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Two winners in conservation

As the drought worsened earlier this fall, we wanted to solicit and share your ideas for conserving water, to both inform and inspire our readers. To prime the pump, so to speak, we offered to give away a rain barrel for the best idea.

Picking a single winner from the approximately 200 entries was not easy. This week, we gave away two Rain King rain barrels, made in Smithfield for Rainwater Solutions of Raleigh.

The first barrel went to the students at Raleigh's North Ridge Elementary School, who during the record heat of August began using buckets to collect the condensation dripping from air conditioners on their mobile classrooms. They used the water for irrigation, keeping potted plants and small gardens on the school grounds from withering in the heat.

Rebates to save energy are a go

Progress Energy this summer will offer a slew of financial incentives to customers who spend money to make their homes more energy efficient.

The N.C. Utilities Commission approved the conservation programs Thursday, and the Raleigh utility plans to offer them to the public July 1.

Progress Energy is offering conservation programs as part of a 2007 state law requiring greater energy efficiency and renewable energy resources.

Businesses fight ruling on utility charge

Wal-Mart and other big businesses in the state want out of paying a charge on their bills that the majority of Progress Energy's customers must cover. Last month, the N.C. Utilities Commission approved a $250 million electricity grid upgrade for Progress Energy. The commission also ruled that big business customers would have to help pay for the upgrade.

But Wal-Mart and trade groups representing several dozen industrial power users want that decision reversed. They argue that a provision in the state's 2007 energy conservation law exempts large commercial and industrial electricity users from having to pay for utility conservation programs. When the law was being debated, the business lobby cut a deal that created an exemption for companies that have their own energy conservation programs.

If the commission refuses to grant the waiver, the issue could end up in court. So far, the companies have two influential allies: Progress Energy and state's top utilities cop, Edward Finley Jr., the chairman of

Charlotte gas utility to pay up for conservation

Piedmont Natural Gas, the state's biggest natural gas utility, this spring will start paying customers to become more energy efficient.

The N.C. Utilities Commission approved the company's conservation programs for households and nonprofit organizations Monday as part of a statewide policy goal to cut energy waste.

Charlotte-based Piedmont expects to begin offering the financial incentives May 1. Piedmont, with about 725,000 customers statewide, will pay customers to add insulation, weather-stripping and energy-efficient appliances.

Triangle residents take shelter from heat

Youth sports teams cancelled practices. Trash crews ended their shifts early. Homeless shelters opened during the day, offering relief to people who couldn't get out of the heat.

Triangle residents sweated through another day of a record-breaking heat as temperatures soared to a sweltering 104 degrees Thursday. That was four degrees above the previous record set in 2001 and just a degree shy of the all-time record of 105 set in August 1988.

Expect more triple-digit temperatures today, when forecasters expect a high of around 103 degrees, another record.