Week 5 - April 21

What I took away from week 5's lecture was when a product is being developed it goes through a product life cycle.  During this life cycle there is an adoption sequence that has four different categories. There is the Inro phase which is the innovation phase comprising of 3-5% of consumer's entering this phase.  There is the Growth phase which encompasses the early adopter and early majority.  The early adopters consists of 10-15% of the consumer population while the early majority comprises 34% of the consumer population.  There is the maturity development stage which involves the late majority at 34% of customer base.  Lastly within the product development phase there is the decline phase which are laggards comprising of 5-16% of the consumer bias.

At Fort Bliss and Fort Hood, Going Solar for "Net Zero" Energy Production

Greg Kotcamp

Webster University

April 21, 2012

     There is a building in El Paso that provides medical care for wounded soldiers at Fort Bliss. This

building has a one million dollar solar panel system paid for by the Army that is beginning to produce power this year. These panels are an attempt by the Army to cut their net energy and water use. The idea is to reduce waste and demonstrate self-sufficiency. This concept is being called "Net Zero". At Fort Hood they have a goal by 2020 to achieve zero waste. They also are trying to achieve a ninety percent success rate by having ninety percent of their trash to avoid the landfill. With soldiers returning from overseas, Fort Bliss is expecting their electricity use to increase sixty percent by the end of 2015.  Having its' solar panels will allow the base one percent solar electricity. Fort Hood will not be able to rely on solar power alone to achieve net zero energy. They are also looking at wind turbines and geothermal wells which will help convert garbage into energy.

     Where I work at and the company I work for, we have a commitment of reducing our utilities and waste to landfill by twenty percent by the end of 2015. We have formed a "Go-Green" team to look at ways to reduce energy. They have helped execute projects at our plant. A few of these projects are sensors at our hand wash sinks, the removal of packaging into our landfills and powering off lights in the plant when not in use.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/27/us/at-fort-bliss-and-fort-hood-going-solar-for-net-zero-energy-production.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=todayspaper