Posted on the Star-Telegram (2/8/2010)

Tweet your way to a new job

Posted Sunday, Mar. 07, 2010

The Associated Press

Can you keep your résumé to under 140 characters?

You may be able to tweet your way into a new career, according to Susan Britton-Whitcomb, Deb Dib and Chandlee Bryan, co-authors of a recently published book, The Twitter Job Search Guide.

The Web site is changing how people hunt for work, they said.

"In the past, you had to go through a maze of gatekeepers to get to the cloistered person in charge of hiring decisions," Britton-Whitcomb said. The authors give these tips for your short and sweet, real-time job search:

■ Active participation is essential. Take the time to regularly expand your network and engage others.

■ Be transparent when reaching out to a hiring manager or person with influence about a job, but make sure the relationship is give-and-take in some way.

■ Be sure to post regular updates about your job search and acknowledge those helping you.

■ Be specific when it comes to your career objectives, skills, interests and your brand.

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Early voting is underway in the primary. Please vote. The Republicans have hotly contested races for several positions. The Democratic races are largely unopposed, but there are some exceptions (like Governor), so get out there and vote.
If you need more information about the candidates, check out the Voters Guide, published by the League of Women Voters of Wichita Falls. Paper Voters Guides are available at the Wichita Falls Public Library (also Burkburnett, Iowa Park and Electra) as well as Luby's Cafeteria. The League will also be at the Home and Garden Show this weekend with copies.

You can also access the guide on the web. Here are the links:
Wichita Co offices: http://lwvtexas.org/PDFs/2010PrimaryVGLocal_Part1A.pdf
State races: http://lwvtexas.org/PDFs/2010PEVG_English.pdf

The League provides Voters Guides to the public without charge, but they are not free. If you are able to help the League continue to provide the Voters Guides in a heavy election year, they can really use your support. You can reach the local League by phone at 767-0129 or drop a donation at the Home and Garden Show this weekend.

Posted in the Star Telegram 2/24/2010

Get solar panels installed for free through TXU program

Posted Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010

By JACK Z. SMITH

jzsmith@star-telegram.com

Would you like to have energy-saving solar rooftop panels installed at your home, without any upfront cost?

If so, you're an electricity consumer TXU Energy wants to reach through a new program to be formally announced today by the Irving-based retail electric provider. TXU is teaming up with a California-based company, SolarCity, to lease solar panels that will be installed for free.

For example, a 4-kilowatt solar array of about 20 panels, sufficient for a three-bedroom or four-bedroom home, would have an initial leasing cost of about $35 per month. A homeowner paying 12 cents per kilowatt-hour might reduce a monthly electric bill by $50 with the solar system, producing a net savings after the leasing fee, said John Geary, TXU Energy's vice president for innovation.

Lyndon Rive, CEO of SolarCity, estimated the solar panels would result in "a savings of between 15 and 20 percent" on electric bills. Rive and Geary noted that savings could vary depending on homeowners' electricity use and rate.

TXU Energy does not require that a homeowner be an electricity customer nor become one to participate in the solar-panel program, spokesman Michael Gutierrez said.

15-year lease

A lease would run for 15 years, "within the sweet spot" of the "useful life" of about 20 to 25 years for solar panels, Geary said. A homeowner who sold a residence before the lease expired could "pre-pay the balance of the lease and transfer it to the homebuyer," with the panels likely boosting the sale price, he said.

A homeowner who sold a home and bought another residence in Dallas-Fort Worth could have the panels moved to the new home, Geary said.

The residential solar arrays range from 2.3 to 10 kilowatts, with initial leasing costs running from about $20 to $100 monthly, Gutierrez said. The cost would increase 2.5 percent annually, Rive said, meaning an initial monthly lease of $35 would grow to $50.69 after 15 years.

Participants make payments to SolarCity, separate from their electric bill, Gutierrez said.

Homeowners who want to participate but prefer to buy the solar panels outright can do so. A typical 4-kilowatt system costs $26,000, not including federal rebates and tax incentives, TXU said.

The leasing program, in effect now, serves the most heavily populated parts of D-FW.

It is being offered in an area roughly bounded by Waxahachie to the south, Joshua and Cleburne to the southwest, Weatherford to the west, Denton to the north, McKinney to the northeast and Terrell to the east, Gutierrez said.

The program drew praise Tuesday from people and organizations that often have been critical of electric utilities and Texas' deregulated system.

Praise from critics

"Well, hell's freezing over. TXU's got a great program," said Tom "Smitty" Smith, Texas director for Public Citizen. The consumer and environmental organization has unwaveringly supported expanded energy conservation and renewable energy such as solar and wind power.

"The biggest impediment to solar is upfront cost," Smith said Tuesday. TXU's program "takes away" that hurdle, he said.

"It's sort of the wave of the future, where utilities make money off providing energy services, instead of just electricity," he said.

"Today marks a new chapter in bringing renewable energy to Texas on a mass scale," Jim Marston, founding director of the Texas office of the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement praising TXU's program.

JACK Z. SMITH, 817-390-7724

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Posted in the Star Telegram 2/24/2010

Recall may not be a total fix, Toyota tells lawmakers

Posted Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010

By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The president of Toyota's U.S. operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers Tuesday that the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally" solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.

"We are vigilant, and we continue to look for potential causes," Toyota's Jim Lentz told a congressional panel. However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor mats and sticking accelerator pedals.

He insisted that electronic systems connected to the gas pedal and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could not stop her runaway Lexus.

"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith of Sevierville, Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second "shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.

Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of the sudden acceleration. Still, "we have not found a malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he said.

Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But committee investigators said the testing studied only a small number of vehicles.

Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one source, and they can come from inside or outside the car. Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage, where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no trace at all.

Pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it, Lentz replied: "Not totally."

Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were "very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas pedal on almost all its new vehicles and a majority of its existing ones.

Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6 million in the United States -- since last fall because of unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering concerns in Corollas.

Toyota owners have complained of their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration of Toyota vehicles since 2000.

Meanwhile, Toyota President Akio Toyoda, who will testify before a separate panel today, said he took "full responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners.

"My name is on every car," Toyoda said in prepared testimony. "You have my personal commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to restore the trust of our customers."

"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited "fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel that his agency is looking into possible electronics problems. He said the company's recalls were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer every question."

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