Will soupy ice cream and soggy, unfrozen peas in your freezer be common in the future as your local utility cuts power on high demand days, wonders Grumpy Editor.
CNSNews.com --- in material that didn’t get much coverage in major print/broadcast outlets --- reports, “The Environmental Protection Agency has revised its Energy Star energy-efficiency requirements for residential refrigerators, and it is encouraging the inclusion of 'connected' features that respond to utility signals to curb their energy consumption.”
That means the “connection” allows a power company to regulate appliances' electricity usage, including curtailing operations during peak demand periods, such as on hot summer afternoons.
CNSNews.com, from an EPA release, points out updated requirements encourage manufacturers of Energy Star appliances to include optional "connected" features.
Revised Energy Star refrigerator-freezer specifications are slated to go into effect on Sept. 15, 2014.
China provides spark for fireworks in U.S.
Since few people, especially around Fourth of July celebrations, observe the “manufactured in” fine print on fireworks packages, it comes as no surprise that a new study, via the American Pyrotechnics Association (APA), finds 93 percent of all fireworks set off in the U.S. are produced in China.
In reporting this on Friday, the Washington Times notes the U.S. made only 6.7 million of the total 207.5 million pounds of fireworks purchased domestically last year.
Bethesda, Md.-based APA, as the nation’s oldest and most recognized fireworks trade group, promotes safety in design and use of legal fireworks.
In case you missed these…
Hoffman Media is sticking by celebrity chef Paula Deen. While others have pulled out backing her, the Birmingham, Ala.-based publisher has no plans to stop printing Cooking with Paula Deen, one of eight Hoffman magazines targeted at the women’s market…Chicago-based Tribune Co. agreed to buy 19 television stations from Local TV Holdings in a $2.73 billion deal that boosts Tribune’s television stations to 42…For the first time in four years, local TV news salaries are down, reports the latest Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA)/Hofstra University survey. See the full statistics, including radio, here.
The Star-Ledger, Newark, puts its 47-year-old headquarters building on the market a week after the paper, largest in New Jersey, threatened to close if union concessions are not met…Al Jazeera America signs former CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien and will feature her as a special correspondent for its prime time news magazine, America Tonight...So you think ad agencies have it easy? Ad Age’s Nancy Hill points out several global advertisers who spend billions of dollars in advertising are proposing extended payment terms --- 75, 90 and up to 120 days --- for work from ad agencies. At the 120-days level, that means output finalized today is paid by Thanksgiving. Standard payment terms are usually 30 to 45 days.
Road to master’s degree cut: University of Southern California’s Annenberg's School for Communication and Journalism will begin offering a master’s degree in journalism in nine months rather than two years.
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