Greener Clothes Washers

WASHINGTON, DC, March 17, 2008 (ENS) - Next year, clothes washers that are much more efficient than current appliances will be coming on the market. The new washers will have to use less water than those now on sale, and they also must be more energy efficient.

As of July 1, 2009, manufacturers will have to make their washers meet a higher standard if they want to qualify the appliances to carry the government's Energy Star® label.

Energy Star is a joint program of the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency formed in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based program that seeks to reduce air pollution through increased energy efficiency.

"The Energy Star program provides consumers with greater options for purchasing energy efficient products to save money and energy," said Andy Karsner, the Energy Department's assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy

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Pro-Nap Policies And Productivity

Via
The Age

In the past, I have done blog entries looking at how we are so sleep deprived that entrepreneurs are cashing in on it with special little pods, aromatherapy pillows, face masks, biorhythmic alarm clocks and beds that cost as much as cars.

Now it seems to be moving into the mainstream with reports out of the US that big companies like Google, Pizza Hut and Nike introducing pro-nap policies. Pizza Hut has a policy allowing employees to nap on their breaks and Nike has relaxation rooms.

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Chrysler's Unconditional Summer Vacation

Via
NY Times

Chrysler Sets a Two-Week Furlough for Most Workers
By NICK BUNKLEY

DETROIT — Chrysler plans to halt virtually all operations for two weeks in July as part of its effort to cut costs and return to profitability.

Summer shutdowns are longstanding traditions in the auto industry so plants can be retooled for the new model year, but they primarily involve only hourly workers. Chrysler told its salaried employees Thursday that, except for those who keep working in “business-critical activities,” they must use vacation time during the shutdown.

In past years, Chrysler has staggered its shutdowns throughout the summer. This will be the first shutdown since Chrysler became a private company, under the equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. The company, which is the fourth-largest seller of vehicles in the United States behind the other Detroit carmakers and Toyota, has about 70,000 employees.

“As a private company, we all need to think like owners and do our part to accelerate Chrysler’s recovery and transformation,” Chrysler’s chief executive, Robert L. Nardelli, told employees in an e-mail message.

“One idea that we have taken a fresh look at is the implementation of a two-week mandatory vacation shutdown,” Mr. Nardelli said in the message. “This year, in order to create better alignment and efficiency across organizational lines and boost productivity, Chrysler will use a corporate-wide vacation shutdown for the weeks of July 7 and July 14.”

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Farm Efficiency Up But Slowing

Via
The Age, Australia

PRODUCTIVITY in the cropping, livestock and dairy industries has steadily risen over the past three decades, but appears to be slowing, according to the nation's chief commodities forecaster.

The slowing dates from the mid-1990s, says the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) in a report.

ABARE said average annual productivity growth in the cropping sector was 4.1% between 1977-78 and 1993-94, compared with 0.9% between 1994-95 and 2005-06.

While drought may have been a big factor in the decline, ABARE said other factors might be involved. "Further inquiry into this issue remains an area for future study," it said.

The issue was crucial because productivity growth was central to the export competitiveness of agriculture, particularly given the threat of climate change and declining terms of trade.

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Singapore Punches Above Its Weight In Research Efficiency

Via
Innovations Report, Germany

Research data has shown that
Singapore’s research output
is currently growing exponentially


Presented by Bibliometrics Director Iain Craig at a recent Wiley-Blackwell research seminar, the publisher analyzed Singapore’s scientific productivity using bibliometric data provided by Thomson Scientific. Bibliometrics is the comparative analysis of quantity and quality of scientific output – measured using the aggregates of indexed titles at a country and subject level.

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New Generations Of Jets More Efficient

Via
Dallas Morning News

American Airlines in dilemma
on when to replace aging fleet

The airline's old MD-80s guzzle fuel.
But how long can the carrier wait for the next generation of jets?


By TERRY MAXON / The Dallas Morning News
tmaxon@dallasnews.com

American Airlines Inc. has a fleet of aging airplanes and a hard decision to make.

Every day it flies an aging McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is another day that it burns 20 percent to 30 percent more fuel than it would use with today's replacement airplane, the Boeing 737-800.

"There's no question, from a purely operational point of view, American should be replacing those airplanes – fuel emissions, noise, maintenance," said aviation consultant Scott Hamilton, who focuses on aircraft manufacturers Boeing Co. and Airbus.

But if American starts replacing its fleet of MD-80s now, it may miss out on a new generation of fuel-efficient airplanes in six or seven years that would burn even less fuel than the 737-800, with fewer emissions and less noise.

To complicate matters, no one knows when the new generation of fuel-sipping airplanes will be ready to enter the fleets of the world's airlines.

That's left Fort Worth-based American in a holding pattern.

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Family Firms Report Gains From Technology

Via
Business New Haven


In a recent statewide survey of family-owned companies, most state that technology has affected their businesses in a positive way, improving customer service, productivity, office efficiency and communication.

Members of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association and the University of Connecticut's Family Business Program were polled about technology and other issues in a survey jointly developed by the two entities. It sought to ascertain opinions on general topics such as management and leadership concerns, performance issues and economic conditions.

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Who's On Top In Science Education?

Despite living in one of the world’s richest countries, American students perform relatively poorly on science exams.

Via link below is a great chart which talks about how the science scores of students from countries around the world stack up against rich versus poor.

APS members wonder how the performances of students around the globe will ultimately have an impact on productivity. What do you think?

Student Science Scores From Around The Globe

[After clicking on link, click again on 3rd item, bottom left]

Scrabulous And Productivity

Via
Technology Evangelist

What Businesses Can Learn from Scrabulous

Scrabulous, as the New York Times reported this weekend, is spreading like wildfire within Facebook. People who were logging into their Facebook accounts once a week are suddenly keeping a tab open all day so they can check to see if their opponents have played their turn.

While this could be a productivity sucker for employees who become addicted to the game, I think there are some productivity lessons that can be learned from this as well.

The Power of Asynchronous Work

Improved speed. Imagine sitting in a large room with 12 of your friends who are each playing 12 games of Scrabble one on one with each other. If my calculations are correct, you'd need 66 Scrabble boards and spend half your time running around looking for tables where you could play your next move. It would end up taking a long long time for all 12 people to complete games against their 11 competitors. However, if each person can play their turns at a time that's convenient for them, the total time committed to each game goes down significantly.

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