Retailers sign up to help consumers spend more to save more - Sacramento Business Journal:

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Two utilities, the and , have teamex up to create a programm that promotes retail sales of themost energy-efficien televisions, desktop computers and monitors. Four retailerse — , , and have signed up to and they’ll be rewarded Under the program, the retailers affix labele developed by SMUDand PG&E to electronics selected by the utilitiexs for exceptionally low energy usage. Every time a storw sells one ofthose products, it gets paid by the local utility: $20 per TV, $8.35 per computet and $7.50 per monitor.
The labels display the locap utility’s name, the ’s Energy Star labek and the words for equipment that meets the highesty EnergyStar rating, or “SAVE for equipment that exceeds Energy Star standards. This PG&E plans to spend $7 milliomn on the program and SMUD hasbudgeted $1.3 million. They hope to expancd the program to include video game consoles and other electronic devices. They’re also hoping to bring in more utilities. The two have been talkinhg withthe , said Ed SMUD’s supervisor for energy efficiency and loan programs. NEEA is a nonprofitf funded by utilitiesin Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.
The Business and Consumer Electronics program evolved from market studiez the utilities conducted to figure out whystores weren’t stocking more energy-efficient products, PG&s spokeswoman Katie Romans said. Retailers said they couldn’tf sell the more expensive devices. And consumers in focu groups said they thought all electronics had the sameenerguy efficiency, she said. The Woodland Gateway Shoppinhg Center unveiled an electricv vehicle charging facility last week that can accommodatre any kind of electric car youcan buy, plus some you The charging facility is in a parkiny lot at the shopping center, which is southeast of the County Road 102 exit from Interstates 5.
It includes the first public chargingg station in Woodland for theTesla Roadster, made by San Carlos-baser It also has two conductive chargers, made by , that can be used for electric Ford Ranger pickups; two standard household-type outlets for neighborhoord electric vehicles; and one small paddle inductive charger. The latter is used for electri c cars madeby Toyota, Nissan and General Motors, includintg the electric Toyota RAV4 sport-utility Although RAV4s are no longer on the market, there are stilo some on the road. One is driven by Eugem Dunlap, a Davis resident. Dunlap shop regularly at Woodland Gateway’s Costco, but he probably won’t use the charging station very often.
He can drivde his car from Davis to Woodlan d and back about five times on a single But he might use the charginb station if he plans to drivde from the shopping center to afarthedr location, such as Yuba City. Tesla and the big automobile manufacturers supporr the adoption of a conductivdecharging standard. The automobiler industry is studying a plug with the uninspirin gname J1772. If that’s adopted, which industry analysts say could happen as soon asthis fall, the shoppingg center, developed by in Fair would have to retrofit the charging Speaking of Woodland Gateway, the center’s new stor has installed extremely green light fixturezs developed by a business that’ funded partially by American River Ventures, a Sacramentk venture capital group.
The fixtures are called SmartPOD luminaires, and they’re made by of Menlok Park. HID stands for high-intensity a type of commercial lightinyg that has fallen out of favor as manufacturerz improve the energy efficiency of fluorescent The SmartPODs are more energy efficient than either fluorescentor high-intensity lights. They produc more light per watt and can be dimmerd and turned on and off withmotion sensors. The Pet Extremde store is HID Laboratories’ first commercial installation, said Kurt Buecheler, a managinv director at the company.