Jerry Walker discusses the influence of soil thermal resistivity on the temperature of buried cables.

Tony Lange addresses the deluge of information which pours into the control room of a plant. Contrary to the belief that more information leads to better control operators and management are totally overloaded with information and data. According to Tony it is Intelligent SCADA based on Artificial Intelligence to the rescue!

Tony Rayner writes a striking article on lightning - flashing in on lighting and switching transients.

Ian Bitterlin highlights the importance of switchgear and power distribution for critical power systems to succeed in our plant maintenance and refurbishment feature. In the same feature, Rob Melaia is adamant that in almost all rotating electrical machine failures, the final judgement of the root cause of failure is based on some form of visual inspection. In his words, ‘That's where the buck stops!"

A fascinating look at myths and facts associated with nuclear process equipment by HM Schwartz and Dr Dirk Moerman appears in the pressure and level measurement feature. They question the logic behind many companies looking at other technologies to make difficult process measurements when the best solution is nuclear measurement.

We always encourage debate in our Are You EnviroFicient feature. In May, Earthlife Africa pointed a finger at Eskom for not only incurring a massive debt to the World Bank, but also for having total disregard for preventing further climate change. This month, in response, Eskom's Dr Steve Lennon steps up to the plate and explains the company's climate change strategy. Lastly Grant Joyce briefly considers solar energy options in the light of rising prices of electricity and fuel.