Rain barrels
Florida receives an average of 52 inches of rainfall per year. Most of this water washes over lawns and pavement carrying fertilizers and other chemicals into local waterways. An inch of rainfall over a one thousand square-foot area yields in excess of 600 gallons of water. A rain barrel is an inexpensive means of capturing and storing some of this water for later use. By installing a rain barrel you'll not only help reduce pollution, but you'll also have a supply of free non-chlorinated soft water for irrigating your landscape!
Rain Barrel Workshops
The Miami-Dade County Cooperative Extension Service is offering a series of Rain Barrel Workshops. These workshops give the residents of Miami-Dade County an opportunity to learn about important water conservation issues and teach them how to construct and install their very own rain barrel. All barrels are refurbished food-grade drums. They are used to ship food products only. Size and color varies based on availability. Generally, the volume is 55 gallons. Please note that we no control over what size, color, or style (open or closed top) drums will be available.
Registration for the rainbarrel workshop (with barrel) includes:
1 55-60 gal. food grade drum
1 hose bib
workshop materials
*It may be necessary to purchase additional materials in order to instal the rain barrel at your home.
To register call Lize at (305)248-3311 x 242
You can register for the next workshop by downloading and completing the registration form below and mailing it to the Extension Office in Homestead with your check or money order. Please be aware that these classes can fill quickly, and you must pre-register and prepay. Due to storage and transport considerations, I can only provide a limited number of barrels per workshop. Registration is based on a first come, first served basis. We are also willing to hold on-site rain barrel workshops for homeowners associations, garden clubs, etc. If your group is interested please contact Barbara McAdam at (305)248-3311 x 245
Registration Fees
Workshop and barrel: $45
Additional barrels: $40 each
Workshop without barrel: $10
Guests may attend for free, but must pay if they would like workshop materials
Payment must be made in the form of personal check or money order. We can not accept cash or credit cards.
Date Registration Location & Time
Saturday, January 24 Miami Beach Botanical Gardens
10:00 AM-Noon
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Retail Health Clinics Get Good Marks
Drive-Thru Medical: Retail Health Clinics Get Good Marks
Health Care at a Crossroads CNBC AFP/Getty Images/File – A doctor and a nurse chjeck an elderly patient at a US community hospital.
Wednesday … By JEFFREY KLUGER Jeffrey Kluger – Tue Sep 1, 11:40 am ET
Doctors are having a hard go of things. Squeezed by falling reimbursements, soaring malpractice insurance and punishing patient loads, they shouldn't have much to fear from the likes of Wal-Mart. But the fact is, the greeter in the red vest is increasingly going toe-to-toe with the doctor in the white coat - and winning - thanks to the growing phenomenon of retail health clinics.
Retail clinics - free-standing, walk-in medical providers located in drug stores, shopping malls and stores like Wal-Mart, Target and Walgreens - are rapidly becoming to the health-care industry what Fotomat was to the camera world. There are roughly 1,000 clinics now operating in the U.S., offering acute care for such routine problems as throat infections and earaches as well as providing diabetes and cholesterol screenings, routine checkups and vaccinations. The fees are low - and conspicuously posted; nearly all of the clinics treat both the insured and uninsured, and there is little or no waiting time. With 50 million Americans lacking health insurance and family budgets collapsing under the weight of medical costs, what's not to like about the clinics? (See pictures of the Cleveland clinic's approach to health care.)
Plenty, say physicians associations, whose members warn that clinics - which are typically staffed by nurse practitioners and are positioned in stores that also sell prescriptions - will be inclined to misdiagnose and overprescribe. Worse, they are not built to provide long-term care for chronic conditions such as hypertension, and they threaten the ideal of a lasting doctor-patient relationship, denying consumers a so-called "medical home."
Those, at least, are the arguments, though it was impossible to know how well-founded they were - until now. In twin studies published this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the Rand Corp. reports on an extensive survey of cost, quality and availability of retail health operations, and on nearly all measures, the clinics scored high.
The studies, which took months to compile, were based on the performance of the 982 retail clinics that existed in the U.S. as of August 2008 - a tenfold increase since 2006. While that proliferation is impressive, as with much else in the health-care system it doesn't necessarily mean equal access to care. Clinics exist in only 33 states, and in those that have them, an overwhelming 88.4% are in urban areas. Just 10.6% of the U.S. population lives within a five-minute drive of a clinic, and 28.7% lives 10 minutes away. The South is better served than the Midwest and West, and all three regions are better served than the East. Just five states (Florida, California, Texas, Minnesota and Illinois) are home to 44% of all American retail health clinics.
But perhaps the more relevant question is, How good is the care at these stop-and-shop operations? To answer that, the Rand investigators focused on just one state, Minnesota, because clinics are well-established there and because one large health plan has been providing clinic coverage for its members for five years, meaning that there was a rich vein of data to mine. The investigators focused on data on 2,100 patients who had gone to a clinic for one of three common complaints: sore throat, urinary tract infection and earache. These were compared to patients who had visited doctors' offices, urgent-care facilities and emergency rooms for the same ailments. The investigators judged quality of care by 14 different measures, including what kinds of tests were ordered, what drugs were prescribed and whether follow-up visits were scheduled. (Read "This Doctor Does Not Want To See You.")
If the results are any indication, the next time you have a routine medical need, you should probably make haste to a clinic. On a quality scale of 0% to 100%, the clinics finished first with a 63.6% while urgent-care centers and doctor's offices followed within a couple of points. Habitually overcrowded emergency rooms came in last at a distant 55.1%. When it came to fees, the results were even more dramatic. For the various kinds of services studied, the average visit to a retail clinic cost $110, versus $156 for urgent care and $166 for a family doc. As for ERs? A cool $570. While even $110 for a clinic visit seems pricey, that is only the average for the three procedures studied. Minute Clinic, the industry leader with 514 outlets, charges just $62 for a minor illness or injury exam and $20 to $66 for a wellness or prevention visit.
Average cost per lab test in the Rand study also differed significantly depending on the provider: $15 at retail clinics, $27 at urgent-care facilities, $33 at doctors' offices and a whopping $113 at the ER. The study did not bear out the fear that retail clinics would be inclined to overprescribe drugs, and when the clinics did write a prescription, the out-of-pocket cost was lower: $21 compared to a high of $26 for ERs.
"These findings provide more evidence that retail clinics are an innovative way of delivering health care," says Dr. Ateev Mehrotra, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School and the lead author of the study. "Retail clinics are more convenient for patients, less costly and provide care that is of equal quality."
Neither the clinics nor the studies are perfect, as the Rand team concedes. Even an exhaustive survey of one state is still a study of just that state. And the very accessibility of those Minnesota clinics might have encouraged more visits by mildly ill people whose complaints would have vanished on their own. Give the clinics so many easy pitches to hit and you may artificially drive up their average. Still, with local and regional hospitals such as the Cleveland Clinic increasingly working in partnership with such retail operations, more and more of these in-store outlets are likely to open. Which means more and more of us will be putting health care on the weekly shopping lists, along with the milk and bread.
Health Care at a Crossroads CNBC AFP/Getty Images/File – A doctor and a nurse chjeck an elderly patient at a US community hospital.
Wednesday … By JEFFREY KLUGER Jeffrey Kluger – Tue Sep 1, 11:40 am ET
Doctors are having a hard go of things. Squeezed by falling reimbursements, soaring malpractice insurance and punishing patient loads, they shouldn't have much to fear from the likes of Wal-Mart. But the fact is, the greeter in the red vest is increasingly going toe-to-toe with the doctor in the white coat - and winning - thanks to the growing phenomenon of retail health clinics.
Retail clinics - free-standing, walk-in medical providers located in drug stores, shopping malls and stores like Wal-Mart, Target and Walgreens - are rapidly becoming to the health-care industry what Fotomat was to the camera world. There are roughly 1,000 clinics now operating in the U.S., offering acute care for such routine problems as throat infections and earaches as well as providing diabetes and cholesterol screenings, routine checkups and vaccinations. The fees are low - and conspicuously posted; nearly all of the clinics treat both the insured and uninsured, and there is little or no waiting time. With 50 million Americans lacking health insurance and family budgets collapsing under the weight of medical costs, what's not to like about the clinics? (See pictures of the Cleveland clinic's approach to health care.)
Plenty, say physicians associations, whose members warn that clinics - which are typically staffed by nurse practitioners and are positioned in stores that also sell prescriptions - will be inclined to misdiagnose and overprescribe. Worse, they are not built to provide long-term care for chronic conditions such as hypertension, and they threaten the ideal of a lasting doctor-patient relationship, denying consumers a so-called "medical home."
Those, at least, are the arguments, though it was impossible to know how well-founded they were - until now. In twin studies published this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the Rand Corp. reports on an extensive survey of cost, quality and availability of retail health operations, and on nearly all measures, the clinics scored high.
The studies, which took months to compile, were based on the performance of the 982 retail clinics that existed in the U.S. as of August 2008 - a tenfold increase since 2006. While that proliferation is impressive, as with much else in the health-care system it doesn't necessarily mean equal access to care. Clinics exist in only 33 states, and in those that have them, an overwhelming 88.4% are in urban areas. Just 10.6% of the U.S. population lives within a five-minute drive of a clinic, and 28.7% lives 10 minutes away. The South is better served than the Midwest and West, and all three regions are better served than the East. Just five states (Florida, California, Texas, Minnesota and Illinois) are home to 44% of all American retail health clinics.
But perhaps the more relevant question is, How good is the care at these stop-and-shop operations? To answer that, the Rand investigators focused on just one state, Minnesota, because clinics are well-established there and because one large health plan has been providing clinic coverage for its members for five years, meaning that there was a rich vein of data to mine. The investigators focused on data on 2,100 patients who had gone to a clinic for one of three common complaints: sore throat, urinary tract infection and earache. These were compared to patients who had visited doctors' offices, urgent-care facilities and emergency rooms for the same ailments. The investigators judged quality of care by 14 different measures, including what kinds of tests were ordered, what drugs were prescribed and whether follow-up visits were scheduled. (Read "This Doctor Does Not Want To See You.")
If the results are any indication, the next time you have a routine medical need, you should probably make haste to a clinic. On a quality scale of 0% to 100%, the clinics finished first with a 63.6% while urgent-care centers and doctor's offices followed within a couple of points. Habitually overcrowded emergency rooms came in last at a distant 55.1%. When it came to fees, the results were even more dramatic. For the various kinds of services studied, the average visit to a retail clinic cost $110, versus $156 for urgent care and $166 for a family doc. As for ERs? A cool $570. While even $110 for a clinic visit seems pricey, that is only the average for the three procedures studied. Minute Clinic, the industry leader with 514 outlets, charges just $62 for a minor illness or injury exam and $20 to $66 for a wellness or prevention visit.
Average cost per lab test in the Rand study also differed significantly depending on the provider: $15 at retail clinics, $27 at urgent-care facilities, $33 at doctors' offices and a whopping $113 at the ER. The study did not bear out the fear that retail clinics would be inclined to overprescribe drugs, and when the clinics did write a prescription, the out-of-pocket cost was lower: $21 compared to a high of $26 for ERs.
"These findings provide more evidence that retail clinics are an innovative way of delivering health care," says Dr. Ateev Mehrotra, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School and the lead author of the study. "Retail clinics are more convenient for patients, less costly and provide care that is of equal quality."
Neither the clinics nor the studies are perfect, as the Rand team concedes. Even an exhaustive survey of one state is still a study of just that state. And the very accessibility of those Minnesota clinics might have encouraged more visits by mildly ill people whose complaints would have vanished on their own. Give the clinics so many easy pitches to hit and you may artificially drive up their average. Still, with local and regional hospitals such as the Cleveland Clinic increasingly working in partnership with such retail operations, more and more of these in-store outlets are likely to open. Which means more and more of us will be putting health care on the weekly shopping lists, along with the milk and bread.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Time to get tough with AIG
Time to get tough with AIG
Post a comment (29)Posted by: Matthew Goldstein
Tags: Commentaries, AIG, asset sales, bailout, citigroup, Croatian, FDIC, Federal Reserve, lehman brothers, Robert Benmosche, vacation, villa
I
t’s time for someone in the Obama administration to read the riot act to Robert Benmosche, American International Group’s new $7 million chief executive.
Since getting the job, Benmosche has spent more time at his lavish Croatian villa on the Adriatic coast than at the troubled insurer’s corporate offices in New York.
And in the short term, Benmosche’s vacation strategy appears to be paying dividends.
This week, AIG’s shares surged 44 percent, to nearly $50, after Benmosche said that he intended to move slower than his predecessor in selling off AIG’s still viable divisions.
Maybe Benmosche should consider relocating AIG’s headquarters to Dubrovnik.
But the big run-up in AIG shares is merely a sideshow for momentum players, speculators and Hank Greenberg, the former AIG chieftain who controls about 11 percent of the company’s outstanding shares.
The reality is that AIG exists today only because of the $180 billion lifeline the insurer has received from the federal government. Even Benmosche acknowledges that, telling The Wall Street Journal: “If the U.S. government doesn’t continue to support AIG, we will fail.”
The trouble is that the government continues to act as if its support of AIG is unconditional, which is why Benmosche can feel free to set his own leisurely timetable for selling AIG’s assets. The former MetLife chief executive knows no one from the government is about to tell him what to do, even though American taxpayers effectively own 80 percent of the company.
But Treasury and the Federal Reserve need to be taking their cue from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp in how to handle AIG.
Behind the scenes, Sheila Bair, the FDIC chairman, has been exerting a lot of pressure on her agency’s biggest ward–Citigroup–to make changes to its management and business strategies. Treasury and the Fed should do much the same with AIG.
There’s no reason for the federal government to be acting as a mere bystander in all this. After all, the government bailed out AIG chiefly to prevent a run on U.S. and European banks that had purchased hundreds of billions of dollars in guarantees on risky securities. In those scary days immediately following Lehman Brothers’ collapse, AIG was too big to fail.
But nearly a year later, that is no longer the case. If AIG were to fail now it would be painful but more manageable because of the steps the Fed has taken either to guarantee or remove the most troubling assets from its balance sheet.
Yet the government’s kowtowing to AIG leaves some scratching their heads.
“The controlling party here should be the government,” says Brad Golding, a hedge fund manager with Christofferson, Robb & Co, who frequently shorts financial stocks, including shares of AIG in the past. “When he was made CEO, (government officials) should have called him and said: ‘You are occupying this role at our whim.’”
There’s talk about the Obama administration using the one-year anniversary of the demise of Lehman Brothers to give new life to its flagging financial regulatory reform package.
That’s a fine idea and one that’s no doubt necessary in light of the way many on Wall Street are returning to business as usual.
But here’s something else Team Obama should do: Use the anniversary of the AIG bailout to set a hard-and-fast deadline for dismantling the insurer and getting the taxpayers’ money back.
They should do the very same things with the banks that we bailed out. The same banks that ARENT loaning money out to the people and businesses that need it. There should have been a LOT of strings attached to that money. For instance, that 1/3 or 1/2 of it HAD to be loaned out to deserving businesses. Instead, they are just holding on to the money and buying out smaller banks that are going under at fire sale prices, making THEM stronger but benefiting nobody else.(My opinion)
Post a comment (29)Posted by: Matthew Goldstein
Tags: Commentaries, AIG, asset sales, bailout, citigroup, Croatian, FDIC, Federal Reserve, lehman brothers, Robert Benmosche, vacation, villa
I
t’s time for someone in the Obama administration to read the riot act to Robert Benmosche, American International Group’s new $7 million chief executive.
Since getting the job, Benmosche has spent more time at his lavish Croatian villa on the Adriatic coast than at the troubled insurer’s corporate offices in New York.
And in the short term, Benmosche’s vacation strategy appears to be paying dividends.
This week, AIG’s shares surged 44 percent, to nearly $50, after Benmosche said that he intended to move slower than his predecessor in selling off AIG’s still viable divisions.
Maybe Benmosche should consider relocating AIG’s headquarters to Dubrovnik.
But the big run-up in AIG shares is merely a sideshow for momentum players, speculators and Hank Greenberg, the former AIG chieftain who controls about 11 percent of the company’s outstanding shares.
The reality is that AIG exists today only because of the $180 billion lifeline the insurer has received from the federal government. Even Benmosche acknowledges that, telling The Wall Street Journal: “If the U.S. government doesn’t continue to support AIG, we will fail.”
The trouble is that the government continues to act as if its support of AIG is unconditional, which is why Benmosche can feel free to set his own leisurely timetable for selling AIG’s assets. The former MetLife chief executive knows no one from the government is about to tell him what to do, even though American taxpayers effectively own 80 percent of the company.
But Treasury and the Federal Reserve need to be taking their cue from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp in how to handle AIG.
Behind the scenes, Sheila Bair, the FDIC chairman, has been exerting a lot of pressure on her agency’s biggest ward–Citigroup–to make changes to its management and business strategies. Treasury and the Fed should do much the same with AIG.
There’s no reason for the federal government to be acting as a mere bystander in all this. After all, the government bailed out AIG chiefly to prevent a run on U.S. and European banks that had purchased hundreds of billions of dollars in guarantees on risky securities. In those scary days immediately following Lehman Brothers’ collapse, AIG was too big to fail.
But nearly a year later, that is no longer the case. If AIG were to fail now it would be painful but more manageable because of the steps the Fed has taken either to guarantee or remove the most troubling assets from its balance sheet.
Yet the government’s kowtowing to AIG leaves some scratching their heads.
“The controlling party here should be the government,” says Brad Golding, a hedge fund manager with Christofferson, Robb & Co, who frequently shorts financial stocks, including shares of AIG in the past. “When he was made CEO, (government officials) should have called him and said: ‘You are occupying this role at our whim.’”
There’s talk about the Obama administration using the one-year anniversary of the demise of Lehman Brothers to give new life to its flagging financial regulatory reform package.
That’s a fine idea and one that’s no doubt necessary in light of the way many on Wall Street are returning to business as usual.
But here’s something else Team Obama should do: Use the anniversary of the AIG bailout to set a hard-and-fast deadline for dismantling the insurer and getting the taxpayers’ money back.
They should do the very same things with the banks that we bailed out. The same banks that ARENT loaning money out to the people and businesses that need it. There should have been a LOT of strings attached to that money. For instance, that 1/3 or 1/2 of it HAD to be loaned out to deserving businesses. Instead, they are just holding on to the money and buying out smaller banks that are going under at fire sale prices, making THEM stronger but benefiting nobody else.(My opinion)
CPS buses to be safer, greener
CPS buses to be safer, greener
New technology makes it easier to track vehicles, tell where kids let off
Comments
August 31, 2009
BY MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA Staff Reporter/mihejirika@suntimes.com
When Chicago Public Schools students return to classes next week, they'll find their school buses have gone high-tech -- with newly installed remote GPS technology and in-vehicle mobile data terminals.
Along with a $1 million federal program that will retrofit all older buses in CPS' 1,600-bus fleet with clean-running technology in the next several months, the changes place the nation's third-largest school system on the cutting edge of safety and green technology.
Chicago school buses have been made greener and safer because of new technology, including being equipped with remote GPS and in-vehicle mobile data terminals.
(John H. White/Sun-Times file)
Only about 25 percent of school buses nationwide have the GPS and MDT technologies, the American School Bus Council estimates.
"The GPS system makes your routing significantly more efficient. With Chicago's implementing this on a large-scale basis, it should cut their mileage down considerably, right off the bat," said ASBC spokesman Bob Riley.
"It has a lot of benefits as far as safety for kids, in that the administration at the bus dispatch knows where the bus is at all times," he said. "And with the MDT, the biggest benefit would be with the special-needs population."
With the MDT, drivers can input information that tracks special-needs students as they board a bus or exit, reducing the potential for such students to be left behind, mistreated, or delivered to the wrong place -- as occurred last week on the first day of school in west suburban Plainfield, where a 6-year-old autistic boy was dropped off at the wrong school and found wandering alone three hours later.
"With the mobile data terminal, we'll be able to communicate with the buses instantly," said Francisco duPrey, CPS deputy general manager for transportation.
"When a parent calls and asks us when a bus picked up a child, we'll be able to see where and when the bus stopped, when it opened and closed its doors, and when the stop arm came out," he said. "We'll be able to respond to parents' inquiries about pick-ups and drop-offs with a great deal of precision."
In providing the upgrades to its school bus vendors, CPS is bucking the national trend. Transportation has been one of the hardest hit areas as cash-strapped school districts across the country struggle to cut spending.
In a recent survey by the American Association of School Administrators, 23 percent of districts said they were reducing or eliminating school bus transportation for the coming year as part of cost-cutting measures -- up from 14 percent last year.
CPS' Transportation Department budget remains steady this year, however, at $100 million, although 100 fewer buses are contracted from 20 primary school bus vendors. CPS hopes to recoup some of the costs of the new technology through greater fuel efficiency from less idling, streamlined routing, and better reporting on Medicare reimbursement for special-needs students.
The $1 million retrofitting is funded by an EPA program to bring older buses into compliance with new emissions and fuel economy standards. Newer buses, mostly hybrid, already meet the standards. And when the retrofitting is completed in December, 90 percent of the CPS fleet will have been brought into compliance, making it one of the cleanest and greenest in the country.
"If you have 1,600 buses going around the city on a daily basis, that's going to reduce significantly the air pollution," duPrey said.
New technology makes it easier to track vehicles, tell where kids let off
Comments
August 31, 2009
BY MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA Staff Reporter/mihejirika@suntimes.com
When Chicago Public Schools students return to classes next week, they'll find their school buses have gone high-tech -- with newly installed remote GPS technology and in-vehicle mobile data terminals.
Along with a $1 million federal program that will retrofit all older buses in CPS' 1,600-bus fleet with clean-running technology in the next several months, the changes place the nation's third-largest school system on the cutting edge of safety and green technology.
Chicago school buses have been made greener and safer because of new technology, including being equipped with remote GPS and in-vehicle mobile data terminals.
(John H. White/Sun-Times file)
Only about 25 percent of school buses nationwide have the GPS and MDT technologies, the American School Bus Council estimates.
"The GPS system makes your routing significantly more efficient. With Chicago's implementing this on a large-scale basis, it should cut their mileage down considerably, right off the bat," said ASBC spokesman Bob Riley.
"It has a lot of benefits as far as safety for kids, in that the administration at the bus dispatch knows where the bus is at all times," he said. "And with the MDT, the biggest benefit would be with the special-needs population."
With the MDT, drivers can input information that tracks special-needs students as they board a bus or exit, reducing the potential for such students to be left behind, mistreated, or delivered to the wrong place -- as occurred last week on the first day of school in west suburban Plainfield, where a 6-year-old autistic boy was dropped off at the wrong school and found wandering alone three hours later.
"With the mobile data terminal, we'll be able to communicate with the buses instantly," said Francisco duPrey, CPS deputy general manager for transportation.
"When a parent calls and asks us when a bus picked up a child, we'll be able to see where and when the bus stopped, when it opened and closed its doors, and when the stop arm came out," he said. "We'll be able to respond to parents' inquiries about pick-ups and drop-offs with a great deal of precision."
In providing the upgrades to its school bus vendors, CPS is bucking the national trend. Transportation has been one of the hardest hit areas as cash-strapped school districts across the country struggle to cut spending.
In a recent survey by the American Association of School Administrators, 23 percent of districts said they were reducing or eliminating school bus transportation for the coming year as part of cost-cutting measures -- up from 14 percent last year.
CPS' Transportation Department budget remains steady this year, however, at $100 million, although 100 fewer buses are contracted from 20 primary school bus vendors. CPS hopes to recoup some of the costs of the new technology through greater fuel efficiency from less idling, streamlined routing, and better reporting on Medicare reimbursement for special-needs students.
The $1 million retrofitting is funded by an EPA program to bring older buses into compliance with new emissions and fuel economy standards. Newer buses, mostly hybrid, already meet the standards. And when the retrofitting is completed in December, 90 percent of the CPS fleet will have been brought into compliance, making it one of the cleanest and greenest in the country.
"If you have 1,600 buses going around the city on a daily basis, that's going to reduce significantly the air pollution," duPrey said.
California Energy Commission Awards eTec $8M in Support of Transportation Electrification Project
California Energy Commission Awards eTec $8M in Support of Transportation Electrification Project; Almost $7M to Other Plug-in Infrastructure and Vehicle Projects
31 August 2009
The California Energy Commission (CEC) has awarded Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec), a subsidiary of ECOtality, an estimated $8 million to support the deployment of charge infrastructure and electric vehicles (EVs) in the San Diego region that is part of eTec’s project awarded $99.8 million in Recovery Act funds from the Department of Energy. (Earlier post.)
As eTec’s proposed project to the US Department of Energy is anticipated to deploy up to 2,550 charging stations in the San Diego area, the additional funding from the California Energy Commission will allow for a substantial increase in the amount of charge infrastructure deployed in the region, according to Don Karner, president, eTec.
In eTec’s proposed project to the US Department of Energy, eTec is partnering with Nissan North America to deploy up to 5,000 Nissan LEAF EVs and approximately 12,750 charging stations throughout five states: Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington.
The eTec award was part of a larger CEC set of awards made in support of Recovery Act awards. As stipulated in the CEC solicitation, issued in April, the Energy Commission is only issuing awards to projects that receive an award from the federal government.
Other estimated awards resulting from the CEC’s solicitation include:
$5,000,000 to South Coast Air Quality Management District for PHEV Medium-Duty Commercial Fleet Demonstration and Evaluation
$1,000,000 to Navistar for the Development and Manufacture of medium-duty Plug-In Electric Vehicles
$553,000 to Sacramento Municipal Utility District for Charging Infrastructure for Plug-In Hybrids and Electric Vehicle Demonstration with General Motors
$103,500 to Sacramento Municipal Utility District for Charging Infrastructure for Plug-In Hybrids and Electric Vehicle Demonstration with Ford
$100,000 to Sacramento Municipal Utility District for Charging Infrastructure for Plug-In Hybrids and Electric Vehicle Demonstration with Chrysler
Final award amounts may vary significantly from the estimated amounts. The Energy Commission will determine final award amounts after discussions with each proposed award recipient. Factors the Energy Commission may consider include, but are not limited to, the amount of funding received from the US Department of Energy, eligibility and budget for each part of the final proposed scope of work, and the amount of funding required to allow the project to proceed as described in the proposed recipient’s final proposal
31 August 2009
The California Energy Commission (CEC) has awarded Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec), a subsidiary of ECOtality, an estimated $8 million to support the deployment of charge infrastructure and electric vehicles (EVs) in the San Diego region that is part of eTec’s project awarded $99.8 million in Recovery Act funds from the Department of Energy. (Earlier post.)
As eTec’s proposed project to the US Department of Energy is anticipated to deploy up to 2,550 charging stations in the San Diego area, the additional funding from the California Energy Commission will allow for a substantial increase in the amount of charge infrastructure deployed in the region, according to Don Karner, president, eTec.
In eTec’s proposed project to the US Department of Energy, eTec is partnering with Nissan North America to deploy up to 5,000 Nissan LEAF EVs and approximately 12,750 charging stations throughout five states: Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington.
The eTec award was part of a larger CEC set of awards made in support of Recovery Act awards. As stipulated in the CEC solicitation, issued in April, the Energy Commission is only issuing awards to projects that receive an award from the federal government.
Other estimated awards resulting from the CEC’s solicitation include:
$5,000,000 to South Coast Air Quality Management District for PHEV Medium-Duty Commercial Fleet Demonstration and Evaluation
$1,000,000 to Navistar for the Development and Manufacture of medium-duty Plug-In Electric Vehicles
$553,000 to Sacramento Municipal Utility District for Charging Infrastructure for Plug-In Hybrids and Electric Vehicle Demonstration with General Motors
$103,500 to Sacramento Municipal Utility District for Charging Infrastructure for Plug-In Hybrids and Electric Vehicle Demonstration with Ford
$100,000 to Sacramento Municipal Utility District for Charging Infrastructure for Plug-In Hybrids and Electric Vehicle Demonstration with Chrysler
Final award amounts may vary significantly from the estimated amounts. The Energy Commission will determine final award amounts after discussions with each proposed award recipient. Factors the Energy Commission may consider include, but are not limited to, the amount of funding received from the US Department of Energy, eligibility and budget for each part of the final proposed scope of work, and the amount of funding required to allow the project to proceed as described in the proposed recipient’s final proposal
Duke Energy to build 9th US wind farm at Wyo. site
Duke Energy to build 9th US wind farm at Wyo. site
August 31, 2009 8:08 AM ET advertisement
Associated Press news
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Electric utility Duke Energy Corp. said Monday it will build its ninth U.S. wind farm at a site near Casper, Wyo.
The 200-megawatt wind-energy project is expected to be operational by the end of 2010and will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 50,000 to 60,000 homes annually, the company said.
Power utility PacifiCorp will purchase the electricity and any renewable-energy credits generated by the project, as part of a 20-year purchase agreement, the company said.
Duke Energy said it plans to start construction on the project in late 2009 or early 2010. It said it will use at least 66 General Electric turbines at the site. The wind farm will be Duke's fourth in Wyoming.
Shares of Duke Energy rose 19 cents to $15.80 in premarket electronic trading.
August 31, 2009 8:08 AM ET advertisement
Associated Press news
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Electric utility Duke Energy Corp. said Monday it will build its ninth U.S. wind farm at a site near Casper, Wyo.
The 200-megawatt wind-energy project is expected to be operational by the end of 2010and will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 50,000 to 60,000 homes annually, the company said.
Power utility PacifiCorp will purchase the electricity and any renewable-energy credits generated by the project, as part of a 20-year purchase agreement, the company said.
Duke Energy said it plans to start construction on the project in late 2009 or early 2010. It said it will use at least 66 General Electric turbines at the site. The wind farm will be Duke's fourth in Wyoming.
Shares of Duke Energy rose 19 cents to $15.80 in premarket electronic trading.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
After Century of Growth, Tide Turns in Florida
After Century of Growth, Tide Turns in Florida
Michael F. McElroy for The New York Times
In Hollywood, Fla., which has lost 1 percent of its population over the past year, residents say the change is palpable. Downtown, stores have closed and restaurants see fewer customers.
by DAMIEN CAVE
Published: August 29, 2009
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — The smiling couple barreling ahead on the cover of Liberty magazine in 1926 knew exactly where to go. “Florida or Bust,” said the white paint on the car doors. “Four wheels, no brakes.”
The Recession’s Impact
Faces, numbers and stories from behind the downturn.
Florida’s First Decline in Decades
Michael F. McElroy for The New York Times
Sandra Woodward, 25, who grew up in Hollywood, said she was considering leaving.
So it has been for a century, as Florida welcomed thousands of newcomers every week, year after year, becoming the nation’s fourth-most-populous state with about 16 million people in 2000.
Imagine the shock, then, to discover that traffic is now heading the other way. That’s right, the Sunshine State is shrinking.
Choked by a record level of foreclosures and unemployment, along with a helping of disillusionment, the state’s population declined by 58,000 people from April 2008 to April 2009, according to the University of Florida’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research. Except for the years around World Wars I and II, it was the state’s first population loss since at least 1900.
“It’s dramatic,” said Stanley K. Smith, an economics professor at the University of Florida who compiled the report. “You have a state that was booming and has been a leader in population growth for the last 100 years that suddenly has seen a substantial shift.”
The loss is more than a data point. Growth gave Florida its notorious flip-flop and flower-print swagger. Life could be carefree under the sun because, as a famous state tourism advertisement put it in 1986, “The rules are different here.”
But what if they are not? Or if those Florida rules — an approach that made growth paramount in the state’s sales pitch, self-image and revenue structure — no longer apply?
“It’s got to be a real psychological blow,” said William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution who predicted that census data in December would confirm the findings. “I don’t know if you can take a whole state to a psychiatrist, but the whole Florida economy was based on migration flows.”
Recall what once passed for normal. Florida grew from 2.8 million people in 1950 to 6.9 million in 1970, and by about three million people each decade after that. Even during stagflation in the ’70s, Florida added about 200,000 people a year. More recently, from 2004 to 2006, Florida added about 1,100 people a day, as housing construction’s proportion of the state economy grew to twice the national average.
Now consider Broward County in 2009. The county, between Miami and Palm Beach, was one of the first areas to shrink — losing 21,117 people from April 2007 to April 2009, according to University of Florida data — and its experience offers a glimpse of what could be on the way elsewhere.
Hollywood, in particular, embodies what the Sunshine State was and might become. It was founded in the 1920s as “the dream city of Florida” by a transplant from Washington State named Joseph Young who built ranch-style homes. After growing predictably — from 22,978 people in 1955 to 139,357 by 2000 — Hollywood has lost 1,562 people over the past year, according to the University of Florida count.
That amounts to only 1 percent, roughly in line with the rest of the county, but residents say their rhythms have already changed. Here and in other places adapting to the end of double-digit growth, the days include less noise, work and spontaneity, and more goodbyes, doubts and fears of the future. It is, by all accounts, a life lived under capacity.
Sandra Woodward, 25, grew up here, happy and proud. A secretary with dreams of working in education, she said eight houses on her block are in foreclosure. She knows 20 families who have left Florida in the last two years.
On Monday, she waited for her son to finish his first day of kindergarten at her alma mater, Hollywood Park Elementary. About 10 years ago, Ms. Woodward said, gesturing toward the parking lot, temporary trailers were needed, as the school was over-enrolled. This year, the principal counted 469 students registered — 124 fewer than the school can handle.
“I used to go up north to visit my family, and they all wanted to come here, to be part of this,” Ms. Woodward said. “Now I’m thinking about leaving, too. It’s scary.”
Some parents, like Kim Yager, 27, who has three children at the school, welcomed the drop-off. “It means smaller classes,” she said.
But as cities like Detroit well know, declines in population also compound downturns and hurt quality of life. Florida, in particular, was not built for emptying. Its government, since a 1924 constitutional amendment banned a state income tax, relies heavily on sales and property taxes, which are more closely linked with population growth.
Without it, and as housing prices and property tax revenues have fallen, municipalities have been forced to scramble. Broward County’s schools, which have been losing students for several years, opened Monday with 100 fewer teachers and a budget of $3.6 billion, down from about $5 billion in 2008.
Liberty magazine echoed the people’s sentiments in 1926: Florida was the place to go.
The Recession’s Impact
Faces, numbers and stories from behind the downturn.
Florida’s First Decline in Decades Facing a deficit of $109 million, the county’s commissioners have reduced hours at libraries and parks, while the sheriff agreed to cut at least 177 positions.
The mood is dismal. Jim Findlay, 66, head of the rare books section in Broward County’s main library, said he had noticed more competitiveness among his colleagues as they wait for expected layoffs. He said he missed the time when moving trucks meant arrivals, not departures.
“It weighs on me because there has always been this hope, this expansiveness, this welcome of the new, this welcome of the unusual and eccentric in Florida,” he said. “That seems to have come to a halt.”
Or stagnating. In downtown Hollywood, chefs now stand outside with their arms crossed at dinnertime waiting for customers that never come. There are 10 shuttered businesses in the two blocks of Hollywood Boulevard north of Young Circle, the city’s main shopping district.
Jack Smile, 54, a co-owner of the Jeweled Castle, “a new-age department store,” said that many of the closed stores had been opened by people who thought that anything would work because it is Florida, where new buyers are a constant.
He started out the same way 14 years ago after leaving New York. “I came down here to work less and make more money,” Mr. Smile said. “But the tables turned.”
He has survived by bargaining with customers, and by selling stress kits of incense and oils. Gary Mormino, a historian at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, said baby boomers may be the state’s best shot at another upswing. “The big question is will they choose the same type of retirement as their parents,” he said.
Already, the state’s hold on retirees is weakening, with thousands of disenchanted “halfbacks” moving to Georgia and the Carolinas in recent years. Mr. Smith at the University of Florida nonetheless predicts only 200,000 new residents per year when the economy does recover.
Michael F. McElroy for The New York Times
In Hollywood, Fla., which has lost 1 percent of its population over the past year, residents say the change is palpable. Downtown, stores have closed and restaurants see fewer customers.
by DAMIEN CAVE
Published: August 29, 2009
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — The smiling couple barreling ahead on the cover of Liberty magazine in 1926 knew exactly where to go. “Florida or Bust,” said the white paint on the car doors. “Four wheels, no brakes.”
The Recession’s Impact
Faces, numbers and stories from behind the downturn.
Florida’s First Decline in Decades
Michael F. McElroy for The New York Times
Sandra Woodward, 25, who grew up in Hollywood, said she was considering leaving.
So it has been for a century, as Florida welcomed thousands of newcomers every week, year after year, becoming the nation’s fourth-most-populous state with about 16 million people in 2000.
Imagine the shock, then, to discover that traffic is now heading the other way. That’s right, the Sunshine State is shrinking.
Choked by a record level of foreclosures and unemployment, along with a helping of disillusionment, the state’s population declined by 58,000 people from April 2008 to April 2009, according to the University of Florida’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research. Except for the years around World Wars I and II, it was the state’s first population loss since at least 1900.
“It’s dramatic,” said Stanley K. Smith, an economics professor at the University of Florida who compiled the report. “You have a state that was booming and has been a leader in population growth for the last 100 years that suddenly has seen a substantial shift.”
The loss is more than a data point. Growth gave Florida its notorious flip-flop and flower-print swagger. Life could be carefree under the sun because, as a famous state tourism advertisement put it in 1986, “The rules are different here.”
But what if they are not? Or if those Florida rules — an approach that made growth paramount in the state’s sales pitch, self-image and revenue structure — no longer apply?
“It’s got to be a real psychological blow,” said William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution who predicted that census data in December would confirm the findings. “I don’t know if you can take a whole state to a psychiatrist, but the whole Florida economy was based on migration flows.”
Recall what once passed for normal. Florida grew from 2.8 million people in 1950 to 6.9 million in 1970, and by about three million people each decade after that. Even during stagflation in the ’70s, Florida added about 200,000 people a year. More recently, from 2004 to 2006, Florida added about 1,100 people a day, as housing construction’s proportion of the state economy grew to twice the national average.
Now consider Broward County in 2009. The county, between Miami and Palm Beach, was one of the first areas to shrink — losing 21,117 people from April 2007 to April 2009, according to University of Florida data — and its experience offers a glimpse of what could be on the way elsewhere.
Hollywood, in particular, embodies what the Sunshine State was and might become. It was founded in the 1920s as “the dream city of Florida” by a transplant from Washington State named Joseph Young who built ranch-style homes. After growing predictably — from 22,978 people in 1955 to 139,357 by 2000 — Hollywood has lost 1,562 people over the past year, according to the University of Florida count.
That amounts to only 1 percent, roughly in line with the rest of the county, but residents say their rhythms have already changed. Here and in other places adapting to the end of double-digit growth, the days include less noise, work and spontaneity, and more goodbyes, doubts and fears of the future. It is, by all accounts, a life lived under capacity.
Sandra Woodward, 25, grew up here, happy and proud. A secretary with dreams of working in education, she said eight houses on her block are in foreclosure. She knows 20 families who have left Florida in the last two years.
On Monday, she waited for her son to finish his first day of kindergarten at her alma mater, Hollywood Park Elementary. About 10 years ago, Ms. Woodward said, gesturing toward the parking lot, temporary trailers were needed, as the school was over-enrolled. This year, the principal counted 469 students registered — 124 fewer than the school can handle.
“I used to go up north to visit my family, and they all wanted to come here, to be part of this,” Ms. Woodward said. “Now I’m thinking about leaving, too. It’s scary.”
Some parents, like Kim Yager, 27, who has three children at the school, welcomed the drop-off. “It means smaller classes,” she said.
But as cities like Detroit well know, declines in population also compound downturns and hurt quality of life. Florida, in particular, was not built for emptying. Its government, since a 1924 constitutional amendment banned a state income tax, relies heavily on sales and property taxes, which are more closely linked with population growth.
Without it, and as housing prices and property tax revenues have fallen, municipalities have been forced to scramble. Broward County’s schools, which have been losing students for several years, opened Monday with 100 fewer teachers and a budget of $3.6 billion, down from about $5 billion in 2008.
Liberty magazine echoed the people’s sentiments in 1926: Florida was the place to go.
The Recession’s Impact
Faces, numbers and stories from behind the downturn.
Florida’s First Decline in Decades Facing a deficit of $109 million, the county’s commissioners have reduced hours at libraries and parks, while the sheriff agreed to cut at least 177 positions.
The mood is dismal. Jim Findlay, 66, head of the rare books section in Broward County’s main library, said he had noticed more competitiveness among his colleagues as they wait for expected layoffs. He said he missed the time when moving trucks meant arrivals, not departures.
“It weighs on me because there has always been this hope, this expansiveness, this welcome of the new, this welcome of the unusual and eccentric in Florida,” he said. “That seems to have come to a halt.”
Or stagnating. In downtown Hollywood, chefs now stand outside with their arms crossed at dinnertime waiting for customers that never come. There are 10 shuttered businesses in the two blocks of Hollywood Boulevard north of Young Circle, the city’s main shopping district.
Jack Smile, 54, a co-owner of the Jeweled Castle, “a new-age department store,” said that many of the closed stores had been opened by people who thought that anything would work because it is Florida, where new buyers are a constant.
He started out the same way 14 years ago after leaving New York. “I came down here to work less and make more money,” Mr. Smile said. “But the tables turned.”
He has survived by bargaining with customers, and by selling stress kits of incense and oils. Gary Mormino, a historian at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, said baby boomers may be the state’s best shot at another upswing. “The big question is will they choose the same type of retirement as their parents,” he said.
Already, the state’s hold on retirees is weakening, with thousands of disenchanted “halfbacks” moving to Georgia and the Carolinas in recent years. Mr. Smith at the University of Florida nonetheless predicts only 200,000 new residents per year when the economy does recover.
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