The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation Board of School Trustees heard information at tonight’s (Sept. 10) regular meeting regarding a four-year proposal by Cripe Energy Advisors to help the EVSC potentially save between $7.5 and $11 million over the next 10 years by becoming more sustainable in its energy usage. Cripe’s collaboration with the EVSC will create a plan to reduce the demand for energy, reduce energy supply costs for all EVSC facilities, and help to create the right conditions in energy management that will enable the EVSC community to monitor and manage its energy usage.

EVSC’s current processes of analysis, performance reviews, bill tracking and budgeting, together with Cripe’s IT solution will provide synergy for an effective and efficient energy system which will far exceed the four years Cripe will be partnering with the EVSC – putting in place a team of individuals who can continue deeper looks into these outcomes. There will be no fee for the continued use of the model.

Estimated cost for the plan will be $376,000. Repayment will be a phased approach based on the percentage of the savings in each of the four years in the agreement.

The proposal calls for several components:

Phase 1 (Months 1-3) – Will include a comprehensive energy audit of all facilities. Data will be collected for the past 24 months and be input into the model. Facilities will be inspected to identify the areas for the greatest energy demand. This will help develop a road map and serve as the baseline.

Phase 2 (Months 4-36) – Will be devoted to implementation of the energy master plan and managing the procurement process. Negotiations are completed for utility rates, supplies, water and sewer rates. All facilities will be benchmarked against metrics determined by EVSC and data will be tracked in the model to analyze performance. There will be demand-side energy projects (building system optimization) that do not require capital expenditures.

Phase 3 (Months 37-48) – Will be devoted to continued energy auditing, implementation of the energy procurement strategies, solutions and sustainability. All data collection and monitoring devices will be in place and Cripe will work with the EVSC energy team to help develop the skills necessary to collect, analyze, measure and verify usage data, as well as manage the energy procurement process – through the web-based program.

It is estimated there will be a 10-30% reduction in supply costs as well as 10-20% reduction in energy demand.

Please join Mayor Lloyd Winnecke and Eastland Mall officials for a news conference Tuesday, September 11, at Eastland Mall at 10 a.m. to announce a special Traveling City Hall at the Mall program. The news conference will take place near the Dillard’s wing between Fred Meyer Jewelers and Helzberg Diamonds.

Traveling City Hall is an opportunity for residents to meet one-on-one with Mayor Winnecke and city department heads. The monthly meetings are free and all residents are welcome to attend. The October Traveling City Hall meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 31, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at St. John United Methodist Church, 1900 N. Fulton Ave.

Click Here to download the PDF Document

Nearly two years after the introduction of the path-breaking plug-in hybrid, GM is still losing as much as $49,000 on each Volt it builds, according to estimates provided to Reuters by industry analysts and manufacturing experts.

Cheap Volt lease offers meant to drive more customers to Chevy showrooms this summer may have pushed that loss even higher. There are some Americans paying just $5,050 to drive around for two years in a vehicle that cost as much as $89,000 to produce.

The lack of interest in the car has prevented GM from coming close to its early, optimistic sales projections. Discounted leases as low as $199 a month helped propel Volt sales in August to 2,831, pushing year-to-date sales to 13,500, well below the 40,000 cars that GM originally had hoped to sell in 2012.

The weak sales are forcing GM to idle the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant that makes the Chevrolet Volt for four weeks from September 17, according to plant suppliers and union sources. It is the second time GM has had to call a Volt production halt this year.

GM stock closed today at $21.48 per share down slightly yet still over $30 per share below where the US Government needs the stock to trade to break even on the bailout.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/10/us-generalmotors-autos-volt-idUSBRE88904J20120910

Showing:
7:30 PM
September 14, 15, 21, 22, 28, 29
2:00 PM
September 23, 30

Welcome to Truvy’s Beauty Salon, where all the ladies who are “anybody” come to have their hair done. Helped by her eager new assistant Annelle, the outspoken, wise-cracking Truvy dispenses shampoos and free advice to the town’s rich curmudgeon, Ouiser, who’s been in a bad mood for forty years; an eccentric millionaire, Miss Clairee, who has a raging sweet tooth; and the local social leader, M’Lynn, whose daughter, Shelby, is about to marry a “good ole boy.” Filled with hilarious repartee and not a few acerbic but humorously revealing verbal collisions, the play turns from light hearted comedy to a harsh reflection on loss. The sudden realization of their mortality affects the women, but also draws on their underlying strength—and love—which gives the play, and its characters, the special quality to make them truly touching, funny and marvelously amiable company in good times and bad.

Visit http://evansvillecivictheatre.org for more information

The Board of Trustees at the University of Southern Indiana met on Thursday, September 6 and reviewed and approved the 2013-2015 operating and capital improvements budget request that will be submitted to the Indiana General Assembly.

The operating budget was developed using the performance funding metrics created by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education (ICHE). The trustees learned that USI showed improvement in each of the five metrics for which it could compete; overall degree completion; at-risk degree completion; student persistence;, on-time graduation rates; and an institution-defined productivity metric to increase distance education programming and participation.

The performance funding metrics generated funding of $2.9 million in 2013-2014 and $3.4 million in 2014-2015. The ICHE proposes creating a Performance Funding Pool by reducing each institution’s 2012-2013 operating base by 6 percent in 2013-2014 and 7 percent in 2014-2015 to fund the metrics. To reach those amounts, reallocation from the University’s operating budget of more than $2.4 million in 2013-2014 and $2.8 million in 2014-2015 would revert to the pool. Based on the recommended metrics and funding formula, USI’s base operating appropriation would increase by approximately 1.5 percent over the biennium.

USI will request the Indiana General Assembly also address the base operating funding differential through an appropriation adjustment of an additional $5 million in each year of the biennium. This would increase USI’s appropriation per-Hoosier-full-time student to approximately 75 percent of the statewide average.

In its 2013-2015 capital improvement budget request, USI seeks bonding authorization for one capital project. The proposed $18 million project includes renovation and expansion of the Physical Activities Center and renovation of classrooms and laboratories in the Science Center and Technology Center. The request also includes $2.7 million for general repair and rehabilitation in both years of the biennium.

The budget includes a line item appropriation request for the operation of Historic New Harmony of $519,807 for 2013-2014 and $574,387 for 2014-2015.

The trustees also approved housing rates and meal plan rates for the 2013-2014 academic year.

In other business, the trustees approved a new degree program. The College of Liberal Arts will request approval from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education to offer a bachelor degree program in anthropology to begin in spring 2013. The program is comprised of 120 hours.

The anthropology program will meet regional and state needs by providing students the knowledge and skills to succeed in a variety of positions related to anthropology and will prepare students to succeed in graduate study in anthropology, medicine, archaeology, cultural and heritage management, and other closely related fields. The degree will prepare students as cultural and linguistic anthropologists who work in federal, state, and local government, including the military, healthcare centers, nonprofit associations, and marketing firms. The degree also can prepare physical anthropologists who work in biomedical research, human engineering, private genetics laboratories, pharmaceutical firms, and archaeological work.

Source: USI.edu