Feed Editor Lite 6 Jun 2008 15:53:31 GMT The IFMA Insider provides industry-specific news and information to leaders in the facility management industry. Delivered weekly, the publication keeps professionals abreast of topics that impact the daily operation of their facilities. http://www.ifma.org en If just 0.3 percent of the Saharan Desert was used for a concentrating solar plant, it would produce enough power to provide all of Europe with clean renewable energy. That is why 20 blue chip German companies are gathering together next month to discuss plans and investments to create such a massive project. Both the meeting and project are being promoted by the Desertec Foundation, which is proposing to erect 100 GW of concentrating solar power plants throughout Northern Africa. 26 Jun 2009 13:44:34 GMT http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/06/22/worlds-largest-solar-project-sahara-desert/ 06E41704-FF14-44AE-9B6F-674549AA5CD2 Ben Weinberger, chief information officer of a law firm, typically travels about 25 times a year visiting colleagues around the country to make sure their information technology systems are working properly. His employer, Lathrop & Gage, has 11 offices and 300 attorneys. But Weinberger estimates he will travel only once this year to each office, relying instead on videoconferencing from the main office in Kansas City. 26 Jun 2009 13:44:34 GMT http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/travel/2009-06-22-travel-technology-videoconference_N.htm 92A54BA9-8E61-4C09-A065-FD0BAD5005C5 Green building standards may not seem to be on the front burner of commercial real estate as much this year as last, simply because very little new development is breaking ground these days. Yet think and planning and policy shifts regarding sustainable real estate go on, anticipating the day when development will begin again. 26 Jun 2009 13:44:34 GMT http://www.contractmagazine.com/contract/content_display/design/news/e3i5bc95dcbd33158676882b05561ef1039 75B354AC-BF3A-4F6E-B464-640314C93C3C As Web-enabled smartphones have become standard on the belts and in the totes of executives, people in meetings are increasingly caving in to temptation to check e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, even ESPN.com. But a spirited debate about etiquette has broken out. Traditionalists say the use of BlackBerrys and iPhones in meetings is as gauche as ordering out for pizza. Techno-evangelists insist that to ignore real-time text messages in a need-it-yesterday world is to invite peril. 26 Jun 2009 13:44:33 GMT http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/22/us/22smartphones.html?ref=global-home FBD73AB9-5E16-4296-A8EE-FD074188F253 In April, former President Bill Clinton, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) Chief Scientist Amory Lovins, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Empire State Building owner Tony Malkin, along with project partners Jones Lang LaSalle and Johnson Controls Inc. announced an audacious plan to reduce the energy use of the Empire State Building by 38 percent, and save US$4.4 million annually in the process. The plan was the result of a 12-month study, which included intensive building measurements, energy and financial modeling, and tenant engagement. 26 Jun 2009 13:44:33 GMT http://www.greenerbuildings.com/blog/2009/06/11/ESB-a-profitable-energy-efficiency-retrofit 78D33A7C-A3BF-48F3-9C12-03ADBF8BC1F8 Dozens of U.S. cities may have entire neighborhoods bulldozed as part of drastic "shrink to survive" proposals being considered by the Obama administration to tackle economic decline. 26 Jun 2009 13:44:33 GMT http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/5516536/US-cities-may-have-to-be-bulldozed-in-order-to-survive.html EE351450-29BD-4224-A034-C19C340827BC We rely on good jobs for our sense of wellbeing. Today, young people are routed into employment that has scant relationship to their aspirations. The losses of pay and opportunity are serious, but my concern goes beyond work as a source of income or even of achievement to work as it shapes our identity. Who we are in our solitary moments and in our close relationships is a product of who we are on the job. Increasingly, it’s the workplace, as much as the home, that provides lessons about how to face personal challenges. 26 Jun 2009 13:44:33 GMT http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052970204005504574233843106970648.html?mod=googlenews_wsj 3C17189E-CFAF-472C-A310-2A3A857E5528 A report released this month from The Pew Charitable Trust shows that the clean energy economy is poised for explosive growth. The report highlights investments being made today in clean energy that will drive future growth. 26 Jun 2009 13:44:32 GMT http://www.examiner.com/x-14448-Green-Business-Examiner~y2009m6d18-The-clean-energy-economy-is-poised-for-explosive-grow E24E9628-E939-477A-89E8-43E1AF0AB3CA If a city can be spectacularly quiet, this waterfront city-state has certainly qualified in recent months. Hundreds of abandoned construction cranes languish above Dubai's gated communities and beach-side developments and, most dramatically, up and down Sheikh Zayed Road, its high-rise spine. According to a recent estimate in the Middle East Economic Digest, projects worth a staggering US$335 billion in the United Arab Emirates—of which Dubai, with a population of about 2 million, is the largest member—are stalled or have been canceled outright. 26 Jun 2009 13:44:32 GMT http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-ca-dubai21-2009jun21,0,3828787.story 57DA22BF-F08B-447C-9054-D869F16D5386