Monique Trottier › Comments

Abaco Island has naturally protected waters and dozens of offshore cays covering over 130 square miles of aquamarine water in the Bahamas. The Abacos are a pleasure to yachtsmen and fishing enthusiasts. It is referred to as the sailing capital of the world. Here you will find excellent marinas, guides and boats for hire as well as a championship golf course, one of seven in The Bahamas, the others being in Nassau, Freeport, Abaco and Eleuthera. - Monique Trottier

Central to our vision for sustainability is playing our role in helping achieve alignment between the sometimes competing interests of profitable markets with the needs of communities and living within environmental limits. - Monique Trottier

The Canadian Energy Efficiency Centre was created by the Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance (CEEA) to help facilitate and ease access to energy efficiency information and resources. CEEA promotes and advances energy efficiency and its related benefits to the economy and the environment. - Monique Trottier

The Energy Collective - Search Results 'energy conservation' - Monique Trottier

Coke’s goal of neutral-water usage focuses on "returning to communities and to nature an amount of water equivalent to what we use in all of our beverages and their production." Coke is focused on water minimization in their processes, recycling water wherever possible, returning it to the environment effectively, and partnering with NGOs like World Wildlife Fund and other local organizations to make a difference for communities and the natural environment through locally relevant projects. - Monique Trottier

Imagine a world in which the excess energy from one business would be used to heat another. Where buildings need less and less energy around the world, and where “regenerative” commercial buildings – ones that create more energy than they use – are being designed. A world in which environmentally sound products and processes would be more cost-effective than wasteful ones. A world in which corporations such as Costco, Nike, BP, and countless others are forming partnerships with environmental and social justice organizations to ensure better stewardship of the earth and better livelihoods in the developing world. Now, stop imagining – that world is already emerging. - Monique Trottier

event listings for abaco, bahamas - Monique Trottier

In-home energy management is a cornerstone of the smart grid movement, but it’s not necessarily reliant on having the updated grid infrastructure and demand response technology in place. There are a host of players, including telcos, IT companies, hardware- and software-makers, exploring remote energy management services on a number of interfaces spanning the mobile phone, PC, television and, eventually, the smart meter. - Monique Trottier

CIOs recognize the importance of environmental considerations in planning IT operations, but they are often unsure about how to put that recognition into action. ... The crucial first step is assessment -- understanding the state of green IT policies and practices within your organization." - Monique Trottier

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11... - Monique Trottier

Spearheaded by master real estate developer, Alexis Nihon II, president of Anco Lands LTD, the high-end development broke ground this summer. "This part of the Bahamas is on the edge of emerging as one of the world's leading luxury destinations. Our goal is to capture the natural beauty of this spectacular island and create an exclusive environment that offers residents the ultimate retreat and investment for their families," said Nihon. - Monique Trottier

P&G also points to its significant reductions in manufacturing processes. Since July of 2002, it has cut its waste disposal by 53 percent (30 percent of which has gone down in the past two years), its water usage and CO2 emissions by 52 percent, and its energy usage by 48 percent. - Monique Trottier

Of all options, reducing electricity use is the lowest cost resource available to significantly impact greenhouse gas emissions because every time electricity is not used (that otherwise would have been), less fuel is burned in powerplants. Nearly 50% of US electricity comes from coal-fired powerplants. Even from the most efficient coal plants, about two pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) are released for every kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity produced, so two pounds are avoided for every kWh of electricity that is saved. It is not hard to think about applying today's efficient technology to achieve billions of kWh savings and millions of metric tons of CO2 reduction annually from energy efficiency, but it is very hard to imagine the cost and scale of solar, wind, electric cars, or "cash for clunkers" that would be required to reduce CO2 emissions on the scale that would put a dent in the rate of US greenhouse gas emissions. - Monique Trottier

Amazon's review program reflects a new reality for the way consumers shop in the Digital Age: The Internet has become the world's greatest research tool, and consumers hardly buy anything anymore without first getting the skinny online. Some 70% of Americans say they consult product reviews or consumer ratings before making a purchase, according to an October 2008 survey by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, a research and consulting firm. Amazon has played a central role in the change in consumer behavior by being the first successful Web retailer to embrace consumers' views. - Monique Trottier

Also known as a flexbook because of its adaptability, a digital textbook can be downloaded, projected and printed, and can range from simple text to a Web-based curriculum embedded with multimedia and links to Internet content. Some versions must be purchased; others are "open source" -- free and available online to anyone. - Monique Trottier

Of all the companies in the U.S., Duke Energy is the 3rd largest emitter of CO2. Of all the companies in the world, Duke is the 12th biggest emitter. And if North Carolina-based Duke were a country, it would rank No. 41 in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, ahead of entire nations in Europe, Africa and Asia. Rogers_JE_color_5x7And yet…Jim Rogers, Duke’s longtime president, CEO and chairman, is pushing as hard as anyone in corporate America to get a climate-change bill passed by Congress. His company helped the U.S. Climate Action Partnership get going, and he was key in getting some (but not all) utility-company CEOs to support carbon regulation. - Monique Trottier

Swartz: If we leave the climate conversation strictly to those companies with a big stake in the usage of energy, we fail to harness the true power of what business can bring to the table. Business has the ability to efficiently solve problems through innovation, and that expertise should be maximized during the climate debate. Responsible business is not a future ambition, nor is it limited to companies of a certain size or in a specific industry, nor is it a negotiable practice for forward-thinking organizations. We've all got resources and responsibility to share the climate burden, and ownership for solving the problem. - Monique Trottier

Environmentalists and policy makers see carbon taxation as an effective way to cut carbon emissions and reduce the effects of global warming. Bills have been introduced in Europe and the United States, and more are likely to surface as climatic changes continue. Even China reportedly is considering a carbon tax bill. - Monique Trottier

* 54.5 percent of those surveyed agreed that workers were more productive in a green building. (42.5 percent agreed with the statement,12 percent strongly agreed with the statement and 45 percent reported no change.) * 45 percent reported employees had 2.88 fewer sick days. (Another 45 reported no change and 10 percent of the respondents, some of those who had moved to an Energy Star building rather than a LEED-rated building, reported an increase in sick days. Researchers noted that there are no indoor air quality requirements for Energy Star buildings, unlike the LEED system, which includes IAQ standards. - Monique Trottier

If the grid is something more like an open network, small producers can sell energy back to utilities. So maybe local farmers have an incentive to generate their own power with solar panels or wind turbines. As King notes, smart meters create opportunities for new technology as well: Software that helps households and businesses reduce their usage at peak times, for example. - Monique Trottier

Managers vs. Makers and why scheduling appointments with makers (designers, developers, etc.) is so hard. - Monique Trottier

August 2009 report card of how Canadian publishers are using Twitter. - Monique Trottier

web 2.0 for newspapers and publishers - Monique Trottier

One of the biggest misconceptions by brand managers is that the web is not a luxury market. The truth is that people are spending more money online and it’s a place luxury brands must build a presence. However, most have a nagging fear of ruining their brand reputation. So, how can luxury brands engage in social media? - Monique Trottier

social media, tech and marketing conferences list - Monique Trottier

The governor's digital education project began last month to identify digital textbooks that are free and downloadable. Nonprofts and other free providers have until June 15 to submit materials to the California Learning Resources Network, which will determine if they're in line with state curriculum. The plan is to have links to high school science and math textbooks online by Aug. 10. - Monique Trottier

The Seven Types of Bookstore Customer. (an incomplete but also mostly comprehensive list) - Monique Trottier

The bottom line: If Facebook is worth $10 billion today, MySpace is worth just $6.5 billion. Bebo is worth $1.8 billion, Twitter is worth $1.7 billion and LinkedIn is worth $0.8 billion. Facebook also accounts for 37% of all social networking value points in our model. Another way of saying this: If Facebook is worth $10 billion, the value of the entire social networking industry is $27.1 billion. - Monique Trottier

# Don’t waste your readers’ time — An email inbox is a busy place, you won’t get much attention. # Permission matters — Not only do you need to have permission to email people, but it helps to remind them of how they gave you permission, as specifically as you can. # Relevance trumps permission — Just having permission is not enough, the content you are sending must also be relevant. # Make unsubscribing easy — There’s no point emailing people who are not interested. # Image blocking is common — You can’t rely on people actually seeing your images. # Bring back tables — Structural tables are still often necessary for creating columns. # Add inline styles — Gmail removes anything else. # Don’t forget your plain text version — You can make blocks of text more readable. # Meet your legal obligations — For example, CAN-SPAM for US senders. # Test, test, test — It’s the only way to be confident about your design working. - Monique Trottier

EPUB is based on the DTBook standard from NISO—the same underlying standard on which the DAISY format was built. Using the DTBook standard, publishers can create EPUB files to bundle with other required files for NIMAS compliance. Most agreed that a well-structured XML file is the closest currently available approximation of that ideal format. It appears that EPUB could be that file. In mainstream book markets, the combined EPUB standard allows publishers to produce and send a single digital publication file through distribution for a variety of platforms. EPUB is a publisher-to-consumer format in that there are more and more software applications and devices that support the format (i.e., they can read EPUB files without any additional processing or conversion). But the standard is also a business-to-business format in that it can be reliably converted for use on a range of additional platforms, including Microsoft Reader, Palm, MobiPocket, and the Amazon Kindle. - Monique Trottier