Advice Network Founders Blog

America’s energy needs have changed considerably in recent years. With hundreds of millions of people running the digital devices that support modern life, our growing energy demand prompts us to question the viability of modern electricity generation and transmission. Recently, RMI’s Chief Scientist Amory Lovins wrote a guest piece for the New York Times Freakonomics Blog in which he responds to the question “Does a Big Economy Need Big Power Plants?”

In the piece he describes the benefits of distributed electric supply (e.g., wind turbines, solar cells, fuel cells, etc.). According to Lovins, “distributed benefits often boost economic value by about tenfold. The biggest come from financial economics: for example, small, fast, modular units are less risky to build than big, slow, lumpy ones, and renewable energy sources avoid the risks of volatile fuel prices.”

In addition to the economic argument, Lovins points out that a distributed electric supply can offer greater reliability than a few large units strung together by a shaky grid. For the full article, posted on the New York Times Freakonomics Blog, please click here. Also, for more information on the benefits of distributed electric resources and micropower, see www.smallisprofitable.org.

Sincerely,

Rocky Mountain Institute

Rocky Mountain Institute’s Energy and Resources Team has just published a report that shows the opportunity for 30 percent energy savings in the United States. Assessing the Electric Productivity Gap and the U.S. Efficiency Opportunity analyzed electric productivity state by state, and found a significant gap between the highest and lowest performing states.

Electric productivity measures how much gross domestic product is generated for each kilowatt-hour consumed ($GDP/kWh). This finding is significant because if laggard states achieved the electric productivity of the top ten performing states through energy efficiency, we would achieve electric savings equivalent to more than 60 percent of U.S. coal-fired generation. According to Natalie Mims, Consultant on RMI’s Energy & Resources Team (ERT), “closing the electric productivity gap through energy efficiency is the largest near-term opportunity to immediately reduce electricity use and greenhouse gases, and move the United States forward as a leader in the new clean energy economy.”

The electric productivity of top performing states, like New York, Connecticut, and California, serves as an example of what’s achievable. Those states show the nation how barriers to efficiency practices can be overcome, how state utilities can be regulated, and how new and effective technologies can be implemented. Conversely, lower performing states have a huge opportunity to learn from the successes of higher performing states by closing their electric productivity gap using known and tested technology and policy. This will be the focus of RMI’s next step, as ERT concentrates on the efficiency measures that can cost-effectively have the largest impact.

To complement the report, RMI has also released an interactive map ranking each state’s electric productivity, which illustrates the opportunities to catch up with the best performing states. If you would like to review the report’s findings in a visual and interactive way, the map is available here.

How do you know if youre addicted to Wii? Many will say its not possible however with the growing trends that is just not so. So far to date over 3.2 million have been sold and the number keeps rising.

Although the addiction may not be due to an imbalance in the brain. There are many factors may hint to an addiction.

You decide to go shopping and the next thing you know a police office is behind you. He tells you that you cannot race around the parking lot doing donuts. Your only excuse is that you are trying to get to first place. It is then you realize you are not in a Mario Brothers Cart.

During dinner you pick up your knife and try to sleigh the dragon overhead. Or you jump off your cough and complete a back flip because you think you are on skis. Another symptom might be that you actually get trigger finger and you need to see a doctor. Which leads to surgery to release it! Not so good.

How about when you go bowling with friends and you can’t actually get the ball down the lane because you are used to the wii and bowling from your living room. Even worse, when actually bowl more than a 200 at a bowling alley after you have only bowled one other time in your life.

Insomnia, loss of appetite, withdrawal from society; these are all extreme symptoms especially when you realize you haven’t left the house in a month. How do your symptoms reveal themselves?

In my opinion there is no addiction. These are the signs of a true gamer who enjoys the Wii. This trend is a sign of changing times as it draws people closer. New bonds betweens families and friends are formed as well an increase level of fitness. Ride the wave of the Wii and keep gaming!

The idea of being a passenger on a ship doesn’t appeal to the kind of person that really wants to take the bull by the horns. These are the people that take the wheel, and take the ship in whatever direction they want to go. Being a passenger on a ship that is on its way to a great destination is one thing but directing their way to the destination is what building a super affiliate marketing business is really about.

What does a person need to have real success in an affiliate marketing business? What are the characteristics you must have to make it long term? There are five essentials you need to possess if you want to achieve greatness in this business. These five essentials you may never let go of if you are going to stand out in the crowd.

1. The very first quality you must possess in the affiliate marketing business is the willingness to learn and be trained. Finding your way through unfamiliar territory can be scary if you aren’t properly equipped. Learning the little tricks of the trade is a vitally important aspect of the game.

2. The second characteristic you must have is the willingness to invest time and effort even if you don’t see the results immediately. Sometimes several months may pass without any sales, but it is important to be patient enough to hold on and wait for the results you’re after. This quality will save you from giving up after investing countless hours in your business.

3. The third is self-determination. If you want to make it as an affiliate marketer, you must charge ahead no matter what. A never give up attitude is what you will need to survive in this competitive business. Being self-motivated and persistent will beat out any other quality in the end.

4. The next quality you need is discipline. Once you know how to focus yourself to do the tasks that are critical to your success everyday you will be very close to achieving your goals as an affiliate marketer.

5. The last quality you’ll need is optimism. Negative thoughts will attempt to hinder you from reaching your goals. Don’t let these thoughts or the views of others get you off your path to success. Once you commit to your business, stick to it with a firm optimism that it will work and it will.

The ingredients to building a successful affiliate marketing business are diverse, but the most important thing you need to make it big is within you. When you have the capacity and desire to do everything you need to realize your goals, then you’ll have the jet fuel to keep going and make it big. Affiliate marketing is all about putting your fate into you own hands. The right attitude is the key to being able to steer your ship into calm waters where a certain peace and freedom can be found.

Today you’ll find that electricity is getting more and more expensive. As prices rise, more and more people are beginning to consider alternative forms of energy. More and more people today are beginning to use various types of energy allowing them to save on energy bills in a big way.

One way that you can save money on your electricity costs is to build your own wind turbine. Wind power is an endlessly renewable, free source of energy - all that is needed is to take advantage of it. When building your own wind turbine, there are a few things you should think about ahead of time.

The first thing you’ll have to consider is where to place your turbine. After all, if you build your wind turbine in an area which is sheltered from the wind, it’s not going to produce much if any energy for you. Look for a spot where there is the possibility of harnessing wind speeds of at least 10 mph; this will work well for your turbine.

There can’t be any obstructions like trees or other towers that will obstruct the flow of wind to your turbine. Remember, even your turbine is in front of them in the direction of the wind, the wind speed will still be reduced due to the fact that they’re there. Take a careful look before you start building to make sure you have a good place to put it.

Looking for local regulations on wind turbines in your area is also important. Get all the required permits, and you’ll save a lot of money in the long run. It’s not that hard, really. Make sure it’s alright with your neighbors as well.

Of course before you actually start to build a wind turbine, you’ll want to make sure that you gather together all of your supplies and tools. Figure out what you’ll need for the job. Then go make the purchase so that you have everything needed on hand.

Finally, if you are using a plan for building your wind turbine, make sure to follow the instructions to the letter. You can find detailed plans both online and in many books. A turbine which is properly built is going to perform much better than one which is simply slapped together with fingers crossed.

Building a wind turbine is really not a huge job, as long as you keep these considerations in mind. Make sure that you find the right site, check on government regulations, get together the tools and supplies, and then simply follow the plans. In no time you’ll be saving money on energy.

Welcome to Global Domains International Scam Article Review Blog. GDI is not a online Scam. I give it a THUMBS UP! Both THUMBS UP!

I have been looking for an affordable online business opportunity. I have a wife and five kids. I don’t have tons of money to invest in internet marketing. I have been scammed before and it wasn’t sweet.

I found the GDI Signup Website on a google search. I was skeptical,at first. How could it only be 10 dollars a month? There has to be a catch right. Well I researched the GDI online business opportunity over and over.

Yes it was only 10 dollars a month. They promised me I could pick my own domain name, get hosting for it, 10 emails for my website, and a sitebuilder program to build my website all for 10 bucks a month.

GDI delivered. I was shocked. They are telling the truth. Now I know that GDI has been around for several years and that they have a great reputation.

Here is the best part about GDI. You can sign up for FREE. You can earn money telling people about GDI. It’s easy to share with others about this great company. You can even buy business cards to promote GDI. They have all kinds of training tips on their website. They got cool banners and text links.

The earnings potential with GDI is staggering. You can make a $100.00 bonus just for getting five people to sign up in a week. Plus you earn a buck a month for each person on your downline five levels deep with no limits. Pretty straight forward stuff. If you are interested in the GDI opportunity go to the GDI Website today and sign up for free.

In all kinds of business, you need to maintain contact with customers, whether be it product update of feedback survey or conducting promotional campaign, you need to contact your clients.

Doing MLM/ Network Marketing online lack the human touch that offline marketing have. But it is possible to make up for that flaw.

The only important thing you need to remember when doing MLM / Network Marketing is PEOPLE. You need to connect with people. Online, we call them leads. You need leads to have any sale. Not only you need leads, you need targeted leads, that is people who are interested in your product or services.

The leads collected will make up your future sale. In order to close a sale with them in future, you need to let then know you. You can do this by building your brand image. This can be done through advertisements through emails. What makes branding so important is the customer perception. Like Apple, they have successfully created a fantastic branding for its products. When people think of Mp3, they think of Ipod.

In order to maximize the results of your Email Marketing Campaign, you need to do more than just sending them information. There are more things to take note when you start your Email Marketing Campaign.

Email Pro

Here are some sure fire tips to emailing like a professional.

- Who are you?

You need to identify yourself in your email address so people will be less reluctant to open your email. Use emails that shouts your identity e.g. sales@yourcompany.com. Such emails can be created very easily as most hosting plans give you free emails under your website URL.

Another factor that determines if a person opens up your email is the subject line. Your subject line must attract them or create interest to know more. Generally as a rule, keep it under 50 characters.

- Body

After your reader decides to open your email, you have to grab this opportunity to sell your purpose to them. Identify your self and the purpose of your purpose to them immediately. Keep the style of the email close to the style of your website. State the referrer if you have.

Increase The Effectiveness of Your Email

An effective email is more likely to increase traffic to your website. It also increases the returns on effort (that is for scripting the email). Here is 6 golden rules to make your email more effective;

- Brand

Remember to brand yourself or the Company, whichever you are representing. Good branding will make readers remember you, or your company. Keep to the branding you choose, and use it consistently, every time you email them. Use the branding in your from line or subject line, so they can recognize you.

- Honesty

Be honest in your subject line. Don’t trick them to opening the email with misleading or false information. Be cautioned that it is a requirement to state accurate subject line.

- Instill sense of urgency

In order to make readers take action, you have to instill a sense of urgency in them to take action. Use time sensitive words like “Buy Now, While Stocks Last, Limited time, For first 100 sign ups only”.

- Entice them

To further entice them to read our email, you can also give them some benefite to do so. Everybody likes free stuffs. Include a gift in your subject line to entice them to open the email. Some examples are; Get your free E-Book, Redeem your free trial, etc…

- Keep to the limit

In your main body, you can use bolds, colors, and capital letters to emphasize the benefits of your product / service. But bear in mind not to over do it. Using too much bolds, capital letters and colors will not only confuse your readers, it will also piss people and spiders off. Spiders may filter your email and classify it as SPAM.

-Short and sweet

Don’t try to put in tonnes of information and updates in one email. Keep it short and sweet, focusing on the main points only. Practice your own discretion when writing emails to your audience and purpose of message.

*P.S. It is compulsory (legal requirement) for you to include an “unsubscribe tab” in your emails to reduce SPAM

Blogging have been around for many years, and the use of blogging have revolved from personal dairy to an online business tool. There are so many ways blogging can help you in your online and offline business. You need to understand how you can tap on this fantastic tool to expand and improve your business

Since the discovery of blogs, many blog compatible tools and features have emerged. Many of these are free and easy to use and install. Some of these tools can help you in the effectiveness of your online business.

(1) Keep on posting regularly

One of the most crucial thing about using blog for your business is your posts. You need to update it regularly. Reason being you will be expecting visitor and you want them to keep coming, so you need to post update and post new contents to attract them to revisit your blog.

(2) Provide relevant content in your blog

If you want your readers to come back again and again, you have to give them what they are looking for or what they want. The way they found your blog or site is via your title/headings, so your content of your post should be relevant to your headings. Good content is one of the best proven ways to retain readers to your blog and succeed in blogging. Search engines such as Google also loves blogs with relevant content.

(3) Recommend interaction in your blog

As blogs allow your readers to comment on your post. You should take this opportunity to start an interaction conversation with them. Social network - Web 2.0 is getting increasingly more popular and replying comments and interaction on your comments just fits the bill perfectly. You will be able to substantially retain good amount of readers as a result.

(4) Continual promotion of your blog

It will be an absolute waste if you have great content in your blog with zero traffic or visitors to read it. Marketing or promoting your blog is one of the most crucial step to make money online. You should aim to use every possible tool available to you to market. You can consider using traffic generation tools online to promote your blog, and it must be done aggressively, because there are simply too much competition out there on the internet. Massive promotion will eventually lead to increased blog visibility.

(5) Build friendships and connections

The blog provides the best opportunity to build good friendships and strong connections that are so important for your online business. The concepts of community, linking, and even dialogue are an integral part of blogging. With the formation of friendships and strong connections, it will benefit your blog tremendously if you can get other blogs to link to you. This is one of the more important strategies to succeed in blogging because it will pave the way for more traffic to your blog.

(6) Identify yourself

Blogs are different from website. There is more personal touch to blogs. So you can and you should identify yourself in your blog. This can be a form of personal branding. Other than blogging, you can use forums and social networking sites to further brand yourself and promote your blog.

(7) Provide your visitors unparalleled experience

When readers come to your blog, they will expect to see relevant content, easy navigation, and to experience warmth and friendliness while they are in your blog. It is so important to ensure that your blog provides the visitors with an experience that is really fulfilling and worthy. An intrinsic characteristic of the blog is being friendly and personal. Your blog must be able to allow visitors to read, chat and even socialize. Only then will they treat your blog as their favorite.

In summary, the demand for information is never ending, but the competition is also very strong and intense, to stand out, you need to differentiate yourself from the rest and also the most fundamental thing is to give good and quality information.

SOLAR ENERGY: It’s a fact that all life depends on and comes from the sun. The production of oxygen and food would be impossible without solar energy.

Farmers know the value of a large field with a plentiful supply of sunlight, and now individuals all around the world are taking this boundless source of diffuse energy more seriously as the finite supply of fossil fuels dwindle.

Today less than 0.1% of our heating, transportation and power energy comes from direct sunlight although it is now possible to meet all our energy needs with this simple, renewable resource. Demand for electricity is growing at an ever-increasing rate.

The Energy Information Administration estimates that 258 gigawatts of new electric generating capacity will be needed by 2030 to meet the growing demand. This equates to an additional 250 to 500 baseload power plants rated at between one-half and one gigawatt of capacity.

Infrastructure costs are increasing. The cost of maintaining the nations electric power grid including high-voltage transmission lines and towers, power sub-stations, and electric distribution systems is advancing in an upward trajectory. In a three year period ending with 2009, electric utility companies will need to invest $31.5 billion, a 60 percent increase over the three years from 2002 to 2005.

For the next ten years electric utilities will invest $14 billion per year on infrastructure. Compliance with environmental laws and regulations and related litigation is becoming more expensive for electric utilities. The Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, as well as a host of other state and federal laws and statutes create a maze of bureaucracy to negotiate.

Rate caps which were put in place beginning in 1997 have begun to expire giving the impression that rates are rising when in actuality costs that have already been incurred by electric utilities are being passed on to consumers. So you see why it’s so important for us to use the resources we have like the sun to fuel or world.