Virtual Surveyor’s six new Terrain Lenses in Version 6.3 of its drone surveying and mapping software enhance different aspects of the terrain in 3D to give users a better understanding of the topography mapped with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The software enables surveyors to generate accurate topographic end products from UAV data, bridging the […]
DigitalGlobe, a provider in Earth imagery and information, agreed to provide elevation data to Rise Broadband to enable faster and more efficient deployment of wireless internet services in the US. The company will provide the wireless internet service provider (WISP) with Vricon’s high-resolution digital surface model (DSM) data to verify fixed wireless broadband service […]
My encounter with sociology goes back several months when a statement made in the media that we needed more engineers in society to uplift standards, among others, was met with horror by two sociology professors, who seemed to regard engineers as inhuman creatures only interested in technology. It includes a recent encounter with a […]
RS Components (RS) has announced that user activations of DesignSpark Mechanical (DSM), the company’s free-for-download fully featured 3D modelling and design tool, has now reached a cumulative total of 200,000. In addition to reaching this major milestone, the volume of total activations of the software is continuing to increase at a rate of between 4 […]
The Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) held its 13th annual Industrial and Commercial Use of Energy (ICUE) conference at the Vineyard Conference Centre in Cape Town recently. The conference addressed issues related to ensuring a sustainable energy future with presentations and plenary meetings which discussed matters pertaining to energy efficiency and demand side […]
Demand side management (DSM) is normally associated with encouraging or forcing a reduction in maximum demand to enable a constrained generation capacity to match demand. However, the introduction of variable renewable energy sources into many grids has resulted in times where generation capacity far exceeds demand for short periods, stressing the generation fleet as […]
The electricity crisis of 2008 sparked numerous initiatives by government, Eskom and industry associations to reduce power demand and energy use. This article provides a summary of some of these, their effectiveness and impact. The main purpose of these programmes was to reduce the demand on the grid and to free up generating capacity. Two […]
I’ve been contemplating this issue for some time now and, at the risk of sounding controversial, it is becoming clear to me that the energy efficiency industry is suffering from an epidemic of expecting hand-outs. Eskom Demand Side Management (DSM) and similar energy efficiency “assistance-type” programmes have, in my opinion, created a culture of […]
Metrics, megatrends, technology and power: what’s happening and how it’s affecting South Africa’s data centre infrastructure and market opportunity. This is the topic of Data Centre Central’s conference to be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Rosebank, Johannesburg on Thursday 30 October 2014. Data Centre Central is a new expo and conference being launched […]
