Business Research Applications

First Energy is a multi-state corporation with more than 17000 employees and supplies electricity to customers in six states including Ohio, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland (First Energy Corp, 2011). With this many customers comes a large responsibility to maintain competitive costs and services. Supplying electricity, including customer and business revenue, is a costly venture. To stay viable and competitive, extensive research into alternative forms of energy is essential. First Energy spends much of their time and expenses into this research and it explains itself further in the following paragraphs.

First energy commits itself to abiding by the rules, regulations, laws, and environmental policies in effect (First Energy, 2010). As pollution laws become stricter and fines increase for higher than allowed pollution levels, First energy must find efficient and cheaper ways to supply electrical energy. For First Energy to move forward with technology, keep customer and business rates low, and comply with state and federal regulations, First Energy spends generous amounts of time and assets into research. That is what keeps that business in the progress it is in.

A major portion of these assets and time First Energy uses is research into improving and enhancing existing equipment. To accomplish this, First energy partners with various organizations to test prototype equipment and processes. These partners include The University of Akron, The Defense Department, Case Western Reserve University, The Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and The Electric Power Research Institute. First Energy has been partnered with and has a long history of research with The Electric Power Institute. One example of this research includes the installation of two solid-oxide fuel cells. The installation of these cells at