text:
Guest Juice: California Energy Efficiency Dreamin'
March 30, 2017
By Cynthia Mitchell
In the 1990s, California led the nation in deregulating its electric utility industry. The result was a disaster. The subsequent energy crisis during 2000 and 2001 was characterized by extraordinarily high prices and blackouts.
Re-regulation included proclaiming energy efficiency as the state's highest priority[i] "first loading order resource"[ii] based upon three decades of perception that state energy efficiency had accomplished what no other state or jurisdiction had been able to do: significantly reduce per capita electricity consumption.[iii]
Today, California's decade-old greenhouse gas reduction policy is in large part premised on the state having achieved a direct and strong "cause and effect" between energy savings (utility programs and building and appliance standards) and declining per capita energy consumption.[iv]
That makes this is a good time to check-in on the veracity of this proclaimed success story given current lackluster energy efficiency results.
Over the past decade, California has spent billions in ratepayer dollars on an increasingly complex and complicated mix of utility energy efficiency programs and building and appliance standards.
The story goes that from 1975 to 2003, the state saved about 40,000 GWh, or the equivalent of 15 percent of annual electricity use, through a combination of utility energy efficiency programs and appliance and building standards.
Until the mid-1970s, per capita electricity use in California and the U.S. increased at about the same rate. After that, California's usage leveled off, while nationwide usage continued to increase. The graphic representation of this tapering off of per capita consumption is known as the "Rosenfeld curve," named after energy efficiency pioneer and former California Energy Commission member Arthur Rosenfeld. The underlying phenomenon is called the "Rosenfeld effect," and even has its own Wikipedia page.[v]
The CEC asserted that energy efficiency improvements were the cause of California's declining per capita consumption.[vi] The commission continues to assert that "…energy efficiency efforts have saved California consumers billions of dollars since the 1970s and have held per capita energy use in the state relatively constant, while the rest of the United States has increased by roughly 40 percent."[vii]
These assertions have not gone unchallenged. When I controlled for the price of residential electricity, climate, household size, housing mix, conservation ethic, and long-term trends in the structure of the economy, my firm's 2009 analysis showed that annual changes in state-level energy efficiency activities did not correlate highly with changes in per capita electricity consumption.[viii] Others have raised similar points.[ix]
Whatever one thinks about the causes of the Rosenfeld effect, it seems clear that more is needed to achieve the state's carbon reduction goals, as set out in 2015's Senate Bill (SB) 350. Flattening load growth isn't enough–load needs to start going down. Assuming a flat or growing population, this means that per capita electricity use has to decline.
It is not doing that.
In fact, 40-years of data on both absolute and per capita consumption show that both were higher in 2014 than in 1972 (fluctuating over the 40-year period largely in response to economic conditions),[x] as set out in my March 10, 2017, Guest Juice.
The CEC seems to be aware of both the need for load to decline (though they couch this in terms of "savings increasing"), and of the inadequacy of current savings approaches: "The doubling of projected energy efficiency savings called for in SB 350 is beyond the significant savings that are projected to be achieved by 2030 through California's existing suite of energy efficiency programs and activities."[xi]
CEC staff is in the process of establishing the energy efficiency targets for SB 350 based on a doubling of the mid-case estimate of additional achievable energy efficiency [AAEE] savings, as contained in the CEC's Demand Forecast. AAEE is the CEC's method for extending current utility energy efficiency savings [i.e., existing "maxed out" programs] through the CEC demand forecast time period.[xii] CEC staff will temper the AAEE doubling projections based on what is "cost effective, feasible, and reliable".[xiii]
California's energy efficiency community needs to take a hard look at the very real economic and market limits of the current approaches to efficiency. When most savings are coming from command-and-control approaches (i.e., codes and standards) and generally short-lived savings from florescent lighting, something is amiss.
That's why it's far overdue to do the hard work required to simultaneously reduce ratepayer and utility risk, and make efficiency attractive to the investment community in ways analogous to generation-side resources, and other distributed energy resources. Doing that will take new meter-based approaches that procure metered efficiency from suppliers analogous to how California obtains metered generation from generators.
We will address this more in our next column.
—Cynthia Mitchell is a 40-year veteran energy economist and utility consumer advocate and consultant for The Utility Reform Network. The views expressed herein are her own.
[i] 2006 CPUC "Energy Efficiency: California's Highest Priority Resource". http://chinauseealliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/calif_cleanenergy508.pdf
[ii] The loading order was adopted in the 2003 Energy Action Plan (EAP) prepared by the joint energy agencies and the Energy Commission's 2003 Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR). The 2005 and 2008 EAP updates and subsequent IEPRs confirm the 2003 loading order. http://www.energy.ca.gov/energy_action_plan/2003-05-08_ACTION_PLAN.PDF
[iii] Ibid i and iii.
[iv] Ibid i and iii.
[v] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenfeld_Effect
[vi] Ibid i and iii.
[vii] CEC 2016 Final IEPR Update, Feb. 28, 2017, p. 23. http://www.energy.ca.gov/2016_energypolicy/
See also PG&E Testimony Retirement of Diablo Canyon Power Plant, Chapter 4 Energy Efficiency, p. 4-2, August 11, 2016, https://pgera.azurewebsites.net/Regulation/; PG&E Energy Efficiency 2018-2015 Business Plan, Executive Summary, p. 14, https://www.caeecc.org/business-plans-1; Natural Resources Defense Council, August 2015, "California's Golden Energy Efficiency Opportunity," https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/caenergy-efficiency-opportunity-report.pdf.
[viii] Stabilizing California Demand: The Real Reasons Behind the State's Energy Savings", Public Utilities Fortnightly, March 2009. Regression results determined that California electricity prices, which are higher than the balance of the national average price, accounted for 40% of the decline in state per capita consumption, with energy efficiency accounting for at most 20%. Additional factors affecting state per capita consumption include fewer cooling degree days (CDD) than balance of U.S.; higher ratio occupancy per dwelling unit and more detached multifamily homes, and long-term structural changes in California's economy marking a shift to to less energy intensive industries. https://www.fortnightly.com/fortnightly/2009/03/stabilizing-californias-demand
[ix] Sudarshan, Anant. "Deconstructing the Rosenfeld curve: Making sense of California's low electricity intensity." Energy Economics. Vol. 39, September 2013, pp. 197-207. "California energy efficiency: Lessons for the rest of the world, or not?" Arik Levinson, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 107 (2014) pp. 269–289, http://faculty.georgetown.edu/aml6/pdfs&zips/CaliforniaEnergy.pdf
Stanford and Levinson works backing up Mitchell analysis.
[x] http://cacurrent.com/subscriber/archives/29130
[xi] CEC Staff White Paper "Framework for Establishing the SB 350 Energy Efficiency Savings Doubling Targets", January 2017, CEC-300-2017-045. IEPR Joint Agency Workshop on Energy Demand Forecast & Doubling of Energy Efficiency – Data & Analytical Needs, 1/31/2017, p. 2. http://docketpublic.energy.ca.gov/PublicDocuments/17-IEPR/TN215437_20170118T160001_Framework_for_Establishing_the_Senate_Bill_350_Energy_Efficienc.pdf
[xii] Ibid xii, p. 5; for AAEE see CEC California Energy Demand 2014–2024 Final Forecast, January 2014 CEC‐200‐2013‐004‐V1‐CMF, p. 88.
[xiii] Ibid xii, pp. 5, 7, 16.
Guest Juice: Energy Efficiency as a Distributed Resource
March 17, 2017
Editor's Note: This is a second in a series of articles on how California counts on energy efficiency to help meet state greenhouse gas reduction and clean energy goals while serving as a meaningful distributed energy resource alongside of rooftop solar, energy storage, and demand response.[1]
By Cynthia Mitchell
As California's "first loading order resource," energy efficiency is to help with much needed utility rate relief. And, as California moves away from fossil fuels to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through a more decentralized system of significant variable renewable resources, energy efficiency also is needed to help meet ramping and peak capacity requirements caused by California's infamous "Duck Curve."
The opportunities (imperative) for using efficiency to ameliorate the duck curve are there[2] – how to make them happen is the "billions of dollars" question. (The duck's neck reflects a run-up in late afternoon of commercial building loads from internal heat gains [increased space cooling, lighting, data centers, other office and retail functions] and early evening residents returning home from school and work [turning on/up air conditioners, lights, starting cooking, watching television, etc.]. Californians and others have recognized for some time that energy efficiency solutions targeted at reducing electrical demand on a whole building/home basis can ease the need for and provide dramatic ramping and peak capacity.)
The market for energy efficiency meter-based savings tools is fledgling. California needs to accelerate CPUC-approved commercial specification of automated, open-source, meter-based savings tools (developed by CPUC-retained experts) for the commercial building sector, where non-routine adjustments to savings baselines are needed.
CPUC President Mike Picker, at a recent conference on California's Distributed Energy Future, said the today's challenge is greenhouse gas reduction:[3] "As we have seen from the Germans and China, you can increase the amount of renewables and still have to build backup [gas-fired] generation, thus contributing to more GHG emissions."
He added that increasing amounts of variable resources lead to a grid becoming "highly variable," causing over-generation, peak shifts, and annual shifts in generation. "The most important part of this [electric system transformation] is at the distribution level where you can prioritize 'negawatts versus megawatts' – demand resources become part of the exchange, and customers become part of the exchange, as generation technologies."
Picker's recent remarks speak to the critical intersection of energy efficiency at both the aggregate system and distribution level.
Despite CPUC proceedings on distributed energy resources and distribution resource plans, and all source solicitations,[4] energy efficiency as a distributed energy resource is not being developed at anywhere near the scale and pace of rooftop solar and energy storage.
There are various reasons why this is so. Perhaps the largest is that energy efficiency programs number in the hundreds. Each program, in turn, is made up of thousands of discrete and dispersed efficiency measures. The savings from nearly all of these measures are not metered.
As a result, energy savings measurements are unmetered estimates.
Moreover, savings from individual measures do not always equate to absolute reductions in energy usage, whether at an individual customer's meter or aggregated system-wide.[5] From the perspective of the California Independent System Operator, the contribution of energy efficiency to grid reliability is unclear, given the difficulties in accurately monitoring and measuring efficiency on a location-specific basis. Assorted legislation – notably AB 758, SB530, and AB 802 – seeks to promote energy efficiency at larger scales. But to realize that vision will require transaction solutions designed to match core utility attributes.
Energy efficiency needs to "walk and talk" like other energy resources—historically generation, now increasingly rooftop solar, energy storage, electric vehicles, and demand response. These resources create investor-grade revenue streams of net income based on a product (output) that is measured at the meter. What you can meter, you can charge and collect revenue.
With meter-based savings measurements, efficiency becomes an energy resource, analogous to generation. Efficiency as energy can be applied at individual sites, or at a project portfolio level, and it correlates well to circuit and substation loads, is persistent, and is measurable at the meter.
As an energy source, efficiency can be invested in over long periods of time (perhaps decades) as a new resource asset type, with flexible load management and reliability measurements.
California utilities could invest in efficiency, alone or bundled with other distributed resources. Transaction structures can be designed to bill the building at the energy usage up to (or less than) the dynamic baseline. The difference between the dynamic baseline and metered bill is used to recoup efficiency investment costs, with possible additional bill saving benefits shared with building owners and tenants. This holds the potential to turn efficiency savings into energy yield: EE = Energy, not just operationally, but transactionaly in markets for both energy and capital.
In short, California needs new transaction structures that move beyond consumers' limited investment horizons to more intelligent bundled efficiency; in turn, that will lead to lower utility costs and lower cost of utility capital formation.
If California fails to take advantage of abundant bundled efficiency resources it will be left with a grid that is too expensive. This could result in customers seeking bypass options, whether through self-supply or microgrids.
California's grid needs to be "smart" and an essential ingredient is taking advantage of the lowest cost options to provide reliable service.
It begins with the automated meter-based tools – what some of us are calling "EE meters."
—Cynthia Mitchell
[1] See distributed energy resources definition per AB 327 (Perea, Chapter 611, Statutes of 2013).
[2] The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Final Report on Phase 2 Results, 2015 California Demand Response Potential Study Charting California's Demand Response Future, (November 14, 2016) replaces a traditional monolithic concept of demand response with a more nuanced alternative: shape, shift, shed, and shimmy – four flavors of demand response, each with a unique character complementing the needs of the grid. Energy efficiency generally goes hand in hand in these advanced forms of demand response.
LBNL found that the market and technology development for 'Shift' DR "…is a resource with an energy-based, cumulative value, rather than a power-based capacity value, placing it in a separate category from conventional Shed DR….the value of Shift resources come from multi-hour changes and accumulate through the years. As more renewable electricity that would otherwise be curtailed is captured, the value increases." p.. 5-26.
Also, a 2016 Energy Institute at Haas School of Business UC Berkeley paper—"Do Energy Efficiency Investments Deliver at the Right Time?"—found that: "As more solar generation comes online, there is growing concern about meeting the steep evening ramp. Our estimates suggest that air conditioning investments deliver more savings than expected during these evening hours, and thus could become more valuable as renewables penetration increases."
"These savings are highly correlated with the value of electricity… [e.g.] summer afternoons are crunch time in California electricity markets. https://energyathaas.wordpress.com/2016/06/06/do-energy-efficiency-investments-deliver-during-crunch-time/
And, Colleague Jim Lazar's work "Teaching the Duck to Fly" includes a package of strategies including but not limited to energy efficiency, demand response, peak-oriented renewables, and rate design, to produce a gradual change in the load shape, that if aggressively deployed, can dramatically reshape the electricity load from a "duck in water with its weight in the water floating easily, to a duck in flight that stretches out its profile to create lower wind resistance in flight." Notably, the first strategy is to target energy efficiency to the hours when load ramps up sharply. http://www.raponline.org/document/download/id/7956/
[3] Green Tech Media Squared GTM2, California's Distributed Energy Future Conference, Fireside Chat: The State of the California Energy Transformation, March 9, 2017, https://www.gtmsquared.com.
[4] Distributed Resource Plans: R.14-08-013; Integrated Distributed Energy Resources: R14-10-003;
SCE and SDG&E All Source Solicitations have resulted in very little energy efficiency.
[5] Ibid 2.
Guest Juice: The Role of Energy Efficiency in State Climate Change Policy
March 10, 2017
By Cynthia Mitchell
California is counting on energy efficiency to help meet state greenhouse gas reduction goals and as a meaningful distributed energy resource alongside rooftop solar, energy storage, and demand response. And, as California's "first loading order resource,"[1] efficiency is to help with much needed utility rate relief.
There's a growing number of state mandates[2] that call for efficiency to scale up significantly beyond the accomplishments of the past decade. The California Public Utilities Commission, Energy Commission, utilities, various other government agencies, institutions, organizations, and other stakeholders are in the trenches in several related regulatory proceedings and working groups trying to figure out how to scale energy efficiency to meet state policy directives.[3] To say that this is all terribly complex does not begin to describe the spider's web that currently tangles up California's efficiency efforts. Couple that with a regulatory pace best described as "It's an all happening now, no time to waste," and it means it's high time for a critical look under the existing energy efficiency hood to consider the strength and performance of the existing energy efficiency program framework.[4] From here, policy makers and regulators can more fully assess the road worthiness of relying on the existing energy efficiency engine, and what tune ups or overhauls are necessary to get California where it needs to go.
Through a series of columns published here periodically this spring, I with others will examine efficiency's role as a greenhouse gas reduction strategy and as a distributed energy resource that is supposed to provide utility rate relief along the way. Next we will discuss the existing efficiency program framework and share our research and findings as to what's working and what's not. From there we will share what it will take to scale up energy efficiency so it can fuel California's expanding population and robust economy while greening the planet.
Meanwhile, here's our premise: It's possible to scale efficiency to achieve more significant, strategic and reliable savings, though not by relying on the existing program framework. That's why California's energy efficiency community needs to take a hard look at the very real economic and market limits of the current construct and embrace them as opportunities for real change rather than merely resorting to rearranging deck chairs at this time. That means dropping old ways of thinking and stop trying to change the optics of how we value and measure efficiency to make it appear more successful without significant changes in approach. Instead, it's time to break out, go non-linear and make efficiency attractive to the investment community thus shifting it to generation-equivalent status. Doing that will take new meter-based approaches that procure metered efficiency from suppliers analogous to how California obtains metered generation from generators.
Role of Energy Efficiency in CA Climate Change Policy
The Golden State is considered the country's leading "Green State" for its growing commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. At 1 percent of the world's total emissions, and nearly 7 percent of U.S. emissions, what California does matters a great deal, particularly given the Trump Administration's stance of climate change denial and its immediate withdrawal from the 2015 Paris Agreement.[5]
California has adopted the most ambitious GHG reduction targets in North America. Amendments to the state's 2006 landmark law AB 32 in 2015 require the state to cut carbon emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 and by 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, a more ambitious target than the previous goal of hitting 1990 levels by 2020. In his Inaugural Address in January 2015, Gov. Jerry Brown identified key goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in California through 2030, including increasing renewable electricity to 50 percent, doubling energy efficiency savings in existing buildings and making fuels cleaner for heating, and reducing petroleum use in cars and trucks by up to 50 percent. Speaking months later on the passage of SB 350, Brown declared that decarbonizing the modern economy requires "heroic efforts and tireless struggle," and that SB 350's energy efficiency and higher renewable energy standard ratchet up "the California commitment." [6]
To pursue AB 32 climate change policy goals and gauge progress toward achieving them it is necessary not only to understand the difference between energy efficiency savings and consumption reductions, but to recognize how limited and limiting the efficiency savings framework is in the context of climate change legislation and targets.
The terminology used to measure progress saving energy via efficiency—energy savings, energy intensity, increased energy efficiency, etc.—all refer to changes with no direct bearing on absolute consumption. Treating the efforts that are evaluated according to these scales is helpful in the pursuit of greenhouse gas reductions, but it also obstructs progress toward these goals by mixing relative with absolute scales and obscuring the difference between energy consumed (as metered) and energy saved through efficiency (generally a ratio of program effects divided by a hypothetical energy growth trajectory).[7]
For instance, absolute increases in energy consumption can (and are) occurring alongside efficiency savings. Figures 1 and 2 below show California's total electricity consumption and per capita consumption from 1972 through 2014. Figure 1 shows 40-plus-year steady growth in overall consumption interrupted by periodic recessions. The data show that between the 2001 and 2008 recessions, statewide electricity consumption grew at an average annual rate of 2,914 GWhs. Since the 2008 recession, the rate of growth in consumption has slowed considerably to an average annual rate of 600 GWh (2009-2014). Figure 2 below shows California's per capita electricity consumption in 1972 at 6,573 kWh; in 2014 it was 6,769 kWh.[8] The data show that since the high in 2008, per capita consumption has continued to trend downward, with 2014 now again on par with 2002 (6,745 kWh per capita in 2002 and 6,769 kWh per capita 2014). To achieve the greenhouse gas reductions SB 350 contemplates per capita consumption must go down because the state's population continues to grow, causing the overall electricity use in the state to continue to rise, even if per capita consumption remains flat.[9] AB32 emission reduction targets are permanent, so efficiency savings must translate into enduring consumption reductions.
That's why it's crucial, particularly with the California Air Resources Board banking on efficiency to meet greenhouse gas reduction requirements, for a paradigm shift in the state's energy efficiency programs.
—Cynthia Mitchell is a 40-year veteran energy economist and utility consumer advocate and consultant for The Utility Reform Network. The views expressed herein are her own.
[1] California 2003 Energy Action Plan, https://www.energy.ca.gov/energy_action_plan. See "Breaking News! California Electricity Prices are High", "California retail electricity prices are high, about 50% higher than the national average." March 1, 2017, http://ei.haas.berkeley.edu/
[2] AB32 GHG 2006 and update 2015, SB350 Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act 2015, AB 802 Demand Forecast Baseline Conditions 2015, AB758 Comprehensive EE Existing Buildings 2009.
[3] EE and EE-related proceedings and processes at the CPUC include: Rulemaking R.13-11-005 EE Rolling Portfolios; Program Administrators' Applications EE Business Plans 2018-2025; PG&E Application 16-08-006 Diablo Retirement Proposal; R. 14-10-003 Integrated Distribution Energy Resources; DRP 14-08-013 Distribution Resource Plans; R. 16-02-007 Electricity Integrated Resource Planning Framework; R13-12-011 Water-Energy Efficiency Nexus; ongoing EE measurement and verification (M&V) meetings; EE Shareholder Incentive Mechanism workbooks and updates. EE and EE-related proceedings and processes at the CEC include: Appliance EE Program Title 20 and Building EE Program Title 24; Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR); California Energy Demand Forecast and Demand Analysis Working Group (DAWG); AB758 Comprehensive EE Program for Existing Buildings; Clean Energy Jobs Act (Proposition 39) EE in Schools K-12.
[4] "Existing EE framework" refers the CPUC's forecast of EE potential that the utilities are tasked with obtaining through their EE programs, known as "market potential." "Market Potential" is a subset of Economic Potential including "energy efficiency savings that could be expected in response to specific levels of incentives and assumptions about policies, market influences, and barriers." See Navigant Consulting, Inc. EE Potential and Goals Study for 2015 and Beyond, Stage 1 Final Report ("Navigant"), September 25, 2015, pp. iii, iv-v. http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/General.aspx?id=2013.
[5] The Paris Agreement is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change dealing with greenhouse gas mitigation, adaptation, and finance starting in the year 2020. The language of the agreement was negotiated by representatives of 195 countries at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in Paris and adopted by consensus on Dec. 12, 2015.
[6] With AB 32 in 2006, the Air Resources Board's Climate Change Draft Scoping Plan envisioned that the electricity sector would contribute at least 40 percent of the total statewide GHG reductions, even though the sector created just 25 percent of California's GHG emissions. AB32 2006 set an absolute emissions reduction of 174 MMT CO2e by 2020. CARB Adopted Scoping Document (Dec 2008) assumed 15.2 MMT CO2e, equivalent to 32,000 GWh net cumulative by 2020—or 3,200 net annual average savings using the 2010 implementing legislative date—in emission reductions from utility energy efficiency programs and C&S. Calculations then (author) determined that those utility EE goals were about 25 percent short of the CARB 2008 electricity sector EE savings goals. The calculation did not consider the decay in savings over time from utility EE program reliance on short-lived savings such as fluorescent lamps. The 2015 AB32 update increases the shortfall.
[7] Energy consumption is a first order concept that bears on climate change, GHG emissions, and future reduction targets and dates. EE, the more common phrase in use today, is, by contrast, a second order concept, a ratio (kWh/cubic foot, miles per gallon, BTU output/BTU input, etc). Changes in this second order concept may correspond to absolute reductions in energy consumption—as is often assumed or asserted—or they may not.
[8] Data source for Figures 2 and 3 from the Energy Information Administration, SEDS (State Energy Data System), 1960-2014. The link is: https://www.eia.gov/state/seds/seds-data-complete.cfm.
[9] State of California, 2008 Update Energy Action Plan, February 2008, p. 7. http://www.energy.ca.gov/2008publications/CEC-100-2008-001/CEC-100-2008-001.PDF.
October 2015. Capitalizing Energy Efficiency.
California's "up the ante" on energy efficiency savings needs new capital market money to make it happen. California consumers as ratepayers and taxpayers cannot afford the billions to achieve CA's new efficiency legislation.
California needs new banking and institutional capital transaction structures that match investment and to long term efficiency yield, and, creating long term net income streams as efficiency is capitalized equivalent to generation, transmission, distribution.
California is at a critical juncture: chart the described new course, or continue to game energy efficiency accomplishments. Read my 2-pg OP piece.
September 2015. NRDC Misleading Regarding California's Energy Efficiency Success Story.
NRDC's new report, California's Golden Energy Efficiency Opportunity: Ramping Up Success to Save Billions and Meet Climate Goals, is a rehash of prior , and teeing up of some nes, overstated claims of California's energy efficiency success story.
For over a decade, the Golden State has claimed to be a, if not the, national and international leader in saving energy. Such folklore wouldn't be so bad if it stayed in California. But California's "energy efficiency success story" is the under girdle of state and national energy policies, and hand-carried to the likes of China as the "how to" primer on reducing electric carbon emissions.
The truth is, while California has accomplished a great deal in saving energy, but not to the scale and scope represented by NRDC claims in its recently released report "California Energy Efficiency Opportunity: Ramping Up Success to Save Billions and Meet Climate Goals". Clinging to an overstated glory has resulted in a huge Rube Goldberg construct of complex and convoluted utility-run, ratepayer funded efficiency programs that dance to the rhythm of two steps forward – one or two steps back on energy savings and cost efficiencies.
The opportunities and challenges ahead are tremendous, calling for structural shifts in CA's regulatory approach to energy efficiency. NRDC would have regulators stay largely with the status quo, reasoning that it will get CA where it needs to go. I appreciate NRDC's commitment to CA energy efficiency, and have a different perspective on CA's energy efficiency success story. My November 2014 Electricity Policy article CA EE Manifesto lays this out.
If Governor Brown's 2015 Inaugural 50-50-50 goals (reduce transportation fuel use by 50%, increase renewables to 50% of electric generation, and make buildings 50% more energy efficient) – has a chance in hell, California will have to (at least with building efficiency), do something radically different.
It begins in part with deconstructing the current Rube Goldberg construct of complex and convoluted efficiency programs through some fairly basic changes, in tandem with new market-based approaches to financing efficiency through the large capital markets.
- Cumulative savings are at best about one-half of what NRDC claims, meaning that far fewer than 30 power plants have been avoided via EE, and, EE savings are short of the 2020 AB 32 GHG target.
- EE costs are close to, if not more than, the cost of equivalent energy and capacity.
Follow the link to The Utility Reform Network's media response to the NRDC report.
NRDC and E2 Report – TURN-Media-Rxn
July 2015. Governor's Brown's New Efficiency Goals
"TURN CEC Gov's EE Goals" is shorthand for "The Utility Reform Network (my client –the largest, oldest, and most dedicated consumer advocate office in the country — what a privledge and pleasure to work with TURN as their efficiency expert!) "CEC" is the California Energy Commission. This was a recent proceeding regarding Governor's Brown's 2015 goal of 50% improvement in building efficiency. My ppt and text attached. Nice picture of my girls (hens) basket of eggs toward ppt end.
November 2014. "California Energy Efficiency Manifesto"
"Mitchell EE Manifesto" is shorthand for my November 2014 Electricity Policy article "A New Energy Efficiency Manifesto: California Needs a More Integrated Cost-Effective Approah". In many ways this sums up my 15 years of California work with all the stops pulled out. I am forever grateful to and for Robert Marritz, editor and publisher for his tremendous work on this piece.
2014 "The Risk Takers — Powering Our Future"
"The Risk Takers – Powering Our Future" produced by friend and dear mentor Robert Kahn, explains in under 20 minutes the history and evolution in competition in power generation in this country. It's not been an easy row to hoe, and certainly imperfect in many ways. You'll find me here as one of the storytellers.
2009. Stabilizing CA's Energy Demand, The Real Reasons
This 2009 Public Utilities Fortnightly article exposed and debunked the forelore / myth that California was wildly sucessful in reducing electricity consumption via utility-run, ratepayer funded energy efficiency programs. Boy, did this ever stir up the ant hill.
2006. Critical Thinking on CA's EE Performance Incentives
This article with collegue William Marcus details how California's regulatory approach providing millions in financial incentives to utilities for running energy efficiency programs does little if anything to change the utility corporate bottom line from selling to saving energy.


text:
Many trucking companies experience the annual dance with their insurance agent. The owner hasn't heard from his agent all year, then he calls a few weeks before the renewal date asks if anything has changed. The answer is generally no. The agent then tells the owner some story about large claims in the industry and how that affected rates. The moral of the insurance agent's story is simply the trucking company will pay more money than last year. The owner needs the coverage and with no better explanation available, he pays the premium again.
There are five main factors that contribute to the insurance costs for a trucking company.
Of course, there are a lot of other factors that could affect your rates, but these are the major factors. Some you can control and save your company money, some you cannot. A great way to manage your insurance cost is to shop with multiple carriers each year.
As an independent agent, we can help you by shopping different carriers. Call us for Colorado trucking insurance at 888.279.9701 or fill out the short form below and one of our experts will get in touch.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Back from a summer hiatus. Reminder: I am available for short-term consulting, security training of all sorts, and product analysis and review. Drop me a note. -- Fred
A few months ago I was a guest lecturer at Dnepropetrovsk National University in Ukraine. For an international economics class, my topic was "The Need for Security in an Internet-affected economy." One of the students asked, "Is it so important to worry about security at this time? Very few businesses [in Ukraine] are on the Internet."
This was a good question. In Ukraine, connections to the Internet are usually slow (dial-up on noisy phone lines). Most companies are *not* connected to the Internet. In fact, Internet use in Ukraine today is similar to Internet use in the United States in 1992.
Should they care about security, or wait until there is more business and more targets?
Getting a handle on "risk" is sometimes difficult. We cannot ever measure it exactly. This is okay. There is no such thing as *perfect* security. We therefore have the freedom to "fudge."
Of course, we also have to define risk. There are many definitions for risk, and the related terms threat, vulnerability, and cost. I use an equation developed by TruSecure Corporation ( www.trusecure.com ). [Disclosure: TruSecure Corp. is a client of Avolio Consulting, Inc.]
Threat is the likelihood that a security event will happen in a given time span or at a particular rate. And out of all the possible threats, there is a smaller number of those *someone* knows about, and an even smaller number *you* know about.
A given target is either vulnerable or not to a particular well-defined threat, or variably vulnerable to a *class of threats*. There may be millions of vulnerabilities on a network/system. The total that will *ever* be discovered is in the thousands. The total that will ever be exploited is in the tens.
The total sum of all ramifications of a security event is called EventCost. This might include lost sales, loss of customer confidence, and over-time spent performing forensics and triage.
So, if any of Threat, Vulnerability, or EventCost is zero, the Risk is zero. A risk analysis, then, requires us to first find if any of these are zero, and if none are, to try to determine the actual or estimated values.
Like a new kid moving into a tough neighborhood who gets beaten up in his first day, When the Republic of Chile's first national ISP came on line, said, "Hola," the Internet-at-large launched massive attacks, crashing systems, and bringing the connections down. Welcome to the neighborhood, Chileans.
I pointed out a few things to the students. When I first visited Ukraine (another, but different training trip -- www.avolio.com/~fred/Ukraine_Trips/uatrip1993.html ), we were glad to have electricity (and did not always have running water, or heat). Now, when I go there I expect to be able to access my email, either from a friend's home PC, or from an "Internet Cafe" (sometimes one in the hotel). I asked how many had Internet access, either from the university, or home, or from a cafe? Most of the students did. I demonstrated in discussion that, although the number of people and businesses with Internet access is much less than in the US, the growth curve is much steeper than it was in the US. And, of course, the likelihood of an attack -- and so the risk -- is not a function of the number of targets *in Ukraine*. It is a function of the number of potential attackers on the Internet. Welcome to the neighborhood.
I've added two recent columns that I wrote for WatchGuard ( www.watchguard.com ) to my website: "Five 'Must Have' Defenses for Mobile Computer Users" ( www.avolio.com/columns/5-must-have-mobile-defenses.html ) and "Wireless at Home" ( www.avolio.com/columns/wireless-at-home.html )
I also wrote a column on wireless for the August 2002 *Information Security Magazine*. Read "The Real Deal on Wireless" at http://www.infosecuritymag.com/2002/aug/justthebasics.shtml .
September 2002: I'm teaching 2 courses at Networld+Interop. Monday, September 9, I am teaching the full day "VPN Day: Fundamentals" with security consultant and buddy Dave Piscitello. (Dave and Joel Snyder are teaching "VPN Day: Design and Deployment" on September 10.) September 11, I will teach "Firewall Best Practices." For more information, check my calendar .


text:
Haven't Posted in a while
March 23, 2007
Jeez time flies
I have been pretty busy lately with the new job at Uno Chicago Pizza, and student-teaching, and Masters class. I have some projects I want to get done and that stopping me from posting. Hopefully over Easter Break I can bang a couple of things out.
To Do: video of How to make a PB&J
Video goodbye to ZeFrank


text:
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Munson: the story of a lump
2 comments:
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
|About ten days ago I discovered a very large lump under the skin of Munson's right hind leg. My first thought was it was a cyst or benign fatty tumour. It's not exactly attractive, and seems to have come up almost overnight like some exotic mushroom.
When I first saw it, it was covered by a thin film of hair, not unlike most of my possessions, and was about the size and hardness of an egg or golf-ball. It didn't seem to bother Munson when I handled it but my quick reading on some canine lumps and bumps suggested I should get it checked out by a vet.
A few days later on a warm Sunday afternoon like today, vet Emily took a fine needle aspirate for testing. On Wednesday she reported back that it seemed to be a spindle cell sarcoma. It would be necessary to do a full biopsy (under anaesthesia) to do a more exacting diagnosis, one that would indicate the margin of tissue that would need to be subsequently removed around what had become a shiny red, angry passenger on Munson's leg.
In the intervening days, it drew Munson's attention, licking and worrying at it there was less camouflaging hair. The biopsy surgery is scheduled for tomorrow. I can't say I'm not worried, as it's only four years since I waved Bondi off, but my understanding is that they rarely metastasize, although they are prone to regrow, and regrow and regrow. The worst-case limited result – if I can say such a thing – is that he loses the leg.
With that ominous possibility lurking in the shadows, I didn't want to waste any opportunity for Munson to be out and about. There's more to a heffalump than its lump. Yesterday's outing was with his buddy Scout. As fond of each other as they are, they don't wrestle and tumble like Munson's other playmates, so I wasn't concerned about chafing.
Today's visit to the park was a bit more of a problem; either some blood or the mere scent of the tumour brought too much attention from unfamiliar dogs, so I kept Munson on his leash when he wasn't in safe company. This afternoon is for sunshine and play, tomorrow brings what it brings.


text:
Following two days of intense competition at the 1st Robotics occasion in Standish-Sterling, Boyne City Blaze and their two alliance partners came out victorious. What I located is that only about 3{405df8956c5087eb9e9313fe4fb80039bb8ac2d494cbcb7a816b4b9ce75c6ced} (just an approximation) of business owners truly know how to run a business. Some will get pleasure from this style but other individuals will locate it frustrating and want one thing far more concrete out of the book. This business decision impacts me straight as a consumer due to the fact there might be some modifications.
Even if you have a business that is one hundred{405df8956c5087eb9e9313fe4fb80039bb8ac2d494cbcb7a816b4b9ce75c6ced} on the internet retail and you don't network, placing a card in each parcel is a very good concept simply because people may keep it for future reference – especially if you place a discount code on them or they have a stand-out style. They commit all their time running business opportunity meetings and flooding everywhere with misleading adverts to attract much more cannon fodder. That image of a juice lab was created by massive companies in order to keep you from acquiring into the business for your self. Net sales for 2015 increased by an unbelievable 16.2 {405df8956c5087eb9e9313fe4fb80039bb8ac2d494cbcb7a816b4b9ce75c6ced} to a record $918.five million.
Improve on Could 1, 2015 the base shipping charge on all orders changed from $6.50 to $7.95. In 2014 the price for base shipping charges had decreased from $eight.95 to $6.50 by Sensible Living Firm meaning most products below 1-two pounds which covers most tiny dollar products. For a modest business in Thailand that is a considerable quantity particularly when you multiply it by 12 months.
Alternatively, they saw the prospective in their business and they invested their time (more than their income) till they reached their ambitions. Nonetheless, this will have to wait until this fall of 2016 considering that it is not provided in the evening this summer season. Using the lesson discovered discovered in this book, all little to medium sized enterprise owner ought to read this one.
The most effective internet sites – like Company Insider and Vice – sell most of their marketing directly at respectable, double-digit CPMs, as opposed to filling their inventory with network-generated advertising that yields low prices although frequently delivering spots that detract from the editorial atmosphere they are seeking to keep. Even at the height of my belief and enthusiasm with the organization, there was just no way I was going to stalk and approach a total stranger at the mall and try to sell solution and book an appointment with her. If you have a job at the moment, never leave it until you are as certain as you can be that the organization will be a achievement.…


text:
Best of El Chalten
I'm just going to go ahead and say it: El Chalten is my favorite mountain town that I've visited. And it shocked us to talk to multiple Americans who had (a) never heard of El Chalten or (b) had heard of it (or at least the story behind the Patagonia logo – scroll to the bottom of the article) but thought that it wasn't worth their time to visit. This thinking was baffling to us, especially after we spent some time exploring the town and our appreciation of it grew. El Chalten is nicknamed "the trekking capital of the world" but there is plenty to do even if you aren't a hardcore mountain trekker.
Getting to El Chalten
El Chalten isn't the easiest town to get to, which is a large part of it's appeal. The closest airport is El Calafate International Airport, that has about 5 flights daily from Buenos Aires and 1 flight daily from Ushuaia. Many companies in El Calafate offer tours to El Chalten (although most are only day trips) and there are buses that will take you from the airport to El Chalten. You can find information about the buses here.
Since we spent the two nights before in El Chalten in El Calafate, and because we had our own car, we chose to drive the 215 km (about 135 miles). We left before dawn to beat the tour buses on the two lane road and were rewarded with a stunning sunrise over Lago Viedma. Driving also afforded us the opportunity to spend almost an hour driving the last 10 km into town because we kept stopping to take pictures of the mountains towering over the road.
Staying in El Chalten
Although El Chalten is a tiny town (permanent population 1600), there are countless options for lodging. The cheapest option is to pay ~$2/night for a campsite, usually in someone's back or front yard. The line between hostel and hotel is a little blurred in El Chalten, and there is a sliding scale of hostels/hotels that range from very basic and cheap to something comparable to a 3 star hotel. There are also a handful of true basic and luxury hotels for those willing to spend a little more money.
Patagonia Eco Domes
Since we went to Patagonia for our honeymoon, we choose to stay almost exclusively in hotels (and two Hosterias to save a little bit of money) so we mostly skipped out on the cheap accomodations. Our first night in El Chalten we opted to stay in Patagonia Eco Domes. Although still not cheap, I was able to snag a great deal on Booking.com for an all-inclusive rate, which meant we had breakfast, lunch, and dinner included in our stay. We tried to avoid paying for all-inclusive rates when they included tours/excursions because we like exploring on our own.
Patagonia Eco Domes is located on the "back" side of Cerro Fitz Roy, down a pretty-well maintained dirt road. Although we drove ourselves, they also offer complimentary transfers from town for guests who arrive via bus. Our dome featured a king bed, two chairs draped in sheepskin rugs, a wood stove, and a three piece bathroom (sink, toilet, shower). The bed was extremely comfortable and looked out onto the imposing Fitz Roy massif. During dinner one of the staff members lit our wood stove, but they also provided instructions on how to open and operate the wood stove so we could keep it going throughout the night. Let me tell you, falling asleep in a private dome, with a wood fire crackling next to you, well sated from a delicious meal is the key to the most romantic night of your life.
Hotel Poincenot
After our magical night at Patagonia Eco Domes we headed back into town for three of the nights at Hotel Poincenot. Hotel Poincenot is located at the north end of town and is within walking distance of everything the town has to offer. We parked our car before checking in and only used it once to drive out of town to get a picture of the moon and stars over Cerro Fitz Roy.
The hotel itself seems pretty new and is very modern compared to the other hotels in the area. Our room was comfortable but we never found out how to get a comfortable temperature in the shower (it had a nob for hot water and one for cold water and it seemed like no matter how we turned each of the individual nobs, the water was either freezing or scalding). The room was very clean and always smelled great after they cleaned it – which is saying a lot because we had been traveling for 1.5 weeks at that point and were a little stinky! They also provided a complimentary breakfast buffet complete with cereals, breakfast pastries, deli meats, and a variety of fruit.
Eating in El Chalten
I did a whole post about the amazing meals we had in Patagonia. Every single thing we ate in El Chalten was delicious so they are all featured in that post. For more information about where to eat, read my Eating Well in Patagonia post.
Things to Do In El Chalten
El Chalten is located in the northern section of Parque Nacional Los Glaciares and is known as the "trekking capital of the world" so there are lots of hiking options. In the four days we stayed in El Chalten, we went on four different hikes:
- Loma del Pliegue Tumbado
- Mirador Cerro Torre
- Laguna de Los Tres
- Loma de Las Pizzarras
We made the decision to prioritize trekking/hiking over other activities and mostly exhausted the more challenging day hikes in the area. There are a handful of easier ones as well, including Salto El Chorrillo and Miradors Condores y Las Aguilas.
There are also a lot of non-hiking options in El Chalten. Although we arrived slightly too late in the season (1 day too late to be exact), Patagonia Aventura offers multiple excursion options on the nearby Glacier Viedma. We were most interested in the more high activity options of the Viedma Ice Trek (walking on the glacier with crampons) and Viedma Pro (ice climbing) but they also offer the Viedma Trek which involves walking near the glacier and the Viedma Light which is a boat tour of the face of the glacier. If you have more time, they also offer an overnight excursion that combines the Viedma Ice Trek and Viedma Pro, along with an overnight stay near the face of the glacier.
Surrounded by rivers, Rio Fitz Roy and Rio de las Vueltas being the closest, El Chalten offers world-class fly fishing and kayaking. In fact, the entire main street is dotted with guide companies offering everything from casual floats down the river to technical mountaineering expeditions to the famous peaks surrounding the town. For aquatic tours, we considered Rafting down the Rio de Las Vueltas Canyon with Calafate Mountain Parks and fly fishing on Lago del Desierto with Chalten Fishing.
For non-aquatic options, we also looked into horseback riding with El Relincho (sorry their website is only in Spanish) and rock climbing with Mountaineering Patagonia (they also offer ski mountaineering in the winter!).
Finally, there is a little bit of mountain biking around El Chalten. I'd personally call it more of a gravel ride since it's mostly on dirt roads. If you're interested in a casual ride, there are companies that will rent you a bike and drop you off at Lago del Desierto. Then you can ride the mostly downhill road back to town. Be forewarned though, the roads are dusty so be prepared to eat dirt, and not from falling!


text:
Every dollar donated to Healthy Chesapeake goes toward supporting our programs that are helping the men and women of Chesapeake develop healthy lifestyles.
To earmark your donation for a specific cause, please leave a comment in the "Special Instructions to Seller" field of Paypal.
Healthy Chef
An engaging cooking school hosted by Healthy Chesapeake in our under-served communities. It features healthy eating tips and techniques with easy to use seasonal menus. It also has a mobile cooking component that allows us to set-up fully equipped cooking stations for hands-on instruction. The menus are also developed to be cost conscious and can be tailored to audiences with special needs such a diabetes or heart conditions.
Support Healthy Chef:
- Participant sponsorship – a gift of $5 will sponsor one child/senior to attend Healthy Chef.
- Cooking Kit – $35 will provide a cooking set that includes a knife, apron, pot-holder, meat thermometer, measuring cup, and crock-pot for each low-income child/senior upon graduation from a 12-course session.
Garden 2 Table
Healthy Chesapeake's Garden 2 Table initiative consists of 3 main aspects:
- On-Site Community Gardens: Gardens built in communities throughout Chesapeake that are designed to be a collaborative effort between Healthy Chesapeake sponsors and members of the apartment complex/neighborhood/school/etc in which it was built.
- Production Gardens: Sites where Healthy Chesapeake partners have constructed a garden designed to grow produce for distribution to area shelters, kitchens, and low-income residents.
- Mobile Markets: Healthy Chesapeake partners support mobile markets that bring fresh produce into low access area. We also support a program that provides low-income families and seniors with weekly vouchers that are redeemable for produce at mobile markets.
Support Garden 2 Table:
- Voucher Program- $5/senior or youth OR $10/family per day
- Community Gardens- $3,000 is the start-up cost for a 15 bed garden with disability access. Garden management is approximately $250/month with an additional annual cost of $1,000 for replanting and sporadic repairs.
- Production Gardens- $5,000-$7,000 depending on the size of each parcel of land
- Mobile Market- Operational costs average $100/day for the Mobile Market. Your gift can help bring fresh produce to under-served communities.
Buffalow Family & Friends Community Days
This year Healthy Chesapeake has partnered with the Buffalow Family Foundation to help fund expansion of their Thanksgiving meal program Buffalow Family & Friends Community Days. Last year, Buffalow Family and Friends Community Days were able to reach 200 seniors. This year, our goal is 300 to 500 seniors. We need your help to make this happen!
Support Buffalow Family & Friends Community Days:
- Sponsor a meal – $3 will provide a Thanksgiving meal to a community member in need
- Donate clothing or hygiene products – $5 will help Healthy Chesapeake provide warm clothing and hygienic products to a needy Chesapeake resident
Life & Health Ambassadors
Healthy Chesapeake has developed a coalition of devoted community members who are taking initiative and providing invaluable guidance and support as Healthy Chesapeake works with them at the neighborhood level to address challenges and opportunities within their locality. Life and Health Ambassadors are essential to identifying fundamental issues within communities and a critical component of identifying and addressing public health crises in Chesapeake.
Support Healthy Chesapeake's Life & Health Ambassadors:
- Ambassador Training Programs – $50 provides the refreshments for one ambassador training
- Ambassador Resource Materials – Healthy Chesapeake is hoping to provide each ambassador with a kit including a resource notebook and t-shirt and be able to send them to local training when appropriate. The cost for this comprehensive resource program would be $3,000-5,000.
- Printing and Outreach – $2,500 will provide a year of weekly flyers and semi-annual events for a community in Chesapeake.


text:
Jamie Lynn Moore
Freelance Artist & Art Educator
Painting Parties
Jamie Lynn Moore ® 2017. Raleigh, NC.
Jamie Lynn Moore ® 2018. Raleigh, NC
Tipsy Palette Painting Parties
A super fun way to create a handmade work of art and
make some unforgettable memories with your friends! Great idea for:
~ Girl's Night
~ Fundraisers
~ Birthday Parties
~ Bachelorette Parties
~ Bridal Showers
~ Team Building
~ Couples Night
1. Book your event
Jamie Lynn travels to you so you and your friends can relax in the comfort of your own home. Contact Jamie Lynn to reserve a night for your private party. Choose your desired painting and begin spreading the word. Invite your friends to join your fun night of wine-ing and designing!
2. Meet for the party!
Jamie Lynn will bring everything you will need for your fun night: professional art instruction, paint, 16" x 20" canvases, brushes and all the tidbits that you will need for your paintings. You and your friends bring your beverages, snacks and your creativity!
3. Sip up and paint!
Jamie Lynn will take you step-by-step instructions on how to paint your chosen art piece. At the end of the night you will have a handmade masterpiece along with memories you will cherish forever!
Details and Deals
Please have your friends arrive 15 minutes prior to the party to pour a glass, mingle and get ready to paint! Allot 2 hours for your party. $40 per participant.
5 participant minimum.
Special Hostess Promotions
Hostess paints FREE with any party
$2 off for ALL painters with 8 or more participants
$5 off for ALL painters with 10 or more participants
Anyone can be an artist! What better way to discover your hidden creative talent than with great friends and good wine. Contact me today!
Choose from subjects to paint such as:
Still lifes
Mixed media works


text:
The Aquatre Bag from Bottega Veneta is already proving to be a big hit. The reason behind this bag being a success is rather simple. The bag is inherently plain while staying true to its Bottega Veneta roots. The Bottega Veneta Aquatre Bags feature Intrecciato Nappa leather in a variety of cruise collection colors.
There are two versions of the bag, one with a longer shoulder strap and one with double top handles. Our vote goes to the longer strap, which makes this an accessible messenger bag. Let's go over the pros and cons.
Pros: Intrecciato leather, suede lining, hidden interior zip pocket, cell phone compartment, press stud closures, sleek shape, light weight.
Cons: Shallow depth, which does not fit large amounts of content. It was purposely designed to be flat, which may pose a disadvantage to those of you who like to pack your purses.
The folks at Bottega found a way to bring us a small, stylish, leather bag (dimensions are 13.7 X 12.9 inches). The Aquatre Bag goes for $1290 via Bottega Veneta.
P.S. Please consider supporting our small, bag-loving team by clicking our links before shopping or checking out at your favorite online retailers like Amazon, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, or any of the listed partners on our shop page. We truly appreciate your support!


text:
Ferrari Dino.jpg
From the moment you see something like the Ferrari 156, your heart begins to race. This vehicle could be seen as an iconic example of our constant fascination with two things. We love to build complex, powerful machines. We like it even more, when those machines can go really, really fast. This art piece depicting the Ferrari 156 plays with both of those thoughts in the best way possible. It isn't difficult to hear the sound of that perfect engine, ripping the racetrack as it hugs a turn that has to be seen to be believed. This art is available in the form of wall art, t-shirts, and interior products.
About the car: The Ferrari 156 was a racecar made by Ferrari in 1961 to comply with then-new Formula One regulations that reduced engine displacement from 2.5 to 1.5 litres, similar to the pre-1961 Formula Two class for which Ferrari had developed a mid-engined car also called 156. Ferrari started the season with a 65 degrees Dino engine, then replaced by a new engine with the V-angle increased to 120 degrees and designed by Carlo Chiti. This increased the power by 10 hp (7 kW). Bore and stroke were 73.0 x 58.8 mm (2.3 in) with a displacement of 1,476.60 cc and a claimed 190 hp (142 kW) at 9,500 rpm. For 1962 a 24-valve version was planned with 200 hp (149 kW) at 10,000 rpm, but never appeared. In 1963 the 12-valve version fitted with Bosch direct-fuel injection instead of carburetors achieved that power level. The last victory for the Ferrari 156 was achieved by Italian Lorenzo Bandini in the 1964 Austrian Grand Prix. A V-6 engine with 120 degree bank is smoother at producing power because every 120 degree rotation of engine crankshaft produces a power pulse. Phil Hill won the 1961 World Championship of Drivers and Ferrari secured the 1961 International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, both victories achieved with the 156.
- Copyright
- Jan Keteleer
- Image Size
- 5600x3724 / 14.5MB
- Keywords
- Contained in galleries
- Classic Cars


text:
James Larkin was a well-known labor and union organizer in Ireland during the early 1900's. He was born in Liverpool, England in 1874 to a family of little means which resulted in James receiving little formal education. He quit school to become a foreman on the Liverpool docks and help his family financially.
Larkin excelled at work and soon adopted the socialist philosophy that the welfare for some meant the welfare for all. He felt very strongly that workers should be treated fairly and soon joined the National Union of Dock Laborours (NUDL). Read more: Jim Larkin – Biography
Larkin's leadership skills soon promoted him to be a full-time labor organizer in 1905. He worked and petitioned for the formation of unions to ensure good working conditions and fair wages for his fellow docks men.
As time passed, James Larkin began to use extreme methods in organizing strikes and he was soon labeled a militant by even members of the NUDL. Due to his notoriety, Larkin was transferred to Dublin in 1907. Here, he founded the "Irish Transport and the General Work Union."
Larkin was determined to group skilled and unskilled workers together in one big Union. These determined goals led to the establishment of the Irish Labor Party and Larkin was the leading force behind such major strikes as the Dublin Lockout where over 100,000 workers won the right to fair employment after a lengthy 10-month strike.
World War I brought, even more, challenges to James Larkin's life. He organized anti-war meetings and even traveled to America to raise funds to oppose the British. Learn more about Jim Larkin: https://www.biography.com/people/james-larkin-215214
James Larkin was charged as a communist and of criminal anarchy and deported to Ireland. He was later pardoned. He received awards in 1924 for his devotion to the Communist Party.
As far as his personal life, James Larkin married Elizabeth Brown in 1903 and together they had four sons. He remained active even in his later years. His opposition to the 1941 Labor Act was lauded throughout Ireland.
He is remembered for his nonviolent stance and his ability to stir crowds with his words and passions. Not always known for his tact or following the rules of even his own organizations, he nevertheless holds a significant place in the labor union history of Ireland.


text:
Posted in inspiring, letting go, life, love, motivating, thought provoking
Posted in expectations, family, inspiring, laugh, laughter, lessons, letting go, life, love, relationships, relaxing, smile, thought provoking Tags: communication, confidence, friends, fun, kindness, laugh, laughter, listening, love, loving, respect, spontaneous, trust, value, vulnerable
Posted in de-stress, fun, laugh, laughter, letting go, life, love, motivating, smile, stress Tags: dancing, fun, funny, love, loving
Posted in accomplishments, achievements, action, commitment, dream, dreams, goals, inspiring, letting go, procrastination
Posted in commitment, dad, Daughter, family, Father's Day, inspiring, lessons, letting go, life, relationships, Son, thought provoking, Uncategorized
Error: Twitter did not respond. Please wait a few minutes and refresh this page.
Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.


text:
Luxury Living in Victor, CO. Buy This Home, "Rent to Own" Today with Just $18,000 Down, No Credit Checks, and Easy Qualifying.
Incredible historic cabin in Pike National Forest* One of the last remnants of the small town of Clyde, CO., a stage stop and train depot* Near CR 376, Cathedral Park, Frosty Park, Rosemont Reservoir, etcetera.* Contemporary, newly updated, and fully furnished* Open and bright with vaulted and beamed ceilings and wood flooring throughout* 4 bedrooms including a private master and a full tiled bath* Stainless Steel kitchen includes a large tiled island, refrigerator, double oven, dishwasher, microwave, built in cupboards,and plenty of storage* Family room with beautiful floor to ceiling stone fireplace and large mantle, eating area, and a big picture window* Washer and Dryer included* Great views from the south facing wood deck* Five stocked ponds with a canoe, hunting, river fishing, hiking, riding, and exploring right outside the door* Located among 3 million acres of protected forestland with privacy among the majestic pines and aspen* Low taxes and the county maintains RD right up to the driveway for year-around enjoyment* Clyde, CO., was a stage stop for travelers to Victor and Cripple Creek. There was a school house, telegraph station, restaurant, dance hall, saloon, hatchery ponds, post office, and a population of 83. The .8 acre included in the cabin has its own fence. This is an extremely rare opportunity.
- Single Family Residence - Cabin
- WiFi Available
- Fully Furnished
- Built in 1950
- Price/sqft: $208
- Term: 1 year with extensions available
- Rent Option fee: $1500 per month
- Refundable security deposit: $3000
- Pet deposit: $500, if any pets
- $18,000 Option Assignment Fee (installment payments may be made over the lease term)
- No Credit Checks
- Lock-in the purchase Option price of $318,000


text:
Submit to Southword
New Irish Voices
Poetry chapbooks by
Roisin Kelly & Paul McMahon
Liberty Walks Naked
by Maram al-Masri, trans. Theo Dorgan
Chapbooks by Fool for Poetry
Competition Winners 2018
Not in Heaven by Molly Minturn
Bog Arabic by Bernadette McCarthy
Richesses: Francophone Songwriter Poets
Edited and translated by Aidan Hayes
Munster Literature Centre
Create your badge
PAUL McMAHON
Born and reared in Belfast, Paul McMahon travelled abroad for sixteen years before returning to Ireland in 2005. In 2008 he completed the Masters Degree in Writing at NUI Galway, receiving First class honours. He has written and directed plays, including Parallels, which was performed as part of the Muscailt One Act Theatre Festival in Galway, 2008. His prose and poetry has been published in numerous journals, newspapers and online magazines. He is a member of The Atlantis Collective, the Galway based writing group whose second collection of short stories, Faceless Monsters, was launched as part of the Cúirt Literary festival. Paul is currently finishing his first book of non-fiction.
The girl with drowned sailors in her eyes
Her hair curled behind her flushed neck. It looked like a road. I stood at her right. She curled, shadowed, under my left shoulder. Behind us was a house, atop a hill, nippled against a blue sky. We were on a beach but you couldn't see the sea.
When John arrived I put the photograph into the book I was reading – not at the page where I was – and into my pocket. I had asked him to meet me; I needed him to do a painting for me. We were sitting at a table outside a café by the Garavogue River in Sligo. It was sunny. Patience, I told myself, even though I don't believe in patience.
The water ran white against the bridge. White cloud hung in the sky.
I saw her the previous night, in a dream. Her face was twisted around, looking back. As an earring, she wore a peacock feather. Her lips, at the side, were turned down. Her blue eyes were now red. Her Cinderella-feet had been stretched under her fallen breast and her Japanese bob had grown into a long plait that noosed around her neck that was the same colour of red it was flushed with, the last time I kissed it.
"Do you think it will rain?" John said, looking up at the scattered cloud in the sky.
"I hope so. It has to be painted outdoors," I told him. "And it must be done in watercolours."
When the dream ended I was at the bottom of the ocean looking up to the surface. I could see the hull of a boat the size of a trawler. A rope lowered into the water and clenched around my waist like the arm of an octopus and winched me up towards the surface. Light flickered through the water as the hull of the boat got closer.
"What colour is the eye of the peacock feather?"
"It's blue," I told him.
I looked down to the river. The rippled water smoothed for a moment reflecting the grey stone bridge.
"What if it rains?" he asked me.
"Leave it in the rain."
"With watercolours?"
"I want the rain to untie the plait, to wash her eyes, to shrink her feet."
"Let's go then." John doesn't ask too many questions and you can trust him to lie.
As we both walked off along the side of the river towards the bridge I had the loose tubes of watercolours in my hand, in the pocket of my velvet jacket. John was looking ahead. I was looking up.
In my mind I could already see the rain falling on her twisted neck pulling the black road of her hair back, the sides of her lips turning up again, her feet curving into little ears, her eyes with drowned sailors in them. Sunlight flickered through the water, rope clenched around my waist, the hull bobbing on the surface of the sea, a sweet voice in my ear's memory, playfully scolding, filtered down through the water. Through the rippled surface, overboard, looking down into the water, framed against the sky, a Japanese bob.
I first saw her in a pub. She glanced at me, blinked, and looked away. After that one glance, it was as though she had curled around, inside me, and laid her head against my chest. I felt like I had stretched to the end of my elasticity. We went for a walk along the beach. A man with sandy hair and sandy eyes who was walking his dog took the photograph.
She told me about her ex-boyfriend. They met while they were both at college in Galway. They stayed together for three years until he began having an affair.
I pitied him; I knew what he had lost—I lost her too. He couldn't lie—I thought that truth was more important. A woman doesn't trust a man that can't lie—no one can trust a man that can't lie. She was petite, jet-black hair in a Japanese bob, blue eyes. He was called Tim. She was called Dominique.
Dominique told Tim that she and I were just friends. So began a painful charade of solicitude—he knew all along. We don't hear the gun fire the bullet that hits us.
A few days over New Year she went to Rome. Everything changed. That was where the bullet found home.
After the photograph was taken on the beach I picked up a piece of bleached-white driftwood that I forgot and left in her car, that she brought into her apartment some time later, that got forgotten, remembered, then forgotten again, that will always be what it is and drift endlessly in and out of memory with the bleach-white tides.
"Do you have the paint?" John asked me, as we approached his car.
In my pocket, the tubes of watercolours felt warm.
We drove along the river, past the swans, and drove through a gridwork of country roads lined with old stone walls, towards Rosses Point.
The front of John's house overlooked the sea. He set the easel up at the back of the house at the beginning of the long mowed lawn. Off in the distance, above the trimmed back hedge, was the nose of Ben Bulben risen into the darkened sky.
I set the blood-warm tubes of paint along the bottom shelf of his easel. John picked one up, twisted its red lid and squeezed red pigment onto the palette.
"The eye of the peacock feather was blue?"
"Yeah, blue," I answered.
He squeezed blue, green, white, black, side by side, then took the brush and disregarded their singular purity.
Her face was twisted around, looking back. As an earring, she wore a peacock feather whose eye was blue. Her lips, at the side, were turned down. Her blue eyes were red. Her Cinderella-feet stretched under her fallen breast. Her Japanese bob was drawn into a long plait that noosed around her neck that was the same colour of red it was flushed with, the last time I kissed it.
And then it rained.
©2010 Paul McMahon
Author Links
McMahon poem 'Say Cheese' in alors, et toi?
More about the Atlantis Collective
Read an excerpt of McMahon's story in Town of Fiction
More about McMahon's musical compositions at MySpace


text:
The Super Secret Formula of Game Design
David Perry, one of the leader's of the Top Secret project over at Acclaim, has checked in with MMORPG.com to give an update on the latest news concerning the search for the next great MMO designer.
We have over 34,000 registered team members, most of those are waiting to play the prototypes and so we see a few thousand in the forums. I had guessed at the start that we would end up with 1% really delivering. That seems about right as around 300 or so are really putting serious effort in. Meaning we have the biggest prize in video game history (you get to direct a team and make royalties on the game), and all you have to do is beat 1% of the people that sign up!
You can read the whole interview here.


text:
- +
- Fun arrangement good for choirs as no solo part
- −
- Reviewer left no comment
Published on: 22 September 2014
All I Want For Christmas is the festive pop classic by Mariah Carey. With estimated record sales of over ten million records worldwide, the song is now considered a holiday standard.
This energetic and fun arrangement for SSA chorus with piano accompaniment by Matthew O'Donovan is the ideal piece for choirs looking to add some colour and verve to their repertoire this Christmas.