Cash for Clunkers II: Rebates for energy-saving appliances (St Petersburg Times)

Florida Program

All States information



Florida sweetens deal for clunker appliances
By MARK ALBRIGHT
St. Petersburg Times

State officials have sweetened Florida's upcoming energy-efficient appliance rebate program with a $75 bonus to assure buyers retire the old energy hogs they are replacing.
Dubbed ``cash for clunkers'' for major appliances, the rebates bankrolled by last year's federal economic stimulus program will pay consumers 20 percent discounts on six types of Energy Star-rated appliances.

Florida retailers will offer the rebates April 16-25.

``We are trying to encourage energy efficiency, water conservation and recycling,'' said Brenda Buchan, the program coordinator, who works for the governor's Energy Office. ``So the bonus is designed to ensure people properly dispose of their old appliances rather than move that old refrigerator into the garage.''

Today's refrigerators are about five times as energy efficient as their 15-year-old ancestors.

The recycling bonus addresses issues raised by what had been a wary appliance industry. It substantially increases the savings of what had been a $100 discount on a $500 appliance. To get the additional $75, consumers will have to supply a receipt from a store or certified disposal facility or landfill. Retailers have to rejigger their delivery services, which now destroy four out of five appliances they pick up. The rest are resold as used machines, so they do not qualify for the recycling bonus.

``I don't see any problem adding this sort of receipt to delivery,'' said Al Greco , owner of Apsco Appliance Centers in Largo.

The $300 million rebate program already is under way in eight other states, but Florida is waiting until the week of Earth Day.

The state is negotiating with mail-in rebate contractors (American Express and Ohana Cos.) that submitted low bids to process the paperwork for an estimated 66,0000 rebates.

State officials hope buyers won't have to wait as long for their money as some store rebate programs.

The federal stimulus program, which is providing the cash to back what had been an unfunded 2005 Energy Star purchase incentive program, was unveiled last summer to help ease reluctant consumers into buying mode and revive a stagnant appliance industry.
The business suffered because of the housing slump and a credit meltdown that sidelined big-ticket home improvements.

Appliance manufacturers said thanks for the help, but they needed time to ramp up production without disrupting the market. So the government delayed the program until this year.

Last summer, appliance retailers feared news of rebates coming (with no firm date or rules for implementing the program yet established) would kill whatever demand they had while undermining discounts already planned for the holidays.

After the government backed off, major appliance sales volume jumped 5.5 percent nationally in the fourth quarter, according to NPD Group.

Much of the credit went to planned discounts and limited inventory that drew big Black Friday crowds.

Where the Jobs Will Be (WSJ)

Landing a Job of the Future Takes a Two-Track Mind
Career Experts Say Positions in Growing Fields Will Require an In-Demand Degree Coupled With Skills in Emerging Trends


By DIANA MIDDLETON

If you're gearing up for a job search now as an undergraduate or returning student, there are several bright spots where new jobs and promising career paths are expected to emerge in the next few years.

Technology, health care and education will continue to be hot job sectors, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' outlook for job growth between 2008 and 2018. But those and other fields will yield new opportunities, and even some tried-and-true fields will bring some new jobs that will combine a variety of skill sets.



The degrees employers say they'll most look for include finance, engineering and computer science, says Andrea Koncz, employment-information manager at the National Association of Colleges and Employers. But to land the jobs that will see some of the most growth, job seekers will need to branch out and pick up secondary skills or combine hard science study with softer skills, career experts say, which many students already are doing. "Students are positioned well for future employment, particularly in specialized fields," Ms. Koncz says.

Career experts say the key to securing jobs in growing fields will be coupling an in-demand degree with expertise in emerging trends. For example, communications pros will have to master social media and the analytics that come with it; nursing students will have to learn about risk management and electronic records; and techies will need to keep up with the latest in Web marketing, user-experience design and other Web-related skills.

Technology Twists

More than two million new technology-related jobs are expected to be created by 2018, according to the BLS. Jobs that are expected to grow faster than average include computer-network administrators, data-communications analysts and Web developers. Recruiters anticipate that data-loss prevention, information technology, online security and risk management will also show strong growth.

The Next Finance Hiring Hot Spots
A computer-science degree and a working knowledge of data security are critical to landing these jobs. Common areas of undergraduate study for these fields include some of the usual suspects, such as computer science, information science and management-information systems.

But those might not be enough. That's because not all of those jobs will be purely techie in nature. David Foote, chief executive officer of IT research firm Foote Partners, advises current computer-science students to couple their degrees with studies in marketing, accounting or finance. "Before, people widely believed that all you needed to have were deep, nerdy skills," Mr. Foote says. "But companies are looking for people with multiple skill sets who can move fluidly with marketing or operations."

Social media has opened the door to the growth of new kinds of jobs. As companies turn to sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to promote their brands, capture new customers and even post job openings, they will need to hire people skilled in harnessing these tools, Mr. Foote says. In most cases, these duties will be folded into a marketing position, although large companies such as Coca-Cola Co. are creating entire teams devoted exclusively to social media.

Similarly, employment for public-relations positions should increase 24% by 2018. Job titles—like interactive creative director—will reflect the duality of the required skill sets.

Back to School
Students will have to study strategy to maximize relationships between third-party content providers and their company's Web team. Other key skills will be search-engine optimization to maximize Web traffic and marketing analytics to decipher the company's target demographic, says Donna Farrugia, executive director of Creative Group, a marketing and advertising staffing agency in Menlo Park, Calif.

Many universities and community colleges are offering certification programs focused on burgeoning sectors. For example, the University of California at Los Angeles's extension program offers a certificate in information design.

That, program, like similar certificate studies at other schools, aims to give students an edge in Web site search optimization—a major attraction for Web-based companies who want to boost user traffic, says Cathy Sandeen, dean of UCLA's extension program.

User-experience design—a sort of architecture for information that Web viewers see—is another emerging field. Jobs there include experience specialists and product designers at firms ranging from computer-game companies to e-commerce Web sites.

Ms. Sandeen says the school will offer a certificate program for user-experience design as well, at a cost of about $3,000 to $5,000. The program will run one to two years, depending on a student's schedule, and will couple product design with consumer psychology and behavior.

"Our students [will] learn to think like anthropologists, evaluating how easy it is to utilize the products," she says.

Not surprisingly, green technology, including solar and wind energy and green construction, are also booming areas. Engineers who can mastermind high-voltage electric grids, for example, will have a great advantage over other job applicants, says Greg Netland, who oversees recruiting for the U.S., Latin America and Canada for Sapphire Technologies, an IT staffing firm in Woburn, Mass. that is a division of Randstad.

"Global sustainability will become more important to employers," Mr. Netland says. "It cuts costs, making experts in the field highly attractive to employers."

Jobs in alternative-energy systems, including wind and solar energy, will require a variety of skills: engineers to design systems, consultants who will audit companies' existing energy needs, and those who will install and maintain the systems.

Financial Opportunities
Despite the slashing of positions seen in the financial sector during the economic crisis, recruiters also expect thousands of new jobs to be created in the compliance field, says Dawn Fay, district New York/New Jersey president of Robert Half International.

Ms. Fay counsels job seekers to look at the misdeeds of the past year or two to identify where new jobs will bloom in the financial sector. "It was a year of Ponzi schemes and banking meltdowns," she says. "Be strategic and position yourself as someone who can mitigate those risks."

That makes risk management an emerging specialty with strong growth in jobs expected. Those on track to be financial analysts can get additional certification in risk management through organizations like the Risk Management Association or the Risk and Insurance Management Society.

"Risk management was a mainstay in financial companies, but I believe it will be present in every Fortune 500 company," says Jeff Joerres, chairman and chief executive officer at staffing firm Manpower Inc.

Hospital Upgrades
Health care is expected to continue to see a surge in hiring, with more than four million new openings estimated by 2018, according to the BLS. Hiring for physical and occupational therapists will likely be strongest. But new specialties are popping up, particularly in case management, says Brad Ellis, a partner with Kaye Bassman International, an executive-search firm based in Plano, Texas.

Case managers do everything from managing the flow of information between practitioner and insurance company to mitigating risk to the hospital.

"If you're a licensed nurse, for example, getting a certificate in risk management from the state board of health would make you extremely competitive," Mr. Ellis says.

Harris Miller, president of the Career College Association in Washington, D.C., says IT will be increasingly important in the quest to drive down health-care costs, too. Students specializing in nursing informatics, which combines general nursing with computer and information sciences, at the master's degree level will swap a clipboard for a smart phone to manage patient data. Schools like Vanderbilt University are offering nursing informatics degrees via distance learning, and certification is offered through American Nurses Credentialing Center, based in Silver Springs, Md.

The strong push toward making medical records and information more accessible through computerized record-keeping means opportunity, Mr. Miller says. "This is going to require people who are skilled in the hardware and software of nursing informatics."

Write to Diana Middleton at diana.middleton@wsj.com

Clean Water Technology (from Forbes.com)

Out Of The Labs
Water Wizardry
Jonathan Fahey, 08.26.09, 6:00 AM ET


Seventeen billion gallons of sweet, fresh water are produced from salty water every day, enough to slake the thirst of 350 million people. Yet scientists don't really know how it is done.

Good thing they at least know how to make the process, which takes lots of energy, better.

Many desalination plants remove salt by forcing seawater against a membrane that allows fresh water through, but not salt ions. This is called reverse osmosis, and anyone with a set of taste buds can tell that it works. But scientists still haven't been able to model exactly what is going on.

"I can make you a membrane that does what you want," says Eric Hoek, a professor at UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. "But I can't give you an equation that describes it."

Hey, whatever works. Hoek developed a membrane now in the process of being commercialized by a start-up company called NanoH20 that the company says could double the amount of fresh water produced per day compared with conventional membranes.

Desalination is booming worldwide, both because there are ever more people who need ever more scarce, fresh water and because desalination has been getting cheaper. Part of this is because desalination plant designers have incorporated clever energy recovery devices to reduce the amount of power needed to run the plants. (See "Making Sweet Water From (Almost) Perpetual Motion.") And part is due to big improvements in membrane technology.

Nikolay Voutchkov of Water Globe Consulting says membranes have gotten 2.5 to 3 times more efficient in the last decade, helping to drive the cost of desalinated water down from $6 to $7 per 1,000 gallons of fresh water to between $2.50 and $3.20.

But Jeff Green, chief executive of NanoH20, says that while costs came down through about 2003, they started to level off and even creep up a little because improvement of current membrane technology stalled.

In order to squeeze the salt out of water, seawater has to be pushed against the reverse osmosis membrane at very high pressures. Engineers have made the membranes, which are polymers very similar to Kevlar, stronger, more uniform and better at rejecting salt. But whenever they try to increase production by increasing their permeability, too much salt gets through.

"Polymer chemistry has been around for decades," says Green. "These membranes have been optimized."

Another issue: These membranes, constantly wet, are wonderful places for bacteria to flourish. The membranes get fouled and have to be treated with chemicals or replaced.

Hoek, a member of UCLA's Water Technology Research Center, knew that one way to both get water through faster and to make things less hospitable to bacteria was to incorporate so-called hydrophilic, or water-loving materials.

Current membrane polymers are hydrophobic; water beads on them like on a recently waxed car. That increases the pressure needed to force water through, and it creates comfy microscopic dry patches for bacteria to grab onto.

Hoek decided to try some well-known, porous, clay-like materials called zeolites, made of alumina and silicates. He knew particles of 100 nanometers could be made with pore sizes as small as just 0.2 nanometers, about the same size as a water molecule, but smaller than the 0.8 nanometer size of a salt ion. "We wanted to make a pore that water wanted to go into," he says.

People have tried (and are still trying) to make pure-zeolite films, but have failed in part because they are too difficult to control and too expensive to manufacture.

Hoek decided to make the zeolite nanoparticles first, then bake them into conventional polymers. The nanocomposite result wasn't quite as hydrophilic as pure zeolite, but also not as hydrophobic as plain polymers.

Also, he was able to add tiny traces of silver onto the nanoparticles, which act as an antimicrobial and make them even more resistant to bacteria. (See: Pure Bioscience Looks for a Silver Lining.)

He put his new nanoparticle-spiked polymers through the ringer, exposing them to high-pressure water and thriving bacteria. The results were good enough that NanoH20 was able to raise $15 million from venture capitalist firms Khosla Ventures and Oak Investment Partners to try to commercialize it.

NanoH20's Green says the company has modified Hoek's work substantially to improve and perfect the nanoparticle membrane, but he won't say how. He says the company is targeting nearly 100% improvement in water production, from 6,000 to 7,500 gallons per day per eight-inch area of membrane to 12,000 gallons per day. The membrane will be the same size and shape as current membranes, so plants won't have to be retrofitted. The company is building enough capacity to produce "tens of thousands" of membranes--a big plant incorporates 10,000 to 20,000. The first membranes will go on sale early next year.

Hoek, though, remains steadfastly humble about his discovery. "I threw one material that was already known into this membrane that was already known," he shrugs.

If they work, these membranes will be an impressive step in reducing the cost and energy required to deliver fresh water. If we still don't understand the physics of what's going on? The water will taste just as sweet.

Tax Breaks for Saving Energy

TAX INCENTIVES ASSISTANCE PROJECT

WWW.ENERGYTAXINCENTIVES.ORG


Consumer Incentives
Home Shell: Insulation, Windows, Sealing
Homeowners can get credits for energy improvements to their homes, such as windows, insulation, and envelope and duct sealing.

Home Heating & Cooling Equipment
Homeowners can get credits for installing efficient air conditioners and heat pumps; gas or oil furnaces and furnace fans; and gas, oil, or electric heat pump water heaters in new or existing homes.

Passenger Vehicles
Credits are available to buyers of hybrid gasoline-electric, diesel, battery-electric, alternative fuel, and fuel cell vehicles.

On-Site Renewables
Credits are available for qualified solar water heating and photovoltaic systems, small wind and geothermal heat pump systems.

Fuel Cells and Microturbines
Credits are available to homeowners and businesses who install qualifying systems. Fuel cells are an advanced technology to generate electricity at the site of use, but they are expensive for commercial buildings and are not widely available for homes.

Green Investing (investopedia.com)

Top 10 Green Industries
If you are looking for ways to put a little green in your wallet by putting some green in your portfolio, you might be surprised at the wide range of offerings available for your consideration. Let's take a look at 10 interesting areas, from the well known wind and solar sectors to less well known green industries such as organics and waste management

Water
One of the most important natural resources we have is water; it is crucial to our survival. However, there has been a lot of fear that we are running out of clean water sources as the global population continues to grow. For investors, this has created a clear opportunity to invest in companies that collect, clean and distribute water. The largest water utility company in the U.S. is Aqua America (NYSE:WTR), which supplies water to nearly three million people. Another company in the industry, on the purification side, is ITT Industries (NYSE:ITT), which produces water purification systems that help to make water drinkable.

To see the power of water, one needs look no further than China's massive Three Gorges Dam project. While this $25 billion structure on the Yangtze River will be the largest hydroelectric power station in the world, it's sure not the only one. Hydropower involves a lot of technology, a lot of infrastructure and a lot of power-hungry customers. Every one of those areas holds potential opportunities for investors. On the power side, two publically traded producers include PG&E Corp. (NYSE:PCG), which has one of the world's largest hydro operations and Idacorp (NYSE:IDA), which has 17 hydro projects.


Wind
Windmill farms are sprouting up around the world. Australia, Europe and the United States are all investing in wind as a leading source of renewable energy. The business of wind not only includes the generation and sale of power, but also the design and construction of wind turbines. Few countries rely on wind for more than a tiny fraction of their power generation needs, but many countries are interested in the possibility.

If this is of interest to you, look for wind farm companies that sell wind-generated energy or companies that produce the windmill technology. There are few pure play stocks that deal in wind in the U.S., which will likely change over time, but companies like General Electric (NYSE:GE) have a presence in this market


Solar Energy
Solar energy is powering homes, buildings and a variety of other items from lights to radios. As the cost of fossil fuels continues to rise and their availability continues to decline, the future looks bright for solar energy.

If you think the sun is just starting to rise on this industry, the companies to look at are those that produce solar energy panels, which will benefit if homeowners and businesses adopt solar technology. Two of the leading producers of solar panals are Evergreen Solar (Nasdaq:ESLR) and Sunpower Corp. (Nasdaq:SPWR), which develop, manufacture and sell panels and components and will directly benefit from the increased adoption of solar power.

Fuel Cells
The U.S. government hopes that hydrogen powered cars will be commonplace by 2020. If this technology works, there are millions of cars - and millions of consumers - waiting for it.

If you think this type of energy is the wave of the future, there are a few companies that operate in the space and are developing fuel cell technology. For example, some of the largest producers include Ballard Power Systems (Nasdaq:BLDP), which produces cells that can be used in many products, from cars to power plants. Another example is Fuel Cell Energy (Nasdaq:FCEL), which focuses on providing power options to commercial and industrial facilities

Efficiency
Just about every aspect of efficiency is good for the environment. Energy efficient construction and appliances reduce home energy use and energy efficient cars reduce our dependence on oil. From efficient lighting to creating the paperless office, innovative companies are developing products that maximize the benefit we get from the resources that we use. Efficiency is the watchword of the day and it represents developing field that will create the technologies that we will use tomorrow.
This area is a little more difficult to invest in as there are no real pure play companies dealing strictly in efficiency. However, there are some companies that have done a great job at leveraging efficiency such as General Electric with its Ecomagination business unit.

Waste Reduction
Recycling has become a standard practice for many people in recent decades. The stuff that was formerly thrown away and trucked off to the landfill is now turned into useful products. Most people are aware that household products such as paper, metal and glass are reprocessed and reused, but few stop to consider the business behind these endeavors. Of course, these aren't the only items that are reused; waste oil, vegetable oil, batteries, cell phones, computers and even parts from cars can have a second life. Recycling these items involves a business enterprise humming along in the background.

In terms of your portfolio, waste management companies with a large base of recycling facilities may be of interest including companies such as Allied Waste Industries (NYSE:RSG) and Waste Management (NYSE:WMI).

Pollution Controls
Reduction is the key term here. From reducing green house gas emissions on industrial power plants to minimizing the emissions that come out of the tailpipe of your car, the pollution control industry is on the rise. Every time legislation mandates an improvement in the amount of some harmful chemical that can be released into the environment, the pollution control industry responds.

If this is something you are concerned about, look for companies that develop pollution control technologies such as Fuel-Tech (Nasdaq:FTEK) and Versar (AMEX:VSR).

Organics
Organic farms eschew the use of pesticides, engage in sustainable farming practices and sell products that are often healthier to eat than the stuff composed of three-syllable words that you can't pronounce and a shelf-life measured in decades. They also engage in animal management practices that avoid the use of hormones and antibiotics, keeping those chemicals out of the food chain and out of the ground and water surrounding the farms. It's good food - and good business.

With U.S. organic food sales reaching $17 billion in 2006, there is a huge market for organic food producers and grocery stores. Some of the biggest organic food companies include Whole Foods Markets (Nasdaq:WFMI), United Natural Foods (Nasdaq:UNFI) and NBTY (NYSE:NTY) among others.

Green Jobs (So Fla Business Journal)

Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 2:14pm EDT
CareerBuilder launches green jobs site

South Florida Business Journal


CareerBuilder has created a Web site for environmentally conscious job seekers.

Goinggreenjobs.com allows employers to post their open green positions by full-time and part-time status, skill sets, job titles and categories, and geographic location.


Green jobs growth outpaced other job classifications by nearly 250 percent over the last decade, growing 9.1 percent between 1998 and 2007 compared with 3.7 percent for the overall job market, according to Pew Charitable Trusts.

“The focus on green jobs continues to increase year over year as job seekers look for more environmentally conscious career paths and employers make changes to protect the environment,” said Jason Ferrara, VP of corporate marketing at Chicago-based CareerBuilder.com, in a release. “One-in-ten employers say they have added green jobs in the last 12 months.”

The site also features information on green job fairs and events, green workplace news and information, and advice on how to find jobs.

Job seekers can post up to five different versions of their résumé to increase their visibility to potential employers in a variety of environmental areas.