Toronto Electricians and Electrical Contractors

With the broad integration of electrical systems in all workplaces and industries, it is evident that the voltage that rushes through these power lines is colossal. After all, electrical appliances are basically what serve modern individuals with a collection of luxuries required to go about with their day-to-day lives. Thus, excess voltage can be a significant cause of damage to devices in the circuit. Therefore, it becomes imperative to install surge arresters . Electrical power systems need to be planned out properly so that any obstacles related to the issue of surge protection can be negated to a considerable extent. There are a number of electrical components and technologies that will help you overcome these challenges with comparative ease. So, it’s important to be aware and to select the best surge protection device that will fulfill their need in the best possible way. Following a simple procedure to avoid the situation of over-voltage is not enough. There are numerous ot...

Technology. It’s ever-changing. Fast-paced. Complex. How can any company or organization, no matter which industry or market, keep up? The answer lies in flexible, adaptable, and agile data center physical infrastructure and real-time management software. Responsible for the day-to-day operations of the University of Massachusetts Medical Center’s 7,500 square foot data center, David Plamondon, Data Center Operations Architect, understands the impact of changing technology firsthand. The biggest challenges are daily technology changes and having to support the latest and greatest equipment while staying within the original data center design specifications. “Our previous IT infrastructure monitoring either did not exist or was spread across three departments that were all using different tools, he notes. In search of big picture visibility “You can’t properly run a data center unless you have a complete picture of what is going on at any one time in either the facilities or IT side...

EFF Client Responds to Ludicrous “Collusion” Trademark Threat Sometimes trademark owners seem to think that they own ordinary words. In this case, U.K. clothing giant Asos sent a cease and desist letter [PDF] to an EFF client for registering a domain with the word “collusion” in it. Our client’s domain doesn’t have anything to do with clothing—it’s about contemporary U.S. political debates. It is about as far from trademark infringement as possible. Today, we sent a response letter [PDF] demanding that ASOS withdraw its baseless threat. The full backstory is something of a Russian nesting doll of stupidity. It begins with Rudy Giuliani, former New York mayor and current attorney to President Donald Trump. Last year, some Twitter users noticed that Mr. Giuliani was making typographical errors in his tweets in a way that inadvertently created well-formed URLs. A September 15, 2018 tweet read, in part, as follows: “#REALNEWS: Woodward says no evidence of collusion.So does Manafor...

Industrial units rely on an efficient flow of electricity for production and management operations. The power supplied to different units varies as per the power availability in the system. The new age power distribution systems dismiss the power into different circuits as per the requirement. The system also takes into consideration other factors that protect the system from a fluctuating power supply that can in return result in the breakdown of machinery or any component due to sudden power deficiency. Moreover, for a system with multiple operations, any delay due to the interrupted power supply will hamper the process. The advanced or comprehensive systems are used to monitor and track the power consumption and electricity leakage in the circuit. Owing to these insights, the machine operators can engage the machinery in a manner that power consumption is optimised. The role of the system is to supply to every node where it is it required. One of the major factors affecting uninte...

Washington Post Tries to Take Down Parody Site Announcing Trump’s Resignation If you were in Washington, D.C. last week, you had a chance to be one of the lucky recipients of a parody newspaper spoofing the Washington Post and crowing about the “Unpresidented” flight of Donald Trump from the Oval Office as he abandoned the presidency. The spoof, created by activist group the Yes Men, is also visible on the website democracyawakensinaction.org . The Washington Post’s lawyers were not amused , calling the parody an act of trademark infringement and raising copyright threats. We have responded to explain why the parody is protected by the First Amendment and fair use law. Dated May 1, 2019, the parody features a series of increasingly unlikely articles, including a mea culpa by the media for Trump’s rise to power and a story pointing out that the paper’s date is several months in the future in case the reader missed it. The fictional timeline of the paper credits protests like th...

“Bureaucracy has few fans,” management experts Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini declare in “The End of Bureaucracy” ( Harvard Business Review) . [i] Some call it a “villain”; others a “disease.” I call it a weighty obstacle to any innovation. Fortunately, as I’ve said before, technology flattens everything . That includes organizations and decision processes. This may seem like a challenging proposition for long-standing companies, but it’s an essential first step for fostering an innovative culture that can fuel digital transformation. Removing the silos takes a mind shift: from controlling every layer to “leading like gardeners,” as retired 4-star U.S. General Stanley A. McChrystal says, “creating and maintaining a viable ecosystem in which the organization operates.” So how does a 180-year-old industrial enterprise such as Schneider Electric take this leap? By leading digital transformation from within — not just from the top — with a network of digital innovators committed to ...

The theme of Globalization 4.0 at the January World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos brings together the current digital revolution, and the growing integration among people, companies, and governments. Innovation combined with a society that’s mobilized for action is the path to solving global challenges, including climate change. However, this issue is complex and multi-layered. Because it’s not only about taking steps to cultivate a sustainable environment; progress needs to happen in a way that supports financial growth. A healthy planet with healthy economies is the ultimate goal. It’s with this end in mind that companies around the world are moving forward, taking a leadership position to help slow global warming. By demonstrating that the bottom line isn’t in conflict with resource efficiency and carbon management, the business community is exhibiting the potential impact and positive effects of social responsibility. To better understand what is driving corporations to address...

  Climate change is indisputable, as well as its impact on our planet’s invaluable but finite resources. Indeed, this is one of the most pressing paradoxes of our time: How do we strive for industrial growth while also being mindful of the traditional environmental impact of productivity? We must find the right balance. Everyone feels this urgency. The world is on a fast track to consume four Earths’ worth of resources by 2050. [1] A recent United Nations report also warned that CO 2 emissions must be cut nearly in half by 2030 to safeguard the planet from additional threats of climate change. [2] Take note: that is just 10 brief years . Without a doubt, the time for change is now. Green manufacturing, an emerging industrial trend with an achievable, long-term future for sustainability, addresses these environmental challenges at a systemic level. It answers the call to action. What is green manufacturing? In short, green manufacturing is primarily about changing business ...

Support Community Control of Spy Tech in Berkeley TNot long ago we wrote about our support for the City of Berkeley’s proposed Surveillance Technology Use and Community Safety Ordinance . In the time since, conversations like those already underway in the Police Review Commission, Peace and Justice Commission, and Disaster and Fire Safety Commission have continued with city agencies and residents. Having been sculpted through these conversations and the recommendations of members of the Berkeley community, this ordinance represents the civil rights and civil liberties values of the people of the City of Berkeley. To inform the City Council as they consider this ordinance, Berkeley residents may submit written comments on its adoption through an online forum . In addition, community members are encouraged to email the City Council directly. Take Action SUPPORT THE SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY USE AND COMMUNITY SAFETY ORDINANCE As we stated in our letter of support submitted to the...

EFF Asks California Supreme Court to Defuse a Time Bomb That Could Harm Anonymous Speech In recent months, we’ve seen worrying decisions in state and federal courts that weaken the First Amendment protection for anonymous speech. Last week, EFF called  on the California Supreme Court to limit the impact of one these decisions, Yelp v. Superior Court . The Yelp case involves a defamation lawsuit brought by an accountant who claims that an anonymous Yelp reviewer defamed him and his business. Last year, a California court of appeal found that Yelp had to turn over information identifying the anonymous user because the plaintiff had a plausible case of defamation. As we wrote then, the court applied a test that failed to give full weight to the First Amendment. We predicted that the Yelp decision was a time bomb that “could invite a fresh wave of lawsuits against anonymous speakers that are designed to harass or intimidate anonymous speakers rather than vindicate actual leg...

Refreshing your home’s style doesn’t necessarily require an expensive renovation. Often all it takes is rethinking a few decorative details. Try giving your home a stylish new spin with these do-it-yourself weekend projects. Upgrade your entrance Your entrance is a visitors’ first impression of your home, and a drab doorway can send the wrong message about your sense of style. You can easily spruce this area up without investing a lot of time or money. The simplest way to enhance your entrance is to repaint the front door. A few coats of a bold color that contrasts with the door trim or your home’s siding will make the entrance pop and bring new life to your front entry. If you want to go further, you can add new hardware as well, like a complimenting door handle, peephole, knocker, or house numbers to complete the look. Also, think about the area surrounding your front door. Potted plants, outdoor lighting, and weather resistant furniture such as a porch or bistro set can all add...

In my first post I spoke about the importance of building a business case when implementing the IIoT and how you should think of the IIoT as extending investments, not necessarily replacing them. In that post I covered three use cases – shadow sensing, expanding to semi-automated areas of operations, and connecting distributed systems. You will notice that those are largely new areas of exploration. These haven’t been tried before in many cases, but offer great benefits and are changing the way manufacturing operates. But IIoT isn’t just offering new possibilities – it’s also changing the way we look at and implement traditional systems. This blog post will cover two ways IIoT and cloud are revolutionizing the traditional ways we do business. Large assets are what matter Old School: Traditionally, the most mission-critical assets were the ones prioritized for more complex forms of maintenance, things like condition-based or predictive analytics. This was because connecting/instr...

This is the second blog in a four-part series on digital transformation in the chemical industry, check out the first blog “Chemical Companies Deliver Outstanding Customer Experiences Through Digital Transformation”  here.  Stay tuned next week for part three – Augmented Reality in chemical manufacturing. Chemical manufacturing is an increasingly competitive industry with margins shrinking every day. Chemical manufacturers  have two main strategic priorities. First, drive new value into their enterprise. Second, discover opportunities to recover lost value in current operations by reducing waste and unscheduled downtime. As a result, we’re seeing a significant uptake in digital transformation in chemical industry. With the adoption of the IIoT , chemical manufacturers of all sizes are rapidly identifying new ways to bridge the OT/IT gap to support enterprise wide initiatives such as improved safety, cost reduction, streamlined regulatory compliance and nimble product li...

Google’s Advanced Protection Program Offers Security Options For High-Risk Users Security is not a one-size-fits-all proposition, and features that are prohibitively inconvenient for some could be critical for others. For most users, standard account security settings options are sufficient protection against common threats. But for the small minority of users who might be targeted individually—like journalists, policy makers, campaign staff, activists, people with abusive exes, or victims of stalking—standard security options won’t cut it. For those users, Google recently added the option to add stronger protections to personal Google accounts with the Advanced Protection Program . Advanced Protection is a big step in the right direction to provide different levels of protection for different people, and other companies and platforms should follow suit. An account with Advanced Protection turned on will change in three main ways. First, when you sign in, you’ll need to use a phy...

Cheers! What if you could go green without the significant upfront costs of solar or wind? The goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has created an interest in all solutions that are sustainable. Power factor correction (PFC) is a simple and inexpensive technology but it’s often overlooked as a green solution. But before we get into magnetic fields and the science behind power factor correction, how about we compare PFC to something simple: beer. Let’s pull up to your favorite brew. Consider the cold one, both the mug and what it contains.  Picture the elements: the mug, the beer and the foam. Imagine that the three elements together present a picture of power. The mug capacity represents apparent power (kVA). The beer itself represents active power (kW). The foam represents reactive power (kVAR). Power factor is the ratio between the active power (kW) and the apparent power (kVA). Using the beer analogy, we obtain the power factor by dividing the beer by the mug cap...

This blog has been adapted from a recent article in  Where Women Work In her graduate trainee role as Sales Operations Business Partner at Schneider Electric, Marion L’Huillier has felt fully supported and encouraged as a woman entering an industry where women are currently in the minority. With so many fantastic opportunities to work on innovative projects, collaborating with an inspiring and diverse team and opportunities for travel – Marion is excited by where her graduate trainee role will lead. Gaining knowledge “I am currently part of the g raduate development programme which consists of 3 rotations of 5 months each going to different business units, to different teams, roles and locations. It gives an overview of whole enterprise, where you get to understand how it is all articulated, how strategy is deployed across businesses and the different challenges that face the organisation. You gain organisational, businesses and technical knowledge all at once s...