Tag: Smart Neighborhood

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Why The Healthcare Sector Must Demand Real Cybersecurity Change

Cyber-threats-to-healthcare

Forbes – Managing Director of Technology at Health2047 with a comprehensive understanding of the digital transformation of health care IT. We should be outraged and deserve better. 

In late October of this year, a joint cybersecurity advisory from the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) warned of an uptick in ransomware activity targeting the healthcare and public health (HPH) sector, specifically hospitals and healthcare providers.

The advisory came just over a month after reports out of Germany documented the first patient death directly tied to a hospital ransomware attack. That’s right: The healthcare cybersecurity situation has now become a matter of life and death.

Healthcare cybercrime such as ransomware is especially egregious during a pandemic, as illustrated by Bitdefender data (via Security Boulevard). But it is now sadly all too commonplace. Also far too commonplace is the seeming inattention and inaction in the face of rising threats.

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The price of solar electricity has dropped 89% in 10 years

Solar-Power

Fast Company – To curb our climate crisis, we need to end our dependence on fossil fuels and power the world with renewables. That may have seemed far-fetched a decade ago given the cost of installing wind and solar at the time, but the price of renewables has been falling fast. In 10 years, the price of solar electricity dropped 89%, and the price of onshore wind dropped 70%.

Clean energy has already passed its economic tipping point. A 2019 report from the nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute found that it was cheaper to build and use a combination of renewables like wind and solar than to build new natural gas plants. A 2020 report from Carbon Tracker found that in every single one of the world’s energy markets, it’s cheaper to invest in renewables than in coal.

And now, graphs recently published on Our World in Data, an online science publication, in partnership with Oxford University, starkly visualize that decline. Comparing the price of electricity from new power plants in 2009 and 2019, one graph shows how the price of solar photovoltaic power (from solar panels) plummets from $359 per megawatt hour to $40, the cheapest of any of the power options on the chart and an 89% decrease. If housing prices declined at that same rate, Our World in Data researcher Max Roser writes, a home that cost $3,590 to rent in 2009 would cost just $400 in 2019. Over the same time period, the price of coal barely budged, from $111 per megawatt hour in 2009 to $109 in 2019.

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The Importance of Protection & Controls (P&C) and IEDs

Power-Substation-P&C-IEDs
Protection and Controls (P&C) engineering and design is extremely important in power grid protection and coordination especially with the use of intelligent electronic devices (IEDs). Proper P&C designs and coordination with protective relaying and IEDs is an essential part of electrical power engineering for protecting large expensive power equipment such as: generators, transformers, transmission lines (TLs), power circuit breakers, electrical bus, etc.
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Funding boost to put Orbex on Scottish launchpad

Orbex-Space

The Engineer – Plans by Orbex to launch small satellites from Scotland have received a boost following a $24m funding round led by BGF and Octopus Ventures.

The latest investment puts the Forres headquartered company on course to the first launch from Scotland’s Space Hub Sutherland spaceport.

“Orbex is an impressive UK company which is developing a strongly differentiated and innovative launch solution for the rapidly-growing small satellite market,” saidKeith Barclay, investor at BGF. “In Europe, they are a recognised leader with an experienced team, substantial institutional support, a growing customer list and patented technology. The private space sector remains a key future industry for both Scottish and UK governments.”

Scottish space firm unveils world’s largest 3D printed rocket engine

Lockheed Martin to assist UK in developing vertical launch spaceport in Scotland

Orbex’s Prime rocket uses bio-propane that is claimed to cut CO2 emissions by 90 per cent compared to kerosene-based rocket fuels. Designed to be recoverable and re-usable, Orbex Prime is intended to leave no debris in the ocean or in orbit around the Earth. The company’s rocket vehicle for low-cost orbital launches is being built at factories in Forres, near Inverness, and Copenhagen in Denmark.

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Preparing for Continued Renewable Generation Growth

Renewable-Generation-Growth
T&D World, Hitachi & ABB – Renewable generation has matured rapidly from a technical novelty to a cornerstone in the evolving power industry.
Stakeholders including utility leaders, government/regulatory officials, and private sector developers are seeking solutions to allow the continued development of an extensive array of maturing renewable energy options. Hitachi ABB Power Grids’ energy experts believe that viable solutions will include effective long-term planning, strategic investment in key areas of the power industry and smart grid management on a broad scale.T&D World worked with Hitachi ABB Power Grids experts to create this interactive guide highlighting issues stakeholders must address to advance renewables. You’ll find an infographic laying out the complexities involved with advancing renewables to a Q&A with one of Hitachi ABB Power Grids’ industry experts, a new white paper addressing the challenges of modernizing the grid, a video gallery and links to valuable resources such as research and case studies that succinctly illustrate real-live examples and viable solutions.

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Green Mountain Power Deploys V2G Charger to Reduce Demand on Grid

Green-Mtn-Power-EV-Charging-Stations

T&D World – Green Mountain Power (GMP) recently announced the successful deployment of what the company says is a first-of-its kind vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charger to reduce energy use on the grid during peak demand. The GMP is the first utility to install and successfully integrate this new charger technology with the grid and one of its electric fleet vehicles to draw energy from the car to help lower demands on the grid when peaks in energy needs occur. This work shows how electric vehicles (EVs) and the clean energy they store can become a reliable source of power to reduce peak demands which will, in turn, save money and reduce carbon.

“This is an important first step in proving that V2G technology is possible. The GMP has long committed to using advancements in energy technology to increase clean energy storage capabilities so that we can deploy that power when it’s needed the most to reduce carbon and costs for all customers,” said Mari McClure, the GMP’s president and CEO.

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