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HR 1722 was signed into law by President Obama Thursday afternoon. Also known as the Telework Enhancement Act, the bill aims to increase the work-at-home opportunities for federal employees. The bill instructs federal agencies to come up with better defined policies to promote telework. Some of its key features are that it requires each agency head to: * Establish a policy under which eligible agency employees may be authorized to telework * Determine employee eligibility to participate in telework * Notify all employees of their eligibility to telework

A new process that simultaneously combines the light and heat of solar radiation to generate electricity could offer more than double the efficiency of existing solar cell technology, say the Stanford engineers who discovered it and proved that it works. The process, called "photon enhanced thermionic emission," or PETE, could reduce the costs of solar energy production enough for it to compete with oil as an energy source. Stanford engineers have figured out how to simultaneously use the light and heat of the sun to generate electricity in a way that could make solar power production more than twice as...

New York City's public offices have 8,000 vacant desks, roughly 11% of the workstations in the city government's 19 million square feet of office space. The city has nine separate agencies to handle vehicle maintenance, operating 125 separate maintenance garages, some across the street from each other. Each city agency has its own HR department, with an overall ratio of HR workers to employees 2.5 times higher than is typical in the private sector. Police officers still report their hours worked on an error-prone, paper-based system that involves pairs of officers driving boxes full of paperwork between precincts and One...

Criticism by Ari Bussel No one likes to be criticized. When the critique is constructive and aimed at improving, a person must separate one’s emotions from the practicality and wisdom of the criticism and view it with a sense of detachment. Critique can be used as a tool for improvement, yet most government employees will do everything possible to quash it when aimed in their direction. In a recent meeting with a government representative, I pointed out there are complaints that telephone calls and e-mails sent to his office remain unanswered. “Impossible,” was the adamant reply, “It is against regulations.”...

Transonic Combustion, a startup based in Camarillo, CA, has developed a fuel-injection system it says can improve the efficiency of gasoline engines by more than 50 percent. A test vehicle equipped with the technology gets 64 miles per gallon in highway driving, which is far better than more costly gas-electric hybrids, such as the Prius, which gets 48 miles per gallon on the highway.

After several exchanges in which we explained to the IRS why we didn't owe over $2,000 of our tax bill, the IRS now says we still owe 10 cents. They mailed the notice to us.

The Obama administration will announce today funding for nine projects designed to significantly increase fuel efficiency in heavy trucks and passenger vehicles, with more than half the money coming from the $787 billion stimulus package. Energy Secretary Stephen Chu will detail the projects during a ceremony in Columbus, Ind., home of Cummins Inc., which is to receive nearly $40 million to develop a more efficient and cleaner diesel engine, a more aerodynamic long-haul truck cab and trailer, and a fuel cell that would deliver auxiliary power to reduce engine idling while the vehicle was not on the road. The White...

Here's a seemingly simple solar power fact*: the sun bathes Earth with enough energy in one hour (4.3 x 1020 joules) to more than fill all of humanity's present energy use in a year (4.1 x 1020 joules). So how to convert it? In the world of solar energy harvesting, there's a constant battle between cost and efficiency. On the one hand, complex and expensive triple-junction photovoltaic cells can turn more than 40 percent of the (specially concentrated) sunlight that falls on them into electricity. On the other, cheap, plastic solar cells under development convert less than 5 percent. In...

As Scoring Soars, One Professor Sees Parallels in Nature; the 'River Basin' Theory When the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans open the NFL season Thursday night, they will headline a brand of football that is nearly unrecognizable from the days when Jack Lambert and Mean Joe Greene were pulverizing ball carriers at the line of scrimmage. Today's NFL offenses spread out across the field, stretching defenses and creating wider holes of flow and penetration. In this game, balletic receivers like Pittsburgh's Santonio Holmes are the NFL's defining talents. The NFL has become so fast and efficient that last season, teams...

ARLINGTON, Va. —The Truck Writers of North America (TWNA) announced Detroit Diesel Corporation’s DD15 engine turbo compounding as the winner of its Technical Achievement Award for 2008 during TMC’s 2009 Annual Meeting in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 9-12.

President Obama announced on May 19, 2009, a “historic agreement to help America break its addiction to oil.” The centerpiece of that announcement was a new 35.5-mpg CAFE standard for 2016. Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) has been advocating the entry of fuel-efficient cars into the market for years. The time is now ripe, and we are in the midst of a major national push for the adoption of these cars. One of the barriers to widespread adoption is the common-yet-misleading line of logic that most consumers follow—that fuel efficiency equates to smaller, less safe cars. This misperception is fed by...

Does Instant Information Promote Market Efficiency? April-26-2009 I have been reading the updated sixth edition of Security Analysis from cover to cover and on more than one occasion, I have stopped to consider the major advantages modern day investors have compared to Graham and Dodd. Investors today have access to a wealth of information that Benjamin Graham lacked during his career. However, more widespread information also would theoretically lead to more market efficiency and reduce opportunities to find mispriced securities. Is it true that the market is more efficient due to the widespread dissemination of information made possible by the...

In a market economy, business deaths are like death itself - an unfortunate but inevitable fact of life. However, recent government bailouts have tried to stop the inevitable by intervening in the market, at least temporarily saving failed firms from the economic grim reaper. Before putting the next failed business on life support, it's worth remembering why it makes sense to let struggling producers expire. • When failing businesses are allowed to fail, resources are released from employments where they don't add value and made available for employments where they do. Resources used for one purpose can't be used for...

Well, GM and Chrysler are going to need some more bailout money before Obama is done with them. Isn't it neat how this works? Obama allows the Commie Nanny-staters in California to set the strictest emissions and highest fuel-efficiency standards, with which automakers will have to comply if they want to sell cars. That means a costly retooling of the manufacturing plants, a whole lot more money built into the price of the cars, and a commensurate drop in the demand for the higher priced cars. This, in turn, will lead to more bailout requests, which will eventually be refused...

BAGHDAD — The citizens of Baghdad are on a new type of mission these days. Instead of worrying about the violence that once plagued their city, citizens are now focused on making their home town a cleaner place to live. With a central focus on water, sewage and trash removal, workers assigned to neighborhoods are hard at work trying to ensure that their fellow Baghdad citizens are afforded clean streets and clean water. For a senior leader in the 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, making sure the neighborhood workers have what they need...

The study sought to shed light on the neurological underpinnings of moral decision-making, said Ming Hsu, a fellow at the U. of I.'s Beckman Institute and co-principal investigator. (Credit: Photo by L. Brian Stauffer) ScienceDaily (May 10, 2008) — Which is better, giving more food to a few hungry people or letting some food go to waste so that everyone gets a share" A study appearing in Science finds that most people choose the latter, and that the brain responds in unique ways to inefficiency and inequity. The study, by researchers at the University of Illinois and the California Institute...

Innovations will be essential to increasing the energy efficiency of buildings and transportation to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, DuPont Greater China President Doug Muzyka told participants at the Bali Global Business Day at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. "In the growing world economy, energy demand remains high and will continue to increase, particularly in countries with rapidly developing economies. At the same time, as a global community, we know that critical environmental challenges such as climate change must be addressed," Muzyka said. "DuPont is focused on delivering low-carbon solutions to the marketplace in order to help...

Blissfield, Michigan - Michigan’s first platinum-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) award has been given to “Burnside’s Inn,” a home designed by Riverbend Timber Framing, Blissfield, and built by Robert Burnside’s Fireside Home Construction, Dexter. The LEED Green Building Rating System™, the nationally accepted benchmark for high-performance green buildings, bases its certifications on sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. The platinum award is its highest level of recognition. “Burnside’s Inn” met the certification’s highest standards using Riverbend’s custom timber frame, along with Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) and an Advantage™ Insulated Concrete...

Answering your emails only once a day and keeping phone calls to a bare minimum can slash your working week to only four hours, according to a book that has caught the imagination of overworked America. The claim is made by Timothy Ferriss, a 30-year-old American who sells dietary supplements. In his book, The 4-hour Workweek, he prescribes a ruthless "low-information diet" founded on such tenets as conducting business by the old-fashioned medium of the telephone and ending multi-tasking. He outlines his strategy under the acronym DEAL. The first stage is definition of the new rules of work. Then comes...

"Check it out. It's actually a jet engine," says Johnathan Goodwin, with a low whistle. [Snip] Goodwin leads me over to a red 2005 H3 Hummer that's up on jacks, its mechanicals removed. He aims to use the turbine to turn the Hummer into a tricked-out electric hybrid. Like most hybrids, it'll have two engines, including an electric motor. But in this case, the second will be the turbine, Goodwin's secret ingredient. Whenever the truck's juice runs low, the turbine will roar into action for a few seconds, powering a generator with such gusto that it'll recharge a set of...