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Cometh the moment, cometh the man ? The first point that Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh made moments after he was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Manipur for the third time in a row was to better the dismal power situation in the State.

Twenty hours of power supply in a day of 24 hours, is the target that the Chief Minister had said, while interacting with media persons after the swearing in ceremony.

The developments thereafter have been interesting. For the first time, in the last ten years at least, the Chief Minister has decided to keep the key Power portfolio under him.

This sends out a signal that he is ready and willing to be at the helm of affairs and is not ready to entrust this important task to any of his Cabinet colleagues.

The pre-paid system has been introduced in Paona Keithel and Thangal Keithel and while this is no doubt an innovative step taken up by the State Government, the results have been rather mixed.

While power consumption is reported to have dropped appreciably in the two commercial areas where the pre-paid system has been implemented, other places where this system has not been implemented have had to face drastic power cuts. It is easy to understand this.

By its very definition, the pre-paid system entails the consumers having to pay for the service before it is delivered and hence have to be more judicious about the units of power they consume.

Many of the pre-paid consumers would have gone in for the high-tech CFL and LED bulbs, which emit enough light but consume very little energy and hence the drop in consumption.

So while a 40 watts tube light was necessary to decently light up a room, an 8 watt LED bulb delivers the same. Impact of technology on economising power consumption.

On the other hand, since pre-paid consumers are assured delivery for the money already paid, it means putting a strain on the areas where this system has not been implemented as the State’s share of power received from power corporations remains the same. These are some of the interesting developments that have been witnessed after the 20 hour of power supply target set by the Chief Minister.

So far, so good but can these steps be enough ? The Chief Minister obviously does not think so and hence the corporatisation process of the Power Department.

The question of whether this will yield any positive results or not still lies in the realm of speculation, but it stands true that the very idea of turning the Power Department into a Corporation is an admission that the existing system will not be able to deliver the goods.

Acknowledging this is undoubtedly a positive step, for it remains that to tackle any issue, the first point is to acknowledge that there is an issue to be tackled and the Chief Minister has demonstrated this to a certain extent. However it is also important to really understand what a corporation is all about.

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Most new property-level initiatives won’t work without buy-in from the line-level employees. The Hyatt Regency Minneapolis owners and management partners knew this going into their $25-million renovation, of which a critical component was growing the hotel’s sustainability efforts.

Staff at the Hyatt—which is renovating its 533 guestrooms, public areas and restaurants—have looked to their “Green Team” to introduce innovative ways to get all departments involved.

Josh Hooker, director of engineering at the property, leads the Green Team and said all partners involved in the renovation work are on board with the sustainability efforts.

“Our construction company is very on board, and they’re forward-thinking, our designers were forward-thinking, our brand is definitely forward-thinking,” Hooker said. “We’ve had our Green Teams in place for many, many years, and we’re working hard to keep increasing our conscious environmental actions.”

A big component of the green efforts revolves around recycling. Recycling the cardboard and packaging materials from the new furniture, fixtures and equipment was a high priority, Hooker said.

“We’ve done that from day one, which is great,” he said. “And we’re utilizing local areas. All the stone in our lobby is from Minnesota so that cut down on the carbon footprint from transportation.”

In addition to recycling, energy-saving initiatives from the renovation include replacing all the back-of-house lighting to LED; low-flow plumbing fixtures; insulated drapery; closet light sensors; vending misers in all vending machines; and new fan coil units with programmable thermostats and occupancy sensors that will set rooms back to an energy-saving temperature when rooms are vacant.

Hooker said the line-level staff at the hotel was practicing sustainable efforts long before the start of the renovations.

“We were really good at this hotel already. We have an extensive Green Team that goes through, and it’s a very active Green Team so its constant education, education, education,” he said. “We provide a bunch of information for our employees so they know, and we kind of make it fun. Everyone in the back of house was recycling already so to see the construction guys doing the same was a positive spin. The employees definitely buy into it and do a great job promoting it.”

The Green Team recently took employee buy-in to the next level, instituting what they call the Hyatt Environmental Advocacy Team Bowl—a competition among the different departments to see which can be the most green.

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A tentative agreement has been reached to keep decorative lighting on the Blatnik Bridge linking Duluth and Superior. The question now is: Will it remain the same as the existing design, or become more like the Aerial Lift Bridge “wash” lighting that illuminates the whole span?

Until that decision is made, the big news is that the Minnesota and Wisconsin departments of transportation will split the $1.2 million cost of replacing the aging decorative lights and associated wiring as part of a larger, two-year maintenance project on the bridge.

MnDOT Project Development Engineer Dan Erickson said the money will come out of the transportation programs of each state.

“We have at least a verbal agreement between the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and the Minnesota Department of Transportation to be partners with the replacement cost of the lighting, which will each fund 50 percent of the total capital replacement costs,” he said.

Minnesota generally splits costs with Wisconsin on Blatnik and Bong bridge projects, but the Blatnik’s decorative lights — separate from the traffic lights and navigational beacons — were a project initiated and paid for on the Minnesota side from the beginning back in the 1990s. They have to be taken down as part of the larger bridge overhaul that starts this week, and — in an era of tight budgets — Minnesota officials balked at having to shoulder the entire expense of replacing them. They sought a 50-50 split of costs with Wisconsin.

There had been some talk that the lights — which will go dark this month through 2013 while the larger bridge project is under way — might not return if an agreement could not be reached. But Erickson said the public response in favor of keeping the decorative lighting was overwhelming.

“It’s a part of Duluth-Superior and the area. We’ve become accustomed to the landmark structure and having it lit up in the decorative manner to kind of showcase our cities at night,” he said.

“That would not entail any salvaging of the existing system,” he said. “But as we move through the scoping of the project, we’re looking to salvage some of the light fixtures. That would reduce the costs.”

The choice between the current “outline” lighting and Aerial Lift Bridge-style “wash” lighting will be made depending on the cost and feedback from the public at an open house officials hope to hold this July.

Meanwhile, Minnesota Power is making energy efficiency recommendations that will reduce the operating costs. Right now the electrical costs are about $300 a month for the decorative lighting, with annual maintenance expenses at $10,000 to $15,000.

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Once inside, it was the abundance of doilies and tablecloths that first leapt out. No surface escaped the crusade of cloth involving at least one, but more often two, lengths of fabric strategically draped to avoid showing even a hint of leg. These tables echoed Aunt Atwell herself, modest enough to wear a slip under the thick skirt that already reached mid-calf.

And then there were the daybeds. One went unmentioned as a pachyderm in a corner of the living room, the other awaited us on the sun porch, where we were led to eat our lunch. Neither was overburdened by pillows or other needless decoration, but instead, gave the idea of being open for business, their worn comforters disheveled.

At first, I thought that the Atwells might have reached the point in their lives where the stairs leading to the second floor had become a hazard, and so, they’d each taken a bed downstairs. But they seemed quite agile, and it was then that I began to understand what had been intimated in the whisper, “wait until you see the house.”

It’s this: The Atwells are not simply true readers, or even great readers; they are readers of the first order. Every surface, shelf, and cloistered table, was covered with books, every chair cozied up to a lamp, and this is where the daybeds come in, for, they were nothing less than fainting couches for the literary. The Atwells’ daybeds exist to catch a reader as she swoons, whatever room she’s in when she does it. While the tablecloths and Aunt Atwell’s slip speak to a Puritanical propriety, the daybeds tell another story, one about succumbing to the seduction of a quiet room and an open book at a moment’s notice.

Some folks are house-proud, but readers are book-proud, and Aunt and Uncle clearly glory in the reading time provided by their retirement. We talked of Uncle Atwell’s poetry, of all the writers he knows, and their books, and adventures, and while we did, Aunt Atwell kept getting up from the table of grape juice, port, cheese, and crackers she’d set out for us to go and retrieve copies of the books we were discussing. She’d bring them out, pass them around the porch as we talked, and by the time lunch ended, there were piles of books all around us, like partygoers who’d stayed too late and were left where they lay.

My house is full of books too. I have books I got for a dime, ones I found on the street, that I’ve moved across the country — twice! — thereby increasing their value exponentially. Among them, a copy of the two-volume set of “The Glory and the Dream’’ my father insisted I read at 17 that I still have never cracked, “The Handmaid’s Tale’’ that my mother insisted I read at 11 that I’ve read too many times, and “The Light in the Attic’’ that my father gave me when I was 5, his inscription having increased in value exponentially as well, “May the light in your attic always burn brightly. Love, Pops.”

I hope to have many more lunches with the Atwells and to find myself, at retirement age, like Aunt Atwell does, unable to sit for long at parties because there are books to be taken down, caressed, and shared with my guests, to find stacks of books littering the floor at party’s end, amid the wine glasses and, perhaps, the occasional youngster too worn out by all this talk of words, waiting to be tucked in to the nearest daybed.

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The Radisson Blu Astrid Hotel and the Park Inn Antwerp are proud to announce that they received the Green Key from local environmental organisation Bond Beter Leefmilieu and the Tourist office in Flanders. The Radisson Blu Astrid hotel has received this label once before and now the Park Inn hotel, belonging to the same hotel group, also sees its efforts on ecologically responsible tourism rewarded with the Green Key. On top of that the Park Inn made an extra effort and made all its guest rooms non-smoking.

The Green Key is the international label for environmentally friendly lodging and attractions. The Radisson Blu Astrid Hotel and the Park Inn hotel in Antwerp  prove with achieving the green key that they want to go the extra mile to work in a sustainable and ecologically responsible way.

Achieving the Green Key is a great recognition of all the hard work done by the environmentally conscious employees of the hotel. “The lower energy bill is a nice consequence but the most important is that due to the Green key the guests of the Radisson Blu Astrid Hotel and the Park Inn Antwerp know that they are staying at an environmentally friendly accommodation,” said Didier Boehlen, General Manager of the Radisson Blu Astrid Hotel and the Park Inn Antwerp.

For the Radisson Blu Astrid Hotel this is the second time it has received the Green Key. “The sustainable approach gave so many advantages on all levels that it was an easy choice for the Park Inn Antwerp, the sister hotel of the Radisson Blu Astrid Hotel, to also make all the necessary adaptations to achieve the eco-label for the tourism industry,” said Boehlen.

“On top of the efforts required for the eco-label, the Park Inn hotel Antwerp  also decided to make all their offer strictly non-smoking rooms, an ecological extra that many guests appreciate. By having a sustainable business approach we save money, which we can then invest in providing the best service for our guests,” Boehlen concluded.

A few examples of the green approach by the hotel are the energy manager that measures and analyses and advises on the general energy consumption of the hotel, replacing traditional light bulbs with LED-lighting and energy saving bulbs, limiting water usage with water-efficient shower heads and taps with pressure regulators, waste separation and prevention, non-smoking rooms and parking places with charging stations for electrical cars.

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For Mario Navarrete, executive vice president of field operations for Apperisity, the tower in his parking lot is the culmination of his own love of engineering, and the desire to build a sustainable and a renewable energy solution that could be used “on demand.” Thus, Apperisity One was born and with the company’s partner, New Wind, a world-wide provider of small-wind vertical–axis wind turbines and other renewable energy products out of Nashville, Tennessee, USA. The two companies have joined forces and technologies to create a completely mobile product.

“Our team has developed the right combination and components to make the Emergency Light and Power on Demand (ELPoD), a portable alternative energy power source,” Navarrete said. “The current prototype is made from a recycled chassis. The generator is a New Wind turbine and solar panel with a current output of 450 watts per hour of energy. The lighting system is a 60 watt LED that produces more than 5,000 lumens of brilliant white light. This mobile power plant can be used by any organization that has a power-on-demand need.”

The use of diesel, gasoline, oil or antifreeze is non-existent, Navarrete said, which makes this unit environmentally safe and easy to use and maintain. “The simplicity of design makes this mobile wind and solar tower cost effective and an affordable alternative within the wind and solar power industry. Our goal is to develop and manufacture the product here in Cody, Wyoming, which will create new jobs and help to stimulate our local economy with a safe and renewable energy source that is eco-friendly and non-dependent upon fossil fuel products.”

Apperisity One is a hybrid solar and wind lighting solution that can be installed on any mobile light tower with a few simple modifications, instead of the standard inefficient and high-maintenance construction lights, Navarrete said. “The unit operates off a two-fold micro grid with a battery backup, so on those days when it is storming the wind turbine generates energy and on sunny days the solar panel kicks in to Emergency Light and Power on Demand (ELPoD) create energy. It is hooked up to a console that is programmed to turn the unit on when lighting is necessary.”

All of the sustainable energy components, he said, will be supplied through the partnership with New Wind, including the turbine, solar panel, and batteries.

“Apperisity One is an efficient and affordable solution for security lighting, highway maintenance, construction projects, emergency response needs in areas that are difficult to access, as well as fairs, festivals, and other temporary events. You just hook the unit to the back of any vehicle that is set up to tow and transport it to the required site for easy set-up and immediate use,” he said. “The unit can be erected and turned on in just a matter of minutes. It does not require a power grid for use and is extremely cost efficient to maintain. The mobile turbine is also cost efficient and affordable to use with no fuel costs or high maintenance fees to worry about. The Apperisity One is practically maintenance free.”

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Sunpower UK’s PCC Series of RoHS compliant constant current single-output power supplies are designed for indoor LED lighting applications. The Series features mains 1-100% Triac dimming, which is highly attractive to both installers and users as it eliminates the need for secondary cables and complex dimming systems.

This combination of Triac dimming and constant current output has previously been extremely hard to source – and impossible from such attractively-priced, small footprint products. Easy installation with no compatibility issues or concerns is assured as the PCC’s dimming function has been successfully tested as applicable with every known leading- and trailing-edge dimmer.

Installation effort is further reduced by snap lock cable strain relief, and by captive screws which allow easy connection. The PCC Series is electrically efficient, and offers a high power factor of 0.9 or better. Units are available with 9 W, 18 W and 36 W ratings. They accept a 220 – 240 Vac input and offer a choice of 350 mA – 1400 mA constant current outputs.

The PCC Series is short circuit protected, tolerates an overload to 135% of rated power and features thermal shutdown for over temperature conditions. The Class ll product design is referred to EN61347-1:2001 and EN61347-2-13:2001 safety standards, and complies with relevant EMC Emissions and Immunity requirements. Cooling is by free air circulation.

The benefits of the PCC Series for indoor LED lighting applications have been recently demonstrated by Xicato, an innovative luminaire manufacturer with facilities in the US, the UK and Tokyo. Xicato develops, manufactures and globally markets LED modules that are simple functional replacements for traditional lamp technologies, offering all the life and energy-saving advantages of LEDs with no aesthetic compromises.

Xicato’s product lineup includes XSM spotlight modules and XLM linear lights, and they have tested and approved a set of PCC products as suitable drivers for these. As a result, the company has developed a Driver Compatibility Matrix detailing which, and how, PCC, XSM and XLM products can be used together. This Matrix is distributed to their OEM customers world-wide.

The PCC Series range of constant current Triac dimming power supplies is ideal for indoor LED lighting applications including residential LED lighting, display cases, LED downlights, LED backlighting, mood lighting and light sculptures.

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Pragmatic progress has been made in the dispute between Proview Technology (Shenzhen) and Apple Inc. over use of the iPad trademark, according to an attorney for Proview (Shenzhen).

“We feel that the attitude of Apple Inc. has changed. Although they expressed that they were willing to negotiate, they have never taken any action before. But now, they are having conversations with us, and we have begun to consult on the case,” said Xie Xianghui in an interview with Xinhua on Sunday.

At a press conference in late April, Fu Shuangjian, deputy director general of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, said that, in accordance with the Chinese Trademark Law, Proview (Shenzhen) still reserves the right to use the iPad trademark in China.

Xie said the two sides have discussed a compensation package, and Apple Inc. has tabled an amount it thinks appropriate. But the Proview side has not agreed on a deal, and Xie would not disclose the amount of money offered by Apple Inc..

Proview, a Shenzhen-based maker of computer screens and LED lights, has been suing Apple in court over rights to use the iPad trademark commonly associated with the California-based technology giant’s popular tablet computer.

Proview claims that the Taipei subsidiary of its Hong Kong-based parent, Proview International Holdings Limited, registered the iPad trademark in a number of countries and regions as early as 2000.

Though Apple brought the rights to use the iPad trademark from Proview Taipei in 2009, Proview (Shenzhen) says it reserves the right to use the trademark it registered on the Chinese mainland in 2001. Proview (Shenzhen) claims that it is a different entity from its Taipei brother and thus is not bound by the deal between Proview Taipei and Apple.

Apple, however, insists the 2009 purchase of the iPad trademark worldwide includes the right to use it in the Chinese mainland.

Although the dispute between the two sides is fierce, Apple’s products sell like hot cakes in China. Last year, China contributed 16 percent of Apples’s revenues during its fiscal quarter ending September, growing almost three times from a year earlier.

Apple unveiled its latest iPad in the United States on March 8, but it has not started selling it on the Chinese mainland market. It remains unclear whether the trademark dispute will further postpone the sale of Apple’s latest tablet computer with the “iPad” name in China.

Some Apple fans have purchased new iPads from Hong Kong or abroad, even through smugglers.

“It’s good for both sides to reach a settlement as soon as possible,” said Xie.

The possibility that Proview will win the lawsuit is very high, but it may take years to get the compensation, said Li Xiaoning, a lawyer specializing in intellectual property rights cases.

Proview stumbled in the 2008 global financial crisis and applied for bankruptcy protection in 2009 as it owed more than 400 million U.S. dollars to eight Chinese banks, according to media reports.

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Three families in the UAE took part in home carbon audits, funded by an Emirates Foundation for Philanthropy grant, to help reduce their Ecological Footprint and tackle climate change as part of EWS-WWF’s Heroes of the UAE initiative, launched in 2009 in partnership with Environment Agency Abu Dhabi.

The main contributor to the country’s Ecological Footprint is households who contribute 57%. This sector has the potential to significantly reduce its energy and water consumption and in doing so, help in the fight against climate change.

To see just where the problem lies, EWS-WWF conducted three household audits to see how much energy and water UAE households are using and what measures can be taken to reduce their consumption.

The audits were conducted in three households in Abu Dhabi, Fujairah and Dubai. The retrofits included shifting from traditional bulbs to LED lighting, installing Eco3 devices to improve A/C efficiency, installing water saving devices and using a thermal roof coating.

Results indicate that with the technological changes alone, households have the potential to reduce electricity consumption on average by 37% and water consumption by 30%. On average each participating case study has the potential to save more than 11,000 kg of CO2 per year saving 34% of the total carbon emissions from the three households.

The financial savings from these audits is significant as all three households have the potential to reduce their bills by more than 12,000 AED per year by saving 54,000 kWh and the equivalent of about half million 1.5 litre-water bottles annually.

Households could achieve additional electricity and water savings of at least 10% through implementing simple behavioural changes, such as turning off taps and switching off lights and appliances when they are not in use.

Tamara Withers, Heroes of the UAE Programme Manager at EWS-WWF, was one of the driving forces behind these audits, “The main thing these audits bring to light is what a huge difference a few changes can make.

Technical changes in lighting, air conditioning, and water faucet devices leads to significant savings in energy and water consumption, which will not only help the environment, but help save money as well. Many of these technical changes are available and affordable such as energy efficient lighting and water saver devices. These audits also help to highlight how shifting our behaviour patterns can also make a huge impact on energy and water conservation.”

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She is homeless and sleeps on a brick ledge in Hillbrow’s Pullinger Kop Park. Her four cats depend on her as much as she depends on “nyaope”.

Nyaope, rock and Thai white are all street names for popular street drugs. But whatever they’re called, the drugs have found their way into Joburg’s homeless communities.

“Metro cops chase us away from this park with sjamboks and burn our blankets,” Dietrich says.

Winter is coming. It’s Friday night in Hillbrow. The red LED lights from the Vodacom tower tint the drops of rain spitting down on Pullinger Kop Park a hazy red.

It’s warm inside the Quantum police van with shaded windows, patrolling the area.

“I will show you Hillbrow tonight. I’ll show you a dangerous place,” laughs 46-year-old social crime prevention police officer Sergeant Nicholas Mncube. He has worked in the area for almost 20 years, helping to house children from the streets.

He now faces the social issue of more than 500 homeless heroin addicts living in Pullinger Kop Park.

“Hillbrow is a city of many cultures,” he says.

“See there, Zimbabweans on (the) street corner,” Mncube comments as he drives down Edith Cavell Street. The shebeens are lively as people spill out on to the tarmac.

Left on to Esselen Street. “Over there, Tanzanians.”

It’s almost midnight, but shops are open. You can buy a TV with a surround-sound system.

Right on to Pretoria Street. There is the smell of dagga burning, and urine, in the air. Street dwellers eye the Quantum.

“Here are the Nigerians. They own several hair salons on the street. But no haircuts happen here,” says Mncube.

A sporadic queue stretches around the block. It’s apparently leading to a drug den.

A man stands on the corner of the street, in the shadows beyond the reach of the street light. He is wearing a black pinstriped suit and white shoes.

“He is a scout,” Mncube says. The man on the street corner gives a warning whistling, and the queue disappears into the darkness. The Quantum screeches to a halt outside Pullinger Kop Park.

“Welcome to a bad place,” says Mncube, swinging the doors open. He lights a cigarette. “I have been here for 19 years. I’m not scared,” he says, comfortable in his jeans and hoodie.

There is an empty basketball court overlooking highways lit up by cars – one of the best views of Joburg.

Someone throws a bundle of tissues from a flat window, and it is quickly salvaged by a man. A deal has been done.

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