Officials from the Environmental Protection Agency, state air quality agencies, and private industry generator manufacturers will give presentations and answer questions during two free webinars examining the importance of clean diesel generators to the U.S. economy and the regulatory and market factors which will influence their future use.

“Reliably Saving Lives and Electricity: Diesel Generators,” will be held December 14th. “Trends Shaping the Use of Diesel Power Generation,” will be held December 16th.

While diesel is commonly viewed as a power source for trucks, construction equipment, and rail and agricultural machines, it is also vital for other less traditional industries such as health care, information technology and other heavy industry. Electrical disturbances affect power quality and reliability, respectively costing the industrial and commercial sectors approximately $20 billion and $57 billion annually.

Moreover clean diesel generators are being viewed as a potential alternative power source to help maintain reliability of the electricity grid through peak shaving and demand response programs.

These webinars will be beneficial to a wide range of audience participants including state and local government officials, environmental groups, equipment dealers and distributors, end users, and contracting engineers. The webinars are being hosted by the Diesel Technology Forum.

“Reliably Saving Lives and Electricity: Diesel Generators”
December 14, 2010 from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. (EST)
This webinar will provide an overview of diesel generator usage in the United States, both as an emergency back-up and a prime power source. Speakers will highlight the breadth of industries which rely on this technology, technology changes which are making it cleaner, and the resulting market opportunities which enable them to provide greater energy security and monetary savings for customers. A question-and-answer session will follow the presentations.

Moderator: Dawn Fenton, director of policy, Diesel Technology Forum
Speakers: Mike Dauffenback, application sales engineer, MTU Onsite Energy Corporation; Chad Dozier, product and applications consultant, Electric Power Division, Caterpillar, Inc.; and Mark Foreman, director of operations support, EnerNOC, Inc.

“Powering the Future: Trends Shaping the Use of Diesel Power Generation”
December 16, 2010from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. (EST)
This webinar will look at regulatory influences shaping the sector and transformations within the industry. A look at EPA’s NESHAP rule, lower ozone standards, and a comparison with natural gas will provide a context for the future diesel generator market. A question-and-answer session will follow the presentations.

Moderator: Dawn Fenton, director of policy, Diesel Technology Forum
Speakers: Melanie King, environmental engineer, EPA Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards; Mark Prettyman, environmental scientist, Delaware Division of Air Quality; and Wissam Balshe, application engineering team leader, Cummins Power Generation.