Many companies are taking the initiative in finding ways to curb power use this summer now that the government has proposed voluntary saving targets for firms and households in many parts of the nation because of the Fukushima crisis.

The toughest target, 15 percent, was set for the Kansai region, which is served by Kansai Electric Power Co.

Major toiletry maker Lion Corp. is considering suspending washing powder production at its factory in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, and increasing production at its factory in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, instead. Chiba is served by Tokyo Electric Power Co.

Iwatani Corp. is looking at temporarily halting its Sakai plant for liquefied hydrogen, the largest such facility in the country, while carrying out full production at its other factories.

Kyushu Electric Power Co. customers will be asked to cut electricity use by 10 percent, but many electronics makers and automakers have production bases in the region.

Among them, Toshiba Corp. is jittery about the target because large amounts of electricity are needed for air conditioning clean rooms at its semiconductor plant in Oita Prefecture.

"Production there will be difficult unless nuclear plants restart operations," Toshiba President Norio Sasaki said.

By contrast, Nippon Paper Group Inc. plans to transfer self-generated power at a plant in Kyushu Electric's area to four plants in Kepco's service area using the utilities' lines because the Kyushu plant is expected to have surplus power.

Elsewhere, Toyota Motor Corp. plans to boost capacity at the power generation facilities at its plants in Aichi Prefecture, which is served by Chubu Electric Power Co.

Imuraya Co., based in Tsu, Mie Prefecture, is looking at suspending frozen dessert production during daily peak hours between noon and 2 p.m.

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Industries hunt ideas to meet new power-saving goals

Yesterday at Maker Faire Bay Area 2012 we visited the Electric Imp booth to chat with the startup's founders and get some hands-on time with the tiny wireless computer. What is the Electric Imp? It's a module containing an ARM Cortex M3 SoC with embedded WiFi that's built into an SD card form factor. While the device looks just like and SD card, it's not pin-compatible with the standard -- the idea is to leverage a reliable and affordable connector for the Electric Imp. The module is not very useful on its own -- it only comes to life when inserted into one of several boards, which provide the Electric Imp with power and access to the real world. In turn the device gives these boards a brain and an Internet connection. Eventually the company hopes that appliance manufacturers will incorporate Electric Imp slots into products to make them network aware.

We talked with CEO Hugo Fiennes (formerly with Apple) about the past, present and future of the Electric Imp so hit the break to read more and to watch our hands-on video.

What can you do with the Electric Imp? You can control almost anything wirelessly over the Internet -- better yet, you can access each module using a simple web-based interface which combines Planner, a graphical way to interconnect the devices and Squirrel, a Java / C-like scripting language to program each Electric Imp. When you insert a module into a board or appliance, it powers up, receives a unique ID, connects via WiFi to the startup's servers and downloads / runs the program that's assigned to that specific board or appliance -- as such any Electric Imp can be used. Since there's no physical interface on the device to configure WiFi, the company's developed Blinkup, a way to enter SSID and password information on any iOS and Android smartphone and beam it to the Electric Imp's light sensor by rapidly pulsing the handset's screen on and off.

We saw a number of Electric Imp demos and appliance ideas at the booth including a simple hand-held "detonator" toggle switch with LED, seven-segment counter, water level sensor, servo-controlled gauge, RGB light, power socket, Christmas light, power monitor, toy washing machine, 16x16 LED display and receipt printer (the latter two being combined to show the avatars and tweets of anyone mentioning the Electric Imp) -- all Internet aware. The startup's servers provide simple access to web services like Twitter and even text messaging (via Twillo) -- letting developers focus on core appliance functionality rather than the intricacies of HTTP requests, WiFi APIs and network sockets.

The Electric Imp will be shipping for $25 at the "end of next month" (late June) along with three developer boards:

A mailing list is available on the company's website with an ordering system coming soon.

View original post here:
Hands-on with the Electric Imp at Maker Faire (video)

ALBANY, New York, May 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

New Report Added in ResearchMoz Reports DatabaseChina Plastic Packaging And Container Manufacturing Industry, 2011

"China plastic packaging and container manufacturing Industry, 2011" is valuable for anyone who wants to invest in the plastic packaging and container manufacturing industry, to get Chinese investments; to import into China or export from China, to build factories and take advantage of lower costs in China, to partner with one of the key Chinese corporations, to get market shares as China is boosting its domestic needs; to forecast the future of the world economy as China is leading the way; or to compete in the segment. The report provides in-depth analysis and detailed insight into the plastic packaging and container manufacturing industry, market drivers, key enterprises and their strategies, as well as technologies and investment status, risks and trends.

To Browse Full TOC, Tables & Figures visit:http://www.researchmoz.com/china-plastic-packaging-and-container-manufacturing-industry-2011-report.html

Data sources: Governmental statistics organizations, market research (monitoring) centers, industry associations and institutions, import and export statistics organizations, and others.

This report is divided into 9 parts 19 chapters as follow:

Part 1 Industry Overview 1 Industry definition and development overview 2 Industry macroscopic environment and its influence analysis 3 Industry international market analysis 4 Industry domestic market analysis

Part 2 Basic indices 5 Analysis of the industry's scale and condition: 2006-2010 6 Status analysis of gross assets analysis: 2006-2010

Part 3 Economic operation 7 Analysis of gross industrial output: 2006-2010 8 Industry sales income analysis: 2006-2010 9 Industry gross profit analysis 10 Industry import/export analysis in 2010

Part 4 Competition landscape 11 Industry competition landscape analysis 12 Industry key enterprises' competitive power comparison (top 20)

The rest is here:
ResearchMoz: China Plastic Packaging and Container Manufacturing Industry, 2011 - Market Research Reports

MICHAEL FORBES

The "silver tsunami" washing over New Zealand is set to triple in size over the next four decades.

Population figures released by Statistics New Zealand yesterday revealed those aged over 80 were the fastest-growing age group, and numbers would exceed more than 500,000 by 2050, compared with 160,000 now.

The 80-plus age group is growing at about twice the rate of those aged over 65, and about four times the rate of the total population 20 years ago.

One out of every seven New Zealanders, or 605,800 of us, is now over 65. Last year, there were only 582,700 in that age group, and half a century ago, only 200,000.

Gaynor Duff, interim national director for Alzheimer's New Zealand, said age-related illnesses such as dementia were expected to increase to "epidemic" proportions as the population aged.

Today there were about 44,000 recorded cases of dementia in New Zealand. That number was set to double every 20 years to an estimated 146,699 cases in 2050, she said.

"Currently around half of all New Zealanders with dementia live with family carers, many of whom are providing around-the-clock care with little or no government support."

There was already a worrying shortage of dementia beds and a "huge" lack of funded community services of people with dementia and their carers in this country, Ms Duff said.

Grey Power national president Roy Reid said the latest population figures were yet another reminder that the Government should be thinking seriously about the sustainability of superannuation.

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80-plus age group the fastest growing

Prices rise, profits beat goals and service levels decline. Photo: Louie Douvis

So who's having a lend of whom? Victoria's electricity distributors are earning much higher profits than anticipated, as customer service levels have, for the most part, declined.

Part of their gains was good management, with tight cost control.

But a large part came from higher-than-expected revenues which enabled them to post much higher-than-anticipated returns for the fifth straight year. That in turn, signals the way spending is approved - which impacts prices paid by households and businesses - is out of whack.

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In its annual review, the Australian Energy Regulator, an arm of the Australian Competition and Commission, found returns on regulated assets of the five distributors is as high as 10 per cent. In these present difficult economic times, that is the sort of return many businesses would love to achieve, especially in a regulated sector.

The review covered the performance of electricity distributors such as CitiPower and Powercor in 2010.

It also disclosed an improvement in power supply, which was largely thanks to less extreme weather than in the previous year.

Singaporean-owned Jemena was easily the most profitable of the five, earning a 10 per cent pre-tax return on its distribution sector assets, followed by Powercor with 9.9 per cent, CitiPower's 8.8 per cent and United Energy with 8.5 per cent.

The laggard was SP AusNet with 6.9 per cent.

The rest is here:
Prices out of whack as profits beat goals

A group of local students is once again offering its services around town this spring and summer.

Last year, South Delta Secondary grads Mitch Lepore and Brennan Phillips started their own business - Local Student Labour - after deciding they didn't want to spend their last summer before university flipping burgers or waiting tables.

The pair teamed up with a group of friends and local contractors, spending the summer doing everything from house painting and staining to yard work and power washing.

Phillips and Lepore recently returned to South Delta after completing their first year at the University of Calgary, where both are studying business, with the aim of resurrecting Local Student Labour.

"It was really good last summer," Phillips said, adding the business was well received in the community.

Both Lepore and Phillips said the success of Local Student Labour last summer enabled them to save up enough money so they did not have to work throughout the school year and were able to fully concentrate on their studies.

Lepore said they are trying to be more independent this summer and rely less on established contractors to get jobs. He added they plan to focus more on house painting but will take on any job.

For more information, call 778-987-0587 or 604764-7078, or email lsl. painting@gmail.com.

Copyright (c) Delta Optimist

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Entrepreneurial students at it again this summer

NEWARK, Del.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

For the fifth consecutive year, more than 20 volunteers from Artesian (NASDAQ: ARTNA - News), a leading provider of water, wastewater and engineering services on the Delmarva Peninsula, came together for Christmas in April Cecil County to rehabilitate the home of a Cecil County neighbor.

It was gratifying to see so many Artesian volunteers working together to help this family, said Dian Taylor, chair, president and CEO of Artesian. Christmas in April is intended to be a one-day event, but Artesian volunteers always do prep work in advance to make sure we can accomplish what we set out to do give the family in need a safe, warm and dry home.

House captains Jimmy Snyder, Rick Straub and Joanne Rufft led the effort. They were instrumental in obtaining a front door and lumber donation from Home Depot and a 15% discount on garden items from Lowes. By the end of the day, the volunteers had accomplished the following:

Christmas in April Cecil County is the largest home rehabilitation organization in America. Its mission is to build partnerships to rehabilitate homes and community facilities of low-income, elderly and/or disabled homeowners so they can live in warmth, safety and independence and all at no financial cost to the homeowners.

About Artesian Resources

Artesian Resources Corporation operates as the holding company of eight wholly-owned subsidiaries offering water, wastewater and engineering services on the Delmarva Peninsula. Artesian Water Company, the principal subsidiary, is the oldest and largest investor-owned public water utility on the Delmarva Peninsula and has been providing water service since 1905.

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Christmas Comes Twice For Neighbors in Need; Artesian Volunteers Renovate Local Home

LETTERS

"Only suspicious at this stage?" ... Craig Thomson joins the crossbench. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

''People want to hang Craig Thomson just on the suspicion,'' says Tony Windsor ('''Bugger the numbers', says angry Oakeshott on Thomson saga'', smh.com.au, May 10).

The tabled report of Fair Work Australia does not say Craig Thomson is suspected of using union funds illegally but reportedly says: ''Craig Thomson repeatedly provided false and misleading information during the course of a long investigation into the national office of the Health Services Union'' and Thomson was ''found to have lied when he denied using his union credit card to procure prostitutes''.

How can Mr Windsor infer that Thomson's actions are only suspicious at this stage? Surely the public and HSU members are entitled to believe the facts in the FWA investigators' report, which are certainly not ''suspicions''.

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Cartoon: Cathy Wilcox

John Munro Toowoomba (Qld)

Wouldn't a byelection in Dobell increase by an astronomical amount the cost of those escort services allegedly obtained by Craig Thomson on his HSU credit card?

Zehra George Warilla

Excerpt from:
We've got the facts - abuse of power must end

Prices rise, profits beat goals and service levels decline. Photo: Louie Douvis

So who's having a lend of whom? Victoria's electricity distributors are earning much higher profits than anticipated, as customer service levels have, for the most part, declined.

Part of their gains was good management, with tight cost control.

But a large part came from higher-than-expected revenues which enabled them to post much higher-than-anticipated returns for the fifth straight year. That in turn, signals the way spending is approved - which impacts prices paid by households and businesses - is out of whack.

Advertisement: Story continues below

In its annual review, the Australian Energy Regulator, an arm of the Australian Competition and Commission, found returns on regulated assets of the five distributors is as high as 10 per cent. In these present difficult economic times, that is the sort of return many businesses would love to achieve, especially in a regulated sector.

The review covered the performance of electricity distributors such as CitiPower and Powercor in 2010.

It also disclosed an improvement in power supply, which was largely thanks to less extreme weather than in the previous year.

Singaporean-owned Jemena was easily the most profitable of the five, earning a 10 per cent pre-tax return on its distribution sector assets, followed by Powercor with 9.9 per cent, CitiPower's 8.8 per cent and United Energy with 8.5 per cent.

The laggard was SP AusNet with 6.9 per cent.

Read the original here:
Power prices out of whack as profits beat targets

CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --VR Business Sales, Mergers & Acquisitions of Charlotte, NC (www.vrcharlotte.com) has just completed the business sale of Elite Maintenance Services (www.elitemaint.com), a facility maintenance company providing professional sweeping, cleaning, power washing and related outdoor maintenance services throughout the Charlotte, NC and Atlanta, GA services areas.

The seller, Rodger Blake-Ward, who VR represented in the transaction, stated, "VR Charlotte made the process seamless and worry-free. They had a handle on the entire process from the day we listed the business through screening buyers and finally through the offer and closing procedure."

Jay Offerdahl, Vice President at VR Business Sales, Mergers & Acquisitions in Charlotte, represented Blake-Ward throughout the transaction. VR Business Sales, Mergers & Acquisitions Charlotte facilitated all phases of the transaction, from the initial analysis through closing. Details were not disclosed.

About VR Business Sales, Mergers & Acquisitions CharlotteVR Charlotte's only business is representing business owners in the sale of their business; confidentially, professionally and with proven results. Since 1996, VR Business Sales, Mergers & Acquisitions of Charlotte has sold more businesses for more dollars than any of the other 130 VR offices worldwide. Information about VR Business Sales, Mergers & Acquisitions Charlotte can be found on their website at http://www.vrcharlotte.com and on their blog at http://www.howtosella.biz. VR Business Sales, Mergers & Acquisitions Charlotte is located at 17250 Lancaster Hwy., Suite 601, Charlotte, North Carolina. For more information, please call 704-676-0940.

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VR Mergers & Acquisitions Charlotte Facilitates Sale of Elite Maintenance Services