Currents: The Energy News Podcast

A Currents special: Catch me if you can!

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:04:00 GMT

The book "Catch Me If You Can" (and the Steven Spielberg film of the same name) is an exciting true story about a con man who, while still a teenager, managed to pass bad checks all over the country totaling over 2 million dollars and.......

Currents: Episode 15 -- DistribuTECH and the smart grid transformation

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:03:00 GMT

--At this year's DistribuTECH conference and exhibition, the transformation of our outdated grid to the smart grid permeated the event. And rightfully so. The smart grid has been a long time coming, and if the 2008 DistribuTECH showed us that the in.......

Currents: Episode 14 -- All I want for Christmas is a SCADA for my EMS

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:12:00 GMT

--When you want something you need to be specific, or you won't get it. Sometimes that might mean getting a green sweater instead of the blue one you wanted. In that case, you can simply return the sweater for another one. It's a hassle but not that.......

Currents: Episode 13 -- Planning for the next flu pandemic

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:12:00 GMT

--In a typical year up to 35,000 people die of the flu, just in the United States. During a flu pandemic, the mortality rate can be enormous. And beyond that, flu pandemics can cause major disruptions in the normal functioning of society. As if that.......

Currents: Episode 12 -- The Aging Workforce

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:10:00 GMT

--If you're working at a utility, take a look around your desk. You're looking at one of the biggest threats to reliability and, some say, the very future of the industry: the aging workforce. Almost half of the engineers and operations personnel ar.......

Currents: Episode 11 -- AMI: Hammer it out before you go shopping

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:08:00 GMT

--It helps if everyone is speaking the same language no matter what you're talking about. But there are a lot of words and acronyms that everyone uses all the time that may not mean the same thing to the listener that they do to the speaker. AMI (ad.......

Currents: Episode 10 -- Battling Energy Theft at Austin Energy

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:07:00 GMT

--Nationally, energy theft results in financial losses second only to auto theft, coming in at $6 billion annually. Also, it's estimated that most utilities lose 1 percent to 3 percent of revenue annually because of theft. At Austin Energy, a 1 perc.......

Currents: Episode 9 - Building tomorrow’s smart grid today

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:03:00 GMT

--The power industry is facing some big challenges. Rising demand. Aging infrastructure. Climate change. The list goes on, and there's no silver bullet solution. But there is something that has the potential to help greatly with these challenges. It.......

Currents: Episode 8 - The cyber threat: Is the sky falling?

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:12:00 GMT

--A secret experiment called "Aurora" demonstrated how a power plant's control system could be hacked and a generator destroyed. A video of the attacked generator was released by DHS and it got people scared. The media started imagining end-of-the-w.......

Currents: Episode 7 - Advanced Metering: Lessons Learned from California

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:09:00 GMT

--As is often the case in the U.S., innovation begins on the West Coast and spreads throughout the country. It’s no different with advanced metering. In this episode of Currents, we speak with representatives from Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern.......

Currents: Episode 6 - Plug-in hybrids: Save the world, make millions…

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 17:08:00 GMT

--At every industry event lately, there's been one thing that's generated a lot of hype. That thing is the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, or PHEV. Studies have shown PHEVs could have a positive impact on greenhouse gas emissions and they could als.......

Currents: Episode 5 - Everything is Bigger in Texas

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 17:04:00 GMT

--With the announcement of a $45 billion buyout of TXU Corp., the Lone Star State is living up to its reputation of doing everything "big." But the TXU buyout isn't the only big news with big money attached to it in Texas. In this episode of Curr.......

Currents: Episode 4 - The DistribuTECH Round Table

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 18:02:00 GMT
--Episode 4 of Currents, The DistribuTECH Round Table, is now available. The editors of Utility Automation & Engineering T&D and Electric Light & Power got together and discussed the big issues that came out of DistribuTE.......

Currents: Episode 3 - The Future of Electric Power

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 18:01:00 GMT
--On this episode of Currents we look in to the future. In the feature segment we talk to Kurt Yeager, executive director of the Galvin Electricity Initiative and president emeritus of EPRI. He tells us about a report the Initiative released .......

Currents: Episode 2 - The NERC Interview, Part 2

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 18:12:00 GMT
--In Part 2 of our exclusive interview with NERC president and CEO Rick Sergel, we hear his thoughts on the DOE's critical congestion areas cited in their Critical Congestion Study, discussed NERC's cyber security standards, the threat cyber attacks.......

Currents: Episode 1 - The NERC Interview Part 1

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 18:12:00 GMT
--President and CEO of NERC, Rick Sergel, talks to Currents about NERC's new authority as the nation's electric reliability organization, what utilities can expect for non-compliance to standards, and NERC's recent reliability assessment. This is pa.......