Airport officials aim to optimize energy savings while also providing a safe and well-lit parking environment for passengers.

PEACHTREE CITY, GA - Officials at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport recognized a need for upgrading the parking garage lighting that would optimize energy savings, while continuing to provide a safe and well-lit environment for its passengers. Analyzing multiple products and their performance to find the best solution, they selected LED fixtures from Cooper Lighting, an industry leader committed to delivering innovative products and driving transformational technology in the lighting industry.

Funded by the City of Atlanta Green Loan Fund, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport officials decided to replace each of the 4,342 210-watt metal-halide fixtures with Cooper Lighting's 80-watt McGraw-Edison Valet LED fixtures in its north and south parking decks. This decision would not only lead to greater energy-efficiency, but also cost savings of almost half a million dollars each year. According to the City of Atlanta's Office of Sustainability, the Airport's financial and environmental partner, the carbon reduction associated with the project is equivalent to taking 500 cars off of the road.

"Replacing parking garage lighting with more energy-efficient options is one of the most practical upgrades a city can make to save energy, reduce costs and lower CO2 emissions," said Mark Eubanks, President, Cooper Lighting. "This project has been a great opportunity to showcase how Cooper's innovative LED products can increase overall efficiencies and performance to provide a safe and well-lit environment, all while helping the City of Atlanta save almost $500,000 each year in energy costs."

Through superior optical control, Cooper's Valet LED fixtures deliver uniform and energy conscious illumination optimized to improve vehicular movement and pedestrian safety in parking structure applications. Cooper's modular LightBAR(TM) technology, featuring patented AccuLED Optics(TM) system, delivers uniform and energy conscious illumination. Both factors were key to Airport officials who hoped to improve the distribution of the lighting in the Airport parking garages while also optimizing energy savings. The Valet LED fixtures will also reduce maintenance costs as they are designed to last 50,000 hours.

Cooper Lighting has made a significant investment in people, resources and technology to ensure the company provides first-class solutions to its customers' lighting challenges. The Company offers a range of indoor and outdoor LED lighting products and controls, all of which are specifically designed to maximize energy and cost savings. For additional information on Cooper's LED product offering, click here.

About Cooper Lighting Cooper Lighting, a subsidiary of Cooper Industries plc (NYSE: CBE), is the leading provider of world-class lighting fixtures and controls to commercial, industrial, retail, institutional, residential and utility markets. As lighting technologies have advanced over the years, Cooper Lighting has been at the forefront of the industry in helping businesses and communities leverage the latest technologies to improve efficiency, reduce costs and enrich the quality of the environment. For more information, visit http://www.cooperlighting.com.

About Cooper Industries Cooper Industries plc (NYSE: CBE) is a global electrical products manufacturer with 2011 revenues of $5.4 billion. Founded in 1833 Cooper's sustained success is attributable to a constant focus on innovation and evolving business practices, while maintaining the highest ethical standards and meeting customer needs. The Company has seven operating divisions with leading market positions and world-class products and brands, including Bussmann electrical and electronic fuses; Crouse-Hinds and CEAG explosion-proof electrical equipment; Halo and Metalux lighting fixtures; and Kyle and McGraw-Edison power systems products. With this broad range of products, Cooper is uniquely positioned for several long-term growth trends including the global infrastructure build-out, the need to improve the reliability and productivity of the electric grid, the demand for higher energy-efficient products and the need for improved electrical safety. In 2011 sixty-two percent of total sales were to customers in the industrial and utility end-markets and forty percent of total sales were to customers outside the United States. Cooper has manufacturing facilities in 23 countries as of 2011. For more information, visit the website at http://www.cooperindustries.com.

See more here:
Cooper Lighting's LED Solutions Boost Long-Term Sustainability at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta ...

TORONTO , June 4, 2012 /CNW/ - Pacific Mortgage Group is pleased to announce they have been named to the PROFIT 200 list of Canada's Fastest-Growing Companies. Pacific owns and operates Mortgage Architectsa national mortgage brokerage and Radius Financiala CMHC and Genworth approved lender. As a provider of brokerage services and lending products, Pacific Mortgage Group has shown tremendous growth as a result of its strong vision and leadership. Proclaimed by PROFIT as one of "the most dynamic and exciting organizations in Canada ," this list represents the top 200 of the top percentile of all businesses operating in Canada , a great achievement for Pacific Mortgage Group.

Ranking Canada's Fastest-Growing Companies by five-year revenue growth, the PROFIT 200 profiles the country's most successful growth companies. Published in the Summer issue of PROFIT and online at PROFITguide.com, the PROFIT 200 is Canada's largest annual celebration of entrepreneurial achievement. "I am very proud of what our company has achieved over the past five years. Being recognized within this group puts Pacific Mortgage Group amongst the industry leaders in the Canadian economy," states Ron Swift , Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Mortgage Group Inc.

"The PROFIT 200 companies are an inspiration to Canadian entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs," says Ian Portsmouth , Editor-in-Chief of PROFIT Magazine. "PROFIT is proud to celebrate the success of these businesspeople, who, despite a challenging economy, have achieved outstanding success in a wide variety of fields."

Despite the volatility in the real estate and mortgage markets, Pacific Mortgage Group has grown by providing exceptional service levels to its clients. Radius Financial and Mortgage Architects work in synergy to meet both consumer and broker needs. Ron Swift says, "We have been very focused on executing on our vision to be one of Canada's leading financial services company. It is a great testament to the entire team at Pacific to be named as one of the 200 Fastest-Growing Companies in Canada ."

ABOUT PROFIT MAGAZINE

PROFIT: Your Guide to Business Success is Canada's preeminent publication dedicated to the management issues and opportunities facing small and mid-sized businesses. For 30 years, Canadian entrepreneurs and senior managers across a vast array of economic sectors have remained loyal to PROFIT because it's a timely and reliable source of actionable information that helps them achieve business success and get the recognition they deserve for generating positive economic and social change. Visit PROFIT online at PROFITguide.com.

ABOUT PACIFIC MORTGAGE GROUP INC.

Pacific Mortgage Group is the parent company of Mortgage Architects, a national mortgage brokerage and Radius Financial, a CMHC and Genworth approved lender. Mortgage Architects is the only brokerage that offers brokers access to their own in house lender. Pacific Mortgage Group also offers the unique opportunity of ownership to Mortgage Architects brokers for supporting the Radius Financial. To learn more visit http://www.radiusfinancial.ca and http://www.mortgagearchitects.ca.

Read more here:
Pacific Mortgage Group Named to Canada's Fastest-Growing Companies by PROFIT Magazine

Motorbikes parked outside City Mall in Phnom Penh yesterday. Photograph: Meng Kimlong/Phnom Penh Post

A Parkson Corporation Sdn Bhd shopping centre, one of two large-scale international retail developments in the country, would push that increase in retail supply.

If planned developments come to fruition, there could be as much as 312,000 square metres of retail venues in shopping centres by 2017, up from last months count of about 105,000 square metres, the CBRE report said.

Malaysias Parkson has started construction on a shopping centre in Phnom Penh, Sung Bonna, president of National Valuers Association of Cambodia, said yesterday, although he declined to give details on the project.

Japanese retail developer Aeon Co Ltd was also in the process of developing what would be one of the countrys largest retail shopping centres on the capitals Sothearos Boulevard.

A lack of world-class brand management in Cambodian malls is driving the demand for internationally developed shopping projects, Knight Frank country manager Sunny Soo said yesterday.

At malls here, you have two floors of people selling shoes sometimes the same shoes. Its not profitable for the retailer or the mall owners, he said.

Until today, the city doesnt have first class shopping malls ... All the shopping malls here are suffering from bad leasing management.

Shortfalls in funding have led to developers selling off retail space, which limits the control they have over brand placement, he said.

International developers such as Aeon and Parkson could alleviate layout problems that hinder sales and dissuade name brands from entering the country.

The rest is here:
Retail space to triple: report | Business | The Phnom Penh Post - Cambodia's Newspaper of Record

Lusio Solid State Lighting 7320 W. 162nd Street Overland Park, KS, 66085, USA

LightWild's LED Orbs offer unique accent lighting options for a variety of commercial spaces.

Overland Park, Kansas - LightWild announced today the general availability of its newest, highly configurable and controllable accent lighting product offering known as LightWild Orbs.

The LightWild Orbs system is composed of strands up to 50 feet in length that can support as many as 16 controllable, decorative LED pendants. Offered in white, single color, and tri-color (RGB), LightWild Orbs deliver multiple unique accent lighting options.

Perfect for atriums, lobbies, and tall ceiling spaces, the LightWild Orbs system provides a comprehensive LED solution, including bubbled acrylic orbs (standard), canopies, suspension assemblies, power and controls.

LightWild Orbs are available from LightWild and its manufacturers' agents. See full listings at http://www.lightwild.com.

About LightWild LightWild is an architectural solid-state lighting and control solutions company specified by architects and lighting designers worldwide. The company's blend of architectural grade fixtures, intelligent lighting controls and a full-service project engineering team provides specifiers with products and services for successful projects every time. LightWild's environmentally friendly lighting solutions are designed for accent lighting, faade lighting, and commercial and industrial applications. For more information, please visit http://www.LightWild.com.

See the original post:
Solid-State Accent Lighting enhances commercial spaces.

03-06-2012 16:42 For Home Restoration in the Reno NV area, call (775) 345-1132 for Rainbow International Water Fire Smoke Restoration, the company that will restore your home back to its original condition, no matter what happens! Rainbow International has been servicing the Reno Nevada with quality Water, Fire and Smoke restoration services. When your home or business is damaged by fire, water or mold damage contact Rainbow Restoration we are the restoration and carpet cleaning experts. When you need immediate cleanup and restoration services, we are the leaders in Fire, Flood and Mold restoration and mitigation in the Reno, Nevada area. We service the Reno area and the surrounding Nevada areas. We offer residential and commercial restoration services as well as carpet cleaning and residential and commercial cleaning. When incurring a loss to property caused by damage from disasters, weather, accidents or other casualties do not hesitate contact the qualified professionals at Rainbow Restoration. Our experienced restoration company offers service 24 Hours Day 365 Days a Year with an emergency response service unparallelled by any other provider. We are available to be contacted by Phone, Email, Or via Our Website with a response time of less than 1 hour we will handle your emergency restoration and recovery needs as if they were our own. In addition to restoration services Rainbow Restoration offers a variety of services performed by insured bonded certified technicians . We are IICRC ...

Read more from the original source:
Restoration Reno NV (775) 345-1132 Rainbow International, Water Fire Smoke Restoration - Video

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda carried out a Cabinet reshuffle Monday, effectively sacking two censured ministers in a bid to court the Liberal Democratic Party's support to pass contentious legislation to double the 5 percent sales tax.

It is the second time Noda has reshuffled his Cabinet since he assumed office in September. He changed out members in January also in an attempt to push forward talks on the tax issue with the opposition camp, replacing two ministers censured by the opposition-controlled Upper House in December.

Bowing again to opposition pressure, Noda replaced five of his 18 Cabinet members, including Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka and transport chief Takeshi Maeda, both of whom were censured in the Upper House in April.

Their replacement is a condition demanded by the LDP for holding tax talks with the Democratic Party of Japan government.

"The reshuffle aims to strengthen the Cabinet's function and create an environment to move forward various issues, such as the tax and social security reforms," Noda said Monday.

Announcing the new Cabinet lineup, Noda urged the LDP to engage in talks on a compromise over the tax issue and stressed the necessity of holding tax talks "at some stage" with LDP chief Sadakazu Tanigaki, who advocates hiking the sales levy.

To ensure the tax hike bills are passed, Noda said it is "most important" to discuss the issue thoroughly with the LDP.

Noda, who has said he will stake his political career on getting the bills passed in the current Diet session, did not mention if he would try to extend the session beyond its scheduled June 21 end if the legislation hits a snag.

Noda's Cabinet submitted to the Diet in late March bills including one that will double the consumption tax in two stages to 8 percent in April 2014 and 10 percent in October 2015 to help cover the nation's swelling social security costs.

The Cabinet reshuffle comes a day after Noda, who heads the DPJ, failed to win over former DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa, who strongly opposes the tax hike.

See the original post here:
Noda replaces censured ministers

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda reshuffled his Cabinet Monday in a crucial bid to court the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party's support for securing parliamentary passage of contentious legislation to raise the sales tax in Japan.

It is the second time for Noda to rearrange his Cabinet since he assumed office in September, the last time coming in January in a similar attempt to push forward talks on the tax issue with the opposition camp by replacing two ministers censured by the opposition-controlled House of Councillors in December.

Bowing again to opposition pressure, Noda is expected to replace several Cabinet members, including Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka, and Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Takeshi Maeda, both of whom were censured in the upper house in April.

The premier is set to appoint Satoshi Morimoto, a professor at Takushoku University graduate school and a security issues pundit in Japan, as Tanaka's successor, political sources said.

He will be the country's first nonparliamentarian defense chief since World War II, including the period before the Defense Ministry was upgraded from the Defense Agency in 2007.

Morimoto entered the Foreign Ministry in 1979 after serving as a member of the Air Self-Defense Force and became adviser to the defense minister in 2009, according to his website.

Yuichiro Hata, the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's chief negotiator on parliamentary proceedings in the upper house, will replace Maeda, while Noda will promote Senior Vice Justice Minister Makoto Taki to replace Justice Minister Toshio Ogawa.

Senior vice reconstruction minister Tadahiro Matsushita of the DPJ's coalition partner People's New Party will become financial services minister to replace Shozaburo Jimi, who also doubles as postal privatization minister, they said.

Akira Gunji, a former senior vice minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, will become farm minister, replacing Michihiko Kano, who came under fire over spying allegations related to a Chinese diplomat involved in a farm ministry project.

Noda will retain 13 of the 18-member Cabinet and keep the DPJ executive lineup apart from Hata, who is to quit as head of the party's Diet Affairs Committee in the upper house, the sources said.

Read this article:
Noda reshuffles Cabinet in bid for tax hike support

INDIANAPOLIS, June 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Firestone Building Products Company, LLC today announced the company will be the sole roofing distributor of the SunWave SMRT (solar motion response technology) Daylighting Solution to commercial roofing contractors. SunWave SMRT allows businesses and schools to reduce their energy use for lighting by 50-80%.

According to Riaz Hasan, Product Manager for Accessories, "As daylighting and other non-electrical lighting options emerge, Firestone's continued commitment to innovation is demonstrated in this new daylighting system. The benefits to both the building owner and the occupant are significant."

SunWave SMRT provides the following advantages:

The SunWave SMRT Daylighting Solution provides better color rendition and absence of flicker as well as more captured light when the sun is low in the sky. SunWave SMRT joins the Firestone SunWave Prismatic Daylighting Solution, also used in roofing applications for retail centers, schools and warehouses.

About Firestone Building Products Company, LLCFirestone Building Products Company, LLC (FSBP) is a leading manufacturer of EPDM, TPO, asphalt and metal roofing systems, polyiso insulation and accessories for the commercial roofing industry. Firestone also offers a number of green roofing products including photovoltaic, daylighting and vegetative roofing systems. Beyond superior roofing products, FSBP offers installation expertise and product support through roofing solutions and technical services departments and an international network of roofing contractors, distributors and field sales representatives. FSBP is headquartered in Indianapolis, Ind. Visit http://www.firestonebpco.com.

Read the original here:
Firestone Building Products Introduces New Daylighting Option, SunWave SMRT™

When George W. Bush ran for president in 2000, there was never any question about who his political maestro was: Karl Rove, the man later dubbed Bushs brain.

Mitt Romney, well into his second, more successful presidential run, still has no Rove-like figure an all-seeing adviser engineering the entire, increasingly sprawling, political apparatus. But aides and insiders say there is someone very much in charge and that would be, for better or worse, Mitt Romney.

Romneyworld consists of a set of interlocking circles, created during his time in business and in government, tied together by a campaign manager with a clear mandate over the operation but with the candidate himself at the center. According to the basic presidential political playbook, thats risky; staffers always say their boss is in charge but also always worry about a candidate whos too immersed in the nitty-gritty details. Nomination narratives are full of cautionary tales about candidates who couldnt see the proverbial strategic forest because they obsessed over every decision, creating a leadership vacuum.

(Also on POLITICO: Romney's man with the plan)

But the CEO-structure of Romneys campaign reflects a central belief set by campaign manager Matt Rhoades and adhered to by others that staff should not be the focus of attention and it reflects the management style that has made Romney successful in the past.

(Romney) likes a pretty horizontal organization where theres a number of different inputs into him, said former Missouri Sen. Jim Talent, a Romney ally and surrogate. He fields information so quickly and he has such a strong frame of reference that he knows what questions he wants to ask.

You have a group of people there that are mature, collaborative, [theres] very little personality conflict and turf-fighting and the like. said former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has become a key Romney surrogate. He credited Romney, saying the way the campaign functions reflects the personal approach of the former Massachusetts governor.

I think its remarkable because the campaign is really high-functioning, and part of the reason its so high-functioning is because Mitt has assembled a group of seasoned [operatives], he added, saying they have experience coming to a team conclusion and executing it as a team.

Gov. Romney has put together a very strong campaign organization that shows he is ready to take on the Chicago-style politics of the Obama campaign, said Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

One advantage Romney has enjoyed is continuity. The core of his 2008 staff remains largely the same. And the various groups now linked together under Romney 2012 Inc. have, at different points in Romneys life, worked together, eliminating some of the tensions that crop up with new additions when primary candidates become their partys nominee.

Originally posted here:
Romney's top political adviser: Romney

Ser Jorahs face grew thoughtful as their horses trod together down the godsway. When I first went into exile, I looked at the Dothraki and saw half-naked barbarians, as wild as their horses. If you had asked me then, Princess, I should have told you that a thousand good knights would have no trouble putting to flight a hundred times as many Dothraki.

George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

Epic fantasy sprawling stories full of swords, castles, magic, kings and lots and lots of white people is slowly finding its way into Americas cultural mainstream. In the age of the anemic box office, Peter Jacksons films of J.R.R. Tolkiens Lord of the Rings trilogy remain a gold standard of blockbusterdom and his forthcoming version of The Hobbit will almost certainly follow suit. Newer writers like Brandon Sanderson and Patrick Rothfuss have sold hundreds of thousands of their door-stopper tomes of wizardry and courtly intrigue. And tonight, countless viewers will be glued to their sets for the return of what is arguably the hottest show on television, Game of Thrones, HBOs adaptation of George R.R. Martins A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy novels.

This is all a bit odd for those of us who grew up with maybe even got beaten up for an obsession with these sorts of books. Accustomed to being mocked for our profoundly uncool fixations, many fantasy nerds, myself among them, have an almost nurtured notion that our love of the fantastic and the pseudo-medieval is something that the rest of the world Just. Doesnt. Get.

But now, as our beloved genre finds its way into normal peoples hearts and minds, fantasy fans are increasingly confronted with an inversion of this notion a question that I, as an Arab-American fantasy fanatic, have been wrangling with for years: If the mainstream doesnt get fantasy, just how well does epic fantasy, with its lily-white heroes, get the multicultural real world of 21st-century America? As some of the most popular works in the genres history works that shed any pretension of being childrens fare A Song of Ice and Fire and its wonderful TV spawn are particularly useful springboards for this question.

When it comes to inherited conventions regarding race in epic fantasy, Game of Thrones is, in a sense, standing on the shoulders of dwarfs. The Lord of the Rings is the most obvious predecessor to Martins work, and its not hard to find subtle rhetorical responses to Tolkien in his books. When Time magazine dubbed Martin the American Tolkien, it highlighted not only Martins rather astonishing genius in world-building and narrative scope, but also the ideological baggage that all of us writing in the genre have inherited from our shared progenitor.

And its heavy baggage indeed, however much we love Tolkiens creation. His half-sublimated wranglings with race are more complex and fraught than either his shrillest detractors or his most fawning defenders would have us believe. But there is some irreducible ugliness in his masterpiece that really cant be convincingly redeemed. The men of the global East and global South (black men like half-trolls with white eyes and red tongues) are monstrous and evil, naturally and culturally inclined to bow to Sauron, and to make war on the good men of the North and West. The bestial visages of orcs bear a striking resemblance to racist caricatures of African and Asian facial features. Above all, to be dark-skinned in Middle Earth is to be part of a savage horde whether orcish or human rather than to be a true individual.

The savage hordes described by Tolkien have been imported by his dozens of imitators over the years, becoming a mainstay of fantasy in books, movies and video games. Its a convention that Martin both takes up and departs from in depicting the Mongol-inspired Dothraki. As a people en masse, the Dothraki value only their horses, treating life cheaply, and reveling in violence:

Across the road, a girl no older than Dany was sobbing in a high thin voice as a rider shoved her over a pile of corpses, facedown, and thrust himself inside her. Other riders dismounted to take their turns. That was the sort of deliverance the Dothraki brought the Lamb Men.

The HBO production which has been so remarkable on so many fronts has exacerbated this hard-R-rated cartoonishness, bringing out some of the novels more unfortunate tendencies. The shows depiction of the Dothraki has been positively cringe-inducing. In the novels, Martins quasi-Mongol warrior culture is depicted in a problematically essentialist, but still complex fashion. But HBO has nudged Martins creation fully into racial caricature by casting a seemingly random variety of colored people, and apparently raiding productions of both Hair and Braveheart to clothe them.

View post:
“Game of Thrones’” overstuffed finale