More efficient electric motors driving emission cutbacks

Electric motors, those devices that convert electrical energy to mechanical energy, are our basic tools for many essential activities in our daily lives. Your alarm clock, which woke you up, uses an electric motor. The elevator that brings you up and down your building has it. The electric motor’s importance reverberates throughout the industrial sector – from HVAC systems, to fans and pumps, to the hard drives and servers of computer systems.

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H.P., Intel to build world’s most energy-efficient supercomputer at D.O.E. lab

Concentrated photovoltaic companies are looking beyond the borders of established markets to utilize the technology’s strengths in regions with high solar irradiation.It emerged last month that customers of French company Heliotrop had been awarded 29MW out of a total of 50MW of hybrid power plants, to be built between 2012 and 2014 in France.

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Hospitals cure high utility bills by using L.E.D. in their parking lots

Two hospitals in the United States Midwest have found a cure to their lighting bills – by using L.E.D. lighting systems for their parking lots. In Canton, Ohio, Aultman Hospital spends around $1,500 a month to light their parking lot. In Michigan, Spectrum Health’s high-pressure sodium (or H.P.S.) fixtures consume millions of kilowatt-hours of energy annually.

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Apple returns to Epeat after pulling out products

After pulling out their products from the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool less than a week ago, Apple announced they will rejoin the "green" electronics rating system due to "customers who were disappointed" with the earlier decision. In a letter published in Apple's Web site, senior vice president for hardware engineering Bob Mansfield said he recognized pulling out from the Epeat was "a mistake."

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Nairobi to be pilot city for solar-powered L.E.D. street lighting project

Philips and Kenya’s Urban Roads Authority will install solar-powered light-emitting diode street lights in Nairobi – a project that can result in 100 percent energy savings if implemented across the country. "A new generation of solar-powered L.E.D. road and area lighting has the potential to transform life throughout Africa at a social and economic level," said Andre Dehmel, Philips’ lighting general manager in Africa.

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Century-old farmhouse now energy efficient homeless shelter

A hundred-year-old farmhouse-turned-homeless shelter in Placentia, California has been converted to an environment-friendly shelter with its retrofitted energy-efficient upgrades. Led by homeless shelter builder HomeAid America and retail firm Walmart, the project is part of a larger effort across the United States to build eco-friendly homeless shelters, under their national Environmental Sustainability Program created by the partnership.

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PG&E wants to spend $433 million in energy efficiency for 2013-2014

One of the largest utilities in the United States, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, wants to invest $433 million per year in energy efficiency programs for their customers. The utility filed a two-year energy efficiency portfolio with the California Public Utilities Commission for approval.

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New smart phone app to monitor AC power consumption in Singapore

A new home energy management system will be tested in 10 households in Singapore’s Punggol area, the country’s first “eco-town,” as reported by Channel NewsAsia. The new system integrates a smart phone application that will help users monitor their monthly electricity consumption and control their air-conditioning even when they are not at home.

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IBM, LRZ use hot-water cooling system for supercomputer

IBM is using hot water to cool a supercomputer and heat the building it’s housed in. The technology giant, along with Germany’s Leibniz Supercomputing Center, has developed what they claim is the world’s first commercially available hot-water cooled supercomputer.

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Starbucks, Staples accept Obama’s Better Buildings Challenge

Six new major companies in the United States, including Starbucks Coffee Company, Staples and Pacific Gas and Electric, have joined President Barrack Obama’s Better Buildings Challenge, a program enlisting the commercial sector in reducing energy use in their facilities.

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