Source Yahho! Finance

Event Sponsor Also Releases Study Citing Energy Reducing Solutions for California Builders

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., In a keynote address given last night, the former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, called for the U.S. to decrease its dependence on foreign energy and to pursue the development of new technologies to curb the country's appetite for foreign energy.

Gingrich spoke at The Beverly Hills Hotel to a gathering of approximately 200 California civic, business and political leaders as well as celebrities at an industry event hosted by Rinnai Corporation, the leader in tankless water heating technology.

Source
McGraw-Hill Construction

By Charlie Popeck

Many of the points available within the LEED Green Building Rating System are contractor driven, but none is more important to the overall health of the building occupants as the "Construction IAQ Management Plan". .
The intent of the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Plan is to prevent indoor air quality problems resulting from the construction / renovation process in order to help sustain the comfort and well-being of construction workers during the construction process, and also to protect the building's occupants after construction is complete and people move into the building.

Source U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Washington, D.C.- October 26, 2005 - EPA today recognized 18
organizations for achieving significant energy savings and leading their
fields in responding to the agency's Energy Star Building Challenge.

Those honored for achieving at least 10 percent energy savings included
school districts, a hospital and supermarket, hotel, banking and
commercial real estate companies. They were recognized by EPA
Administrator Stephen L. Johnson who also re-issued the challenge,
emphasizing improved energy efficiency as a solution to rising energy

Ten U.S. companies and institutions will be recognized for exemplary "combined heat and power" (CHP) projects by EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Wednesday, Oct. 26. The organizations will be recognized in New York City at the 6th Annual
National CHP Roadmap Workshop, an event sponsored by DOE and the CHP
industry.

Of the 13 recognized projects, each meet EPA criteria for efficiency and
fuel savings and make outstanding contributions to reducing greenhouse
gas emissions from energy generation. CHP is an efficient, clean, and
reliable approach to generating power and thermal energy from a single

Source U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

(Washington, D.C.-Oct. 24, 2005) EPA's Green Power Partnership has grown
to 600 partner organizations purchasing more than 3 billion kilowatt
hours (KWh) of green power annually, enough to power 300,000 American
homes each year. This voluntary program includes Fortune 500 companies,
universities, and local, state, and federal agencies.

"President Bush has asked the nation to diversify our energy supply by
promoting alternative and renewable energy sources, and once again,
EPA's partners are leading the effort," said EPA Administrator Stephen

Contact: John Millett, 202-564-4355 / millett.john@epa.gov

(Washington, D.C.-Oct. 20, 2005) In the face of higher energy bills this
winter, EPA encourages everyone to take action in their home to be more
energy efficient. EPA recommends five places to look and practical
advice for home energy savings: sealing and insulating; heating
efficiently; changing lights; powering down home electronics; and
looking for the Energy Star on new products.

"With cold weather around the corner and President Bush's call to
conserve, small actions -- like changing a lightbulb or
weather-stripping the windows -- can benefit our wallets and our

Source Newhouse News Service

BY CHUCK McCUTCHEON

WASHINGTON -- If the government is serious about energy conservation, it needs to put its money where its mouth is in talking it up to the public.

That's the view of some activists and lawmakers, who urge President Bush and Congress to launch the comprehensive $90 million public information campaign authorized in the massive energy bill signed into law last summer. Such an effort "is probably the most important step that can be taken to address tight energy markets and the high prices they are causing," the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a non-profit advocacy group, said last month in addressing Hurricane Katrina's aftermath.

Source boston.com

By Jeremy Rifkin
PANIC HAS set in. With the price of oil hovering at more than $60 a barrel on world markets and forecasters predicting that we will soon see oil selling for $100 a barrel or more as worldwide oil reserves dwindle, politicians and business leaders are running scared. The global economy is beginning to slow, and there is talk about a new and sustained long-term global recession -- some economists are even talking about a global depression -- that could last for decades.

We are quickly waking up to the fact that the whole world runs by oil. We are an oil civilization. We grow our food with the help of petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides. Our plastics, pharmaceutical products, and clothes are for the most part derived from oil. Our transport, power, heat, electricity, and light are all dependent on oil.

Source FutureStone, Ltd

FORT WORTH, Texas. Nationwide, home owners brace for higher utility bills as energy companies predict an increase of up to 50 percent or more for natural gas this winter and up to 24 percent or more for electricity. Despite the spike in utility costs, some Texas residents are finding themselves with extra cash on hand thanks to dramatically reduced electricity bills.
Their secret? They own homes built with insulted concrete forms (ICFs), a
building technology that is sweeping both the home and commercial construction

Source BUSINESS WIRE

PHOENIX. According to a new study by PinnacleOne, one of the nation's leading construction consulting firms, a majority (60%) of public owners in the United States have implemented construction projects with energy efficiency designs in the past year. Yet, less than a third (29%) of the owners currently use or plan to use LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building standards in the coming year. Surprisingly, almost half (49%) of the study participants were unfamiliar with the standards.