Mobile
News
Thursday, October 29, 2009
News N.C. to get stimulus funds for smart grid
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 10:45 AM
Unfortunately, the big news probably won't affect Charlotte since Duke Energy didn't get the funds, Progress Energy did.
Kind of a slap for a city trying to re-package itself as the green energy center of the universe. Though, if you'll recall, stimulus funding can only go to shovel-ready projects. So, um, Duke? What ya doin' smart grid wise in the Q.C.? Anything?
President Barack Obama wants to speed the arrival of a "smart grid" to replace the nation's aging electrical distribution network. To make it happen, he doled out $3.4 billion in federal grants this week, including $200 million to Progress Energy.The North Carolina-based company will split the grant 50-50 with its affiliate business in Florida, Progress Energy Florida of St. Petersburg.
"This is quite significant money," said Rob Caldwell, who holds the daunting title of "vice president of efficiency and innovative technology" at Progress Energy. "A grant of $200 million to Progress Energy and $3.4 billion to the industry is huge."
Progress Energy has already earmarked $320 million of its own resources to smart grid development, so another $200 million from the feds increases the company's commitment by more than 60 percent.
So, no pressure, Rob, but when are you going to fix everything in Electricity Land? Those who recall the country's extensive Northeast blackout of 2003 and California's electricity shortages in 2001 — clear signs of our doddering electrical grid — are all ears.
Here's the Environmental Protection Agency's press release:
U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson visited Raleigh today to announce a $200 million grant for a smarter, stronger and more efficient electric system in North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. The funding, announced at a press conference with Lieutenant Governor Walter Dalton and Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker, is part of President Barack Obama’s announcement yesterday of the largest single energy grid modernization investment in U.S. history - $3.4 billion in Smart Grid Investment Grant Awards under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that will be matched by industry for a total investment worth more than $8 billion.“A cornerstone of our new foundation for prosperity is the growth of the American clean energy economy,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “Investments in innovative Smart Grid technology will create new jobs, lower energy bills for consumers and businesses, promote more efficient and reliable energy delivery, and set the stage for affordable clean energy across the country.”
An analysis by the Electric Power Research Institute estimates that the implementation of smart grid technologies could reduce electricity use by more than 4 percent by 2030. That would mean a savings of $20.4 billion for businesses and consumers around the country, and $500 million for North Carolina alone – or $51 in utility savings for every man, woman and child in North Carolina.
“These funds will help us modernize North Carolina’s energy grid – empowering consumers to cut their electric bills and paving the way for a greener, more efficient energy system,” said North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue.
The $200 million grant, which Progress Energy will match with $300 million of its own funding, will fund system and equipment upgrades that will make their grid more efficient, saving consumers money in the Carolinas and in Florida. Progress Energy will also use its funding to install 160,000 smart meters and other technology that will cut energy costs for its customers.
“Progress Energy is currently investing in several Smart Grid initiatives to meet our customer’s changing electricity needs throughout the communities that rely on us for reliable power,” said Bill Johnson, Progress Energy chairman, president and CEO. “This grant program has the potential to expand investments necessary to transform the electric grid to give customers greater control of their energy use, enable utilities to harness the potential of renewable energy and electric vehicles and improve power quality and service reliability.”
North Carolina companies, serving five states, will receive $403 million total in recovery act funding for smart grid development, which will be matched by nearly $975 million in private funds for a total investment of $1.3 billion. Duke Energy will receive a similar $200 million grant.
More information on EPA and the recovery act: http://www.epa.gov/recovery/
Arts / Today's Top Five / News Today's Top 5: Thursday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 8:00 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Oct. 29, 2009 — as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
• Steve Morse Band at Neighborhood Theatre
• The Woman In Black at Theatre Charlotte
• Habitual Ritual Presents Haloweelarious III at Cabo Fish Taco
• Halloween drive-in movie screening of Friday the 13th at Winthrop University
• Discussion and signing of Miracle on the Hudson at Joseph-Beth Booksellers
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
News / Biz Guru? Screw you
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 4:23 PM
The best way to learn about social media is to dive in. It's not brain surgery. For most people and small businesses, lessons aren't required.
With social media becoming as buzz-worthy as “green,” consultants and self-professed experts are popping up all over Charlotte to help clients demystify Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools.Corey Creed, president of Hippo Internet Marketing Training, is an active member of Charlotte’s social media scene. He estimates that of all the people offering social media consulting services, about two-thirds are legitimate.
“Just being good at using social media is different than teaching a business how to use it,” Creed said. “You don’t hire someone that just uses it.”
Jim Mitchem of Smash Communications agreed, saying a real “expert” is rare.
“I often say that if you can articulate the commercial applicability of social media to people who want to invest marketing money into the medium, then you’re an expert,” Mitchem said. “I’ve seen few people who can do this.”
Creed, on the other hand, said a consultant doesn’t need extensive training to advise very small businesses. He believes a few weekend seminars — a service he himself provides — and heavy experimentation can teach them what they need to know.
“There’s a deeper level for big business, but for a chiropractor in Rock Hill or a dentist in Concord, it’s not that hard,” Creed said. “I think people spend too much time reading about this stuff and not enough time doing it.”
Read the rest of this The Mecklenburg Times post here.
News You voted yet?
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 4:00 PM
If you haven't voted yet, you better get your ass in gear because time's running out.
Nov. 3 is your last chance, but you could avoid the lines by voting today.
Pick a location and get there between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. If your experience is anything like mine was earlier this week, you'll be in and out of the voting booth in five minutes or less.
Vote early at one of these locations:
Board of Elections 741 Kenilworth Ave. - Charlotte
Beatties Ford Library 2412 Beatties Ford Rd. - Charlotte
CPCC 1325 E. 7th Street - Charlotte
Independence Regional Library 6015 Conference Dr. - Charlotte
Main Branch Library 310 N. Tryon St. - Charlotte
Morrison Regional Library 7015 Morrison Blvd. - Charlotte
North County Regional Library 16500 Holly Crest Ln. - Huntersville
Plaza-Midwood Library 1623 Central Ave. - Charlotte
South County Regional Library 5801 Rea Rd. - Charlotte
Steele Creek Library 13620 Steele Creek Road - Charlotte
University City Regional Library 301 E. W.T. Harris Blvd. - Charlotte
West Boulevard Library 2157 West Blvd. - Charlotte
Boomer with Attitude / sports / News Yanks in Series: Order is restored
Posted By John Grooms on Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 3:57 PM
I don’t care what anyone says, it’s a great day. Yes, the economy is still in pitiful shape with some economists now predicting even worse times ahead; Obama is getting us sucked deeper into the Afghan quicksand; and Sen. Droopy Dog (I-CN) is threatening to torpedo health care reform. Today, at least, none of that matters as much as the fact that my beloved New York Yankees are back in the World Series.
When the Series starts tonight in New York, it will be the 40th times the Yankees have played for the baseball championship (second place goes to the St. Louis Cardinals with 17). The bad things about being a lifelong Yankees fan are 1. When the Yanks don’t make the World Series, it’s a big letdown, no matter how good the regular season was, which, when you think about it, is kinda stupid; and 2. You take crap from other teams’ fans all the time. Believe me, though, the latter is a small price to pay when your team is about to vie for its 27th title. Plus, face it, anti-Yankees criticism usually stems from jealousy. Say what you will, and this may P.O. other teams’ fans, but . . . you know that “other” team you root for? They wish they were the Yankees. I’m not saying New York will win the Series – both teams (oh yeah, the other one’s the Philadelphia Phillies) are great, and anything can happen. But millions of us, members of YankeesNation all, are breathing a big sigh of relief today because, after 9 years wandering in the desert, the Yankees are back where they’re meant to be. As the New York Times headline put it, Order is Restored.
Boomer with Attitude / News Lassiter launches the 'T Bomb'
Posted By John Grooms on Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 3:56 PM
Yesterday, GOP mayoral candidate John Lassiter called for rolling back all or part of 2006’s 9-percent property tax increase. It was a simple comment and wasn’t expressed with any more urgency than usual, but it was the equivalent of a bomb being thrown into the room. If Lassiter wins the mayoral race, his position on rolling back property taxes could be what provides him with his margin of victory.
Never mind the reasons for the 2006 increase (hiring cops and building streets), and never mind whether the increase did or didn’t do what it was supposed to. In a close race, when one candidate repeatedly calls for lowering taxes, particularly if it’s a tax his opponent voted for, you can pretty much guarantee that enough of Pavlov’s dogs will salivate, er, I mean enough addled citizens will react to the T-Bomb to get the lower-taxes candidate elected. Lassiter has brought up the 2006 increase before, but it’s been a lowkey part of his campaign. The key now is whether he continues to talk of rolling back property taxes — tonight’s debate at Spirit Square, broadcast on NBC6 at 7:30 p.m. will give Lassiter a chance to hammer the issue, if he sees it’s doing his campaign some good. It’s a close race, probably closer than Lassiter expected. It will be interesting to see whether or not he’ll resort to tax demagoguery, which has often been the favored tactic of Republicans who sense election trouble.
Arts / News Howl-O-Ween Bash at Halo
Posted By Anita Overcash on Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 3:07 PM
Can't wait for Halloween? No fear...you can get the party started tonight at the Howl-O-Ween Bash at Halo. The event will feature appetizers, drink specials, and giveaways. Don't forget to wear a Halloween costume too!
It's for a good cause, as proceeds from the event go to help The Humane Society of Charlotte. But, don't go getting the wrong idea. Unfortunately, pets aren't allowed, so leave the four-legged friends at home. See flyer below for more details.
Film / Film Reviews / News Halloween DVD Pick: The William Castle Film Collection
The Tingler, 13 Ghosts, Homicidal, Strait-Jacket, more
Posted By Matt Brunson on Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 11:15 AM
Perhaps Castle's most outrageous film, The Tingler (1959) also stands as one of his best. Vincent Price stars as a scientist who discovers that fear manifests itself as a physical creature that attaches itself to the frightened person's spinal cord, and that the only way to get rid of it is through screaming. Credit this picture for originality, but also give it props for smartly playing around with the conventions of cinema itself, as witnessed via one segment in which the blood in this otherwise black-and-white feature is presented in color, or in the climactic sequence in which "The Tingler" terrorizes a packed movie theater.
13 Ghosts (1960) is slender but fun, as mild-mannered museum guide Cyrus Zorba (Donald Woods), wife Hilda (Rosemary DeCamp), teenage daughter Medea (Jo Morrow) and young Buck (Charles Herbert) inherit a strange mansion bequeathed to them by Cyrus' late uncle, Plato Zorba (are these great character names or what?). It turns out that not only is the house haunted, it also contains a large fortune stashed away by the deceased, demented relative. Margaret Hamilton, The Wizard of Oz's Wicked Witch of the West, appears as the estate's mysterious housekeeper; this is also the rare film to prominently feature a Ouija board.
Castle clearly was influenced by (and often mimicked) Alfred Hitchcock, and Homicidal (1961) is such a blatant rip-off of 1960's Psycho that a lawsuit probably wouldn't have been without merit. Yet while traveling along similar lines, Castle and scripter Robb White manage to include enough originality that the shock ending still has the power to catch many viewers off guard. Unlike Psycho, this film's central blonde (played by Joan Marshall) is villain rather than victim, yet there's still a squeaky-clean heroine, her dullard boyfriend, a crotchety old woman in a wheelchair, and a soft-spoken young man. To reveal more would be criminal.
The period tale Mr. Sardonicus (1961) relates how an Eastern European peasant (Guy Rolfe) is forced to dig up his late father's grave in order to retrieve a winning lottery ticket. The gruesome endeavor leads to fortune but also brings on a curse that leaves the man's face frozen in a permanent, grotesque grin. Now a baron, Sardonicus summons his wife's (Audrey Dalton) former lover, a renowned London doctor (Ronald Lewis), to cure him of his affliction ... or else. This handsome but occasionally meandering drama admittedly makes creative use of several nasty leeches.
Castle begins a drastic freefall with Zotz! (1962), a supernatural comedy in which a college professor (Tom Poston) discovers that an ancient coin in his possession gives him various powers (none too exciting). There's an uproarious scene involving an attempt by a rival instructor (a pre-Gilligan's Island Jim Backus, easily stealing the show) to deliver a speech, but other comic situations are frightfully anemic.
13 Frightened Girls (1963) actually reveals 14 girls in some group shots and 15 in others, but such sloppiness quickly becomes the norm in this daft espionage yarn that emerges as the worst film in the collection. A couple of decent actors (All About Eve's Hugh Marlowe and Jaws' Murray Hamilton) find themselves surrounded by rank amateurs in this story of a diplomat's perky teenage daughter (the dreadful Kathy Dunn) who uses her position of privilege to steal Cold War secrets in order to aid the U.S. This was originally set to be called The Candy Web (the heroine's name is Candy, you see), but it's a turkey under any moniker.
The Old Dark House (1963) was Castle's ill-fated attempt to remake the 1932 classic of the same name. Instead of the original's Boris Karloff and Charles Laughton, we now get Zotz!'s Tom Poston, hardly a fair trade-off. Poston plays an American car salesman who journeys to a remote English estate to meet its eccentric inhabitants. Upon arrival, he learns that a family fortune is at stake, and, not coincidentally, the members of the household start dropping like flies. As the most pompous of the clan, Robert Morley provides the only spice in this clumsy comedy-thriller.
Strait-Jacket (1964) finds Castle regaining much of his former luster by helming this hit about a woman (Joan Crawford) who hacks up her husband (yes, that's an unbilled Lee Majors) and his girlfriend with an axe in front of her young child. Twenty years later, Mom is released from the insane asylum and goes to live with her now-grown daughter (Diane Baker), but has she really been cured of her violent impulses? The twist ending is one of the most obvious ever put on film (the script is by Robert Bloch, who wrote the novel on which Psycho was based), but Crawford's campy histrionics and some neat stylistic flourishes make this worthy entertainment.
Ever the consummate showman, Castle was known as much for his promotional gimmicks as for the movies themselves. For The Tingler, he had select theater seats wired to provide viewers with an electric jolt at crucial moments in the film, while the viewing of 13 Ghosts required special glasses for a process he termed "Illusion-O." These innovations and others are discussed in the documentary that's included in the set (Spine Tingler!: The William Castle Story) as well as in various retrospective featurettes. Other DVD extras include two episodes from the short-lived TV series Ghost Story (on which he served as executive producer); alternate sequences; and theatrical trailers.
The Tingler: ***
13 Ghosts: ***
Homicidal: ***
Mr. Sardonicus: **1/2
Zotz!: *1/2
13 Frightened Girls: *
The Old Dark House: *1/2
Strait-Jacket: **1/2
Extras: ***
Film / Film News / News Box Office Top 10
Posted By Matt Brunson on Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 11:10 AM
1. Paranormal Activity - $21.1 million ($61.5 million)
2. Saw VI - $14.1 million ($14.1 million)
3. Where the Wild Things Are - $14.0 million ($53.5 million)
4. Law Abiding Citizen - $12.4 million ($40.0 million)
5. Couples Retreat - $10.6 million ($77.7 million)
6. Astro Boy - $6.7 million ($6.7 million)
7. Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant - $6.2 million ($6.2 million)
8. The Stepfather - $6.2 million ($20.0 million)
9. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - $5.2 million ($114.8 million)
10. Zombieland - $4.2 million ($67.2 million)
(Gross for weekend of Oct. 23-25. Figure in parentheses is total gross to date. Source: www.boxofficemojo.com.)
News / Biz Duke doubling down on clean energy?
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 9:22 AM
The headline doesn't seem to make sense at first, does it? Or, perhaps you thought I meant Charlotte's energy giant, Duke Energy, is doubling down to oppose climate change legislation.
If anything, Duke's CEO, Jim Rogers, is making more headway in the clean energy industry and with climate change progress than a lot of politicians, as yesterday's Charlotte Business Journal points out.
How so? Well, for starters, he's negotiating cooperative green energy technology contracts with China and actively working to shape climate change legislation in Washington.
But, what you can't forget when reading all of these headlines is Duke is a publicly traded company. If green energy technology will add a little jingle to shareholders' pockets, green energy wins. If coal is the answer, well, the company -- and their two new coal-fired plants -- are gearing up for that potential win, too. If climate change legislation is a must, might as well be at the table instead of pouting in the corner.
It's doubtful anyone would label Jim Rogers, whose company is the third largest producer of carbon dioxide emissions in the country, as an environmentalist without laughing themselves into the loony bin. However, there's no doubt he's a great business man.
So, I say, if Rogers can significantly lower his company's Co2 emissions, create green jobs, green the energy grid and turn a profit all at the same time and without regulation -- more power to him.
All the same, most environmental groups would appreciate it if you would watch what the company does as well as what its charismatic leader says, then compare the two. According to many of them, Rogers is little more than a green washer in a suit.
From a recent 60 Minutes interview:
Rogers is the CEO of Duke Energy, the nation's third largest electric utility. His stacks pump 100 million tons of carbon dioxide every year, which makes what comes out of Rogers' mouth so surprising."Controlling carbon emissions in the near future is inevitable in your view. This is going to happen," Pelley remarked.
"It’s inevitable in my judgment," Rogers agreed.
"You're one of the biggest polluters in the world when it comes to carbon emissions," Pelley pointed out.
"We're one of the largest emitters. And it tells you how daunting the challenge is that we have in front of us," Rogers replied.
"You know, there are a lot of people many of them in your industry may who you probably know who say that global warming is not a big problem," Pelley said.
"It's my judgment it is a problem," Rogers said. "We need to go to work on it now. And it's critical that we start to act in this country."
Like a reformed tobacco executive, Rogers says we can't survive the emissions his industry creates.
Here's Mr. Rogers at a recent environmental forum:
In related news: Obama announces $3.4 billion for 'smart grid'
-
5 Reasons To Buy Home Insurance Policy
-
Question the Queen City: Hugh McManaway, the man behind the statue
It pays homage to a traffic director, friendly neighbor and one of Charlotte's most beloved local characters
-
The State of North Carolina vs. pimento cheese 2
