Another One For the Photo And Shame Log

Social Media and Business Risks

As a two-bit/two-person organisation Bawden Consulting has not much of a web presence and dabbles at the fringes of social media. However, we've been fascinated to note the rise of social media use across the business world. Now (actually September 2011 - shows how up to date we are!) the Ponemon Institute has published a survey report detailing the views of IT security practitioners with respect to the risks businesses run through their adoption of social media.

The report notes that most of the survey respondents agree that the use of social media in the workplace is important to achieveing business objectives, particularly though enhancing brand awareness and providing a powerful intelligence gathering process. However, respondents also agreed that social media tools can put organisations at risk and that many do not have mitigation mechanisms in place.

The survey found that organisations are most concerned with employees downloading apps or widgets, and posting unauthorised, uncensored content and blog entries. Employees are increasingly using social media tools for non-business purposes and the incidence of malware infections is increasing. Never-the-less, organisations are increasing their bandwidth to accommodate the increased use of social media in the workplace.

Among the top fve risks discussed is non-compliance with records management regulations. This is what concerns me most on a personal level. Just who can access any personal information I might divulge though a personal media application?

Nuclear Stress Test

The ONR has recently published its report on stress testing of UK nuclear power stations following the Fukushima incident. The report finds that there are "no major weaknesses" but does call for on-going improvements. Particular areas to be targetted are flood defence and coolant supply enhancement. I guess this is only to be expected given what happened at Fukushima.

While all this is reassuring for the current fleet we should remember that much of this will be retired in the not-to-distant future and that we'll be building a whole new phase of PWRs. Making sure that these are robust from the outset is massively important.

Ofgem Fines

So Ofgem has imposed a penalties of £2.5M on BG and £2.0M on npower for breaches of the Consumer Complaints Handling Standards Regulations. Given that the charge represents just 0.02% of BG's turnover will this do any good? Perhaps the line managers responsible will get a good kicking but then it'll all get forgotten. What about those who oversee the whole shebang? Isn't this another area where shareholders ought to be rattling a few cages (it's their money, after all). How about the penalites being recovered from the bonus pots of the respective Executives?

38 Degrees & Gas Prices

I've just received a request from 38 Degrees to sign a petition about gas prices.

38 Degrees have done some good stuff in the past but this petition is just so simplistic as to be laughable. Whoever put the petition together clearly does not understand the dynamics of the gas market - particularly the nature of forward contracts and hedging. Consequently they do not warn anyone that if supply companies were to follow the wholesale market, as they appear to want, then gas prices would be uncomfortably volatile for many consumers.

This is one petition I shall not be signing.

Top Legal Tips for Start-ups

Several friends have recently asked me about what I had to do to start up Bawden Consulting as they, too, are thinking of striking out on their own. For them the top tips in this link may well be helpful. 'Fraid, guys, you'll have to sign up to the service to read them!!

A Long Way From LOLP*VOLL

Apparently DECC has published an estimate that payments to generators under the new capacity mechanism will total some £2.8bn through to 2030. DECC has pencilled in 2015 as the date for the first auction under the mechanism as over 10GW of coal-fired capacity will have to come off the system under LCPD rules. It makes one yearn for the days of LOLP*VOLL!!

Boom, Boom, Boom?

I've recently been flicking through Exxon Mobile's recent publication "Outlook for Energy: A View to 2040". If you're in the energy business you might be encouraged by its findings but environmentalists will be deeply depressed. Here are some of its predictions:

> Global energy demand will be about 30% higher in 2040 compared to 2010. So much for efficiencies, then. And think of some of the consequences!
> Energy demand growth will slow as population growth moderates. Well, it's got to, really, hasn't it?
> OECD countries will see essentially flat energy use. By contrast, non-OECD countries will grow by close to 60%. There has to be a move to greater equality but it's not good news if the developed nations cannot reduce demand through efficiencies.
> Electricity generation will account for more than 40% of global energy consumption. Well, that fits with thoughts about decarbonised grids etc. but there is a CO2 sting in the tail. Wait for it.
> Oil, coal and gas will continues to be the most widely used fuels. Told you!
> Demand for coal will peak and then gradually decline. But what about clean coal technologies?
> Natural gas will grow fast enough to overtake coal. I can see gas as a stepping stone to cleaner generation etc., but this reads like an end in itself.
> For both both oil and natural gas, an increasing share of supply will come from unconventional sources. Think of shale gas. Well, if you're going to satisfy an increasing demand that is going to be the only way to do it.
> Global energy-related CO2 emissions will grow slowly and level off around 2030. Isn't that a tad late?

All-in-all it's not a pretty sight, although the pessimist/realist in me thinks some of this will come to pass.

Intelligent Mobility

On one of the season's obligatory trips to visit relatives I had to pass over the M25 along the A3. At 11am the clockwise carriageway was crawling which set me to musing about the variable speed limit technology along that stretch of the motorway and why it sometimes appears not to be effective. (I think there's probably some relatively simple queuing theory work that would explain that little problem). Then a day or so later I chanced upon the Automotive Council's (didn't know there was such a thing - did you?) recent report on "Intelligent Mobility".

The report points out that the UK, ranking in the top 25 most wealthy nations, is the 8th most densely populated (population per sq mile) and 5th most congested (population per road mile). It posits the thought that we are heading for a congestion crisis but that the most proposed allevition measures are simply non-starters. On one side there is no space, time nor money for a massive infrastructure expansion. On the other wholesale modal shift just ain't going to happen. So it argues for a "third way" (don't you just hate that phase?) - which the authors term "Intelligent Mobility".

Much of the report is dedicated to a review of the current status and a look forward to pathways for development. For a lay person like me it's all interesting stuff. How disappointing then to find the report's recommendations saying little more than "we need to meet and discuss". (A bit cruel that - but a true reflection of my thoughts when I reached that point).

For anyone half interested in how we might manage our road infrastructure in the next couple of decades the data and pointers in this report are worth your perusal.