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Newsletter #3, February  2012

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It appears that 2012 is starting off by setting literally thousands of record high temperatures for January throughout much of North America. Speaking of setting records, the GDI Team has just returned from a very successful trip to Denver, Colorado where we participated in ILMF 2012 which also set the record for attendance and companies exhibiting at the conference. GDI’s Dr. Mark Hanus, Senior Biometrician presented an important paper on the use of LiDAR to quantify fire risk in Colorado.

We also proudly displayed the top 3 images from our very successful LiDAR as Art contest in the GDI booth and raised additional money for charity by conducting a silent auction for the artwork. The first place winner turned out to be Sergio Aguayo from Merrick and Company for his image entitled, “Lighting up the Night”. The other two finalists were My-Liuh Trouong from Riegl USA, Inc. whose image was entitled “Milwaukee Museum of Art”, and our very own Phillippe Chantigny a GDI employee who created “Floating LiDAR Cities”.  
 
 
Congratulations to all the contestants and please keep the entries coming. This contest will run throughout the year and raising money for charity is always a great cause.
 
The exceptionally warm weather is certainly a benefit to our flight operations and schedule. I am pleased to report that we are making steady progress on the integration of the Powel software products with GDI’s geospatial data and technology. GDI has a unique opportunity to create significant value for our customers, but we need everyone’s support to turn that vision into a reality.
 
Thank you for all of your dedication and hard work. We are off to a great start. Please let me know if you have any suggestions for how we can improve what we do.

 

 

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Chuck AndersonEcoMarket Infrastructure
By Chuck Anderson.
Vice President of Utilities Markets and Business Development.
 
According to the USDA Forest Service the United States has 749 million acres of forest land.  These forests sequester approximately 1 ton per acre, per year of CO2, offsetting an estimated 11% of US Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) .  
 
However, on a global basis, the data related to forests & carbon sequestration presents a vastly different scenario (Appendix A).  Unsustainable logging & forest conversion, primarily in tropical nations, contribute 18% of GHG emissions and are second only to power generation in total net emissions .  Rapid increases in human populations, whose diets include increasingly higher percentages of animal based proteins, are placing massive demands for new agricultural and grazing lands.  In addition, oil palm as a source of biofuel creates strong economic incentives to convert native forests to palm oil plantations.  
 

Fig 1 Article EcoMarket

 
The results are unprecedented rates of deforestation and forest degradation as human demands outstrip natural supplies.  Tropical forests are at the forefront of this conversion pressure primarily because resources are cheap and poorly regulated, and corruption is often systemic within many governments.  This reality, combined with global demands for the production of low cost forest products, biofuels, cereal grains & meat, means deforestation is often the only viable economic option for forest dependent nations and communities.   We are losing the world’s forests at a rate of more than 32 million acres per year .  This is equivalent to losing every acre of forests contained within the entire United States during the next 25 years.   The impact of this transformation to our biosphere could be catastrophic.  
 

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Steve BrownPositive Train Control

By Steve Brown  

P.E., Vice President of Emerging MarketsP.E.

 

If you've seen the movie "Unstoppable" with Denzel Washington, you might have some insight into why the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has legislated Positive Train Control (PTC). This movie, loosely based on a 2001 incident in which an unmanned, out of control CSX train runs for 66 miles until it is finally brought to a halt, would never have been made if PTC had been in place. 

 

PTC would have quickly recognized that the train was not operating within its limits of authority and would have simply shut it down, thus preventing a potentially serious safety incident and of course denying Hollywood the opportunity to sensationalize this incident.

 

Read More on PTC >> 

Ricardo Urdanetta

 
Ricardo Urdaneta
Director of Business Development.
 
In which area of North America do you work?
I am responsible for GDI’s relationship with Engineering firms.  My territory is North America.
 
How much do you travel?
At least 50%, more like 75% of the time.
 
 
How long have you been in this business?
I am an Electrical Engineer with a MS in Power Systems, so I have been in this sector a long time, although I also had a long stint in my career were I focused in Telecommunications.
 
Where did you grow up?

I grow up in Maracaibo, Venezuela, the second largest city and home to 60% of the Oil Industry.

 
What is your favorite hobby?
Sailing
 
What is your favorite book or movie?
Casablanca
 
Do you have a tablet computer or smart phone?
Yes, both.
 
Describe your role at GDI.
Developing the Engineering firms as a sales channel for GDI, has many challenges, you want to present GDI as a company and its capabilities; and how we can help them understand how they can provide better services to the end customer, in this case Electric Transmission Utilities.  The challenge is that they all respond in different ways and GDI cannot control what they present to end customers.
 
How did you get interested in this business?
After spending many years in the Telecommunications Industry, I welcomed the opportunity to come back to the Electric Power industry while being focused on providing value to customers through technology.
 
Christmas story - where they are planning to spend the holidays...are you going away?
Our plan is to spend the Holidays in Florida:  South Florida for Christmas and Central Florida for the New Year.
 
Who do you admire the most and why?

General George C. Marshall:  Probably the single person most responsible for helping the Allies win World War II.

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PDAC 2012 – March 4 – 7, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

 

 

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