| Sony steps up green drive
The organisations have signed the Tokyo Declaration aimed at tackling global warming and enacting industry-wide change.Sony has vowed to promote a low-carbon lifestyle to consumers, and to make its carbon footprint more transparent by highlighting related reduction activities.The company's 'Product, Process, Planet' initiative aims to highlight the measures Sony has taken to reduce the environmental impact of its products in the manufacturing process and through consumer use.Serge Foucher, executive vice president at Sony Europe, said: "This marks the first time that Sony is addressing consumers directly across various channels to enhance the communication of meaningful environmental information."This should ultimately help the consumer to make the right decision when it comes to their own contribution to sustainability through their purchase."Around 66 per cent of Sony's sales are generated by consumer electronics, and the energy efficiency of these products plays a crucial role in reducing its carbon footprint.Sony is investing in research and development to further improve the environmental performance of its products and help minimise this impact.The company claims to have reduced the power consumption of its LCD TVs, and is looking for further reductions through the development of OLED TV panels.
Ice Energy Provides Cox Enterprises with Hybrid Cooling Systems in ...
WINDSOR, Colo., Nov. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Ice Energy(R), the premier provider of hybrid cooling technologies, today announced that Cox Enterprises has installed nine Ice Bear(R) systems at two of the company's operations: Manheim California (formerly California Auto Dealers Exchange) facility in Anaheim, California and Cox Communications in San Diego, California. The nine Ice Bear systems are fully operational and will comprehensively reduce the facilities' peak load by 85 kW. The systems will reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 33 tons and nitrogen oxide emissions by 90 lbs, the equivalent of taking approximately 10 cars off the road each year. "Cooling is the single largest contributor to the blackouts, high electricity bills, increased air pollution and a host of other problems associated with summer's peak electricity demand.
A full house for HomeFront
The nonprofit began in 1990 when executive director Connie Mercer was informed of the many homeless families living out of motel rooms in the area. She and several friends began preparing hot meals for them, as well as providing recreation for children and transportation for adults to doctor’s appointments and job training. The organization officially became known as HomeFront in 1998. Laura Trzasko, development assistant for HomeFront, came up with the idea of merging poker with charity. "I really wanted to plan an event," says the 22-year-old Plainsboro resident, who joined HomeFront six months ago. "Poker is very popular right now," Ms. Trzasko says. "I feel like you can’t miss it when it’s always on ESPN." .
Now at Hotels: The $250 Cigarette
Dan Cole checked out of his Connecticut hotel early on a Saturday morning last month and found an unwelcome surprise. The Courtyard Marriott Hartford-Farmington had slapped him with a $250 charge for smoking in his nonsmoking room. Mr. Cole is a smoker but insists he didn't light up in the room. He got busted, he thinks, for throwing a few cigarette butts he had stowed in his pants pocket into the room's trash. He pleaded his case to the front desk, but the clerk refused to take off the charge. The next day, Mr. Cole fired off a series of increasingly exasperated emails to customer service and the general manager. "Would you like me to take a polygraph to prove to you that I am not a liar?" he emailed Chris O'Donnell, the hotel's general manager. Mr. Cole is among the growing crowd of smokers ensnared by hotels' new and more stringent no-smoking policies.
What is the Iraq war's carbon footprint?
We are updated on a daily basis about the ever mounting human cost of the Iraq war, but even the US military is now starting to ask questions about how much oil the "war over oil" is consuming. Last year, Major General Richard Zilmer sent the Pentagon a "priority one" request from Iraq for "a self-sustainable energy solution" that would include "solar panels and wind turbines". The US military's carbon footprint was not his concern - rather, that "by reducing the need for [petrol] at our outlying bases, we can decrease the frequency of logistics convoys on the road, thereby reducing the danger to our marines, soldiers, and sailors". Amory Lovins, the world-renowned energy consultant, agrees that the US military has a "fat fuel-logistics tail" and believes that this is a "very teachable moment for the military" on reducing its immense fossil fuel consumption.
More Act 309 inmates needed, board member says
Jay Campbell was sentenced to 40 years in prison and his wife received a 20 year sentence. Also former Lonoke Mayor Thomas Privett pleaded no contest to theft of services, a misdemeanor, for having state inmates perform chores at his home."Those are issues of the past," Jones said Tuesday. "I don't see those types of issues now. We really keep a tight reign on the program ... we're doing a really, really good job of supervising the program now."The prison board voted Tuesday to support the Arkansas Sheriffs Association as it studies raising the state reimbursement rate for housing state inmates in county jails. Currently, the state pays counties $28 a day to hold state inmates because of overcrowding in the state system.Board member Mary Parker said she did not want the board to be viewed as advocating the association's effort, while member Leroy Brownlee urged the board to support the association.
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