Building The Economy On Energy Efficiency

When former President Bill Clinton stomped for Hillary's economic plan for the country, he emphasized the importance of energy efficiency in achieving this goal:

Part of the plan to reinvigorate the economy includes major investment in clean energy, Clinton said. The one thing in common among countries with rising incomes and decreasing inequalities, he said, is a commitment to clean energy. That goes hand in hand with job creation by developing biofuels at farms and rural factories and requiring retrofits of all buildings for energy efficiency, he said.

I do agree with this plan because energy efficiency is an important element to consumption reduction and as we consume less of the ills that increases energy efficiency we invigorate the economy.

Hawaii State Buildings To Become Energy Efficient

The state of Hawaii is doing what all states should be doing in order to help curb the effects of global warming:

Eleven state government buildings, on four islands, are going to be "retrocommissioned" to increase the state's energy independence, the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism announced.

The state Department of Accounting and General Services and the energy efficiency branch of DBEDT will look for opportunities to save energy in buildings and reduce operating costs, the department said. They also will improve occupant comfort, extend equipment service life and reduce the volume of emergency calls for maintenance staff.

The 11 buildings, including the State Capitol, contain more than 1.4 million square feet of space and use about 33 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year, the department said.

The City of New Orleans would have been on the right track of making its' city buildings more energy efficient if it were not for the actions of Stan "Pampy" Barre, a confidant of former New Orleans' Mayor, Marc Morial. Now Mr. Barre is a convicted felon, who is awaiting sentencing for his role in looting from the massive energy savings contract.

Wal-Mart May Become The Leader In Energy Conservation

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which launched a broad environmental push in late 2005, wants to expand that focus to other issues including energy prices, international trade and U.S. health care costs.

Chief Executive Lee Scott outlined plans in a speech Wednesday to push for more energy-saving products for Wal-Mart shoppers, work with other retailers on social and environmental standards for the foreign companies they buy from, and trim prescription and health records costs at home.

The world's largest retailer may even someday install windmills or solar panels at its stores that would allow shoppers to charge electric vehicles, and it is talking with automakers about a possible role in the hybrid and electric car market.

Dell Launches New Power Efficient Blade Server

The new PowerEdge M series blade chassis and related X64 blade servers could get Dell its rightful share of the blade space, which should account for around $5 billion in sales in 2008. The new Dell blade servers will be marketed with the same mantras that other blade server makers have tried over the past seven years--simplifying infrastructure configuration and management as well as ending sprawl in the data center through consolidation, virtualization, and density.

Energy efficiency is also going to be a big selling point. According to the tech specs of the new PowerEdge M1000e chassis, Dell can get the power supplies inside the box to run at between 88 percent and 91 percent efficiency when loaded up with between 20 percent and 60 percent of the peak loading on the power supplies in the box--the latter being the typical loading for enterprise customers using Dell's current PowerEdge 1955 blade servers.

We Must Improve Energy Efficiency

The world's largest energy consumer the United States on Monday called for a global push for increased energy efficiency to help meet rising demand and alleviate the impact of high prices on economic growth.

The U.S. consumes about 21 million barrels per day of oil, around a quarter of the world's supply. Record oil prices have cooled U.S. appetite for gas guzzling cars and, along with increasing environmental concerns, lend weight to calls for more sparing use of energy.

The country last month passed a bill requiring increased fuel efficiency in vehicles for the first time in over 30 years.

Although Stan "Pampy" Barre tried to thwart New Orleans efforts to help make the city more energy efficient, the rest of us know how important it is to conserve energy. Please do your part in order to help preserve our natural resources and decrease the effects of global warming.

BT Launch Energy Efficient Phones

BT is launching less power-hungry telephones to cut CO2 emissions. The telecoms giant's new home phones use around half the power of previous models. This will mean lower electricity bills for customers and reduced carbon dioxide emissions, the firm said.

The design change will apply to more than 90% of all BT's home phone handsets by July this year. BT group MD for the consumer division Gavin Patterson said: "BT has continued to address environmental concerns by launching phones that consume approximately half the electricity of previous models; this will make a major contribution to the reduction of CO2 emissions."

The energy efficient handsets will not cost any extra. BT estimates its switch to the new designs will cut customers' combined CO2 emissions by 195,000 tonnes over three years.

Hanover Homes - A model for energy efficiency

Are you in the market for an energy efficient home? Well, Hanover Homes may be the answer:

Hanover Homes North Corporation continues their commitment to conserving energy and offering the most value for their homeowners. Now, an Energy Star� partner, the company is breaking ground on the first in its line of affordable energy efficient Energy Star homes in the Tripp Park, Scranton, located in a Keystone Opportunity Zone.

The newest design, “The Hartford,” is expected to be completed early this summer.

Morial Confidant Pleads To Tax Count

According to the T-P, lawyer Roy Rodney, a member of former Mayor Marc Morial's inner circle whose business dealings have been under federal scrutiny for years, has agreed to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of failure to file income tax returns.

During Morial's tenure at City Hall, Rodney was the closest thing to an in-house lawyer for the former mayor's team of closest advisers.

Rodney helped incorporate businesses for many members of the group and served as counsel for Morial's political organization, LIFE. He also received several high-dollar legal contracts from Morial, performing work for the Housing Authority of New Orleans and acting as counsel for the Rivergate Development Corp., the city agency that acts as landlord to Harrah's New Orleans Casino.
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There is such a thing as attorney/client privilege. Who knows what Rodney may know...!!!

Looking For An Energy Efficient TV?

Presently, there is no data to campare the energy consumption of different models of TV sets; but that is going to change soon:

In a little-noted section of the energy bill just passed by Congress and signed by President Bush, the FTC has 18 months to come up with labeling or some other energy disclosure plan for televisions, personal computers, cable or satellite set-top boxes, stand-alone digital video recorder boxes, and personal computer monitors.

Another important development is on its way: In early February, the government will announce the final standards on which TVs will qualify for the Energy Star label. Previously, the Energy Star on TVs certified only that a set used little power when it was in standby mode and didn't take into account how much power it used when turned on!

But if all proceeds as planned, later this year consumers can begin looking for Energy Star if they want to choose a set in the top 25 percent of energy efficiency performers on the market. That will be timely, because an increase in TV buying is expected about then, with all-digital TV coming in February 2009.

A better viewing experience, so they say. But you may well be using more energy along the way, if you aren't careful.

New Book Highlights Global Warming Policy

What? Yet another book on global warming? Yes, and it is needed. While there are a number of excellent books explaining the problem of global warming, these are surprisingly devoid of actionable policy recommendations. The result is that the reading public is generally aware that global warming is serious and tough choices need to be made in the next decade. However, what the choices are and why we can wait a decade to implement them remains vague.

"Global Warming: The Answer (The Energy Dividend)" (published by AuthorHouse - http://www.authorhouse.com), the new book by Wilfred Candler, steps directly into the policy void with a simple philosophy: Get the prices right, and all else will follow.

Wal-Mart To Open 2nd. Efficiency Store

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. announced yesterday the opening of its second generation of High-Efficiency stores that will use 25 percent less energy than the baseline Wal-Mart Supercenter. The first store will open in Romeoville, Ill., on January 23.

The store combines what the company has learned from its successful first generation High-Efficiency stores with new state-of-the-art technologies. In addition to saving energy, the new stores will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by lowering refrigerant by 90 percent.

Johnson Controls To Supply Lithium-Ion Batteries

For those of you who have forgotten who Johnson Controls is, let me refresh your memory. Johnson Conttrols is the company that had an energy efficiency contract with the City of New Orleans under former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial's administration. Stan "Pampy" Barre, a confidant of the mayor, looted the Johnson Controls contract for his own personal greed.

Now Johnson Controls is in the headlines again:

The company will be supplying the People's Republic of China with lithium-ion batteries for its demonstration fleet of new energy vehicles. This fleet will help China usher in a new age of fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly vehicles.

This should turn out to be a huge success since they won't be dealing with a corrupt individual like Stan "Pampy" Barre.

Find Out What Your City Is Doing To Curb Global Warming

Today is day 14 into the new year and I have been discussing what some states and countries have been doing to curb global warming. I have also discussed how the City of New Orleans missed the mark when Stan "Pampy" Barre was allowed to steal from an energy savings contract under former Mayor Marc Morial's administration. The city really blew it with that one. I also urged all of my readers to find out what there city was doing to curb global warming.

It is time that you should ask that question because New Orleans is suffering right now and it may take years for the City to recover from Stan "Pampy" Barre's actions.

IBM Helps Retailers "Go Green"

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today unveiled technologies and services that are uniquely able to improve energy and operational efficiency across a retailer's entire IT operation. The IBM "Green Retail Store" portfolio includes high-performance point-of-sale systems, industry-leading IBM blade servers, and system management software that allow retailers to deploy end-to-end solutions from the front of the store to the back office that benefit the environment.

"Retailers are looking for ways to differentiate and build customer loyalty in a fiercely competitive environment, and consumers are increasingly showing preference for retailers who are environmentally responsible," said Steve Ladwig, General Manager, IBM Retail Store Solutions. "IBM technologies and services not only help retailers appeal to consumer requirements, but also help protect the environment and save money by making their operations more efficient."