Efficiency measures earn recognition for Verizon

Verizon Communications has won federal Energy Star honors for the second year in a row. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy presented Verizon with the Corporate Commitment Award in recognition of its energy efficiency program.

Verizon Hawaii saved $500,000 last year through its efforts, which included removing about 5,000 fluorescent lights and raising air-conditioning temperatures in some facilities as well as installing occupancy sensors that turn off lights when a space is unoccupied for a set amount of time.

"These efforts, combined with the widespread cooperation of our employees to consciously reduce unnecessary usage of electricity, is what lead to the savings," said George Sproul, manager of real estate operations for Verizon Hawaii.

"People may not think that turning off the lights when they'll be out of the office for a few hours will make a difference. But when 1,000 people do it, the energy savings can be significant," he said.

Nationwide energy-reduction efforts helped cut expenses by about $40 million at Verizon last year.

3M hiding in plain sight on daily stock tables

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co. thought it was making life easier by officially changing its name to the more commonly known 3M Co., but the switch has caused some confusion.

As a result of the name change, 3M's stock is now listed in the "T" section of the New York Stock Exchange tables furnished to many papers, including the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, by the Associated Press.

The company's ticker symbol, MMM, did not change.

So if you've been having trouble tracking your 3M stock performance, it's still there, it just migrated down the alphabet a bit.

Iolani students earn trip for economics knowledge

Two student teams from Iolani School won the annual Economics Challenge competition and will travel to San Francisco at the end of the month to compete in the western regional portion of the competition.

The local competition is run by the Hawaii Council on Economic Education.

There are two divisions in the competition -- one for students with one semester of economics coursework and for advanced students. A team from each division will compete in San Francisco.

The competition tests students' knowledge of economic and financial concepts. The winning team members earned a $100 savings bond each and the trip to San Francisco to compete against other teams in the region.

Last year a team from Iolani took first place in the western region and placed third in the national competition. This year's winning students in the local competition are Melodie Chu, Patrick Wood, Matt Luat, Pam Carlton, Andres Killips, Cherise Saito, David Bangerter and David Yoshida.

New Horizons center opens first isle location

A major international chain of computer training centers is opening its first Hawaii location at the Ala Moana Pacific Center, bringing more competition to the local marketplace.

New Horizons Computer Learning Center of Hawaii, which officially opens May 8, will join such local trainers as Computer Training Academy/Network Resource Center, TeraBiz and Mac Made Easy.

New Horizons is a franchise of Anaheim, Calif.-based New Horizons Computer Learning Centers Inc., which owns and franchises more than 280 training centers in 46 countries. The Honolulu franchise is owned by the family of general manager Steven A. Svestka, a Hawaii resident who previously managed a New Horizons center in Phoenix. New Horizons Computer Learning Center of Hawaii is an Arizona-based corporation.

For more information, visit www.nhofhawaii.com on the Web.