Category Archives: Yard & Outdoors

Gardening And Landscaping: How To Find Bargains On The Internet

Gardening And Landscaping: How To Find Bargains On The Internet

Any person who has spent time designing a landscape scheme and planting and tending to flower beds and vegetable patches has come to understand that gardening and landscaping can become a most expensive undertaking. Perhaps you are a person who has embarked on a trek involving gardening and landscaping. If that is the case, you likely have also found yourself interested in finding ways in which you can save money on necessary gardening supplies and landscaping materials.

In the brick and mortar world, there are a wide array of different store that specialize in gardening supplies and landscaping materials. As a general rule, these various specialty shops maintain an inventory of goods that tend to be priced on the high side. Of course, there are also discount retail stores that carry gardening items on a seasonal basis for what might be considered a more reasonable price. However, many an ardent gardener has complained that while the prices may be better in a discount retail store, the selection may not be as broad as a “green-thumber” might desire.

One solution that works for many people who love to garden but who do not want to break the bank in the process is turning to the Internet and World Wide Web. In recent years, there has been a steady growth in the number of Internet based websites that cater to people dedicated to gardening and landscaping.

In many instances, an Internet-based gardening business is able to avoid the high overhead costs associated with comparable stores and outlets in the brick and mortar world. These Internet venues are then able to pass the savings they enjoy on to their customers. In othere words, a typical gardener is able to obtain high quality products online (and a good selection of this type of merchandise) as a cost markedly lower than what might otherwise be found in shops and stores operating in the proverbial “real world.”

By taking the time to “surf” the Net — by taking a break from planting and tending to plants out of doors — a gardening enthusiast will be able to find exactly the types of gardening supplies and landscaping materials that are needed to develop a beautiful lawn and garden. A gardener will be able to find everything from seeds to plants to all manners of gardening supplies at one or another of the different Internet venues now in operation specializing in this type or merchandise. In the end, by shopping online for garden related merchandise, a person will be able to create exactly the type of garden and landscape he or she desires — and will have money to spare when all is said, done and planted.

Contracting Helps Save on Energy Costs

Contracting Helps Save on Energy Costs

To improve energy efficiency, some companies are doing more than just turning out the lights at the end of the day.

As soaring energy costs increasingly affect the bottom line of U.S. businesses, the “energy performance contract” has become an attractive solution for commercial building owners. This contract is a financing or operating lease offered by an energy service company, also known as an ESCO, to help businesses improve the energy efficiency of their buildings or facilities.

The key to energy performance contracting is to use long-term utility savings to fund the improvements. The ESCO often guarantees energy savings that will meet or exceed annual payments to cover all project costs, usually over a contract term of seven to 20 years.

“A building owner either pays a utility for an inefficient building, or they can pay an ESCO to improve their building,” says Jeff Stokes, a vice president at World Energy Solutions, a publicly traded ESCO (symbol: WEGY) based in St. Petersburg, Fla.

World Energy Solutions strives to reduce kilowatt usage by up to 30 percent. The company offers a variety of services, including utility billing and rate analysis, energy auditing, installation of building improvements, building systems maintenance and ongoing monitoring and verification of the energy savings.

ESCOs can provide flexible and unique ways to finance their services. For example, World Energy Solutions offers to pay the

total up-front cost of installation as well as equipment maintenance in return for an 80 percent share of the actual savings realized over a minimum 10-year period.

“In some cases, our company will fund the entire installation, at no charge to our customer, and live off the savings we generate over a certain amount of time,” says Ben Croxton, chief executive officer of World Energy Solutions.

ESCOs not only identify energy-saving opportunities, but also develop engineering designs and specifications and manage the entire process. They also can provide staff training and ongoing maintenance services.

Even the federal government has gotten into the act, and for good reason: Executive orders that require federal agencies to use 35 percent less energy by 2010 in comparison to 1985 levels will require billion in energy projects. Much of that will go to “Super Energy Savings Performance Contracts,” offered by the Department of Energy.

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