Offshore Energy Attacks, Solar Train, Coffee Badging

There were 500 attacks on undersea energy in Europe in 2024--what
does that mean for offshore wind? SunTrain may be powering Denver
in the near future. And the latest workplace trend, "Coffee
Badging", may not be the best plan for new employees. Fill out our
Uptime listener survey and enter to win an Uptime mug! Register for
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www.weatherguardwind.comIntelstor - https://www.intelstor.com Allen
Hall: Coffee badging hits the workplace, NATO addresses offshore
wind security, and a wild proposal to move solar power by train.
Plus, NextEra's massive Montana wind project powers up. You're
listening to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast, brought to you by
BuildTurbines. com. Learn, train, and be a part of the clean energy
revolution. Visit BuildTurbines. com today. Now here's your hosts,
Allen Hall, Joel Saxum, Phil Totaro, and Rosemary Barnes. Allen
Hall: Hey, Uptime Community. We want to help to shape the future of
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Wind Energy O& M Australia. are busy at the moment because
everybody's registering. Now you don't want to miss this event.
It's on February 11th and 12th in Melbourne, and you're going to
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need to reserve your spot now by visiting windaustralia. com Phil,
is there any highlights on, on windaustralia. Phil Totaro: com?
Allen, you're right. We have a total of 32, uh, or participants and
speakers from a total of 32 different companies at this point,
registrations today, uh, that I haven't even checked in yet. So,
it's, uh, you know, tickets are going like hotcakes at this point,
and we are actually capacity limited at this facility, so get yours
today, uh, if you want to be part of this event. Allen Hall: And
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windaustralia. com. Allen Hall: There's a new workplace trend
called coffee badging and companies are pushing for return to
office and employees are doing what this new thing is called coffee
badging, and what that means is that you walk into the office,
check in, get yourself a cup of coffee. You hang out, chit chat.
And then you go back home. And employers obviously know about this,
but they're not really doing too much about it at the minute. It
does meet minimum office requirements. So a lot of large companies
say that counts as being in the office. But the demographics for
this are really interesting, Joel. Uh, if you look at who is
actually doing the coffee badging, mostly men, like 60, 40 men to
women are doing this practice and it also is related to age. Uh, it
looks like Gen X and Gen Z are the ones who are most active in this
coffee badging scenario. And to me, this is a little weird because
it's got to be the most expensive cup of coffee you can get, right?
Joel Saxum: So a big thing here that's not being taken into
consideration in any of these conversations. We talked a little bit
about this return to work last week. Is the cost of it, right? So
in this article, we're talking about, you know, a hybrid worker,
they're spending an average of 50, 50 or so a day to commute into
the office. So, I mean, that, that adds up, right? 400, 500 a month
for a hybrid worker, or even a thousand dollars for someone full
time. And, and it's something that I, it was taken into, taken into
consideration, you know, or not taken into consideration before
when we never, not that many people were working remotely. But now
when people are starting to go back and then see that cost, that's
a lot of money. I mean, for a lot of people, that's a big
percentage of salary. So I think I align right with you, Allen,
saying this is a really, really expensive cup of coffee. Cause if
it's going to be 50 to go in and out, that's. Plus your coffee.
That's 50 bucks for your coffee. Allen Hall: Rosemary, you say
Australian coffee is really good. So it's probably worth going into
the office for, is this a trend in Australia too? Rosemary Barnes:
Um, I don't know. I work for myself primarily. I do have an office,
um, for the startup that I work for and I go in there. Once a week
or so. They've got terrible coffee in, in there. Um, yeah, but I
mean, I actually, I think maybe I'm, although you said, right, that
this is a gen X and Z thing, missing out millennials in the middle,
gen Y. Allen Hall: Millennials are also highly involved in this.
Rosemary Barnes: Okay. Cause I'm a millennial and, um, I actually
miss the office quite a lot because, uh, I don't know. I, um, I
think when you're trying to work. Creatively, like, you know, to
me, engineering is a creative, creative discipline, which, you
know, a lot of people might be surprised to learn. But, um, I
really gained a lot from, um, coffee, chit chat, and talking in the
canteen when I used to work in Denmark, there was a canteen and
everyone had lunch together every day away from the computer. And,
um, yeah, like you learn about what else is going on in the
company. You learn about, you know, Oh, Hey, this guy worked on
something similar 15 years ago, and you would never have known
except for that you ran into him and, Um, he overheard you talking
about something that he knew about and Yeah. So I, I kind of
actually think that all that is incredibly valuable. Allen Hall:
Was this similar to the mouse moving devices that have become
popular? I've got hit with a lot of ads over the Christmas holidays
for mouse movers. And I thought, really, is this something? But
evidently a large number of people that work from home have. Little
mouse movers just look like they're active at the desk. Rosemary
Barnes: Aren't managers tracking the output? Like a mouse mover,
like are there really managers who are like, it's super important
that you're moving your mouse eight hours every day and they don't
actually care if you get any work done or not. I just find this so.
Crazy that anybody manages like Phil Totaro: that. On my end, I
mean, I said this last week already, like, but we're, you know, my
company is, you know, half consultancy, half, you know, software as
a service, uh, kind of development platform. And we have the
ability for, for myself and all the contract employees to work
wherever everybody wants to. Um, so at the end of the day, people
are, you Engaged in a job, especially like a back office, you know,
white collar, typically, uh, type of job, like, you don't have to
actually be in the office. I agree with Rosie that you do lose a
lot when you're not there, and it's maybe important for a younger
generation to do it, but I'm not surprised that people, I am Gen X,
I'm not surprised people in my generation and, and above are You
know, doing this because it just, there's a point at which being in
the office is more consuming than the ability that you have when
working remotely to increase your productivity. Um, because you're
not always being bothered by somebody that wants, you know, an
answer for, for two minutes of your time or this, that, whatever.
Um, so it's, it's, there needs to be a balance though. And at the
end of the day, like I said last week, you know, people. need to
get their job done or they get fired one way or the other. So mouse
movers and all this other coffee badging, I mean, whatever. Like,
as long as you get your job done and you're helping the company
achieve the goals and objectives that are important here, then
whatever it takes. Joel Saxum: As busy wind energy professionals,
staying informed is crucial. And let's face it, difficult. That's
why the Uptime Podcast recommends PES Wind Magazine. PES Wind
offers a diverse range of in depth articles and expert insights
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Whether you're an industry veteran or new to wind, PES Wind has the
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