4A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY OF DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY OCTOBER 9 2008
ENVIRONMENT
THURSDAY,OCTOBER 9,2008
KU Energy Fair to provide conservation tips
BY SACHIKO MIYAKAWA
smiyakawa@kansan.com
Neil Steiner hopes to give a new look to energy conservation at the KU Energy Fair today.
The KU Center for Sustainability and Chevron Energy Solutions will sponsor the event from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Stauffer-Flint Hall lawn.
Jeff Severin, director of the Center for Sustainability, said the event would focus on the what the University was doing to save energy on campus. Students who have conducted research about alternative energy, energy conservation and sustainability will also talk about their projects.
Steiner, Tulsa, Okla., senior and president of Emerging Green Builders, will discuss the group's projects. One of Emerging Green Builders' projects is the rain garden that is being built north of the Student Recreation Fitness Center. Storm water will water the native flowers in the garden. Steiner said native plants would grow better in the climate and require less maintenance.
Representatives of other environmental groups, such as KU Environs and the KU Biodiesel Initiative, will also be present.
Oliver Meade, Flagstaff, Ariz. graduate student, researches biodiesel. He will answer questions at the fair. He said the biodiesel for the Biodeisel Initiative was made from food waste left over from Mrs. E's.
Craig Hansen, energy manager of the University, will show data at the fair about how much the University spends on utilities.
Hansen said the University spent about $12,248,000 for utilities such as electricity, gas and water in the last fiscal year.
"I think most people are shocked to know," Hansen said. "That's a big number."
Hansen said utility prices were increasing, and it was important for the University to save energy for environmental and financial reasons.
Hansen tracks utility data and audits campus buildings to find ways to reduce energy use. For example, he measured the brightness of light fixtures and reduced the level of brightness when necessary. He said the University raised the temperature setting inside campus buildings from 76 degrees to 78 degrees this summer. He said that was an effective way to save some energy.
He said the University contracted with Chevron Energy Solutions in 2001 to monitor energy use on campus and to work on energy reduction.
Hansen said students could also save energy. He said that lighting accounted for 30 percent of the energy used by the University and that students could help by turning off the lights when they leave a room.
"That's probably the easiest way to make an immediate impact," Hansen said.
Severin said a mock office would be set up in a tent and be used to provide energy saving tips. Energy in the tent will be provided by the KU Biodiesel Initiative's five-kilowatt generator.
Severin said he hoped students would learn some energy-saving tips at the fair.
"The fair mainly focuses on campus conservation, but it can be applied to students' daily lives," Severin said.
Edited by Becka Cremer
Ryan Waggoner/KANSAN
Alex Kreci, Olathe senior, pours biodiesel fuel from one container to another with the neep or Jing Guo, Jiazuo, China graduate student, on Wednesday morning in the KU Biodiesel Initiative's refining lab in Burt Hall. Kruit Hall and Guo were transporting the biodiesel, which is made from fryer grease from Mrs. E's, to test the emissions it would produce.
ECONOMY
Discretionary spending low as holidays approach
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Shoppers browse inside a Wal-Mart Supercenter Oct. 2 in Rosemead, Calif. As retailers reported sales figures Wednesday, it was clear that shoppers stuck to buying the essentials and took for bargains. Among the best performers were Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp.
NEW YORK - American consumers went into hiding in September, leaving retailers with dismal sales and an uncertain future well beyond the holiday season as the fallout from the financial meltdown pushes spending even lower
As retailers reported their monthly sales figures Wednesday, even discounters weren't immune to shopers' mounting worries about their financial security.
"Discretionary spending has come to a trickle," said Ken Perkins, president of research company RetailMetrics LLC. "Consumers are the most worried I have seen since at least the 1991 recession. There are so many factors laying on their psyche."
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, said sales of discretionary items were weak as it posted solid results that were nevertheless a bit below expectations. Target Corp. fared far worse, reporting a bigger-than-expected drop and said it expects problems with its credit card business to last through the rest of the year as customers have trouble making payments.
Luxury stores such as Neiman Marcus Group Inc. and Saks Inc. suffered sharp drops as well-heeled shopers held off on buying $600 stilettos and other luxuries. Many mall-based apparel stores and department stores including J.C. Penney Co. and American Eagle
Outfitters Inc. find themselves quired in a deep sales slump.
With no clear spending recovery in sight, retailers are navigating in the dark about how much to cut their spring orders and store expansions to address the dramatic changes in consumer behavior that are expected to persist at least until next year — if not longer.
"We rarely eat out, and even
groceries have become a big-ticket item," said Cincinnati resident Victoria Gentry, 41, a single mother of a 15-year-old daughter, who now worries about her job at a bank's merchant service division. "No more payday pizzas now."
Before the financial meltdown began in the middle of last month, customers had already been switching to lower-price brands
and stores, cutting back on essentials and making other changes like mending their clothes instead of buying new ones.
"Weakness in consumer spending is a significant drag on overall economic activity," said Scott Hoyt, senior director of consumer economics at economy.com, who now predicts declines in consumer spending, adjusted for inflation,
through the first quarter of 2009. "We are on track for something longer and deeper than either of the previous recessions."
Desperation has set in as the critical holiday season approaches. Merchants have begun cutting holiday orders in recent days, even as goods start to flow into stores, according to Arnold Cohen, co-founder of Mahoney Cohen and Co., an accounting firm for the apparel industry. A slew of companies, from J.C. Penney Co. to Saks Inc., cut their third-quarter outlooks Wednesday as they step up discounting to pull in shopers. And many are delaying spring orders amid so much uncertainty, Cohen said.
Thomson Reuters estimates that its sales tally for September will be up only 1 percent, well below the 1.9 percent average pace from January through August. The final tally, which will be released Thursday, will reflect results from other merchants such as Gap Inc. and TJX Cos., which are slated to release results later Wednesday or Thursday. The tally is based on same-store sales, or sales at stores opened at least a year.
Analysts and store executives expect spending could deteriorate even more as the problems on Wall Street filter through the economy, with layoffs expected to rise and the credit markets remaining frozen and consumers have a hard time getting loans.
NATIONAL Man convicted of 2001 'Precious Doe' murder
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A man has been convicted in Missouri of killing a 3-year-old girl who became known as "Precious Doe" after her decapitated body was found in 2001.
On Wednesday, a jury convicted 29-year-old Harrell Johnson of first-degree murder in the death of Erica Green.
A police officer found the body in April 2001. Her identity was unknown until 2005, when a community activist received a tip from Johnson's grandfather in Oklahoma.
Johnson kicked the girl, then left her to die in a Kansas City home where he and the girl's mother were staying. He cut her head off and dumped the body in the woods.
NATIONAL Polygraphs considered in Indiana debate
JASPER. Ind. — Two challengers for an Indiana congressional seat have agreed to be hooked up to lie detectors during a debate, but an official with the incumbent's party dismisses the idea as "bizarre."
Ninth District Republican Party Chairman Larry Shickles on Wednesday proposed the political polygraphs for Democratic Rep. Baron Hill, GOP challenger Mike Sodrel and Libertarian candidate Eric Schansberg.The three are scheduled to debate Oct.21, but an official with a debate co-sponsor said lie detectors won't be included.
"Our planning committee worked up the format and rules, and we are not inviting negotiations from the candidates," Alan Johnson, dean of Vincennes University's Jasper Campus, told The Herald of Jasper.
Shickles suggested that the candidates be hooked up to lie detecting machines at the Oct. 21 event or a separate debate.
INTERNATIONAL 33 Afghan civilians killed in U.S. airstrikes
WASHINGTON — The military now says U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan on Aug. 22 killed 33 civilians, far more than the U.S. had acknowledged.
A statement released Wednesday by the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East summarizes the findings of an investigation. The statement from Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey asserts that despite those deaths, U.S. forces involved in the attack in western Herat province acted based on credible intelligence, in self-defense and in line with rules of engagement.
The attack was on a suspected Taliban compound. Dempsey says the investigation also found that 22 insurgents were killed.
The U.S. military originally said five to seven civilians had died. The Afghan government and the U.N. have said the civilian toll was 90.
Associated Press
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