Legislators introduce bill to resuscitate PACE program for green upgrades to homes

The PACE program, which made installations of energy-efficient solar panels, insulation and water conservation systems more affordable for homeowners, has been stalled by a technical roadblock.


Brad Bartz of ABC Solar carries a solar panel to be used with a pump for a jacuzzi at a home in Palos Verdes Estates in November 2009. (Jay L. Clendenin, Los Angeles Times / July 21, 2011)

A government program that helped homeowners finance and install green upgrades before a technical roadblock stalled it last year may be resuscitated by Congress.

A group of legislators introduced a bill Wednesday to jump-start the Property Assessed Clean Energy program, known as PACE. The program made installations of energy-efficient solar panels, insulation and water conservation systems more affordable.

More than half of the country had approved some version of the program in which local governments provided funding for home improvements. Homeowners paid back the funds in installments through surcharges on their annual property taxes.

But the Federal Housing Finance Agency balked at a component of the program, saying that in case of a foreclosure on the property the PACE funds would have to be paid back before the mortgage.

The housing authority, which oversees mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, warned last summer that PACE posed "unusual and difficult" financial risks for lenders. The lenders in turn told homeowners that participating in the program could be a violation of their mortgage terms and could be grounds for foreclosure.

Since then most governments have backed away from the program.

But the PACE Protection Act from Reps. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), Dan Lungren (R-Gold River) and Nan Hayworth (R-N.Y.) would force the housing finance agency to rescind its warning. To mitigate the potential risks of homeowner defaults, the trio worked in more stringent standards for PACE applicants, such as lowering the scope of green improvements relative to property size.

"We've tried everything to work with them, but they're just being stubborn," Thompson said of the housing finance agency. "It's come down to introducing legislation, which is not the route we wanted to go."

The agency said in a statement that it was willing to offer input on PACE-related legislation. However, it said it "continues to have concerns with the first lien created by certain PACE programs and the absence of effective consumer protections."

The program helped create construction jobs in Sonoma County when the housing industry was free-falling elsewhere, said Thompson, who represents the region.

The nearly 2,500 PACE projects on the books helped generate income and tax revenue for municipalities — about $60,000 per home, according to a new study from advocacy group PACENow. Owners of retrofitted homes also generally had lower mortgage default rates.

"Not only do you get the lower utility rates and contributing to saving on energy costs, it's really done wonders to put people to work," Thompson said. "It's a huge answer to the question of how we solve this energy problem."

Other financing options have begun to spread as PACE struggles to find its footing.

Lease programs from installers such as SolarCity and Sun Run eliminate the upfront costs of solar panels. A company called One Block Off the Grid, which arranges group deals for solar installations and offered a Groupon special last year, announced a nationwide discount this week.

Sponsors of the new bill say the wider array of options will increase rather than hinder demand for PACE by making energy efficiency seem more affordable.

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Apple updates the MacBook Air, axes the white MacBook

Apple updated its thin-and-light MacBook Air laptops on Wednesday, alongside the much anticipated release of Mac OS X Lion, while also unceremoniously discontinuing its white entry-level MacBook line.

The new MacBook Air notebook computers, which lack optical drives (another example of Apple pushing users toward a disc-free future), gain speedier Intel processors -- ranging from the 1.6GHz dual-core Core i5 chip in the lower-end 11-inch-screen model, to the dual-core 1.8GHz Core i7. The i5 and i7 processors are known for being pretty powerful, with variations of this chip line running in Apple's MacBook Pros and iMac computers.

A backlit keyboard and a Thunderbolt port have also been added to the Airs in this refresh. Thunderbolt ports are capable of transferring data at a rate of 10 gigabits per second, much faster than USB 2.0, which transfers data at about 480 megabits per second. But, as of now, there aren't a lot of external hard drives or cameras and other items that utilize the ports due to the cost of implementing the technology -- a Thunderbolt cable itself sells for $49.

Despite the changes, the price range for the MacBook Air is staying the same; from $999 to $1,699.

And it just might be that $999 price point of the 11-inch base MacBook Air that is responsible for Apple killing off the much beloved white polycarbonate MacBook laptop. Though we don't know for sure if that's the reasoning -- as of Tuesday morning, Apple officials weren't available for comment on why the white MacBook is getting the axe.

Without any notice, the white MacBook (which also started at $999 and had a 13-inch screen) was yanked from Apple's lineup and online store. Some old refurbished models of the MacBook are still available from Apple online, but new models are done.

The move to discontinue the polycarbonate MacBook will leave Apple, for the first time since 2001's introduction of the iBook G3, without a solid-white laptop for sale. A stroll across just about any U.S. college campus in the last decade was a testament to the massive popularity of Apple's entry-level laptops, which makes this move a bit surprising.

But if Apple no longer sees a need for disc drives in its entry level notebooks, which the MacBook Air now seems to be, the MacBook must have made a lot less sense to Steve Jobs and other Cupertino execs. Now, every Apple laptop (and desktop for that matter) is clad in silver aluminum.

Those looking at a laptop and also wanting a disc drive can either pair a MacBook Air with a portable disc drive for an extra $79, buy a pricier MacBook Pro laptop, or look to one of the many Apple competitors.

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Fake Apple Stores popping up in China

Products get knocked off all the time -- designer bags, Oscar-night dresses, watches. But entire stores? That's something new. Which is why the Internet is going crazy over a blogger's report that three fake Apple stores have popped up in her neighborhood in Kunming, China.

In a post dated Wednesday on the blog BirdAbroad, the citizen reporter (an employee of an international public health organization) said she was initially duped by the quality of the fake Apple store. It had the iconic clean wood interior, the Apple branded posters on the walls, the employees with those tell-tale blue polo shirts and chunky name tags hanging around their necks. The store appeared to sell real Apple products.

Her husband bet it was a fake, she bet it wasn't. When they got home they looked online and found that Apple doesn't have any stores in Kunming. A few days later she walked down the street and bumped into two more Apple store knock-offs!

In retrospect, she writes, some things felt off in the store. The stairs were poorly constructed and the name tags didn't have actual names on them, just the word "staff." She also notes the walls weren't painted correctly, and the sign in front was wrong:

"Apple never writes 'Apple Store' on it’s signs – it just puts up the glowing, iconic fruit," she wrote.

BirdAbroad, who does not use her real name on her blog and asked that we not use it either, had to do some fancy maneuvering to be allowed to take photos in the store.

"I … may or may not have told them that we were two American Apple employees visiting China and checking out the local stores. Either way, they got friendlier and allowed me to snap some pictures," she wrote.

She also said the employees definitely believed they were working for the real Apple company.

Citizen journalism lives!

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Auto cucumbered' text messages gone wrong. Oops, that's 'auto corrected'

What with all the walking and texting, dining and texting, and talking and texting that goes on, it's no wonder that communication sometimes breaks down.

Throw in auto correct, and you're guaranteed some jaw-dropping mishaps. That's probably why the blog "Damn You, Auto Correct," which collects text exchanges gone wrong, has proved so popular. Since launching in October, it's garnered almost 300 million page views.

Here are some gems randomly selected from the archives:

Exchange #1: We need to talk

"Be warned: I'm dumping you when I get home tonight."

"Fine with me. I was just thinking we could use some time apart."

"...JENNA??? I got autocorrected. I mean to write jumping you not dumping you. And you're telling me you want to break up?"

"Well this is awkward."

Exchange #2: Shocking News

"I've got to tell you something. Are you sitting down?"

"I am actually. What's up mom?"

"Your brother was adopted!"

"What??? What are you talking about? Why are you telling me this over a text? Call me."

"Oh this damn phone. I wrote accepted and the phone changed it. He got accepted to Yale!"

Exchange #3: Dangerous dealings

"Hey Taliban. Does someone your size usually wear an xl shirt?"

"...auto correct! I typed "tallman"

"Well now we're on a FBI watch list. Thanks."

Exchange #4: Now that's a bad date

"So how was the date last night bro"

"...first date we went to dinner and then walked her home. then i killed her in the woods outside her house and left"

"Killing her seems a bit harsh. Did she order the lobster and filet mignon at dinner or something?"

"***************KISSED..."

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Tokyo stocks flat, BOJ's ETF buying helps mood

(Reuters) - Japanese stocks were flat on Wednesday as investors, emboldened by the central bank's purchases of exchange-traded funds, hunted for bargains, offsetting worries about euro zone debt woes that have led to renewed strength in the yen.

The Bank of Japan purchased 22.1 billion yen ($275 million) in Japanese ETFs the previous day, part of its asset-buying scheme to support the economy, and it has typically bought whenever the Nikkei stock average falls more than 1 percent, as it did on Tuesday.

"A further sell-off seems to have stopped for now," said Yumi Nishimura, a senior market analyst at Daiwa Securities, adding that the central bank's move was reassuring to investors.

As European debt woes mounted, the dollar briefly plunged below 79.00 yen for the first time since mid-March, before recovering to around 79.40 yen. The euro stood at 111.37 yen after dropping 1.4 percent to 110.98 yen.

"People are now used to seeing the dollar dipping below 80 yen, but the question is whether this strong yen trend is temporary or is it one that will last for a while," said Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.

"If it lasts for a week, the Nikkei may fall toward 9,500."

The benchmark Nikkei .N225 was flat at 9,926.81 at the midday break after rising as high as 9,973.23, while the broader Topix index .TOPX added 0.2 percent to 858.92.

Moody's cut Ireland's credit rating to junk on Tuesday, warning that the debt-laden country would likely need a second bailout, while European officials, for the first time, refused to rule out default by Greece.

Investors fear the crisis could overtake the bigger European economies of Spain and Italy, though some Tokyo-based fund managers were hopeful that the impact on domestic equities would be limited.

"While such global economic fears remain, there are hopes for strong earnings for the April-June quarter, so the Tokyo market may not fall sharply this month," said Naoki Fujiwara, a fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management.

Chip-related shares slipped after Microchip Technology Inc (MCHP.O) tumbled 12 percent on Tuesday, a day after the chipmaker cut its first-quarter outlook hurt by lower automotive production and weakness in consumer and computing end markets.

Advantest Corp (6857.T) shed 0.9 percent to 1,515 yen in active trade, while Tokyo Electron (8035.T) fell below its 25-day moving average, losing 1.1 percent to 4,320 yen. Tokyo Seimitsu (7729.T) dropped 2.2 percent to 1,495 yen.

But some exporters rose on bargain hunting, with Toshiba Corp (6502.T) rising 1.0 percent to 416 yen and Sony Corp (6758.T) adding 0.3 percent to 2,143 yen.

Shares of Mitsui & Co (8031.T) made their biggest daily gain in the last three weeks, adding 2.3 percent to 1,435 yen, after the trading house said it would launch a rival offer for Singapore port operator Portek International (PKIL.SI), outbidding Philippines' International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICT.PS).

Shares in mobile social gaming company DeNA (2432.T) gained 2.0 percent to 3,765 yen after Morgan Stanley Mitsubishi UFJ Securities hiked the firm's rating to "overweight" from "equal weight," citing its overseas expansion and attractive valuations.

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Halle Berry wins stay away order against intruder

(Reuters) - A judge on Tuesday granted Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry on a stay away order against a man who she said intruded on her Los Angeles property three times in recent days, before police arrested him.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carol Boas Goodson issued a temporary order directing Richard A. Franco, 27, to stay 100 yards from Berry and her young daughter.

Franco, who has a history of violence, theft and drug offenses, was found to have a book with "nonsensical ramblings" and Berry's name in his handwriting, the actress said in court papers posted at TMZ.com.

Franco first approached Berry's home on Saturday, when she was talking to her manager and saw through a glass door that Franco -- whom she does not know -- was in the gated back yard, the papers state. Berry's manager yelled at Franco and he left, she stated.

The actress further said that on Sunday, she went to her kitchen to get a Diet Coke and noticed Franco was on the other side of a glass door, less than a foot away.

"Panicking and in fear of my life, I turned my body and quickly hit the deadbolt lock on the glass door," Berry said in the court papers.

She said she ran upstairs to call police. That evening, arrangements were made to have armed security officers at Berry's home, and as a result on Monday, Franco was caught when he returned.

"This person has invaded and trampled upon the most fundamental sense of security I have and I am extremely frightened of him and what he might do to me or those I love," Berry said in her court papers.

Franco was booked on suspicion of stalking, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said on its website that Franco is being held in jail, and that his bail has been set at $150,000.

Berry, 44, won an Oscar for her role in the 2001 drama "Monster's Ball." She also starred in the movies "X-Men," "X2" and "X-Men: The Last Stand," and in 2008 she was named Esquire Magazine's "sexiest woman alive."

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Obama warns on debt, deal elusive after talks

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama warned on Tuesday that elderly Americans could suffer first from a debt default, raising pressure on lawmakers as prospects for a deal to lift the debt ceiling appeared far from reach.

The president and congressional leaders met at the White House for the third time in as many days, working to break a logjam over taxes and spending cuts before August 2. when the Treasury says it will run out of money to pay all of the country's bills.

Obama, who has said he would meet every day this week, will convene more debt talks on Wednesday at 4 p.m. EDT.

Republicans have balked at raising the debt limit without a deficit-cutting deal, but their leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, proposed a backup plan that would give Obama the option of raising the ceiling while avoiding spending cuts.

McConnell's complicated maneuver would also allow Republicans to duck a politically painful debt limit vote.

As politicians sparred, business leaders pressed Washington to act swiftly to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling or risk derailing a sputtering economic recovery and endangering the global financial system.

Obama told CBS television in an interview that checks to recipients of the Social Security retirement program may not go out in early August if he and congressional leaders do not hammer out an agreement.

"I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven't resolved this issue," Obama said, according to excerpts of the interview released before its broadcast.

"There may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it," Obama said. He said veterans checks and disability benefits could also be affected without a deal.

Obama's warning that senior citizens -- an active voting group -- could suffer first if a deal was not reached could give lawmakers a nudge ahead of 2012 elections.

Reacting to Obama's comments, House Speaker John Boehner questioned whether Social Security checks would be cut off, asserting that the Treasury can prioritize payments.

"I think it's way too early to be making some type of veiled threats like that," Boehner said on Fox News.

Seniors punished Democrats last year for including Medicare cuts in their healthcare package and then turned on Republicans in a special New York election this year over a Republican plan to overhaul the government healthcare program for the elderly.

It also evoked memories of the debt limit crisis of 1996 when Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin warned he would not be able to send out Social Security pension checks the next month if the ceiling were not raised. The Republican-controlled House immediately voted to allow the government to issue more debt to make those payments.

LITTLE PROGRESS

Failure to seal a deal by August 2 could spook investors globally, causing interest rates to surge and stock prices to plummet, putting the United States at risk of another recession, Treasury officials and economists have warned.

As he laid out his debt-limit backup plan, McConnell said a "real solution" to the U.S. debt problem was unlikely while Obama was in office.

Obama, in the CBS interview, chalked that up to "partisan politics," and White House spokesman Jay Carney said it was important to stay focused on a "unique opportunity to come to agreement on significant, balanced deficit reduction."

Carney also welcomed what the White House saw as a recognition by McConnell "that defaulting on America's past due bills is not an option."

A Democratic official close to the negotiations said Obama made a similar point about the McConnell plan during Tuesday's nearly two-hour meeting with congressional leaders.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that after two tense meetings that focused on process, Obama sought to tone down the rancor and refocus the discussion on the substance of the deficit-reduction proposals.

McConnell's idea would allow only one-third of Congress -- presumably Democrats -- to raise the debt ceiling. Under the proposal, Congress would reject Obama's debt-limit request, and Obama would veto the rejection. If Congress failed to muster the two-thirds vote needed to override a veto, the debt limit would effectively be lifted by the amount Obama requested.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who has warned of catastrophic consequences if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling, held firm on Tuesday to vows that the United States would not default. "Failure is not an option," he said.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, mentioned as a possible successor to Geithner, also weighed in on the debate, saying a default would damage the U.S. credibility around the world.

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Thailand's Shinawatras: From clan to dynasty

Yingluck Shinawatra is Thaksin's youngest sister and is expected to become Thailand's next prime minister

Continue reading the main story

THAILAND WOES

• New era?
• Profile: Yingluck Shinawatra
• Economic fallout
• Focus on reconciliation

He was Thailand's prime minister for five years, his brother-in-law has served as prime minister, his youngest sister is expected to become the next prime minister - Thaksin Shinawatra once again seems to have broken the mould of Thai politics, writes Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.

On 3 July the Pheu Thai party won 265 seats in Thailand's 500-member assembly. The party's figurehead in the election was Yingluck Shinawatra - so raising the profile even higher of the powerful Shinawatra family.

Thaksin Shinawatra lives in exile in Dubai to avoid going to jail for a corruption conviction, but his sister's convincing victory is bound to throw more scrutiny on his time in office during the 2000s.

In Thailand's structurally polarised climate, Yingluck may just be what the Thais need - if both Thaksin and his adversaries allow it.

Since constitutional rule was introduced in place of absolute monarchy in 1932, Thailand has had military and civilian leaders from the same cliques or coalitions, but rarely from the same immediate family.

The one exception was the Pramoj brothers - Seni and Kukrit - who alternated as leaders in the turbulent politics of the mid-1970s.

But they belonged to two distinctly different parties and stood apart on the political spectrum.

Not so in the case of the 44-year-old Yingluck and her controversial brother. They are made from the same mould, hailing from the Sankhampaeng district of Chiang Mai, a favourite tourist destination in northern Thailand.

Thaksin is the eldest son among 10 children of Lert and Yindee Shinawatra, descendents of Chinese immigrants who toiled in the town in various entrepreneurial pursuits during the 1950s-60s.

Before Mr Lert's career peaked in 1969, when he earned a seat in parliament, he endured topsy-turvy times as a businessman.

Thaksin, a schoolboy in the 1950s, looked after his father's small coffee shop in a wooden shophouse, the top floor being their home.

Where his father went, Thaksin followed.

Political clan

These efforts in the face of hard times became the stuff of legend in Thaksin's meteoric rise from a police officer-cum-struggling businessman who eventually hit the jackpot with a telecommunications monopoly and stock-market fortune.

Until recently, Ms Yingluck's story was little more than a footnote.

A generation apart, Thaksin was a paternalistic sibling - and as Thaksin's star brightened, Ms Yingluck increasingly gravitated into its orbit.

Yingluck pressed the flesh and connected with Pheu Thai's grassroots on the campaign trail

Ms Yingluck followed in her big brother's footsteps by heading to the US for her postgraduate studies. She went to Kentucky State University, just up the road from Eastern Kentucky University, where Thaksin completed a criminal justice degree.

Universities in Kentucky state were popular with Thai students, particularly police officers, as they offered a ready network of friends and family.

After her return to Bangkok in the early 1990s, Yingluck was thrust into the family business, which had just listed on the stock market.

Some of her other siblings and in-laws had a hand in the Shin Corp telecommunications umbrella, but Thaksin hired "professionals" for key management positions.

Ms Yingluck was cutting her teeth in business just as Thaksin began dabbling in politics, but she stayed out of the political limelight even after his political career sky-rocketed in the late 1990s.

The most political of Thaksin's siblings was Yaowapa Wongsawat, who led a northern faction of Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party.

Thaksin was deposed in a military coup in September 2006, but continued to organise the largest parties in parliament with the help of his relatives.

During Thaksin's initial post-coup fight-back under the People's Power Party in 2007-08, Ms Yaowapa's husband, Somchai Wongsawat, became a short-lived prime minister.

But the party was dissolved and its leading politicians banned by the judiciary.

People's Power was succeeded by Pheu Thai, which fell into disarray after the opposing Democrat Party was propelled to office with the help of the army and the courts in December 2008.

Pheu Thai lacked leadership and policy direction, and was wracked by factionalism.

A tall order

As the election approached this year, the only person untainted and politically viable enough to put a stop to Pheu Thai's internal squabbling was Yingluck.

She was looking after what was left of the family business after Shin Corp was sold in January 2006.

Thaksin had never before hinted at deploying her in the field; but she has worked well for him.

She has the qualities of youth, femininity, novelty and business acumen.

Her campaign stuck to well-laid plans. She pressed the flesh and connected with Pheu Thai's grassroots.

Unlike her brother, Yingluck is not easily flustered. Her political instincts, energy and appetite have held up so far.

But her problem will be that she is surrounded by her brother's men, beset by his circumstances, driven by his policy ideas, and without a support base of her own.

Even if Yingluck can carve out some space beyond Thaksin for her own rule, she will be hard-pressed to placate his powerful adversaries in the establishment that includes much of the military, bureaucracy, judiciary, Privy Council, middle class and intelligentsia.

They may not be able to win the vote but they can, as seen in the recent past, keep her tenure shorter than intended.

Yingluck faces a tall order but she should be given a chance in view of Thailand's imperative of compromise over the logic of further conflict.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak is Director of the Institute of Security and International Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.

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Apple files patent complaint against phone maker HTC

Apple has accused the smartphone maker HTC of infringing its patents, in the latest phase of the legal battle between phone and tablet PC makers.

Apple has filed a complaint against the US International Trade Commission (ITC) seeking an inquiry by the panel into the matter.

The news comes just weeks after Apple and Samsung accused each other of copying designs and technology.

HTC is the world's third-biggest mobile phone maker, by stock market value.

However, HTC has denied Apple's allegations.

"HTC is dismayed that Apple has resorted to competition in the courts rather than the market place," said Grace Lei, HTC's general counsel.

Growing rivalry

The launch of products such as iPhone and iPad saw Apple become one of the market leaders in the global smartphone market, and the biggest seller of tablet PCs.

Apple's success in quickly securing a large slice of the market, with fashionable products enjoying good demand from consumers, prompted several rivals to launch their own gadgets hoping to win a share of the fast-growing market.

However, that resulted in relations between Apple and its rivals souring as the competition grew.

Last year the American technology company filed a similar complaint against HTC accusing it of infringing as many as 20 of its patents.

That prompted HTC to launch a counter attack, claiming that Apple was guilty of infringing patents held by the Taiwanese company.

HTC went to the extent of seeking a ban on sales of iPhones, iPads and iPods in the United States.

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