Xcel Encourages Energy Efficient Lighting

Xcel offers compact fluorescent light bulbs for a buck


Sep 11, 2007 - Knight Ridder Tribune Business News
Author(s): Laura Snider


Sep. 11--Coloradans can buy compact fluorescent light bulbs for as little as a buck, thanks to a promotion by Xcel Energy to reduce energy demand. "We are encouraging our customers to make the switch to energy-efficient lighting," said Ethnie Groves, Xcel spokeswoman. "It's a great way to conserve energy." If every home in America replaced just one incandescent bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb, the amount of energy saved would be enough to light more than 3 million homes for a year and avoid more than $600 million in annual energy costs, according to he Environmental Protection Agency. "Switching to compact fluorescent bulbs is definitely one of the easiest ways to become more energy-efficient," said Yael Gichon, energy sustainability coordinator for Boulder's Office of Environmental Affairs. "One of the complaints we hear a lot is th t the price of the bulbs is high. Getting bulbs for a dollar each is a great deal." Discounted bulbs in Boulder County are available at the Home Depots in Boulder and Louisville and at Costco Wholesale in Superior. The sale will run while supplies last. Recently, compact fluorescent bulbs have been criticized because they contain mercury, a potent neurotoxin, which can be released if a bulb is broken. However, the 5 mg of mercury the average compact fluorescent bulb contains is 100 times less than the mount of mercury used in older glass thermometers, according to the EPA. Coal-powered plants also release mercury into the air, so some advocates of compact fluorescent bulbs argue that by using the energy-saving bulbs, people are actually reducing the amount of mercury they are exposed to on a daily basis. Because the bulbs contain mercury, they have to be carefully disposed of. But since a compact fluorescent bulb lasts 10 times longer than a regular bulb, people won't have to worry about it very often, Gichon said.

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Google Apps Premier Edition (GAPE) vs. Microsoft Office vs. IBM Open Office

Looks like Microsoft is being challenged in a big way. Should be interesting to see how things unfold. I found this article on GigaOM. Check it out here.

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SRG Facebook Group

For those of your who are Facebook users, I have gone ahead and started a Facebook Group for SRG. I have set this up as a private group, meaning an admin has to approve your request to join, and all group contents are private. When you login, just do a group search for Sterling-Rice Group. Once you request to join, your request will be granted and you will be given admin access to the group. This means that you can upload content etc. . .

If you are not familiar with Facebook, it is a free Social-Networking site. While it does not have the membership of MySpace, it is quickly gaining ground due to it’s secure, private, spam free, intuitive, interface. Membership is completely free.

I have no intent or motive to starting the SRG Facebook group. However, I encourage all SRGers to join. Hopefully this will take on a life of it’s own in time. We’ll see where it takes us.

Check it out!

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