CAD Detail of Garage Footing Under Construction

This CAD Drawing by Scotty-Scotts Contracting outlines how I feel a Garage Footing and Foundation Should be built.  Note: Additional Rebar for Support and Strength, True Brick Ledge, and Keyway all add strength to the Foundation.  Not the Bare minimum that I was asked to build- in the Second Photo.  

"If you want a building to stand up to the test of time how intelligent of choice is it to: skimp on $200 Worth of Materials & $300 worth of Labor?"

Proper Garage Wall Foundation and Footing Detail- Designed by Scotty-Scotts Contracting, St Louis Renewable Energy Note a True Brick Ledge, Additional Rebar & Keyway.

I was hired on to build a Garage Foundation and Footing Detail of Building to this bare minimum design. See Below

CAD Detail by Scotts Contracting - Garage Foundation Wall and Footing Detail

Scotts Contracting Picasa Web Job Site Album Photos 

    

State Energy Efficiency Policies Deliver, Save Consumers Billions

NEWS RELEASE   For Immediate Release June 15, 2011   Contact: Michael Sciortino (202) 507-4028 msciortino@aceee.org   Seth Nowak (608) 256-9155 snowak@aceee.org     Media Contact: Patrick Kiker (202) 507-4043 pkiker@aceee.org       ACROSS THE NATION, STATE ENERGY EFFICIENCY POLICIES DELIVER, SAVE CONSUMERS BILLIONS   Utilities Expand Programs and Plan for Even More     Washington, D.C. (June 15): States across the country have been reaching or exceeding their energy savings goals established through Energy Efficiency Resource Standards (EERS), thereby lowering utility bills for consumers and reducing the need to build costly new power plants. The forecast is also bright for the future as states expect to achieve even higher energy savings for utility customers in years to come. These are the findings of two reports released today by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).      From 2004 to 2010, 24 states followed the lead set by Texas and Vermont by establishing an EERS, a policy that sets long-term energy savings goals for electric and natural gas utilities. Since then, utilities, regulators, and consumers in all corners of the country have embraced this approach to deliver energy efficiency programs that save energy and money in homes and businesses.   The first report, Energy Efficiency Resource Standards: A Progress Report on State Energy Savings Targets, documents the performance of every state with an EERS in place for more than two years. Comparing actual performance with the EERS targets, 13 of the 19 states with EERS policies in place for over two years are achieving 100% or more of their goals, three states are reaching over 90% of their goals, and the three states falling below 80% of their goals are working hard to catch up.  In each case, state EERS policies are driving energy efficiency investments and energy cost savings to unprecedented levels.   "These states are demonstrating that energy efficiency programs deliver real savings for utilities and ratepayers, and it is more affordable than any supply-side energy source," said Michael Sciortino, Policy Analyst and the report's lead author. By law and rule, the energy efficiency programs implemented in a state with an EERS must cost less than the electricity that would have been produced if not for the programs. Accordingly, utility efficiency programs are saving customers significantly more than they cost.   For example, in 2009 and 2010, Ohio utility customers saved $56 million in energy costs over and above the costs to deliver the programs. Over the lifetime of these programs, they are likely to save customers in excess of three-quarters of a billion dollars-and this is just the beginning. Program goals increase over time.   "As a comprehensive national energy policy remains beyond the reach of Congress, states are taking action to show how bold energy efficiency policies can benefit residential, commercial, and industrial consumers," said Steven Nadel, ACEEE Executive Director.   The future promises still more savings from state EERS, since most EERS targets increase over the next decade. The second report, Energy Efficiency Resource Standards: State Strategies to Reach Higher Energy Savings, documents how utilities are planning to ramp up their efforts to hit these higher energy savings levels.    The second report includes an analysis of six states with some of the largest and most successful energy efficiency programs in the United States-California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, and Vermont. In these leading states, utilities are employing new strategies to expand existing programs and add new ones, enhance advertising and promotions, and conduct innovative pilot projects.   Six more states-Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania-are also examined in detail as they rapidly ramp up to develop the state-of-the-art energy efficiency programs required to meet the increasingly higher targets. Utilities in these states are running fewer, simpler programs that can get the most energy savings as quickly and cost-effectively as possible.   "Experts who specialize in these states say the potential for cost-effective energy efficiency is more than sufficient to meet the goals that have been established, and they put the likelihood of states continuing to meet their goals in the 90% range," summarized Martin Kushler, ACEEE Senior Research Fellow. "The greatest challenge for the future isn't technical-it's inspiring the political will necessary to pass these energy and money-saving standards in every state."   To read the first report, Energy Efficiency Resource Standards: A Progress Report on State Energy Savings Targets, below   To read the second report, Energy Efficiency Resource Standards: State Strategies to Reach Higher Energy Savings, below.     To read the fact sheet, click here.   About ACEEE: The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of promoting economic prosperity, energy security, and environmental protection. For information about ACEEE and its programs, publications, and conferences, visit www.aceee.org.   Follow us on                                                                        ###

Energy Efficiency Resource Standards: State and Utility Strategies for Higher Energy Savings

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June 15, 2011

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Research Report U113

Authors:

Seth Nowak, Martin Kushler, Michael Sciortino, Dan York, and Patti Witte

Description:

Twenty-two states adopted Energy Efficiency Resources Standards (EERS) between 2007 and 2010, passing the tipping point so that now more than half of all states have EERS in place for electricity, natural gas, or both. Many states with well-established ratepayer-funded energy efficiency portfolios have been expanding and enhancing their efforts, raising annual percent savings targets to unprecedented levels. There is also a new breed of states launching comprehensive and extensive efficiency efforts built to achieve annual savings goals of 1%, 1.5%, and even 2% within just a few years. These "Established Savers" and "Rapid Start" states have been scaling up budgets, enacting both supportive and complementary policies, and bringing together collaborative stakeholder groups to achieve and sustain aggressive savings. Utilities have been responding to this new policy environment by adding and developing programs, efficient technologies, market segmentation strategies, program approaches, and program designs. For this report, we picked six states in each group to research in order to capture and describe the trends and themes, take a snapshot of results to date, and assess the outlook for the future. We collected data by utility and by state, conducting interviews with 36 program administrators, managers, and state and nonprofit experts with knowledge of how stepped-up savings levels would be attained and sustained. Their on-the-ground, in-the-field perspective was then complemented by the broader views and observations of seven nationally-known industry experts.

Click here to download the report.

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Newsworthy congressional investments-presidential double dipping and more

Congressional Finance Report-

• High-ranking congressmen made a concerted effort to financially distance themselves from BP
• Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) gave up all or a significant amount of their holdings in BP after the 2010 spill
• hundreds of individuals donated the legal maximum to two or more different presidential candidates

• Bachmann's Presidential Ambitions Fueled With Prolific Fund-Raising

News Companies Popular Investments Among Federal Lawmakers Many members of Congress actually have a vested interest -- beyond just their political careers -- in the performance of the same organizations that are supposed to be their watchdogs, a Center for Responsive Politics investigation indicates. About 60 U.S. senators and representatives, or their spouses, hold assets in at least 19 different news organizations or media conglomerates, according to the Center's analysis of federal personal financial disclosure documents covering calendar year 2009. » Read More Prominent Congressmen Dump BP Stock in Aftermath of Gulf Oil Spill High-ranking congressmen made a concerted effort to financially distance themselves from BP in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, either by reducing or altogether dumping their stock holdings, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis of lawmakers' newly released 2010 personal financial disclosure documents. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) gave up all or a significant amount of their holdings in BP after the 2010 spill, which leaked an estimated 205 million gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico and killed 11 oil platform crew members in the initial explosion. » Read More Why Donate to One Presidential Candidate When You Can Contribute to Them All? Texas home building mogul Bob Perry and his wife are financially supporting Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. That'd hardly be news, except that they're also supporting Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty, too. Such early double dipping, it turns out, is a standard part of presidential politicking. During the 2008 presidential election, hundreds of individuals donated the legal maximum to two or more different presidential candidates, a Center for Responsive Politics analysis indicates. And in some cases, the candidates were in different parties. » Read More Dozens of Congressmen Granted Extensions for Filing Personal Financial Disclosures Dozens of congressmen are living the dream of a high school student who blew off last night's homework assignment: they asked for extensions filing their mandatory personal financial disclosure reports, and they got them. In all, one-fifth of the Senate and about one-sixth of the House won't file their forms until later this summer, meaning that until then, their personal assets and liabilities are shielded from public scrutiny. Read OpenSecrets.org's reports on late-filers in both the Senate and House. National Hockey League to Play Politics During Offseason The Boston Bruins won hockey's Stanley Cup on Wednesday, but just because the season is over, it doesn't mean the National Hockey League's work is done. The NHL, which has contracted lobbyist Phillip R. Hochberg for the past eight years, has plenty of politics to play. Since 2003, the NHL has typically spent between $30,000 and $60,000 per year on federal lobbying efforts, with the significant exception of 2005, when the league spent $220,000, hiring Quinn Gillespie & Associates for $180,000, an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics indicates. Communication, copyright and labor issues are frequently political issues of interest for pro hockey, the Center finds. » Read More With Weiner Departure, a Potentially Pricey Special Election Looms Now that the political career of Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) is nearing the end of its death spiral -- he announced his resignation today -- New York state will soon face its third special congressional election since last year because of House members' sex scandals. And as the recent special election in New York's 26th District indicated, moneyed outside political groups are all too eager to help determine the outcome. » Read More More PACs May Receive 'Super' Powers After Court Order On Tuesday, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a preliminary injunction in the campaign finance case Carey v. Federal Election Commission. The move opens the door for political action committees that are not connected to corporations, unions or trade associations to raise unlimited amounts of money, even if they directly donate money to candidates. The order states that these PACs can use unlimited donations to fund their operating costs as well as political advertisements known as independent expenditures. The ruling, which may be appealed, does not allow unlimited donations to be channeled to candidates in the form of direct donations. Instead, these non-connected PACs will need to maintain segregated accounts for campaign contributions and independent expenditures. » Read More Bachmann's Presidential Ambitions Fueled With Prolific Fund-Raising Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), founder of the House Tea Party Caucus, is the newest member of the Republican's presidential candidate field -- and she's also a prolific actor in the world of money in politics. Bachmann raised the most money during the 2010 election cycle, outpacing 434 of her House colleagues. Her dominant $13.5 million haul was much more than House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who was a distant second with nearly $9.8 million in fundraising. She has more than $2.86 million cash on hand in her campaign account as of March 31, according to Center for Responsive Politics research. And Bachmann raised more than $1.7 million during the first quarter of this year -- second in the House only to Boehner -- with much of that support coming from small-dollar donors. » Read More Obama Courts Hispanics, Campaign Cash During Rare Presidential Visit After courting a political patron in North Carolina, President Barack Obama became the first sitting president to visit Puerto Rico since John F. Kennedy did so in 1961. Residents of the island territory about 1,000 miles south of Miami don't have voting representation in Congress, but that doesn't mean they aren't active in the political process. Puerto Ricans made about $4 million in itemized federal political donations during the 2008 election cycle, with about 70 percent of that sum benefiting Democrats, the Center for Responsive Politics' research indicates. And Obama was their top beneficiary. » Read More Giffords' Backers Continue Fund-Raising During Injured Lawmaker's Recovery Associates of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords this weekend posted smiling photos of the severely injured Democratic congresswoman on her Facebook page. From all accounts, her recovery from a gunshot wound to the head has defied expectation. Whether Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, will be able to resume her congressional duties, or even run for higher office as some political watchers speculate she might, largely remains unknown. This much, however, is certain: People are willing to donate money to Giffords' campaign account, regardless of her future political prospects. » Read More FEC Chair Touts Transparency Cynthia Bauerly, the current chair of the Federal Election Commission, stressed the importance of disclosure in keeping voters informed and democracy strong during a talk last week with the consumer rights group Public Citizen. "Disclosure is a very important part, the bedrock really, of everything that happens in the campaign finance area," Bauerly said at the event. » Read More Can Sarah Palin Use PAC Cash for Seemingly Personal Uses? Whether kinda-sorta-possible presidential candidate Sarah Palin can use money from her political action committee for personal use is just one of the questions tackled in the latest installment of OpenSecrets.org Mailbag. For the answer to this, and other burning money-in-politics questions, read on. Numerous Media Outlets Citing OpenSecrets.org's Research, Reporting Numerous media outlets have this past week cited OpenSecrets.org's research and reporting, including the Boston Globe, which featured our story on lawmakers investing money in news companies on its front page. Publications and stations that interviewed or quoted OpenSecrets.org staff in recent days include: National Public Radio, about Republican groups USA Today, on Michele Bachmann Politico, on campaign violations Rapid City Journal, about lobbying Chicago Magazine, on Obama bundlers See all the news outlets and blogs who've been citing our work at our "In the News" page. June 16, 2011 Friend on Facebook Follow on Twitter Forward to a Friend  follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend  Copyright © 2011 Center for Responsive Politics, All rights reserved.  You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website, OpenSecrets.org. Center for Responsive Politics 1101 14th St. NW Suite 1030 Washington, District Of Columbia 20005

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Climate Change and Republican Views

How Republicans Talk About Climate When No One's Listening

— By Kate Sheppard

| Thu Jun. 16, 2011 5:29 AM PDT

Photo by Gene1138.

Sarah Palin may now dismiss global warming as a "bunch of snake oil science," but just a few years ago, back when she was governor of the state melting into the sea, she was inclined to care about the subject. It's well-known that she established a task force to address climate change in the state, but later flip-flopped on the issue. Yet as one exchange in the trove of emails released by the state of Alaska last week shows, Palin at one point actually took climate science quite seriously.

In an email exchange from July 2007, Palin discussed global warming with her brother, Chuck Heath Jr., who was taking part in a climate change study program for science teachers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the state's environment commissioner. Heath wrote:

Sarah, I'm just about done with my 80 hour course on global climate change. Most of it has been focused on coastal erosion which is probably a bigger deal than you're aware of … I have met some of the top scientists in the world on the subject and if you'd like, I can organize another advisory task force (which would include scientists, economists, citizens who live in these areas) who can give recommendations to the state. The problem is accelerating quickly so it would be good to get a handle on it now.

Palin forwarded the message to Lawrence Hartig, the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. She mentioned her hope that the state is "really getting serious about dealing with climate change impacts." She added: "I'm getting more and more enthused about digging into the subject and working on it."

None of this is to say that Palin's administration was all that progressive when it came to climate change policy. She created the climate task force but then ignored its recommendations. Her administration also sued the federal government for listing the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, due to the impacts of global warming.

What's most interesting is that Republicans—particularly the GOP's presidential contenders, declared and otherwise—have widely been written off as anti-science by their foes on the left. It's little wonder, with Michele Bachmann arguing that carbon dioxide is nothing more than plant food and Rick Santorum maintaining that he's never been fooled by science. But in the case of Palin, it's not that she refudiates the science, as she might say. What's more likely is that she's made the calculation that caring about global warming isn't particularly politically advantageous right now. She's not alone of course—both Tim Pawlenty and Newt Gingrich have taken similar approaches. But in her case, Alaska's email dump contains an interesting insight into what she believes when she's not running for national office.