Word: retrofit
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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Examples like these lead even such mainstream voices as AT&T and Japan's energy planning agency, NEDO, to predict that environmental restoration could be a source of virtually limitless profit. The idea is to retrofit our farms, factories, shops, houses, offices and everything inside them. The economic activity generated would be enormous. Better yet, it would be labor intensive; investments in energy efficiency yield two to 10 times more jobs than investments in fossil fuel and nuclear power. In a world where 1 billion people lack gainful employment, creating jobs is essential to fighting the poverty that retards environmental...
...Each retrofit starts with an audit. Teachers and pupils are taught to measure how much energy and water are consumed at their school and how much solid waste is produced. Through classroom guides and training sessions, Destination Conservation staff members then identify behavioral changes that kids and teachers can make--turning off lights after use, recycling cafeteria plates--to cut waste. The kids monitor the effects; typically, utility bills fall...
...savings come in year two, when an energy-services company, partnering with Destination Conservation, implements a technical retrofit: installing superefficient light bulbs, low-flow showerheads and the like. The retrofitter guarantees that the school will enjoy substantially lower--usually between 20% and 30%--utility bills. If not, the retrofitter must pay the difference...
...These projects will fund a positive cash flow for schools," says David Theriault, manager of national institutional accounts at PG&E Energy Services in California, Staszenski's partner in a proposed retrofit of San Francisco's public schools. A recent PG&E retrofit of 25 schools in San Jose is expected to generate a $581,194 return over 15 years, says Theriault. The school district is using the money for asbestos abatement...
...homes, businesses and public buildings around the world all achieved the 30% cuts that a Destination Conservation retrofit gives schools, society would be halfway to the 50% to 70% reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions needed to avoid severe global warming. Thus the retrofits send a message to adults, says Staszenski: "If kids can do it, what's your problem...