Does Saving Daylight Save Energy?

If you are a person that loves sleep, then you probably have March 9^th already circled in an angry red color on your calendar. The time to move our clocks forward an hour happens in just a few weeks— but what happens to our energy bills?

While daylight-savings time has traditionally been thought to reduce energy use, there is a new study out of California suggesting otherwise. Professor of economics Matthew Kotchen and Ph.D. student Laura Grant have conducted a study using data from the state of Indiana, whose counties didn't fully participate in daylight-savings until 2006. Using data from the counties that already did move their clocks as a constant, they were able to look at the new participants' data and find the difference in their energy bills. By the study's calculations, the change of time at daylight-savings "costs Indiana households an additional $8.6 million in electricity bills".

Though the study is not conclusive, the information put together is worth a read.  For a full break down of the study (and even the history of daylight-savings), be sure to visit the Wall Street Journal.

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Earn Green at Work By Going Green at Home

Ever gotten a bonus from the boss for recycling? How about carpooling or putting less miles on your car? A recent post by Kelly Spors at Independent Street looks at a growing trend in companies— rewarding employees who participate in green energy programs.

For carpooling, taking public transportation or biking to work, Clif Bar & Co. give out "gift certificates and massages and forgivable loans of up to $5,000 for buying fuel-efficient cars, such as hybrids". Green Mountain Energy Co. in Austin, Texas is also getting in on the fun, providing incentives for employees who find better ways to commute. 

It is definitely an interesting read, and begs the question of whether or not it is beneficial to renewable energy awareness for employers to offer bonuses in these kinds of programs. For more info, you can read the full Independent Street article.

CBS and Comcast Feeling Mad About March

It's that time of year again. The time of basketball upsets, rooting for the underdog, last-minute heroics and "bracketology". March Madness is upon us and it's bearing down fast. 

It's lucky then that CBS and Comcast are teaming up to bring video-on-demand content to satiate the appetite of rabid college hoops fans. That's right, CBS and other providers are hosting HD content straight out of the Division I Men's Basketball Championship tournament, complete with highlights from dozens of games. There will also be a way to view "highlights from 25 of the greatest games from previous tournaments". 

“Video-on-demand and high-definition content are top priorities for MSOs,” commented Tony Petitti, executive vp and executive producer, CBS Sports. “CBS College Sports Network and CBS Sports are delivering exclusive, compelling programming that has never been available before, as well as leading the way in serving fans with more options, access and control.”

For the full story, read more at MediaWeek.

Japan's High-Speed Satellite

Blast off! Japan sent a satellite into orbit over the weekend, full of high-speed aspirations— the idea is that this satellite can provide all of Asia with blazing high-speed internet. A successful launch took place on Saturday evening, with the rocket taking off from the Space Center located at Tanagashima island.

Supposedly, the satellite will be of value to Japan for the next 5 years, supplying a signal that will allow for up to 1.2 GB per second download speeds. While the service won't be available until July, Japan is hoping to provide high-speed internet to rural areas that are hard to access given the current infrastructure.

Find out more at ECanadaNow.

WhiteFence Recently Featured in "Save with Dave"

CBS 13 of Sacramento recently featured WhiteFence in their "Save with Dave" segment, calling WhiteFence a site that alleviates a lot of the hassle of moving. You should check out the video on WhiteFence here.

Comparison Shopping Just Got a Lot Easier, according to the San Antonio Express-News

The Consumer's Edge section of the San Antonio Express-News recently included a story on WhiteFence's value to you, the consumer. According to the article,  "instead of spending hours searching the Web or talking to customer service representatives, point your Internet browser to WhiteFence.com of Houston. When you visit the free site, you'll enter your address and get instant home-service pricing information. If you like, you can pick a service and sign up right away."

To read the whole article, you can go to the San Antonio Express-News Web site.

Netflix Shows Blu-ray Some Love

Netflix announced last week that along with the rest of the entertainment industry, it has chosen a side in the high definition movie format war: Sony’s Blu-ray. The company will move solely to Blu-ray in the near future, leaving HD-DVD behind in the graveyard of previously ditched formats. Betamax or MiniDisc, anyone? 

Confused about the next-gen format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray? So were most of the major studios, until just last month.  In January, Warner Bros, who previously supported both formats, took the plunge and went all-in with Blu-ray. This tipped the scales heavily in favor of Sony’s new discs, leaving only Paramount (which signed an exclusive deal in August) and Universal with Toshiba’s HD-DVD. The announcement from Warner Bros. came only days before CES, one of the year’s largest entertainment and technology expos, leading HD-DVD backers to cancel their press conferences. After that, the dominoes kept on falling.

 As Warner Bros. is the parent company to studios like New Line and HBO, they followed suit soon after and voiced their alliance with Blu-ray as well. Seeing this trend emerge, Netflix is now making its move to Blu-ray also. Just this week, in fact, there are rumblings out of Japan that Toshiba is dropping HD-DVD for good, making Blu-ray the only sensible choice for high-definition home video.

Currently, Netflix offers over 400 Blu-ray titles. The online movie rental company will not be picking up any new HD-DVD movies, but will continue to rent out HD-DVD titles that are already in stock.

For more information about the Blu-ray announcement, you can visit Netflix.

Texas Eyes Green Energy

Last week the Cynthia & George Mitchell Foundation announced a multi-million dollar plan to bring clean and renewable energy to the Lone Star State. To make this happen, the Cynthia & George Mitchell Foundation is partnering with the Energy Foundation, a group dedicated to finding a solution for world-wide energy problems. The three year program is designed to help lower global warming pollution and provide cleaner air, all while “benefiting Texas businesses, consumers, and the environment," said Meredith Dreiss, the foundation’s president.

The proposal to bring green energy to Texas is sorely needed- Texas gives off more global warming pollution than any other state. In fact, Texas would rank in the top 10 as one of the world’s largest emitters if it were still a country. This doesn’t mean that Texas is a newcomer to the renewable energy game, however. According to Eric Heitz, president of the Energy Foundation, Texas is ahead of the curve and “already leads the nation in power generated from wind." 

The hope is that the changes this initiative outlines will help educate companies and consumers alike to the growing need for clean energy. Such a process can be beneficial to everyone involved, and can help the economy as well. Recently, other states have become involved in the push for renewable energy— North Carolina now ranks as the number three state in the nation as far as the quantity of clean energy buildings is concerned, thanks to Food Lion LLC. How many other states will choose green energy in the months and years to come? 

For more information about the energy initiative for Texas, you can read the Cynthia & George Mitchell Foundation press release.

The Price of Lighting in Denver - The WhiteFence Index in the Denver Post

The recent WhiteFence Index launch garnered some interest from Denver Post writer David Migoya.  If you don't have time to read the whole article, though you should as it is quite entertaining (as well as informative), you can read this snippet:

"I tried a sample address to see how it worked — and it’s a national service — and sure enough, the right providers were listed and simple buttons to “sign up” for service.

The best part is it’s free. The consumer pays nothing — just as if they made the phone calls themselves to all the providers — to have things set up. And for when a utility requires a credit card, the information is on a secure website, says WhiteFence Sr. VP of Customer Experience (I love that new-fangled title!) Robbie Wright."