost double that of mine. Great, so all I got to
do is probably enroll in some other type of plan. Another call to
PGE brought down all my sudden found hopes. The friends service was on a
E1 H Residential Service Electricity only. Mine is E1-XB -- Gas +
Electricity. PGE understands that for residential customers who only
have electricity will need to use it for heating as well so their
baseline usage is set higher. In any case, since this friend lived in an
apartment I was sure, the bill would somehow be lower ( it was lower
for me when I was an apartment dweller) than mine.
But that is weird. I am supposed to use gas
as well as electricity. And of course, other than the winter months,
nothing in my home uses gas other than the water heater. A quick look at
the history at PGE site (those guys have an amazing website) showed
that during non-winter months, my gas usage is less than $10-$15.
Now, that is a troublesome discovery.
Although I moved from India a couple of years ago, Im still new to this
place. I do not even know what appliances can run on Gas. The first
appliance that comes to my mind is the cooking range. Its electric!
Shouldnt it be Gas? How dumb of me. When I rented this house, I didnt
pay attention.
Coming back
to the electricity bill, it seemed lik if I could save falling into the
last (above 300%) slab, my bill would at least reduce by a major amount.
But what exactly would be able to save from? What appliance is
consuming so much of electricity?
DALLAS
- Anger at one of Texas' largest utilities is growing.
Dozens of
people are furious at sky-high power bills and are convinced the new
smart meters are to blame.
"I don't mind paying my bill, but I'm
not paying for something I'm not using," said one customer in Grand
Prairie on Saturday.
Oncor representatives sat through a tongue
lashing at a town hall meeting, where angry customers, pleaded for help
with their high bills.
"It's either food, medicine or my electric -
there's no way," said Trina Hall.
Nearly all say their bills went
up after Oncor replaced the old mechanical meters on their homes with
new digital smart meters.
Susan Major has always been careful to
save electricity but almost immediately after her new meter went up, so
did her bills.
"There's something wrong, either my meter was
installed wrong, read wrong, something, and nobody will own up," she
said.
Oncor still blames the cold winter for most of the high
bills.
But the company now admits its workers misread at least
7,000 new meters when they were installed and overcharged customers.
"What
you have is essentially a typo, we're catching those, both with the
customers and through our own internal process," said Chris Schein from
Oncor.
The utility insists the meters work.
Still, anger is
growing, as is suspicion.
Grand Prairie Rep. Kirk England (D) is
joining other lawmakers, calling for Oncor to stop installing millions
of the new meters across North Texas until an outside agency can test
their accuracy.
"I think there's a problem and I think it's more
than just weather," he said.
FORT
WORTH Following hundreds of consumer complaints and concern from the
Texas Public Utility Commission, Oncor is now testing its new "smart"
meters in side-by-side comparisons in North Texas.
But homeowners
in one neighborhood in far North Fort Worth have already come to their
own conclusions.
Im very frustrated, said Diana Fisher. I just
know my meter's different than everybody else's. It's not the old
little mechanical with the numbers turning; its actually a digital
meter.
Fisher is convinced that her digital meter has been
overcharging her for years.
Shes been complaining about high
power bills since she moved into a brand-new subdivision three years
ago. She often spends, on average, $300-400 a month on electricity.
Fisher
became so irritated that she started introducing herself to her
neighbors and comparing bills.
She found homes with the mechanical
meters consistently showed that families were using less electricity.
Every
home in the subdivision is nearly identical; all share similar floor
plans and have nearly the same square footage.
Around the corner,
Melody Whitlock and her family live in a 3,065 square foot home
exactly the same size as the Fishers'.
Whitlocks family is
larger; she has three kids, while the Fishers only have one at home.
Yet
the Whitlocks with a larger family consistently have lower power
bills. Statements show theyre using half the electricity as the
Fishers.
In January, for instance, the Whitlocks' meter said they
used 3,123 kilowatt hours of power; the Fishers' meter said the family
consumed 4,998 kwh.
December and January were our two highest
bills, and we were gone a week of those months, Fisher complained. I
really don't know how I could be using this much electricity.
Not
only were the Whitlocks at home, but they had their Christmas lights
running for hours every night. The Fishers passed on the decorations to
save electricity.
In several ways, the Whitlocks admit they
suspect they use more electricity than their neighbors around the
corner. They wash clothes every other day, while the Fishers do laundry
once a week.
The Fishers spent thousands making their home energy
efficient, even unplugging every major appliance.
Diana Fisher, a
legal editor, admits she works from home, but insists she leaves the
lights off, and only turns on the family television once a week.
Melody
Whitlock sheepishly admits her husband sleeps with the TV turned on.
Its
all enraged Diana Fisher.
They have TV; we don't! We don't have
little kids that watch TV! They use a lot more [electricity]; they have
to! she said. And their bills are $200-$300 cheaper than mine every
month!
Fisher said her years of complaints have been largely
ignored. Ive called so many times, I think theyre sick of hearing
me, she said.
Oncor is quick to point out the Fishers have a
digital meter thats been in use for nearly 20 years and not one of the
new smart meters.
The utility recently began installing hundreds
of thousands of the new sophisticated digital meters on homes across
North Texas.
Homeowners, shocked with suddenly high bills, have
questioned their accuracy and lawmakers tried unsuccessfully to get
Oncor to stop installing them.
Currently, the Public Utility
Commission is investigating, although Oncor insists its new meters work
perfectly.
One major difference is that the smart devices carry
data wirelessly to Oncor. Oncor said the Fishers' digital reader is an
older version that cannot transmit readings wirelessly. The company
insists both the Fishers digital meter and the Whitlocks' mechanical
meter work properly.
There's absolutely no difference (in their
meters), said Oncor spokesperson Chris Schein. Its the difference
between reading an analog watch and getting it from a digital watch;
its the same thing.
Schein said the Fishers usage was in line
with a family of that size in a home that large, although he concedes
that the Whitlocks power consumption is low.
However, Schein
figures the Fishers one teenage daughter is likely using more
electricity than the Whitlocks three young children. He says teenagers,
with all of their electronic devices, typically sap more energy than
small children who still dont know how to turn on the lights.
What
we're seeing here is a difference in lifestyle and that's what really
drives the difference between the two families' usage, Schein said.
Diana
Fisher strongly disagrees. Shes now left feeling helpless and furious
as she struggles to pay electric bills reaching $600 a month.
I
don't know what to do, she said.
And the difference in power
usage has even Melody Whitlock suspicious.
There's really not
making any sense of it, she said. There's something definitely wrong.
en
hier een klein feestje van typische wel doorvoede Texanen die hun
vreugde over de slimme meters niet opkunnen!
DALLAS
Oncor Electric Delivery set up a promotional event Sunday to show off
its new smart meter technology.
But a small group of protesters
chanting slogans and carrying signs and red bandanas got more of
the attention.
The angry homeowners were at Keist Park Recreation
Center in Oak Cliff to voice their concerns about high power bills.
The
customers contend that their usage increased only after the smart
meters were installed.
Oncor spokesman Chris Schein said the
utility stands by the accuracy of the devices. "One of the the things
that consumers ask us to do is to show that the meters are running the
same way, and we've run dozens of tests showing that the meters are
running the same and that the meters are accurate," he said.
The
company says inefficient heating sources, inefficient supplemental
heating (like space heaters) and bad rate plans are to blame for this
past winter's high power bills.
en er is zelfs sprake
van een moratorium op de installatie van de slimme meters...tsjonge
tsjonge toch we zijn hier wel ver weg van de "smarttalk" uit de leuke
brochures met allemaal lachende gezichten van blije verbruikers...
DALLAS
After Oncor Electric Delivery has already deployed 760,000 advanced
digital electric meters, better known as "smart meters," a state
official is now calling on the Texas Public Utility Commission to
suspend further installations until an independent third party test can
be conducted to settle questions about expensive bills some customers
have received.
State Sen. Troy Fraser (R-Killeen) sent a letter
to the PUC on Tuesday officially making the request. Commissioners will
consider it at Thursday morning's meeting in Austin.
The utility
said it's a good idea.
"Oncor fully supports independent third
party testing of a significant sample, because we want to rebuild that
public trust," said company spokeswoman Catherine Cuellar. "Based on our
experience, [we] have no reason to doubt the [meter's] accuracy."
Still,
for Lisa Smith and Jennifer Stanfield, electricity is a sore subject.
"Yeah,
yeah a little bit," Smith chuckled.
What isn't funny is their
December electric bill: more than $1,000.
"To pay for these bills,
I'm cutting out any kind of social life I have," Stanfield said. "Not
eating out; not going out and meeting friends after work."
Even
with new energy efficient windows and a thermostat set at 56 degrees,
their January bill still topped $800. High bills, the two said, didn't
happen until Oncor replaced their mechanical meter with a digital one.
"We've
got people with their electricity being cut off -- being bullied -- and
that's not right," said Ree Wattner, who organized a group of dozens of
neighbors. They've already met twice trying to find a remedy to the
high bills they suspect the smart meters caused.
Wattner even
started a Web site for her Smart Utility Reform Citizens group and said
she is preparing a petition to the PUC.
But Oncor said it has
found fewer than 10 of its 760,000 advanced meters with problems after
random tests.
The utility blames the cold winter for big bills.
Data from the National Weather Service confirms that December 2009 was
colder than the previous four years.
But state records show the
Texas Public Utility Commission refused to do a cost-benefit study two
years ago -- even after cities and others asked for it.
Plus,
CenterPoint Energy, Oncor's counterpart in Houston, just removed 3,002
smart meters because software failures prevented them from being read
remotely, according to records the utility filed with the PUC.
The
devices are at the center of a class-action lawsuit in California after
residents there received big bills, too.
Oncor CEO Bob Shapard
flew to Austin to answer questions at Thursday's PUC meeting.
He
is expected to explain a number of things his company is doing --
including side-by-side tests with both old meters and new ones recording
usage starting Friday in an effort to recapture public trust.
We
zijn er nu al van overtuigd dat Eandis en Infrax zullen zeggen dat het
bij ons allemaal veel beter zal gaan. Wedden? In Amerika zijn het
allemaal oenen...basta
We hadden het gisteren over de slimme meters en de twee pilootprojecten
die ons tot nog toe bekend zijn in Vlaanderen. Elders zijn er echter
reeds massa's "slimme meters" geïnstalleerd zoals o.a. in het
Amerikaanse Texas. Want Obama heeft de installatie van deze slimme
meters opgenomen in zijn economisch relanceplan en alle Amerikaanse
energieleveranciers zijn op dit initiatief gesprongen zoals de
spreekwoordelijke hond op een pond saucissen. Als we de peptalk van
Eandis en Infrax mogen geloven dan zullen alle Texanen nu dolblij zijn
met hun nieuwe speeltje en zullen zij heel wat lagere energierekeningen
gepresenteerd krijgen. Bovendien vernemen we dat iedere gelukkige
gebruiker van deze handige dingen zich kan aansluiten via internet om
zijn verbruik per kwartier op te volgen. En wat nog leuker is: er
bestaan daar een aantal blogs met discussieplatform waar alle gebruikers
hun geluk met elkaar kunnen delen. Dus nieuwsgierig als we zijn willen
we nu toch aan de hand van een reëel voorbeeld weten wat de consumenten
daar van vinden. Kan altijd nuttig zijn om eventueel onze negatieve
houding die we tot nog toe over deze meters hadden te herzien. Want zo
zijn we wel. We zijn steeds bereid om onze mening aan te passen op basis
van doorslaggevende argumenten en ervaringen van het tegendeel van onze
mening.
Beste lezertjes, jullie zijn waarschijnlijk even
benieuwd als wij:
en
we publiceren graag de commentaren van de gelukkige gebruikers:
The Public
Utility Commission launched a web site where electricity consumers
can view readings from their new smart meters.
The site, www.smartmetertexas.com,
allows users to see how much electricity they've used, in 15-minute
segments. Users can also see a graph of the amount of juice they consume
daily.
This is only for people who already have new digital
meters, known as smart meters. The old, mechanical meters don't generate
this data. Also, it takes a few weeks for your new meter to be
"provisioned," which is a procedure to connect the meter to the system.
So,
my Oak Cliff neighborhood got smart meters a few months ago. I logged
on to the web site today to find that, sure enough, my family uses the
most electricity in the early evening, when we're cooking dinner and
turning on lights as the sun goes down.
I also discovered that,
in the past month, the day we used the most electricity was March 1.
Why? Well, my in-laws were visiting, keeping my son, probably watching
television and cooking a nice meatloaf for dinner.
What can I do
with this information? Anyone?
Jump for the PUC press release.
Website launch to help electric
customers
SmartMeterTexas.com online for competitive retail
markets
A new Website, www.SmartMeterTexas.com , gives Texas
electric customers with smart meters the ability to better manage
electric bills.
"SmartMeterTexas.com gives Texans more control
over their electricity use," said Public Utility Commission (PUC)
Chairman Barry Smitherman. "Smart meters increase reliability, enhance
customer choice and enable demand response."
The secure Website is
available both to residential and business electric customers who have
had traditional mechanical meters replaced with digital smart meters.
Customers should have their most recent electric bill on hand when
visiting the Website to establish proper identification. The PUC has
authorized four transmission and distribution utilities (TDU) to deploy
smart meters for their customers:
ONCOR
CenterPoint
AEP Texas Central
AEP Texas North
Today more than one
million customers with smart meters in the Oncor and CenterPoint
territories can use the Website. Eventually, more than 6.3 million Texas
electric customers will be able to manage their electricity use through
SmartMeterTexas.com. It could take up to 60 days after smart meter
installation before a customer's information is on the Website. Smart
meter deployment in the American Electric Power (AEP) Texas North and
Texas Central areas is expected to begin during the second quarter of
2010.
IBM developed SmartMeterTexas.com and will operate it under
the direction of the TDUs. Website features include secure access to
electricity usage in 15-minute intervals. Future enhancements will let
customers register devices inside their homes and businesses to give
customers more choice and control. The Website complies with standards
established by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The new
Website will not include information for municipal utility or electric
cooperative customers. SmartMeterTexas.com also is not available for
electric customers located outside the Electric Reliability Council of
Texas (ERCOT) region. SmartMeterTexas.com is designed only for customers
in competitive retail electric markets of Texas.
Comments
Posted by Mark - Dallas @ 12:13 PM Tue, Mar 23,
2010
In case you're really
asking...
We use a small toaster oven rather than our large oven.
Its cheaper to run, preheats faster, and doesn't heat up the kitchen so
much.
Consider that your TV is an energy hog unless you went LCD.
When those lights go on make sure there are dimmers and/or CFLs
in those high use sockets.
Make sure your outdoor lights are
tracking with DSTime.
If you have a thermostat with a lock out
feature, program it and then make sure the "laws" don't change it. One
degree can be as much as an 8% increase in the use!
Your son may
be less diligent in turning off lights when the in-laws are there.
So
what you have quickly learned is where your big users are based on time
of day.
I have another fun exercise. Look at the meter when
no-one is there. That will really send up some questions.
The PUC approved the meters without
extensive study of them- and on March 11,2010, after complaints (Waco,
Killeen, Hearne, Irving, Grand Prairie, Dallas, Tyler ETC) selected an
organization to test them. The PUC picked an organization that receives
DOE grant funds for smart grid projects. The DOE is pushing smart meters
and has a high level Federal Appoint in the 'efficiency' office - Cathy
Zoi- who used to work for the meter manufacturer.
Do you smell
any conflicts of interest?
The increased kWh is also reported in
smart meter rollouts in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, California
(lawsuit there), Georgia, Alabama etc. Al Gore is involved too!
Do you trust the PUC or Oncor or DOE
recipients to do a good test ?
A bright idea- Test your own:
Here
is how to test the meter by using 10 new- 100 watt light bulbs: Turn
off and unplug everything in your home, including refrigerator. Turn the
breaker off to the hot water heater, if its part of your electric
bill. Ideally- turn most electricity breakers off. In rooms where
there's still an electric current- plug in 10 new light bulbs of 100
watts each. This should be the only thing that is pulling electricity in
your home now.
Now go outside and watch for the digital meter to
move to a new kWh. Write down the time (Time A). Get a book and drink
and sit and watch your meter. Write down the time when the meter moves
to the NEXT kWh. If it's less than 1 hour after Time A, consider calling
the Press (TV news) to document the discrepancy.
How much Radio
Frequency (RF) exposure do Smart Meters emit? How much additional
energy will it take to power all these new RF transmissions? What is
the frequency and signal strength utilized in both house meter and
repeater system? What is the range and signal direction of both
house meter and repeater? Are these one or two way signals? Will
the Smart Meters also use the existing cell antennas/ towers or will
new ones be deployed? How often will the meters, repeaters and smart
appliances emit RF signals and for what duration? What is the
signal strength at the device, at six inches, one foot, 3 ,5, 10, 20, 50
feet? If these are short bursts of RF, what is the peak power for
each burst? What levels of RF will these new signals add to the
environment? What is the tiered pricing structure? Will it cost
more to do laundry at 8 am, 2 pm, or 10 pm? Will customers be
advised of this new pricing method and if so when? What personal
information will be transmitted via the new meters? Isnt the threat
to privacy inherent to this wireless technology? How many meter
readers will be on State unemployment once these new meters are
deployed? Will Smart Meters cause interference in their homes
wireless network?
Interesting...I just logged into the site.
My consumption shows the same at 3am vs. 5pm (keep in mind this is when I
start preparing dinner, kids have the tv on etc)!! Something is
definitely wrong here. My bill averaged over 6,000 kw/hrs last month!!
Everyone needs to get together on this if we expect a resolution. Visit
www.smarturcitizens.com for more info on how you can get involved!
Do you have a pool? I found
that my pool filter and cleaner suck the most power of anything in my
house. If so, maybe your filter is running at 3am and not at 5pm. But
your oven, stove, tv and lights that you are using at 5pm use the same
power as the pool filter.
If you don't have a pool, then this
comments doesn't matter.
Posted by nanaanna2002 @ 3:28 PM Tue, Mar 23,
2010
I have a compaint about
Oncor,I got a double bill on March one due on March 13 and one due
March 15th, I called TXU the said that the Oncor people did not report
the Feb. billing cycle so know i have 2 bills due this month.So whos
smarted than a 5th grader?
nanaanna2002: we share the same trouble with
TXU. Last month I received two bills. Same thing this month. They
cannot provide a logical explanation. Further, during January, the month
after my meter was installed, my bill jumped from $400 (roughly) to
$880 (roughly). Like magic, it returned to a more typical amount the
following month. They refused to even entertain the idea that there was
an error with reading the meter. Is there any sort of recourse?
Posted by David Vernon @ 6:19 PM Tue, Mar 23,
2010
These DONKEYS are over
billing us BIG TIME.
They have asked us to pay > $500/Month
for the past three months. About double what we paid on our old meter.
I
created a spreadsheet to track this earlier in the month. I go out and
read the meter periodically, and extrapolate out what the bill would be.
Right now we are tracking to about a$250 bill, but this is a low energy
usage month for us.
They call these things "smart" meters --
FIENDISH is more like it. My guess is that these new meters inflate
energy usage during high usage periods (like when it was really cold
recently). This allows them to argue that we are simply using too much
power. The best lies always have a shred of truth in them.
The
only resource that I see here is to call them on their lies. For about
$300, including installation, you can buy your own power meter and
install it inline with theirs. I don't expect our energy usage to spike
again until July, so I might just do that between then and now. Left to
thier own devices (literly) they will never fix this problem.
There's also a $25 dollar product at some of
the area HomeDe's called Kill-A-WattEZ. If you turn and unplug
everything but one high watt item (hair dryer or space heater for
example)- turn it on.. go outside and watch your meter till it turns to
the next Kwh. Write the kWh and the time down. Go in the house.. Turn
the hair dryer off for a second. click Reset on the KW monitor. The the
hair dryer back on full blast. Now- wait till the digitl (outside) meter
turns to the next kWh. Write that time down. Go back in your house and
click on Menu till you see the kWh reading. Let's say that it says
.75... Well.. then you'd be getting ripped off by .25 or 25%. Let the
hair dryer keep running till it says 1.00. Write the time down. If you
find a discrepancy- call the Press first and show them what you found.
Help your neighbors do the same thing...
Every Texan is being duped into letting
these meters get installed. These meters are the enablers for dynamic
pricing (time of day pricing). These meters offer the consumer NO
benefit as we are being led to believe. What good is it for me being
able to monitor my own useage at anytime of the day? I haven't had to
for the last five decades so why do I need to start doing it now? Its
not like - oh, my AC just kicked on I better run and shut it off so I
can sweat my rear off.
Furthermore, these meters will easily be an
enabler for "software errors" or "system errors" ONLY IF THEY GET
CAUGHT. They will be able to upload new software anytime they want and
they can make changes remotely any time they want.
I think I will
attach my house lightening/grounding cable to the unit when it gets
installed.
Posted by Imjustsaying @ 11:32 AM Wed, Mar 24,
2010
Instead of grabbing
pitchforks and feeding off the media hype has anyone thought that maybe
the issue was that your previous meter was reading inaccurately low? Yes
we had an unusually cold "winter" but many of these "smart meters" have
been installed for some time. I have had one at my house since last
summer. You can test these meters yourselves like those outlined above,
but if you are unwilling to change your behavior after being made aware
of your usage then who do you have to blame but yourself. (That after
all is the point of this website) Back to my original point, the chances
are that your new "smart meter" is accurate (test it yourself), but
your old meter was just that..old and probably slow. Just think how much
"free" usage you got before they changed your meter out.
Posted by ben elizando @ 8:46 PM Fri, Mar 26,
2010
The new power meters
are definitely more accurate than your 30 year old analog meter that has
been running slow for 20 years due to gunky bearings. Also, the old
power meters could not accurately meter "non-linear loads", like
computer power supplies and flourescent lights. In fact, flourescent
bulbs' cost savings claims are attributed partly to the old power
meters' inability to read them accurately. Good times!
Power
companies justify rate increases partly to compensate for aging
residential power meters. Of course, don't expect them to adjust the
rate lower to compensate for the new meter accuracy. Expect a huge push
this summer to buy "radiant barrier" for your attic- The new meters
being the motivation. Radiant barrier is ...largely a con; thats why
they include insulation for "free" (so you will notice some
improvement).
Where do we go to sign up to fight Oncor. This is insane, I
am going on month #3 with double or almost triple cost as last year. TXU
is worthless and could careless about its customers for putting a
solution out that has raised so many concerns.
I would like to know where you sign up to fight Oncor.. I
also had TXU and my bills tripled and they were no help. I had to change
companies because I couldn't pay the full bills and they were going to
disconnect my service. HELP.....
I too have seen my bill increase
75-125% over the past several months since my new smart meter arrived. I
believe there is defiantly a problem with the meters. The encore spokes
person says it is the results of colder weather. While I agree, it has
certainly been colder than normal I do not believe, that is the total
problem with these higher bills. Big companies have a tendency to
lie when they are on the carpet to protect the company image and stock
prices. Therefore, if you are going to tackle this company it will be
necessary to compile as many facts as possible. My bill last March was
$267.78 this March it is $628.65.
We kunnen daar inderdaad veel van leren maar we zullen dus meer dan waarschijnlijk onze mening over die krengen niet moeten herzien! Leest, Hombeek en Vosselaar en binnenkort gans Vlaanderen, jullie zijn gewaarschuwd!
IKEA has admitted that freedom of association is not applicable in
China. Even in the land of the free, a union campaign at an IKEA
supply plant makes Danville, Virginia, sound like an export processing
zone in Bangladesh. Photo: 
