Who's afraid of the Smart Grid? Meeting set for Feb. 12 in Idaho Falls

Graphic illustration from www.switched.com

Idaho Falls Power, the Partnership for Science & Technology, the Center for Advanced Energy Studies and the Idaho National Laboratory will be hosting the third of four community meetings Feb. 12 to discuss various aspects of “Smart Grid” technology and what it might mean to eastern Idaho.

Scheduled from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Center for Advanced Energy Studies complex, 995 University Boulevard, the meeting is to cover the facts about “Smart Grids” and your health.

The technology, already used in much of the United States, is touted by proponents as the key to energy conservation, reliability and affordability. But if you're prone to suspicion, there are plenty of people on the air and on the Internet with their own ideas.

Was Smart Grid technology responsible for the power outage at the Super Bowl on Sunday? Or could Smart Grid technology have prevented it?

The groups pushing the Smart Grid have been aware of the backlash for some time. "The possible consequences of unfettered access to our personal data concerning energy usage, coupled with the connection of electrical devices to intelligent networks, are a frightening prospect. In short, the future capabilities of the Smart Grid are nothing less than the ability to control and access information from anything that plugs into the electrical grid," wrote Tim Kostyk of Arizona State University in a 2010 article titled, "Smart Meter Paranoia: Could a Simple Toggle Switch or Software Fix Solve It?"

And here's a link to a 2011 story on Switched.com: www.switched.com/2011/02/01/smart-meters-draw-misguided-opposition-from-left-and-right/

Idaho Falls Power has posted pages of information about the Smart Grid, including this section on health concerns: http://www.idahofallsidaho.gov/city/city-departments/idaho-falls-power/smart-grid-main/smart-grid-health-concerns.html.

Webinar on online fraud prevention set for Feb. 12

Don Bush

Online fraud specialist Kount (www.kount.com) is hosting a webinar Feb. 12 from 4 to 5 p.m. on how to boost sales, beat fraud and reduce chargebacks.

Everyone knows fraud hurts online businesses, but stopping fraud can also hurt online businesses.

The rise of card-not-present e-commerce transactions has created a new, sophisticated level of international criminals looking to steal from online companies. Retailers feel forced to impose hard-and-fast rules on which transactions to accept, and from where to accept them. But while this blanket approach stops many fraudulent transactions, but it also blocks many legitimate, honest consumers, hurting sales and damaging your brand.

The webinar, hosted by Don Bush, Kount's marketing vice-president, will review best practices for:

• Increasing Sales Through Better Fraud Detection
• Decreasing Fraud Losses While Maximizing Sales
• Reducing Charge Backs Without Reducing Sales
• Minimizing the Need for Manual Reviews
• Why Too Many Rules Can Be Hurting Sales

A case study will focus on CDBaby, the largest online retailer of independent music on the web, and how it implemented a complete fraud protection platform. Doing this, CDBaby saw sales increase by nearly 5 percent within 60 days. The move reduced charge backs and fraud losses by more than 90 percent and allowed the company to expand to new markets without increasing the risk of fraud.

 

To register, follow this link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/425797129

Fairpoint Communications sells Idaho properties to Missoula group

FairPoint Communications, Inc. announced Thursday that it has completed the sale of the capital stock of its Idaho-based operations to Blackfoot Telecommunications Group of Missoula, Mont., for approximately $30 million in gross cash proceeds.

FairPoint's Idaho properties, which included Fremont Telecom and Fretel Communications, served more than 5,500 residential and business customers in eastern Idaho. With the sale, Blackfoot stands to expand its base by 25 percent and expand its fiber route miles by 25 percent, bringing its total fiber backbone route miles to 8,500. FairPoint also had a minority interest in Syringa Networks, a fiber network owned by several rural Idaho telcos, which is part of the sale to Blackfoot.

Blackfoot Telecommunications Group traces its origins to the founding of the Blackfoot Telephone Cooperative in 1954 and through its various organizations delivers telecommunications services to more than 20,000 customers in western Montana and Idaho. As a result of the sale, 11 FairPoint employees based in Idaho will be joining the Blackfoot organization.

MacKenzie River Pizza to open in Snake River Landing

MacKenzie River Pizza, Grill & Pub is planning to open a new restaurant later this year in Snake River Landing, on Milligan Road just south of Buffalo Wild Wings.

The restaurant will be roughly 5,500 square feet and will be located in a new retail building. It is expected to employ 60 people.

Based in Montana, MacKenzie River Pizza has 16 locations in five states. The Idaho Falls location will be its second in Idaho (the Coeur D’Alene restaurant opened in 2009.)

The Idaho Falls location will be owned by franchisee Mark Thompson and operated by Colin Higgins. Under their holding company, Granite Mountain Restaurants LLC, the two own and operate one other MacKenzie River Pizza, in Butte, Mont.

The chain is known for more than 70 different lunch and dinner menu items, including a huge variety of pizzas.

"Snake River Landing is thrilled to have the opportunity to work with MacKenzie River Pizza, Grill & Pub. We look forward to their opening later this year,” said Eric Isom, chief development officer of Snake River Landing.

You can learn more about MacKenzie River, Pizza Grill & Pub by visiting their Web site, http://www.mackenzieriverpizza.com/

Two scientists named INL Fellows

A.J. "Gus" Caffrey (left) and Richard N. Wright

Two scientists with six decades of combined research and development experience have been selected as Idaho National Laboratory Fellows.

A.J. "Gus" Caffrey and Richard N. Wright have earned the distinction held by only nine others in the 62-year history of the lab. Selection as a fellow is the lab's top scientific achievement designation.
"Laboratory Fellows are the scientific leaders of the laboratory who have achieved a national and international reputation as authorities in their area of expertise," wrote Caffrey's manager, David Ceci, in his nomination letter.

Caffrey, a physicist, earned his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University, specializing in gamma ray and neutron spectroscopy. In his 32 years at INL he led the development of several transformative technologies, including Portable Isotopic Neutron Spectroscopy, which nondestructively detects the contents of munitions that may contain chemical warfare agents. It earned an R&D 100 Award 20 years ago and is used around the world today. He is also advancing an invention that can passively verify the contents of nuclear fuel casks.

Wright earned his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in metallurgical engineering from Michigan Technological University. During his 27-year tenure at INL, he has led several research efforts in the lab's Materials Science Department. He currently leads a team characterizing potential metals for applications in very high-temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactors for the Next Generation Nuclear Plant High Temperature Metals Research and Development Program.

Caffrey has consulted for the International Atomic Energy Agency, served on two national Energy Department panels, and is an original member of the U.S. Army's Munitions Assessment Review Board, which cannot lawfully meet unless an INL PINS scientist is present.

Wright has contributed and influenced the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy University Program, its Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies (NEET) program and the Metals Working Group for the Generation IV International Forum on Very High Temperature Reactors, for which he chairs the management board. He has published 62 journal articles, 50 conference proceedings and nonreviewed articles, and holds seven patents.

A candidate for Laboratory Fellow is recommended by the employee’s manager to the Fellows Promotion Committee, which reviews promotion packages. Selection as an INL Laboratory Fellow equates to being named to an endowed chair at a major university, an elite member of a professional society or a member of a national academy.

The other nine INL Fellows are William Apel, James Delmore, J. Stephen Herring, Paul Meakin, Giuseppe Palmiotti, David Petti, Joy Rempe, Herschel Smartt and Terry Todd.