ESCANABA - Two recommendations on Escanaba's energy supply options will be made to city council, the Electric Advisory Committee (EAC) decided Wednesday. One will be to hold off on building a new power plant here while the other is to look into upgrading the existing plant and/or buying power to meet the city's needs.

Informative Webinar captured on CD, presented by Jim Newman, Managing Partner of Newman Consulting Group.

Do you really know how your heating and air conditioning systems, as well as people and processes contribute to space contamination in your facility? As a facility manager, you need to know how the proper design and efficiency of operating and maintenance procedures can minimize IAQ problems…and at the same time conserve energy, improve morale and contribute to higher worker productivity.

Nearly all 50 states rely on the National Electrical Code (NEC), published as a standard by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), as the code they use to regulate electrical installation in new construction and renovation projects. The NFPA recently published the 2005 version of the NEC, which is enforceable in all states and municipalities that adopt it. Several provisions in the new Code affect lighting, including lighting control panels, metal halide fixtures, and disconnecting fluorescent fixtures prior to servicing.

Metal Halide lighting is a type of High Intensity Discharge (HID) lighting. Other types of HID are Mercury Vapour, High Pressure Sodium and Low Pressure Sodium. All HID lamps work on the same principle, that of causing an arc across a gas or vapour and using the gas or vapour as a conductor, the same way incandescent lamps use a tungsten filament as its conductor.

Federal regulators have given the thumbs up to one of the largest natural gas pipeline projects in recent years. The so-called Rockies Express-West line will carry gas supplies from the Rockies through the Midwest and into the eastern United States. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) says that the greenfield project will help offset production declines in other areas of the country. The time appears to be right to build pipelines and to move that gas from the Rockies to the Northeast. Natural gas is a lot cheaper in the Rockies than anywhere else. And since the Northeast needs new supply and more dependable storage, the gas companies are providing a valuable market need by building the pipeline.