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Thanks to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Paula and David Kucera are saving $30,000 off the cost of their new house. Their 2,500-square-foot residence in Gardiner is being equipped with a photovoltaic system to generate electricity through solar power, allowing the couple to take advantage of the agency's New York Energy Smart PV Incentive Program that reduced the system's installation cost from about $60,000 to $30,000. "New York state is probably one of the most progressive states in terms of subsidizing alternative energy (costs)," Paula Kucera said. To be eligible for savings for their solar-electric system, the Kuceras, who are involved in the construction of their antique-barn-sided home, are working with state-certified installer, John Wright, owner of Hudson Valley Clean Energy in Rhinebeck.
A simple yet revolutionary idea - in the form of a $90 loan - changed her life, pulling the Bangladeshi villager out of a devastating cycle of poverty. On Friday, that idea - lending tiny sums to poor people looking to escape poverty by starting businesses - won the Nobel Peace Prize for economist Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank he founded. Nesa used the money she borrowed from Grameen in 2001 to buy egg-laying chickens and parlayed her investment into a business that today sells construction material. She's not alone. Yunus' notion - today known as "microcredit" - has spread around the globe in the past three decades and is said to have helped more than 100 million people take their first steps to rise out of poverty. Some bought dairy cows, others chickens.
Smyrna High School students fill the cafeteria. The school was designed to hold about 1,100 students. But, there are about 1,150 students there, and Smyrna district officials support a referendum to ease the overcrowding. (Buy photo) The News Journal/BOB HERBERT .
Bhisho - The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) has approved R54 million for the construction of salt crystallization plant at the Coega Industrial Development Zone (IDZ).
The construction of a purpose-built pure vacuum-dried (PVD) salt crystallization facility for the salt company Cerebos, will start in February 2007 within the IDZ near Port Elizabeth.
The IDZ is one of the government's high priority projects to bring about significant economic benefits to the Eastern Cape region, create employment, energise industrial development and promote international trade.
DBSA investment officer for this project, Simon Vincent pointed out that the Eastern Cape was one of the bank's designated "hot spots" in dire need of infrastructure development and job creation.
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