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PV Systems to be a Standard Feature on Hundreds of Victoria Homes

Victoria Homes, a Southern California homebuilder, will be including PowerLight’s SunTile? solar electric systems, paired with ConSol’s energy efficiency solutions, as standard features on hundreds of new homes being constructed by Victoria in Southern California. Through a combination of today’s energy-efficient design features with on-site solar power, these homes are designed to produce more than half of the electricity that they use. As a result, buyers of these homes built by Victoria Homes will see annual utility savings of up to 70%. “Victoria Homes is pleased to partner with PowerLight and ConSol to incorporate solar power and state-of-the-art energy design techniques as key features in our beautiful new communities in Victorville and surrounding areas,” said Paul R. Osborne, Founder and President of Victoria Homes. “These state of the art homes are specifically designed to help our homeowners save energy and make energy. Given today’s rising energy costs and our nation’s quest for energy independence, we feel this is an essential next step to take for our growing communities.” “We’re excited to be making Victoria Homes even more attractive to prospective buyers by incorporating solar power, green design and other energy efficiency technologies,” added Osborne. “It is not only the right […]

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League of Conservation Voters Issues 2005 Scorecard

Following a session of Congress in which many of our core environmental laws were under attack, and against the backdrop of America’s worst natural disaster and record high energy prices, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) has released its 2005 National Environmental Scorecard. The document follows a Congressional session marked by the passage of an energy bill – the most anti-environmental bill signed into law in recent memory – that fails to protect consumers in any way from rising energy prices. In contrast, 2005 also saw the defeat of multiple attempts to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. “In a year when elected officials in Washington were given numerous opportunities to cast votes on issues vital to our energy future as well as clean air, clean water and key conservation initiatives, the 2005 National Environmental Scorecard offers a clear-eyed look at just where our members of Congress stand,” said LCV Legislative Director Tiernan Sittenfeld. “LCV intends to take this document back to individual Congressional districts to let the American public know exactly how their elected officials voted on key issues affecting the environment as well as their health, pocketbooks, and quality of life.” In the coming weeks, […]

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FuelCell Energy Achieves Record Efficiency for Key Product

FuelCell Energy, Inc. (NasdaqNM:FCEL), a leading manufacturer of fuel cell power plants for commercial and industrial customers, announced a key product achieved record performance – its Direct FuelCell/Turbine (DFC/T) established a mark of 56% efficiency in the sub-megawatt (sub-MW) class for 800 continuous hours during initial testing. This significantly exceeds the electrical efficiency of other distributed generation technologies of similar size. For example, gas engines have an electrical efficiency of 30 to 42 percent, low temperature fuel cells have an electrical efficiency of 30 to 35 percent and microturbines have an electrical efficiency of 25 to 30 percent. “The DFC/T power plant’s 56 percent electrical efficiency is unmatched anywhere in the industry for distributed generation products in its size range and has the potential for customers to substantially reduce their energy costs,” said R. Daniel Brdar, President and CEO of FuelCell Energy. “This sub-MW combined cycle system will be an ideal ultra-clean, reliable base load product for smaller commercial and industrial customers with a demand for electric power only and will complement our DFC power plants that are designed for combined heat and power applications.” FuelCell Energy has been developing the DFC/T product following an initial Vision 21 Program contract […]

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Interface Reports a Profit

Interface, Inc. (Nasdaq: IFSIA), a worldwide floorcoverings and fabrics company, announced profitable results for Q4 and 2005. Sales in the 2005 fourth quarter rose 12.0% to $260.6 million from $232.6 million in the year ago period. Operating income in the 2005 fourth quarter was $23.1 million, compared with operating income of $15.3 million in the fourth quarter 2004, an increase of 51.0%. As a percentage of sales, operating income improved to 8.9% in the fourth quarter of 2005 versus 6.6% in the fourth quarter of last year. “The year 2005 was very gratifying, as we built upon the momentum generated during our turnaround in 2004,” said Daniel Hendrix, CEO. “We continued to expand our leadership position in the worldwide modular market, outpacing the growth in the overall industry. While we garnered the benefit of some resurgence in our core corporate office market, we also took steps to significantly diversify our revenue base through our segmentation strategy. This was true not only in modular but also in our fabrics and broadloom businesses, each of which delivered solid improvements in both sales and profitability during the year. Importantly, we also were able to largely offset rising raw material costs through enhanced manufacturing […]

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