Early agricultural reports suggest that this should be a big summer for corn and soybeans. Acreage planted is at very high levels. Weather is expected (hoped) to cooperate in the Midwest, and the result should be very large harvests. This is good news if you work in an industry that uses these products as a feedstock such as ethanol, or if you have simply grown accustomed to eating.

Ultimately, this may forestall the same kinds of massive fluctuations in commodity prices from last summer that sent food and fuel into uncharted territory all over the world. Our sluggish economy is also a positive contributo...Read More

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If you've been paying any attention at all, you'll know that the first climate bill to limit carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. has passed in the House of Representatives and will move on to the Senate. It is a hugely complex bill, and given the sheer enormity of its scope and the way legislation is done in here, it is a mess. The Economist gives a good summary of the convoluted nature of the situation. See Ask Control Engineering for a discussion of how a cap-and-trade scheme works.

This legislation is built on several pillars, some of which are considered by many to be matters of faith:

1. That global warming exists--...Read More

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Some day the great state of Illinois may have two functioning senators again, as has not been the case effectively for at least three years. But, for the meantime, having a former part-time senator in the White House can bring some clout to the state. One example is the fact that the FutureGen project in Mattoon seems to be back on the front burner. This blog has discussed that project before when it was first awarded and again when it seemed that it would be put on the shelf and forgotten. It's interesting now to look back over ...Read More

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While one of the major themes at Honeywell’s User Group has been “One Honeywell,” a subtext has been interoperability. One element of this has been the PKS Advantage program. This isn’t exactly new, but it fell into some disrepair over the last few years. Honeywell is breathing new life into the effort, even to the extent of having some folks in attendance that would normally be considered competitors. I believe I even saw someone wearing a Yokogawa shirt at the event on Tuesday.

...Read More

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One of the interesting aspects of Honeywell Process Solutions User Group is that they generally incorporate some, shall we say, theatrical elements into the proceedings at the opening plenary sessions. I was warned going into this year's meeting that there would be a pop-culture reference. To spice up Jason Urso's discussion of the larger new technology road map, HUG's planners introduced him as Dr. One, following the theme of One Honeywell and the larger focus of Return On Imagination for the whole meeting.

Jason appeared to flashing lights and puffs of stage smoke in a full-sized Mark II TARDIS, apparently out of nowhere. He emerged dres...Read More

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Last week I was part of a small Control Engineering contingent that attended the grand opening of Endress+Hauser's new production and testing facility in Greenwood, IN. It was a time of much speech making as assorted corporate and local political figures added their thoughts on why we were there and how important this day was. As one would expect at such an event, there was much about motherhood and apple pie, but one thing that stuck with me were some of the remarks from Klaus Endress. Technically, he is CEO of the Endress+Hauser group, but there are some larger patriarchal responsibilities in the family that owns the company....Read More

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I received an instructive Talkback response to my article You can lead a horse to automation. Jonas Berge (Emerson Process Management?) wrote:

"It appears that one problem may be that the device diagnostics information often goes to the wrong person/workstation. If the device diagnostics is sent to a separate maintenance station it may not be seen because maintenance personal are out in the field most of the time, not in front of a computer. So where could diagnostics be sent then? Who sits in front of a computer all day? The operators. By routing device diagnostics to the operators they will be seen. But operators cannot fix devices, so what now? And what about alarm flooding? Onl...Read More

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If you're concerned about where oil prices may be headed this summer, you're not alone. Many are predicting a repeat of last summer's price spikes, or even worse. Cooler heads point out that the forces that prompted those excursions simply don't exist in 2009, and that the world is awash in oil at the moment. The scarier prospect looks somewhat farther down the road, predicting more drastic changes as the industry goes through a period of attrition. Oil companies simply aren't investing as they should be, and that does portend a gloomy future.

The Economist treats this in detail in its latest issue, in a concise but in-depth article on the topic of oil prices. While we'll leave some of the larger macroeconomic issues to others, we should consider what is goi...Read More

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My post that asks why more people don’t use HART data continues to draw responses. Here’s the most recent from someone who just calls himself Sam:

“These days the number of skilled instrument technicians and engineers in process plants has been reduced to such a low level that all of them are busy keeping the plants running, rather than going further out and analyzing data and such ‘long term’ actions. Most are focused on keeping their jobs, not enhancing the quality of the automation or going beyond the call of duty.

“Secondly, the reliability of transmitters has increased to such an extent that they continue to work for years without any need for troubleshooting. Most problems today are associa...Read More

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If you've been paying attention, you know the price of gasoline has done nothing but go up since the beginning of 2009. While it's unlikely that we'll reach the stratosphere like we did last summer, the increases probably have farther to go. (I'll go out on a limb with that prediction.) Higher oil prices will stimulate interest in alternative fuels, which isn't exactly news either. My more nuanced prediction is that development of alternative fuels in general, and biofuels in particular, will become increasingly localized.

Here are a couple of examples that may serve to point out the direction. There was an article in the April issue of Co...Read More

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This week the AWEA (American Wind Energy Association) Windpower show has been at McCormick Place. I spent much of the day there yesterday, and I have to say that it is exciting to see a show with that much activity and enthusiasm. It was really busy. One exhibitor said something about a lot of job seekers walking the aisles, but it was still gratifying to see lines at the registration counters.

It would be an understatement to say that wind power is booming. While it is still a very small segment of U.S. power generation, it is growing tremendously. One statistic says that it accounts for 40% of new electric capacity built over the last two years, and there are projects for 300,000 MW of new installations on the drawing boards. What makes it particularly fun is that this is good old heavy industry at ...Read More

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While researching another story, I was rummaging around on the Website of European utility RWE. There was one release on the site that struck me particularly. It began:

“CO₂ reduction ‘not a business priority’ in face of unrealistic targets and financial pressures. More than eight out of ten businesses say Government targets to reduce CO₂ emissions are unrealistic, while significant numbers do not see the benefit of a small carbon footprint and are relegating carbon reduction measures to concentrate on managing costs.”

That statement comes from the summary of findings of npower’s Business Energy Index (nBEI), an annual report tracking business opinion on energy use and carbon emissions, published today, April 29. The ut...Read More

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