The State of New York is the latest of a number of states that have moved beyond Federal requirements for energy efficiency by establishing standards for a variety of everyday items.
The nation’s largest seller of everything from groceries to toys wants to go into banking. Wal-Mart has applied to open a bank in Utah. State regulators say it will take about four months for them to review the application. Continue reading
On June 27, the Supreme Court ruled that cable companies have the sole authority to decide who may use their high-speed communications networks. They can decide what information to transmit, and what information they will refuse to transmit.
The decision clears the way for the FCC to allow phone companies to monopolize their own information highways. And it underscores the need for communities to build their own information infrastructure.
Both cable and phone companies want to sign up as many Internet subscribers as possible because in the near future, phone, television and Internet will all be offered through the same broadband connection. Continue reading
The New Economics Foundation’s Alternative Mansion House Speech, given by Stacy Mitchell in May 2005.
Independent remodeling businesses are being increasingly squeezed by Home Depot and Lowe’s. Having captured nearly half of all hardware and building supply sales nationally, the two chains are now expanding aggressively into installation services. Continue reading
Legislation in Texas has doubled the state’s commitment to renewable energy development and a report on California’s efforts indicates progress on meet its 20 percent renewable portfolio standard (RPS) years earlier than required.
Global retailing giants — including the British chain Tesco, France’s Carrefour, and Walmart — have also been lobbying for an end to rules that bar foreign direct investment in India’s retail sector. Continue reading
MINNEAPOLIS (July 20, 2005)—While the features incorporated into Wal-Mart’s new "green" store in McKinney, Texas, create very modest improvements in energy consumption and stormwater runoff, they do not change Wal-Mart’s basic business model, which is extremely polluting. Continue reading
The U.S. House and Senate have passed different versions of a national energy bill. A Conference Committee is trying to work out an agreement on a final bill. We took a look at the votes on various provisions in the bills and created some charts showing the differences based on political party affiliation.
We’re more interested on what’s going on at the state and local levels but from time to time it is instructive to look at what’s coming down from the top in terms of energy policy.
Over three years, Klickitat County in southern Washington, studied the potential impacts of future energy projects within its borders and came up with a plan to direct those projects to the most appropriate areas. The county’s new "Energy Overlay Zone" is a zoning tool aimed at expediting renewable energy development. The Energy Overlay Zone covers more than 1,000 square miles, two-thirds of Klickitat County.
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