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DATE: October 17, 2000 PNC Professor To Discuss Electricity Research Project WESTVILLE - We've been hearing a lot about natural gas lately - how a limited supply is going to mean higher rates. The same scenario is possible for electricity. "Our country's electric power system is very fragile. People don't realize how close we are to not having enough electricity to meet the growing demands. This can lead to much higher rates for both industry and consumers," says Dr. Tom Brady, assistant professor of industrial engineering technology at Purdue University North Central. He'll discuss Purdue University's role in finding ways for industry to use electricity more efficiently at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 24. The program, "Electricity: Is There Enough To Go Around: Effectiveness of User-Producer Collaborative Efforts" is free and open to the public, and will be held in Room 239 Schwarz Hall. The federal government has identified Northwest Indiana's steel industry as one of seven critical electricity markets, and Brady is part of a team of university researchers looking at how the steel companies use electricity and how cooperative efforts might lead to more efficiency. The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and NIPSCO. The problem is urgent, because in some parts of the country electricity is already in short supply. This is due in part to government deregulation, environmental lobbying efforts, and the disincentives for construction of new power plants, according to Brady. In Northwest Indiana, for example, there have been no new power plants for more than 20 years, while demand has increased dramatically. Currently, when a utility runs out of its supply of electricity, it must "borrow" from another utility elsewhere in the country. However, if there is no excess electricity available in the U.S. power grid, as is happening more frequently, the result may be brownouts, astronomical short-term electricity rates, or severe government regulation. # |
