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Prince William News

Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative asks all customers to conserve energy during the cold snap on Jan. 7, 2014, by not using dishwashers, ovens, washing machines, and dryers. Outdoor temperatures in the single digits are putting an extra load on the power system as customers use more energy than they normally use to run their heating systems and water heaters. The weather forecast is for warmer weather tomorrow, notes Mike Curtis, NOVEC vice president, Public Relations. In the meantime, it would help if everyone would put off some household chores that require major appliances until temperatures rise and demand for electricity drops.

Gainesville Times

The weather forecast is for warmer weather tomorrow, notes Mike Curtis, NOVEC vice president, Public Relations. In the meantime, it would help if everyone would put off some household chores that require major appliances until temperatures rise and demand for electricity drops.

Curtis thanks customers who participate in NOVECs load management program: These customers are doing their part by allowing us to switch their waters heaters off and on when power demand is high. We are implementing water-heater load control today until 12:30 p.m.

NOVEC, headquartered in Manassas, is a not-for-profit corporation that supplies and distributes electricity and provides energy-related services to more than 153,000 customers in Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Stafford and Clarke counties, the City of Manassas Park, and the Town of Clifton, Va. It is one of the largest electric cooperatives of its kind in the nation. For more information, visit http://www.novec.com, call 703-335-0500, toll-free 1-888-335-0500, or send mail to P.O. Box 2710, Manassas, Va. 20108.

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NOVEC asks customers to conserve energy during the deep freeze

HARTFORD, Ala.--With temperatures expected to drop below 20 degrees Wednesday morning, Wiregrass Electric Cooperative is continuing its issue of a Peak Demand Alert.

Monday night saw an extreme demand for electricity from across the region during the morning and evening hours.

Peak demand is the point at which WEC members use the most electricity. Peak represents the highest demand for electricity, and its what our wholesale power supplier uses to determine the amount of electricity they must be prepared to provide us during the year, explains Brad Kimbro, director or member services for the cooperative.

When we set a high peak, Kimbro says, it causes our wholesale power prices to be higher, which is turn causes everyones electric bills to be higher for the following year.

"It is too early to tell the impact this frigid cold will have on our wholesale power rates," says Kimbro "But we know for certain that without the efforts of our residential members, as well as our businesses and industries, our peak demand would have been higher."

WEC will continue to make temporary adjustments at its substations to help contain costs as much as possible. The biggest impact, however, can come from members.

As part of the Peak Demand Alert, we are asking for our members help in holding down power costs, says Kimbro. By using electricity more efficiently during the peak hours Tuesday and Wednesday, members can help themselves by helping the Wiregrass Electric system use less power.

During the hours of 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. on Wednesday, members are asked to consider ways they can use less electricity:

Set your thermostat to 68 degrees (instead of the common 72 degrees or higher). Take showers the night before, if possible, to avoid extensive use of water heaters. Likewise, run your dishwasher and washing machine the night before, later in the morning or in the afternoon. Limit the use of TVs (especially large, flat-screen units), gaming consoles, computers and unnecessary lighting.

We want to make sure everyone understands that Wiregrass Electric will have the capacity to meet this regions energy needs, no matter how much electricity our homes and businesses demand, says Kimbro. But by working together on these cold mornings, we can limit the peak demand and hold down wholesale power costs for everyone.

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Wiregrass Electric Continues Peak Demand Alert

It was quite unnerving that almost within a few hours of the service light popping up on the dashboard, I received a call from the call centre at my local garage.

Have they really fitted a hidden camera in my headrest to watch my mileage, or are they simply brilliant with their marketing and record keeping? Either way, the call was timely.

Our records show that your car may be due a service; have you had it done elsewhere already?the pleasant but slightly robotic voice enquired. It immediately struck me as a very odd way to ask.

First of all using such a closed question was bound to gain a yes or no response and the nature of the question implied that it was common for the garage to lose customers to competitorscould it be they offer a better service, or are cheaper?

Your timing is perfect I repliedand gladly agreed to go through the booking procedure.

Once the initial data capture was obtained, Tracy, the voice, explained several additions to the service cost.We recommend an air conditioning service every two years and we are doing them on a special offer price of 79 would you like us to do that for you?

Frankly my air conditioning seemed to be working fine and in the absence of any real customer benefits; I declined. In any event, how do I know 79 is a Special price, I had nothing to compare it to.No problemshe replied (well that was easy to avoid, I thought). My only real query was about how long the service would take, as I had a prior appointment in the afternoon of the booking day. I was told it would take about two hours and I was to drop my car off with all the necessary bits at 8:30. Great Job done at the agreed price of 187 fully inclusive of parts labour and VAT.

When I arrived for the service, the garage staff seemed to be efficient and courteous; and all of the paperwork was ready. They eagerly took my keys and best contact number in case they found anything they needed to report. I decided not to wait on site, because Costa make a better cup of coffee have free Wi-Fi and, were directly opposite the garage. So that was where I went to kill a couple of hours making calls before my meeting.

It was when I settled down with my second cappuccino that I noticed that my car was still in the same car parking space as I had left it. It was now 10:00 am. Still, not to worry, my meeting was at 2:30 and I had plenty to do. The next time I looked up the car was not there. Time passed and no calls from the garage, but I was feeling that I had outstayed my welcome in the coffee shop, so I wandered back to the garage; surely it would be ready by now as it was after 11:30 am.

Barry, the senior service advisor (according to his badge) looked at me rather blankly when I stood in front of him. He vaguely recognised me, but had clearly forgotten that he checked my car in only a matter of hours ago.

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3 Steps to Making Your Customers Feel Like They Are a Priority

Jessica Guyant believes giving and receiving are universal threads in life; she is, in fact, very familiar with thread, running her own second-hand thrift shop in Summit County.

The Gold Mine Thrift store in Dillon is expanding to include more antiques and furniture inventory. Guyant said she loves visiting estate and garage sales to pick out pieces for her store.

Im very passionate about recycling and reusing, she said. I see things in the trash and think, Why would someone throw that away? In todays economy, you have to be more thoughtful.

When she started the thrift business a year ago, Guyant worked with her brother, who specialized in buying and selling gold and silver. Once he returned to the Midwest, however, Guyant who wasnt comfortable buying gold wanted to focus on expanding from clothing items. Now, shes opening a separate warehouse next to her current location to focus specifically on furniture bed frames, couches, dressers and more.

Guyant said while there are plenty of other great thrift stores in Summit County, her business goes one step further because she not only accepts donations, but buys much of her own merchandise.

Were not a traditional thrift store, she said. I am very picky I hand-pick a lot of fun, nice things.

Originally from Hawaii, Guyant used to serve as a boat captain in the Coast Guard. She said the community in her home state prepared her for business in the High Country shopping was expensive, and a lot of the population was transient.

My philosophy is really that someone elses junk is someone elses treasure, she said.

Among the most popular items, the ones that fly off the shelves, Guyant said, are old wooden skis and snowshoes antique, collectible items people tend to gravitate toward.

Theres a super strong, faithful crowd of locals that comes in, and a lot of visitors who maybe dont ski, and so theyre shopping while their friends or family ski, she said.

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Gold Mine Thrift store expands to more antiques, furniture in Dillon

By David Komer Twitter: @DavidKomer_NH

TAYLOR In the midst of the latest winter blast affecting the area, the Fire Department had two early morning house fires to deal with Monday morning.

Firefighters responded to electrical fires in the 15000 block of Jackson and the 14500 block of Bailey, both happening within 40 minutes of each other.

No residents or first responders were injured in either incident, but neither residence had a working smoke detector.

The Jackson fire was reported at 12:30 a.m., which Engine 3 responded to in five minutes due to snowy road conditions. Upon arrival, firefighters found smoke coming out of a single family residence.

Deputy Fire Chief Dan Reynolds said the homeowner said he was alerted by his dog barking and escaped through his bedroom window with his dog. He first tried to escape by opening his bedroom door, but encountered a heavy rush of smoke causing him to slam the door and use the window.

Engine 3 advanced hose lines into the house and found fire in the crawl space, walls and attic. Ladder 1 ventilated the roof and cut holes in the floor of the house so the water could reach the fires in the crawl space, Reynolds said. The fire was determined to be electrical, possibly caused by the heavy snow, he added.

The electrical power was disconnected from the house and Engine 2, after arriving, assisted with putting out the fire.

Damage was estimated to be about $30,000 to the house, which is uninhabitable but can be rebuilt, Reynolds said.

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TAYLOR: None injured in pair of early morning house fires

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - Kevin Wharton doesn't have to look long or hard to find trouble spots in your house when Kentuckiana is dealing with its worst flash freeze in 20 years.

"This hose is frozen solid," said Wharton as he inspected a home in Louisville's Crescent Hill neighborhood.

Wharton, a reconstruction specialist for Paul Davis Restorations, believes we can save ourselves money and grief by attending to small details we otherwise might overlook. He's big on venting; specifically, closing the vents to the crawl space.

"You need to stop that cold air from entering," Wharton said. "But if you have heat going into your partial basement, leave an opening so that some of that heat can get into the crawl space, particularly if you have pipes there."

Shutoff valves can also stop a lot of trouble cold.

"Shut off your washer valve between loads, but turn the machine on. It relieves the pressure on the line," Wharton said.

The same is true of water lines connecting to hoses outside.

"Turn off the valve back in the warm house, open up the outside, and let it drain out."

Otherwise, Wharton said, you may not realize that outside water line has frozen, and compromised the pipe, until spring.

"Last thing you want is to wash your car, and go back in to find a flooded basement," said Wharton.

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Flash freeze: What all those thumps and bumps mean for your house

BEIJING, Jan. 7 -- Chinese researchers have developed a new technology to clean up indoor air pollution that avoids secondary pollution that existing air purification products in the market can create if used improperly.

The new air purifier, developed by a research team from the School of Mechanical Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, removes indoor pollutants from air through physical and chemical methods.

Professor Shangguan Wenfeng, who led the research project, said at a news conference on Monday that current air purifiers clean the air mainly by absorption and filtering, but this technique has problems.

For example, the filter needs to be replaced regularly because it will easily reach the saturation point, which might lead to further pollution,he said.

Also, while some machines cannot filter smaller pollutants well, the schools new technology overcomes that shortcoming, he said.

The new technology removes indoor pollutants through high-voltage electrostatic and catalytic purification.

The electrostatics process the PM2.5airborne particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers that can go deep into the lungsand other air pollutants from outdoors.

During this process, volatile organic compounds and a small amount of ozone are produced. The second, catalysis module transforms these harmful organic compounds and ozone into harmless carbon dioxide and water.

A test was conducted during the news conference. Because Shanghai air quality was classified asgoodat the time, researchers made a smoggy indoor environment in a 30-square-meter room by lighting six cigarettes. The PM2.5 reading soon reached 700 micrograms per cubic meter, far exceeding the index limit level of 500.

When the machine was switched on, the particles in the room gradually disappeared, with the reading less than 100 within an hour.

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University unveils new air purifier technology-Eastday

Now that local politicians and team owners have decided Orlando will get a Major League Soccer stadium, they have to decide what it will look like.

Mayor Buddy Dyer, Orlando City Soccer Club president Phil Rawlins and others from the city's anointed MLS team travel to Kansas City, Kan., for a two-day design workshop today and Wednesday. They'll brainstorm with architects from Populous, the firm hired to design the new stadium.

"I'm a big believer in doing this getting all the parties involved in the same room to talk about concepts and which way to go," Dyer said.

They will focus on big-picture ideas for the design of the $84 million stadium. A fine-tuned blueprint will come later.

City officials participated in similar brainstorming sessions with architects in the early stages of designing both the Amway Center arena and the upcoming renovation of the Citrus Bowl stadium. One of those sessions yielded the 180-foot color-changing steel spire that has become the Amway Center's most prominent feature.

Some details of the stadium are already known: It is supposed to be a modern, state-of-the-art facility seating about 18,000 people. Fans will have a roof over their heads, and the field will be open to the sky. There will be a supporter section; corner terraces; about 2,500 club seats; 300 seats in luxury suites; and a premium club with a bar and restaurant.

But its appearance and how distinctive it will be from other MLS stadiums is up in the air.

Designers likely will draw inspiration from some of the newest MLS stadiums, including BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston and Sporting Park in Kansas City, though the latter facility, at more than twice the cost of Orlando's, is likely more elaborate than Lions fans can expect.

Dyer toured both those facilities last year during the debate about whether to commit public money to the project. Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs toured PPL Park, home of the Philadelphia Union.

Populous, formerly known as HOK Sport, is a leading sports architecture firm with an impressive list of athletic facilities around the world, including the soccer stadiums in Kansas City and Houston, and Orlando's own Amway Center.

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Architects, Dyer and Lions to brainstorm ideas for MLS stadium design

Diamond Schmitt Architects, in collaboration with Edward J. Cuhaci and Associates Architects, has finished the expansion and renovation of the MacOdrum Library at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. The $27 million project updates and expands the 1960s facility by introducing natural light throughout the core and adding features that address modern-day learning environments.

Anchored by a helical mahogany staircase, the five-story library features nine new reading rooms, interactive study rooms with large touch-screen monitors and two treadmills with desks, a video gaming lab, a discovery center with digital media labs, and additional group and graduate study rooms. A future music resource center will host small concerts on a piano beneath a circular skylight.

We have to move beyond the traditional ways of learning and support creativity, teamwork, and entrepreneurship. Thats what this building does, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, said at the reopening ceremony. The building is extremely functional, and it really is a beautiful space.

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Diamond Schmitt Architects Completes Library Renovation at Ottawa's Carleton University

THE United Architects of the Philippines-Kadayawan Davao (UAP-KD) will hold its 2nd Arki-Smash Badminton Tournament on January 25 and 26 at the Smash n' Drop, San Pedro Extension, Davao City.

The tournament is open to badminton players all over the country.

Categories to be contested are men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles.

In a phone interview with Sun.Star Davao, UAP-KD committee chairman Chang Alquiza said that a team challenge between Architects Badminton Federation (ABF) players from Luzon and Mindanao will also be expected.

"We are happy that a total of 22 ABF players from Luzon composed of Board of Directors will join the tournament while we expect 10 ABF players from Davao City and one from Cagayan De Oro City," Alquiza said.

Alquiza said that the architects are very excited to play and that they really pushed through with the event following the positive feedbacks they received last year.

She added, "The best thing about this tournament is that a fair leveling of players will be conducted by the organizers."

Registration is pegged at P600 per pair and free t-shirts will be given to the first 100 paid players.

Winners from different categories will receive trophies and cash prizes.

The class B champion will receive P5,000 while the runner-up will get P 2,500. Prizes of P4,000 and P2,000 will be awarded to the champions and runners-up of classes E and F.

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2nd Arki-Smash badminton tournament slated Jan. 25-26