Friday, May 24, 2013
PM Realty Group Client, McKesson Specialty Health, awarded prestigious LEED Green Building Certification
News Release:
PM Realty Group Client, McKesson Specialty Health, awarded prestigious LEED Green Building CertificationMay 23, 2013 |  | | |
The Woodlands, Texas (May 23, 2013) – McKesson Specialty Health, supported by McKesson Corporation, announced today that its office in The Woodlands, Texas has been awarded LEED®Certification, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The LEED rating system, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), is the foremost program for buildings, homes and communities that are designed, constructed, maintained and operated for improved environmental and human health performance.
The McKesson Specialty Health office in The Woodlands, Texas, located at 10101 Woodloch Forest, is managed by PM Realty Group (PMRG), a national, full-service commercial real estate firm. With approximately 640 people based in the 200,000 square foot office building, it is important to both organizations to be as environmentally conscious and energy efficient as possible.
“It really is amazing how just a small change here and there can make huge differences,” said Brad Faber, director of Facility Operations, McKesson Specialty Health. “For example, managing lighting as well as heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems to support actual office activity rather than relying on rigid schedules will reduce the amount of energy needed to support comfortable and productive operations. Watering the landscaping based on actual evaporation and rainfall data instead of delivering a set amount of water on a pre-determined schedule will improve the health of plants and conserve resources. Simple initiatives, such as these, all contribute to a high-quality space for our employees and guests plus demonstrate responsible resource utilization. We are proud that this facility is part of a select group of sustainable and innovative buildings that are LEED-certified.”
The Woodlands building achieved LEED certification for implementing practical and measurable strategies and solutions aimed at achieving high performance in: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.
“The green building movement offers an unprecedented opportunity to respond to the most important challenges of our time, including global climate change, dependence on non-sustainable and expensive sources of energy and threats to human health,” said Tick Fedrizzi, president, CEO & founding chair, U.S. Green Building Council. “The work of innovative building projects such as the McKesson Specialty Health office in The Woodlands is a fundamental driving force in the green building movement.”
Over 44,000 projects are currently participating in the commercial and institutional LEED rating systems, comprising over 8 billion square feet of construction space in all 50 states and 120 countries.
The McKesson Specialty Health office in The Woodlands, Texas is a state-of-the-art facility which includes a fitness center with virtual trainer, an on-site café, TelePresence video conferencing and emergency operations capabilities. The Woodlands building was awarded the Energy Star by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and is designed and built in a manner that reduces energy usage. The design principles that make energy conservation possible include such things as installing a white roof to reflect heat, utilizing plumbing fixtures that operate with low water usage and installing light fixtures that provide sufficient light while consuming less energy. USGBC recognized these principles as well as several others that allow the building to be all-around environmentally conscience including using natural, non-fragrant cleaners, implementing a recycling program, and using an Energy Management System that automates the air conditioning units, which reduces electricity usage by more than 25 percent.
About PM Realty Group
Headquartered in Houston, Texas, PM Realty Group (PMRG) is one of the nation’s leading real estate companies focusing on comprehensive property services, development and acquisitions. With a strategic presence in 30 markets, PMRG provides the highest quality services to its clients and investors. PMRG’s clients and investors include large financial institutions, advisors and high net worth individuals. By capitalizing on the team’s experience and expertise, PMRG has the ability to undertake large and challenging management, leasing, development and acquisition projects.
PMRG’s portfolio, including projects managed for third parties, includes commercial office buildings, mixed-use centers, corporate headquarters, industrial buildings, medical facilities, high-rise multifamily buildings and re-appropriated military facilities.
Our goal is to generate exceptional returns for our clients and investors by focusing on real estate fundamentals. For additional information, visit www.pmrg.com.
About McKesson Specialty Health
McKesson Specialty Health, a division of McKesson Corporation, empowers the community patient care delivery system by helping community practices advance the science, technology and quality of care. Through innovative clinical, research, business and operational solutions, facilitated by integrated technology systems, we focus on improving the financial health of our customers so they may provide the best care to their patients. For more information, visitwww.mckessonspecialtyhealth.com.
About McKesson
McKesson Corporation, currently ranked 14th on the FORTUNE 500, is a healthcare services and information technology company dedicated to making the business of healthcare run better. We partner with payers, hospitals, physician offices, pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies and others across the spectrum of care to build healthier organizations that deliver better care to patients in every setting. McKesson helps its customers improve their financial, operational, and clinical performance with solutions that include pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management, healthcare information technology, and business and clinical services. For more information, visithttp://www.mckesson.com.
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Value of Manufacturing Improvements and Speed at GE Lighting’s Hendersonville Plant Underscored by Hurricane Response
GE Press Release:
Value of Manufacturing Improvements and Speed at GE Lighting’s Hendersonville Plant Underscored by Hurricane Response
May 23, 2013
EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio — May 23, 2013 — (NYSE:GE) — When a utility responds quickly in the wake of a natural disaster, it can make a world of difference for affected residents who need to feel secure and see progress on the path back to normalcy. As Superstorm Sandy struck the East Coast last fall, for example, power was knocked out to millions of homes and businesses. Upwards of 5,000 street lights operated by FirstEnergy were destroyed by flooding and 80 mph gusts of wind. FirstEnergy moved immediately to press GE Lighting’s Hendersonville, N.C., manufacturing plant into action.
In just one day, nearly 40 GE Lighting employees built and delivered to FirstEnergy’s New Jersey territory 1,000 high-intensity discharge (HID) street lighting fixtures—the first part of the overall order. Mindful of the urgent nature of their work, the employees worked on a scheduled holiday to see the order through.
“Our goal was to restore service as quickly as possible following Hurricane Sandy, the most damaging storm in the company’s history,” says Tony Hurley, vice president of operations at Jersey Central Power & Light, a FirstEnergy company. “GE Lighting delivered the product before the storm ended, allowing our crews to efficiently restore streetlights in the impacted area.
Timely manufacturing improvements speed product deliveryBob Petersen, general manager of global fixture manufacturing and systems fulfillment, GE Lighting, notes, “We’re proud not only of what our team did in this particular situation but in their overall desire to transform the work process and improve the customer experience.”
Through an investment of $35 million targeting manufacturing efficiency and speed, Petersen and the Hendersonville team have transformed how lighting systems are made and how fast products move off the line and into service for customers.
The facility has incorporated a new build-to-order “parts-pull system” that utilizes a GE Intelligent Platforms’ Proficy Software suite used by such companies as Nissan, GM and Anheuser-Busch. Incorporating principles of lean manufacturing, pull replenishment and Six Sigma, the plant’s 400 employees can ship orders in an average of six days or less, compared with a pre-transformation four- to six-week delivery. The team’s on-time delivery rate—the frequency that orders ship on or before the day targeted—is consistently more than its 95 percent target and often hits 98 percent or more.
On an average day, the team of hourly and salaried employees produces and ships about 3,000 HID and LED lighting systems to cities as big as Las Vegas and as small as Superior, Neb. Products include GE’s Evolve™ LED Scalable Cobrahead Roadway Lighting Fixture, which earned the prestigious “Best-in-Class” award from the U.S. Department of Energy’s annual Next Generation Luminaires Competition and won the 2013 LightFair International Innovation Award category for Parking, Roadway and Area Luminaires. Since it was established in 1955, the Hendersonville plant has put more than 52 million lighting units into service.
Luke Barratt, business transformation leader with GE Lighting, notes the change has been driven by a single goal: providing the best possible customer experience. “As we made each improvement and were determining what would make our business approach best in class, we had to look from the outside in, not the inside out,” Barratt says. “Instead of focusing only on internal productivity, we concentrated on reducing cycle times and increasing delivery fill rates.”
Because the new approach included improvements to all functions, from receiving an order to the material flow on the manufacturing side, employees started in September 2011 with one product family—a high-wattage Cobrahead roadway lighting fixture. Plant workers now apply new methods to the assembly of products tied to roads and streets, highways, interchanges, tunnels and underpasses, and they expect to fully adopt these efficiencies by September for commercial area lighting. Plant improvements are expected to continue through 2014.
Since the transformation began, a number of new LED product offerings have been introduced, and the list continues to grow. All of these new products provide customers optimal energy savings and lower maintenance costs. This growing product portfolio includes outdoor lighting fixtures for commercial, institutional and government applications such as decorative post tops, industrial facilities and commercial areas and sites.
GE Lighting also is able to fulfill orders for older-model fixtures. For example, a Southern utility customer requested a replacement HID fixture installed on its system two years previously. With the improved process, the order was fulfilled in just 10 days.
“Customers are seeing GE Lighting as a committed and trusted solutions provider,” says Petersen. “We’re moving faster than ever, and we’re ready to meet a fast-growing global demand for GE LED systems made here in North Carolina.”
About GE LightingGE Lighting invents with the vigor of its founder Thomas Edison to develop energy-efficient solutions that change the way people light their world in commercial, industrial, municipal and residential settings. The business employs about 15,000 people in more than 100 countries, and sells products under the Reveal® and Energy Smart® consumer brands, and Evolve™, GTx™, Immersion™, Infusion™, Lumination™, Albeo™, and Tetra® commercial brands, all trademarks of GE. General Electric (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter to build a world that works better. For more information, visit www.gelighting.com.
50 Years of LED InnovationOct. 9, 1962, GE scientist Dr. Nick Holonyak, Jr., invented the first practical visible-spectrum light-emitting diode (LED). In the 50 years since, GE has been on the forefront of LED innovation. The company has released inspired LED products for both residential and commercial settings, from the first ENERGY STAR®-qualified A19-shaped LED bulb to LED street lighting that illuminates cityscapes the world over.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Aurora Township, Ill., Residents and Small Businesses to Save Money Through FirstEnergy Solutions' Electric Aggregation Program
FirstEnergy News Release:
| Aurora Township, Ill., Residents and Small Businesses to Save Money Through FirstEnergy Solutions' Electric Aggregation Program |
AKRON, Ohio,
"We're pleased to be implementing this electric aggregation program for our community," said
FirstEnergy Solutions, a subsidiary of
SOURCE
|
NREL Announces Participants in National Executive Education Program
NREL News Release:
NREL Announces Participants in National Executive Education Program
Thursday, May 23, 2013
The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has selected 20 leaders to participate in its 2013 Executive Energy Leadership program (Energy Execs), which is focused on delivering clean energy solutions.
The five-month program gives executive decision-makers from throughout the United States an in-depth look at renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. Briefings by NREL technology experts, research laboratory tours and visits to field applications are part of the experience.
"Leadership in technology, industry and policy is necessary to transform our current energy system to one that is more sustainable. We are pleased to welcome and inform our business, community and government leaders so they can understand the implications of their energy decisions and demonstrate leadership for the long-term clean energy economy," NREL Director Dan Arvizu said.
At the conclusion of the program, participants present a viable project on a clean energy application. Since its inception, almost 200 representatives of industry, government and non-profit organizations have completed the Energy Execs program, delivered through the Executive Energy Leadership Academy. For more information, visit http://www.nrel.gov/energyexecs/.
NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by The Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.
Editors please note: A complete list of 2013's Energy Execs participants follows.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
2013 Executive Energy Leadership Program Participants
2013 Executive Energy Leadership Program Participants
Edward Adkins – Sherman & Howard, LLC
Korin Crawford – Ekology Infrastructure
Kelly de la Torre – de la Torre Law, LLC
Thom Johnson – Eaton Energy Solutions, Inc.
Lee Ledesma – City of Aspen
Jennifer Miller – Sierra Club
Rick Moats – Adolfson & Peterson
Paul Morgan – Colorado Geological Survey
Randy Muller – Bank of America
Lizette Peña – CliftonLarsonAllen, LLP
George Pond – Denver Zoo
Brandon Rattiner – Office of U.S. Senator Mark Udall
Charles Rienhardt – U.S. General Services Administration
Meghan Riesterer – Medical Center Company
David Roberts – U.S. National Park Service
Chris Shapard – Colorado Cleantech Industry Association
Paul Sweat – National Instruments
Sara Telano – State of Arkansas Energy Office
Wendy Towber – City and County of Denver Office of Economic Development
Rod Vanderwall – State of Colorado Office of the State Architect
Korin Crawford – Ekology Infrastructure
Kelly de la Torre – de la Torre Law, LLC
Thom Johnson – Eaton Energy Solutions, Inc.
Lee Ledesma – City of Aspen
Jennifer Miller – Sierra Club
Rick Moats – Adolfson & Peterson
Paul Morgan – Colorado Geological Survey
Randy Muller – Bank of America
Lizette Peña – CliftonLarsonAllen, LLP
George Pond – Denver Zoo
Brandon Rattiner – Office of U.S. Senator Mark Udall
Charles Rienhardt – U.S. General Services Administration
Meghan Riesterer – Medical Center Company
David Roberts – U.S. National Park Service
Chris Shapard – Colorado Cleantech Industry Association
Paul Sweat – National Instruments
Sara Telano – State of Arkansas Energy Office
Wendy Towber – City and County of Denver Office of Economic Development
Rod Vanderwall – State of Colorado Office of the State Architect
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