Congratulations to our first six winners! Flex Your Power is holding an e-Newswire sign-up drive and contest, and we have already given away six of our ten no-cost tickets to West Coast Green. That means there are still four tickets left, so stake your claim! Sign up three friends for e-Newswire and you will receive a no-cost floor pass to the 2009 West Coast Green conference in San Francisco this October (normally $45 in advance, $50 at the door).

Simply ask your friends to write “Referred by your email address” in the “How did you learn about e-Newswire?” box when they sign up, and we will tally the numbers. Tell your friends to sign up today: http://www.fypower.org/news/enewswire_registration.html and don’t miss out on the chance to see the great exhibits at this year’s West Coast Green.

• Visit the e-Newswire sign-up page
• Learn more about the West Coast Green conference

In preparation for the cooling season, Flex Your Power is holding an e-Newswire sign-up drive and contest, and we need your help! Be the first of ten readers to sign up three friends and receive a no-cost floor pass to the 2009 West Coast Green conference (normally $45 in advance, $50 at the door).

Simply ask your friends to write “Referred by your email address” in the “How did you learn about e-Newswire?” box when they sign up, and we will tally the numbers. You’ll be helping us connect with more readers who want to Flex Their Power and you’ll have the chance to win. Tell your friends to sign up today: http://www.fypower.org/news/enewswire_registration.html and don’t miss out on the chance to see the great exhibits at this year’s West Coast Green.

• Visit the e-Newswire sign-up page
• Learn more about the West Coast Green conference

This month, Flex Your Power released a new series of Television commercials portraying energy efficiency as a valuable gift - something that will save homeowners money while also helping the environment. The ads are now available on our site for your viewing pleasure, so sit back, relax and watch a couple. You can also view our 2008 commercials, spotlighting global warming.

• View the Flex Your Power TV commercials

This month, Flex Your Power released a new series of Television commercials portraying energy efficiency as a valuable gift - something that will save money while also helping the environment. Here is one of the ads presented for your viewing pleasure, so sit back, relax and watch, then tell us what you think. You can also view our 2008 commercials, spotlighting global warming.

• View all the Flex Your Power TV commercials

You can now find tips, current news headlines and more on Flex Your Power’s Twitter feed. If you are already on Twitter, simply search for Flex Your Power and follow our tweets to stay up to speed on the latest energy efficiency news and tips. To sign up for a twitter account, visit twitter.com.

Be sure to tell your friends, family members, and colleagues about the Flex Your Power Twitter feed: a quick, fun and easy way to learn more about saving energy and money in your home. Tell five people and together we can help our homes help us all.

Less than two weeks remain to apply for recognition of your organization’s outstanding energy-saving efforts. Flex Your Power is seeking applications for our 6th Annual Flex Your Power Awards to highlight the achievements of California’s energy efficiency and peak demand response leaders. Award winners will be highlighted in a special online advertising campaign, recognized at Flex Your Power’s annual awards ceremony, showcased on our website, featured in e-Newswire, and considered for inclusion in our best practices guides. Learn more about the awards and submit your application online by visiting our awards page. Applications are due October 17, 2008.

• Apply now

This issue very nearly marks my third anniversary as editor and lead writer of e-Newswire. Later this month, I take up a new position as editor of the Copenhagen Climate Community. This new website is a project of the Copenhagen Climate Council, a global collaboration of business, science and public policy leaders focused on building support for the treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. That treaty is to be negotiated in December 2009, in Copenhagen, at a UN summit that Nicholas Stern, author of the Stern Review on the economics of climate change, has called the “most important gathering since the Second World War.”

As readers of this newsletter know, many of the ideas, policies and technologies necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have been hatched and continue to be developed right here in California. Recognizing this, several of the Councillors assembled by the Copenhagen Climate Council to heighten awareness of the importance of the Copenhagen summit, including Dan Kammen at UC Berkeley and Steven Chu of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, hail from the Golden State. For more information on the Copenhagen Climate Community, including its e-mail newsletter, click here.

Finally, I want to thank all of you for reading e-Newswire and the Power Plug blog. I want to extend a special thanks to contacts I’ve worked with over the years who have shared story ideas, submitted events for the online calendar and offered words of support. Going forward, please feel free to pass along these submissions and comments by clicking the “Email the Editor” link in the lefthand column of this newsletter, or by sending a note to news@fypower.org.

- Justin Gerdes

Gov. Schwarzenegger presents a Flex Your Power Award at the 4th annual awards ceremony (Photo: Flex Your Power)

Businesses, organizations and public agencies across California are taking steps to save energy and reduce operating costs, and we think this hard work deserves recognition. Flex Your Power is seeking applications for our 6th Annual Flex Your Power Awards to highlight the achievements of California’s energy efficiency and peak demand response leaders. Award winners will be highlighted in a special online advertising campaign, recognized at Flex Your Power’s annual awards ceremony, showcased on our website, featured in e-Newswire, and considered for inclusion in our best practices guides. Learn more about the awards and submit your application online by visiting our awards page. Applications are due October 17, 2008.

• Apply now

Gov. Schwarzenegger presents a Flex Your Power Award at the 4th annual awards ceremony (Photo: Flex Your Power)

Businesses, organizations and public agencies across California are taking steps to save energy and reduce operating costs, and we think this hard work deserves recognition. Flex Your Power is seeking applications for our 6th Annual Flex Your Power Awards to highlight the achievements of California’s energy efficiency and peak demand response leaders. Award winners will be highlighted in a special online advertising campaign, recognized at Flex Your Power’s annual awards ceremony, showcased on our website, featured in e-Newswire and considered for inclusion in our best practices guides. If your company or organization is taking steps to reduce energy use, please tell us your story by applying for a Flex Your Power Award. Learn more about the awards and submit your application online by visiting our awards page. Applications are due October 17, 2008.

• Apply now

With a significant heat wave bearing down on California this week, and with more than 300 wildfires still burning statewide posing potential threats to the state’s power grid, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) has declared (PDF, 76 KB) a Flex Alert for Tuesday through Thursday, July 8 - 10. CAISO expects to see the highest electricity demand of the summer this week, and it urges Californians to conserve energy, especially during the “AC rush hour” of 3:00 - 6:00 p.m. CAISO says it does not anticipate any shortages, but it cautions that peak demand could approach the record peak demand of 50,270 MW, set July 24, 2006 (e-Newswire, 7/26/06).

To sign up to receive e-mail and text message notification of Flex Alerts, and for energy conservations tips, visit our Flex Alert page. To view the current demand on the grid and an hour-by-hour forecast of the day’s electrical surplus/shortfall, visit CAISO’s website.

I’ll post updates about the Flex Alert at the Power Plug blog throughout the week.

• Sign up to receive e-mail and text message notification of Flex Alerts