Toronto Electricians and Electrical Contractors

Yes, the EU’s New #CopyrightDirective is All About Filters When the EU started planning its new Copyright Directive (the “Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive”), a group of powerful entertainment industry lobbyists pushed a terrible idea: a mandate that all online platforms would have to create crowdsourced databases of “copyrighted materials” and then block users from posting anything that matched the contents of those databases. At the time, we, along with academics and technologists explained why this would undermine the Internet, even as it would prove unworkable. The filters would be incredibly expensive to create, would erroneously block whole libraries’ worth of legitimate materials, allow libraries’ more worth of infringing materials to slip through, and would not be capable of sorting out “fair dealing” uses of copyrighted works from infringing ones. The Commission nonetheless included it in their original draft. Two years later, after the European Parliamen...

Even power connections that are perfectly installed tend to loosen over time; avoiding this can head off serious problems Our previous post in this series discussed how important it is for installers to use the correct torque when tightening power connections, and some of the reasons these connections are prone to loosening over time. We also described technology that incorporates spring elements to maintain the integrity of the connection over the long term. In this post, we explain why keeping the power connection tight is so important, and what happens without this type of protection. Elements of a good connection Making a good connection at the contactor or circuit breaker, where electrical power is being supplied, begins with the selection of the proper type and size of cable. Preparing the cable includes removing the specified amount of insulation—not too much, but not too little, either—as well as twisting the cable end and sometimes adding surface treatment as appropriate, ...

The coastal town of Fairfield, Connecticut, has won accolades as one of the best places to live in America. The town’s 5 miles of beach that stretch along the Long Island Sound add to its charm. But when severe storms pummel the Northeastern seaboard, coastal living in this town can be dangerous and inconvenient. Crushing waves have flooded streets and even destroyed coastal homes in recent years. Along with the wind, rain, and water comes downed power lines and prolonged outages. Townspeople worry about reports that the worst is yet to come — that “storms of the century” are the new norm for residents of Connecticut and across the U.S. In an effort to proactively mitigate the damage and discomfort caused by future storms, Connecticut is an early leader in microgrid development . Now, if the power goes out, the town’s critical facilities can rely on a microgrid for electricity. A new energy era In July 2012, Connecticut’s Governor Dannel Malloy passed legislation demanding an imp...