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auroraprimehomesolutions · 7 months ago

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Creating a Sustainable Home Remodel in Aurora, CO with Energy-Efficient Appliances

Creating a sustainable home remodel in Aurora, Colorado, with energy-efficient appliances is a forward-thinking endeavor that not only benefits the environment but also enhances the comfort and efficiency of your living space. By incorporating energy-efficient appliances into your remodel, you can significantly reduce your home's energy consumption and carbon footprint while also lowering utility bills. Begin by assessing your home's current energy usage and identifying areas where improvements can be made. Consider upgrading to ENERGY STAR-certified appliances, such as refrigerators, dishwashers, and washing machines, which are designed to use less energy and water without sacrificing performance. Additionally, explore options for renewable energy sources, such as solar panels or geothermal heating and cooling systems, to further reduce your reliance on fossil fuels. By prioritizing sustainability in your home remodel, you can create a healthier, more environmentally friendly living environment for yourself and future generations. Read More: Top 10 Best Home Remodeling Companies In Aurora, CO

Planning Your Sustainable Home Remodel in Aurora, CO

Planning your sustainable home remodel in Aurora, Colorado, is an exciting opportunity to reduce your environmental impact while enhancing the comfort and efficiency of your living space. Begin by assessing your home's current energy usage and identifying areas where improvements can be made. Consider upgrading to energy-efficient appliances, such as ENERGY STAR-certified refrigerators, dishwashers, and washing machines, which can significantly reduce your home's energy consumption. Additionally, explore options for renewable energy sources, such as solar panels or geothermal heating and cooling systems, to further reduce your reliance on fossil fuels. Prioritize sustainable building materials, such as bamboo flooring, recycled glass countertops, and low-VOC paints, to minimize environmental harm and create a healthier indoor environment. By carefully planning your sustainable home remodel, you can create a more eco-friendly and energy-efficient living space that benefits both you and the planet.

Assessing Your Current Energy Usage and Identifying Areas for Improvement

Assessing your current energy usage and identifying areas for improvement is a crucial step in planning a sustainable home remodel in Aurora, Colorado. Start by reviewing your utility bills and analyzing your energy consumption patterns to understand where energy is being used most. Consider conducting a home energy audit to pinpoint areas of inefficiency, such as outdated appliances, drafty windows, or insufficient insulation. Pay attention to energy-intensive appliances and electronics, as well as areas where air leaks or heat loss may be occurring. By identifying these areas for improvement, you can develop a targeted plan to prioritize energy-saving upgrades and maximize the efficiency of your home remodel.

Setting Goals: Defining Your Vision for a Greener, More Efficient Home

Setting goals and defining your vision for a greener, more efficient home is a crucial first step in planning a sustainable remodel in Aurora, Colorado. Begin by envisioning the desired outcomes of your remodel, such as reducing energy consumption, minimizing waste, and creating a healthier indoor environment. Consider how your lifestyle and daily routines can align with sustainable practices, such as conserving water, reducing reliance on fossil fuels, and promoting renewable energy sources. Identify specific goals and priorities that reflect your values and aspirations for a more eco-friendly home, whether it's installing energy-efficient appliances, improving insulation, or incorporating passive solar design principles. By setting clear goals and defining your vision for a greener, more efficient home, you can guide the planning and implementation of your remodel to achieve meaningful and lasting environmental benefits.

The Importance of Energy-Efficient Appliances in Your Home Remodel

The importance of energy-efficient appliances in your home remodel cannot be overstated, particularly in Aurora, Colorado, where sustainability is increasingly valued. Energy-efficient appliances offer numerous benefits that go beyond just reducing your carbon footprint. By investing in these appliances, you can significantly decrease your energy consumption and utility bills over time. Additionally, energy-efficient appliances often come with advanced features that enhance convenience and functionality, such as programmable settings and smart technology integration. Furthermore, using less energy helps to conserve valuable natural resources and reduces greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to a cleaner and healthier environment for future generations. When planning your home remodel, prioritize energy-efficient appliances to not only save money and energy but also to make a positive impact on the planet.

Understanding the Benefits: Saving Money and Reducing Environmental Impact

Understanding the benefits of energy-efficient appliances is crucial when planning your home remodel in Aurora, Colorado. By opting for these appliances, you can save money on your utility bills while simultaneously reducing your environmental impact. Energy-efficient appliances are designed to use less energy than their conventional counterparts, resulting in lower electricity, gas, or water bills over time. Additionally, by consuming less energy, these appliances help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and minimize the depletion of natural resources. This not only benefits the environment but also contributes to a more sustainable future for our planet. Therefore, when considering your home remodel, prioritize energy-efficient appliances to enjoy both financial savings and environmental conservation.

Exploring the Latest Technologies: Innovations in Energy Efficiency

Exploring the latest technologies in energy efficiency is an essential aspect of planning your home remodel in Aurora, Colorado. Advancements in energy-efficient technologies offer innovative solutions to reduce your home's environmental impact while also enhancing comfort and convenience. From smart thermostats that optimize heating and cooling based on your schedule and preferences to energy-efficient lighting systems with motion sensors and dimming capabilities, there are numerous cutting-edge technologies available to help you save energy and reduce utility costs. Additionally, advancements in appliance design and engineering have led to the development of highly efficient refrigerators, dishwashers, washing machines, and other household appliances that use less energy without sacrificing performance. By exploring these latest technologies and incorporating them into your home remodel, you can create a more sustainable and technologically advanced living space that benefits both you and the environment.

Selecting the Right Energy-Efficient Appliances for Your Aurora Home

Selecting the right energy-efficient appliances for your Aurora home is a critical step in creating a more sustainable and cost-effective living environment. Begin by assessing your household's specific needs and priorities, such as the size of your family, your cooking habits, and your budget constraints. Next, research energy-efficient appliances that are ENERGY STAR-certified, as these products meet strict energy efficiency guidelines set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Consider appliances with features such as high Energy Factor (EF) ratings for water heaters, low standby power consumption for electronics, and efficient cooling systems for refrigerators and air conditioners. Additionally, look for appliances with advanced features such as programmable settings, smart technology integration, and energy-saving modes to further maximize efficiency and convenience. By carefully selecting the right energy-efficient appliances for your Aurora home, you can reduce your energy consumption, lower your utility bills, and minimize your environmental impact for years to come.

Choosing Appliances with High Energy Star Ratings: What to Look For

When choosing appliances with high ENERGY STAR ratings for your Aurora home, there are several key factors to consider to ensure maximum energy efficiency and cost savings. First and foremost, look for appliances that display the ENERGY STAR label, indicating that they meet or exceed strict energy efficiency guidelines set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Pay attention to the specific ENERGY STAR rating for each appliance, as higher ratings typically indicate greater energy efficiency. Additionally, consider the appliance's size, capacity, and features to ensure it meets your household's needs while still minimizing energy consumption. Look for advanced features such as programmable settings, smart technology integration, and energy-saving modes, which can further enhance efficiency and convenience. Finally, compare the estimated annual energy consumption and operating costs of different models to determine which appliance offers the best combination of performance and energy efficiency for your home. By choosing appliances with high ENERGY STAR ratings, you can enjoy significant energy savings and reduce your environmental impact without sacrificing performance or functionality.

Matching Appliances to Your Needs: Finding the Perfect Balance of Functionality and Efficiency

Matching appliances to your needs involves finding the perfect balance of functionality and efficiency for your Aurora home. Start by identifying your household's specific requirements, such as the size of your family, your cooking habits, and your budget constraints. Consider the features and capabilities that are most important to you, whether it's a spacious refrigerator with ample storage, a dishwasher with adjustable racks for versatile loading options, or a range with precise temperature control for optimal cooking results. Next, prioritize energy-efficient models that are ENERGY STAR-certified, as these appliances are designed to minimize energy consumption while still delivering high performance. Look for appliances with advanced features such as programmable settings, smart technology integration, and energy-saving modes, which can further enhance efficiency and convenience. By carefully matching appliances to your needs and prioritizing both functionality and efficiency, you can create a more sustainable and comfortable living environment for you and your family.

Maximizing Sustainability Beyond Appliances in Your Aurora Home Remodel

Maximizing sustainability beyond appliances is essential when planning your home remodel in Aurora, Colorado. While energy-efficient appliances play a significant role in reducing your home's environmental impact, there are several other strategies you can implement to further enhance sustainability throughout your remodel. Consider incorporating eco-friendly building materials, such as bamboo flooring, reclaimed wood, or recycled glass countertops, which are sourced sustainably and have a lower environmental footprint compared to traditional materials. Additionally, prioritize energy-efficient lighting fixtures, such as LED bulbs or compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), which use less energy and last longer than incandescent bulbs. Explore options for improving insulation and sealing air leaks to reduce energy waste and improve the comfort and efficiency of your home. Finally, consider incorporating renewable energy sources, such as solar panels or wind turbines, to generate clean, renewable power and further reduce your reliance on fossil fuels. By maximizing sustainability beyond appliances in your Aurora home remodel, you can create a more eco-friendly and energy-efficient living space that benefits both you and the environment.

Sustainable Building Materials: Eco-Friendly Options for Floors, Walls, and More

Sustainable building materials offer eco-friendly options for floors, walls, and more in your Aurora home remodel. When choosing materials for your remodel, consider options that are sourced responsibly and have minimal environmental impact. For floors, consider bamboo, cork, or reclaimed wood, which are renewable resources that can add warmth and character to your space. For walls, look for low-VOC (volatile organic compound) paints and finishes, which emit fewer harmful chemicals into the air and contribute to better indoor air quality. Additionally, consider using recycled materials such as reclaimed brick or salvaged wood for accent walls or architectural features. When selecting countertops and other surfaces, consider options such as recycled glass, concrete, or sustainably harvested wood. By prioritizing sustainable building materials in your Aurora home remodel, you can create a more eco-friendly and healthier living environment for you and your family while reducing your environmental footprint.

Water Conservation Strategies: Reducing Waste and Promoting Efficiency in Your Home

Water conservation strategies are vital for reducing waste and promoting efficiency in your home, especially in regions like Aurora, Colorado, where water scarcity is a concern. Start by identifying areas where water is being used inefficiently, such as leaky faucets, outdated fixtures, and excessive irrigation. Repairing leaks and upgrading to water-efficient fixtures, such as low-flow toilets and aerated faucets, can significantly reduce water waste. Additionally, consider installing water-saving devices, such as rain barrels for outdoor irrigation or greywater systems that reuse water from sinks and showers for landscaping. Implementing simple habits, like taking shorter showers, only running full loads of laundry and dishes, and watering your lawn during cooler times of the day, can also help conserve water. By implementing these water conservation strategies, you can reduce your water usage, lower your utility bills, and contribute to the sustainability of your community and the environment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, planning a sustainable home remodel in Aurora, Colorado, offers numerous benefits for both homeowners and the environment. By incorporating energy-efficient appliances, sustainable building materials, water conservation strategies, and other eco-friendly practices into your remodel, you can create a healthier, more efficient living environment while reducing your environmental footprint. Additionally, these sustainable choices can help lower utility bills, increase property value, and contribute to the overall well-being of your community. As you embark on your remodel journey, remember to prioritize sustainability and make choices that align with your values and long-term goals. Together, we can work towards creating a more sustainable future for generations to come.

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 4 years ago

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

April 25, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

On Thursday and Friday of last week, April 22 and 23, President Biden convened a virtual meeting of 40 world leaders to discuss addressing climate change. It is no longer possible to ignore changes in the world’s climate: the last decade was the hottest in recorded history, and the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached record levels. Arctic ice is melting; last summer’s fires in Australia, California, and Colorado were catastrophic.

In 2015, representatives of more than 190 countries, including the U.S., gathered in Paris and hammered out an agreement on mitigating climate change, adapting to it, and financing those changes. Former president Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement. On his first day in office, Biden took the U.S. back into the international agreement.

But Biden seems not simply to be trying to adjust the nation’s energy production. With the Leaders Summit on Climate, Biden is taking what his Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm called “our generation’s moonshot,” a reference to the American determination to reach the moon in the 1960s, a goal that spurred previously unimaginable developments in technology, computers, and science.

In the past, refusal to address the issue of climate change has centered around the idea that cutting back on fossil fuels would take jobs from coal miners and those in related fossil fuel industries. That focus was always about more than jobs: the hardworking white man in a hardhat was a cultural symbol for a certain political stance more than it was about reality. Walmart, for example, employs about 28 times the number of people as does coal, even including executives, office workers, and so on. Still, it’s a trope that worked in 2016: Trump won West Virginia by 42 points.

But a lot has changed in the last four years.

For one thing, the market for coal has slid, illustrating that old blue-collar jobs are not coming back. Trump promised to make coal great again and seemed to think that slashing environmental regulations would do the trick, but even combined with an infusion of up to $1 billion, slashing regulations could not stop Trump’s administration from overseeing the fastest decline of coal-fuel capacity in U.S. history. The U.S. lost 10% of coal-mining jobs—5300 of them—between 2016 and 2020. Low natural gas prices and the rise of wind and solar alternatives pushed coal aside. At the same time, mechanization across blue collar industries means the recovery of old manufacturing jobs is not in the cards.

On April 19, the United Mine Workers of America, the largest coal miners’ union, backed Biden’s plan to move away from coal, so long as miners get government support to transition into similar jobs. In a plan endorsed by Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia (who is well known for delivering for his constituents), the union asked for funding to plug abandoned oil and gas wells, clean up mining sites, and train workers for new jobs in new energy technologies.

The sentiments of business leaders have shifted, too, as they recognize that climate change is a financial disruptor. Earlier this month, leaders of more than 400 businesses that collectively employ more than 7 million Americans signed a letter asking Biden to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030. “To restore the standing of the U.S. as a global leader, we need to address the climate crisis at the pace and scale it demands,” they wrote. “New investment in clean energy, energy efficiency, and clean transportation can build a strong, more equitable, and more inclusive American economy.” Signatories included Etsy, Facebook, Nike, Microsoft, Verizon, and Walmart.

Biden has already embraced the idea that addressing climate change is not a loss but an opportunity. It will, he insists, bring good jobs to ordinary Americans. “When people talk about climate, I think jobs,” Biden said on Thursday. “Within our climate response lies an extraordinary engine of job creation and economic opportunity ready to be fired up.”

Indeed, Biden’s American Jobs Plan already calls for $16 billion to clean up abandoned mining sites and more for the training in new infrastructure jobs coal miners want. It also addresses job losses in rural areas in an obvious but novel way: by supporting the caregiver economy. Caregiving jobs cannot ever be mechanized, and there are caregivers—and people who need care— in every single community in this country. Supporting those positions will bring money into towns left behind by the loss of jobs like mining.

Biden’s emphasis on new energy jobs is part domestic politics, but it is also a major play for redefining future world power. It was no accident that the overarching political theme of last week’s conference was “America is back.”

As the White House fact sheet on the conference stated: “Over the course of two days and eight sessions, President Biden convened heads of state and government, as well as leaders and representatives from international organizations, businesses, subnational governments, and indigenous communities, to rally the world in tackling the climate crisis, demonstrate the economic opportunities of the future, and affirm the need for unprecedented global cooperation and ambition to meet the moment.”

America is back, indeed.

But what does that mean, in this context? At the summit, Biden announced that by 2030 the U.S. would reduce emissions by 50–52% from the levels of 2005, more than doubling our commitment under the Paris Agreement. He called for other countries, which make up 85% of emissions, to “step up” to “tackle the climate crisis and support the most vulnerable.” (The U.S., which has 4% of the world’s population, emits 15% of the world’s greenhouse gases). This is all pretty standard for U.S. climate statements. Biden went farther, though, calling for changing the American economy over to renewables, including wind, solar, nuclear, and so on, to make the country carbon-free by 2035.

Still, what jumps out from the rest of the Biden proposal is what sure looks like a major reworking of the world economy and thus its political tensions.

While the U.S. focused on fossil fuels and refused to jump wholeheartedly into research and development of alternative energies, China did. That nation is still dependent on fossil fuels and expects not to reach its highest pollution levels until sometime before 2030, but it has heavily subsidized solar power and now has 8 of the top 10 solar companies in the world. America has one; Europe has none. Chinese dominance of the technology and supply chains for the solar industry threatens to sideline American technology and national security, as even American solar manufacturers depend on Chinese materials.

Dominating the world of alternative energy would give China a powerful geopolitical tool. Remember how hard the supply chain failures in China during the early days of the coronavirus hit the U.S.? Now, think energy. A recent piece by Emerging Markets journalist Kenneth Rapoza in Forbes is titled: “How China’s Solar Industry Is Set Up To Be The New Green OPEC,” a reference to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, whose oil embargo to the U.S. in 1973 slammed the U.S. economy.

Countries, especially weaker countries, would need to turn toward China if that’s where they get their energy technology. And even stronger countries would be dependent on China for one of their most vital needs. To forestall that scenario, Biden has stepped in to reclaim leadership on new energy technologies for the United States, enabling other countries to work toward an energy future that is not dominated by China. On April 22, North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg signed onto the idea of NATO cooperation on climate change and other security challenges.

After four years in which our leaders saw the height of American strength as standing alone, our leadership is now focusing on the idea of international teamwork. Biden’s climate plan is about saving the planet, but it also seems to be about saving global alliances, binding countries together with a new climate agreement to retain their power over their own energy in the future.

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#political #Climate Change #Letters From An American #Heather Cox Richardson #history #global

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rjzimmerman · 4 years ago

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Excerpt from this story from High Country News:

The day after oil futures went negative, Nicholas Douglas, a top-ranking national BLM official, emailed the agency’s Western state directors. This email thread, obtained by High Country News, shows the agency encouraging public-land drilling, despite the continued glut in the global market.

The new policies instruct state offices to let companies apply for lease suspensions and avoid royalty payments, which are the legally mandated taxes on the revenue from resources drilled or mined on public lands. Several BLM state offices confirmed to High Country News that they are carrying out these policies.

These new directives are not outliers. Despite the pandemic, the BLM appears to be encouraging public-lands drilling, rather than pressing operators to shut in wells and not produce oil. In the past few months, the BLM held lease sales in Colorado, Montana, Nevada and Wyoming. A September auction could make more than 100,000 acres of public land available for drilling just outside Canyonlands and Arches national parks in Utah. No such aid has been offered to renewable energy industries, which have also suffered in the downturn. Instead, the Interior Department hit solar and wind projects on federal land with large retroactive rent bills in mid-May, Reuters reported.

Taken as a whole, these drilling incentives will not do much to help the oversaturated oil market, said Mark Squillace, professor of natural resource law at University of Colorado Law School. But since federal oil and gas leases last 10 years — and companies often get them extended — operators can grab cheap leases now and sit on them until oil prices rebound, while the lease suspensions and royalty rate reduction provide short term relief on existing wells. The BLM is offering lease sales at the exactly wrong time, selling valuable oil and gas properties during a down market, Squillace said. That, combined with the royalty reduction, means lower financial return on federal oil for energy-dependent Western states. “It looks like an effort to exploit COVID-19 to give away public resources in ways that are ultimately quite destructive,” he said.

#US oil and gas industry #oil and gas leases #oil and gas royalty payments #trump #coronavirus pandemic #BLM #public lands

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la-leto · 6 years ago

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Alex Honnold, star of the Oscar-contending doc Free Solo, is perched precariously halfway up an 85-foot wall. The seemingly superhuman climber who scaled a 3,000-foot sheer vertical wall in Yosemite National Park without any safety equipment is wearing a harness and tied into one end of a rope. In the unlikely event that he falls, the man on the other end, Jared Leto, will catch him. The wall arcs up and out at a steep angle — what rock climbers call overhanging — so a climber's body is nearly horizontal to the ground. When it's his turn to ascend the wall, Leto, breathing hard, is undeterred. "Nice, Jared, c'mon dude," Honnold, 33, shouts, doling out lengths of slack in the rope. "Stay with it, I'm with you."

Unlike the many people in Hollywood who have reached out to Honnold since the release of Free Solo, Leto, who fronts the rock band 30 Seconds to Mars and won a best supporting actor Oscar for 2013's Dallas Buyers Club, has been climbing with him since 2015. Leto was working on The Great Wide Open, a series of five short films about national parks and the men and women exploring them, including Honnold. Shortly after they met, the pro climber took Leto up a classic mountain route called Matthes Crest northeast of Yosemite Valley. It was one of Leto's first climbs, and they stayed out into the night. "We were just so psyched," says Honnold. Leto, 47, remembers scrambling along a thin blade of granite toward the summit and nearly falling off. "There was one part where I grabbed on the end of a rope during one really slabby section," he says. Leto continued to climb, and his friendship with Honnold grew. "I'm getting my ass kicked," the actor says, "which is great."

Leto makes a stealth appearance in Free Solo. Early on, filmmaker Jimmy Chin's camera lingers on an unidentified man's back as a disembodied voice (both belonging to Leto) asks Honnold if he would ever consider free-soloing the 3,000-foot granite monolith that is El Capitan, the mecca of the rock-climbing world. Honnold, of course, goes on to do just that, his ascent of El Capitan's Freerider route without ropes or harnesses ranking as a nearly unparalleled feat of physical achievement. On Feb. 24, the National Geographic-sponsored team that captured the epic journey on film, including Chin and his co-director and wife, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, might be going home with an Oscar statuette.

Free Solo has brought a slew of opportunities to Honnold. "It's like a snowball going downhill," he says. "And the film hasn't even hit streaming yet." In November, Honnold struck a multiyear brand ambassador partnership with car company Rivian, which considers Honnold a "superuser" because he lived in a van for so long. Rivian, which markets itself as the manufacturer of the "world's first Electric Adventure Vehicles," consults with Honnold on design. On Oscar night, Honnold is expected to show up in a Rivian R1T All-Electric pickup truck — and sport a custom-made tuxedo that The North Face is having made just for the occasion. (Honnold still uses the van that appeared in Free Solo for overnight climbing trips with his girlfriend, Sanni McCandless.) He has another ambassadorship deal with Beyond Meat, a company that makes plant-based products that resemble meat. He also has shares in the company, which could yield dividends when it stages its IPO soon. His nonprofit, The Honnold Foundation, which works on solar energy and aid projects for impoverished communities in the U.S. and abroad, has seen an uptick in attention and partnerships as well.

Black Diamond and Maxim sponsor his climbing gear. A company called Stride provides him with health insurance. Italian climbing company La Sportiva offers shoes, and Utah-based Goal Zero works with him to market solar chargers for phones. He gets paid handsomely to speak to investors and corporations, often repurposing a Ted Talk he gave last year about "mastery." He'll soon become part-owner of a national chain of climbing gyms, a speculative bid on an expected uptick of interest in rock climbing. Though he's avoided the big-time exposure that comes with big-time sports brands, Honnold will almost certainly make seven figures this year and next. Says his manager at RXR Sports, Jonathan Retseck, "For rock climbing, that's pretty good."

***

One recent morning, before Leto arrived at the Sender One climbing gym in South L.A., Honnold reflected on this new phase as a half-dozen people snuck by to snap pictures of him. Hollywood, too, has shown intense interest: Honnold was game when Edward Norton's agent got in touch about the two going climbing. (They haven't yet.) He met Brie Larson, who also has climbed and was training for Captain Marvel, at an Antonio Banderas screening. "I loved Zorro as a kid, and [Banderas] was talking about one of the scenes where he was climbing on a beam and forgot to clip in, and he was like, 'It's like free soloing,' " recalls Honnold. "It was pretty classic!"

It may come as no surprise that the man who scaled El Cap without ropes is unfazed by the pressures of Hollywood. At the climbing gym, as Honnold completes a difficult boulder problem — just slightly harder than the famous karate-kick move shown in Free Solo— he says, "I don't think any of it is that surprising if you think about it rationally. The scheduled time, the interviews, the publicists, being handled and stuff — it doesn't feel like a healthy lifestyle, but that's fine."

Of the awards-season rush, "It's obviously not how I would choose to spend my life," he says, "and the idea that freakin' actors do this for their whole careers blows my mind because it's not that fun, you know? It's really cool to meet these people that you've been inspired by, but you don't actually hang out. It's not quality time." Leto, who walks into the gym wearing a Grateful Dead shirt and black pants, adds that he lent him a tux for the Producers Guild Awards. "He could barely move in the thing, and the shoes I think were probably too small as well," notes Leto.

Since their first meeting in Yosemite, Honnold and Leto have climbed in Colorado, Nevada and in other places in California. "For the amount of time he's been doing it, he's actually phenomenal," Chin says, bestowing on the Oscar winner an even greater honor: "He's a climber."

Later, Leto, who has put on 10 pounds since playing Dallas Buyers Club's transgender drug addict, shares that the physical change is part of preparation for his role as the archvillain in Morbius, the Marvel spinoff about the vampiric character. "The world's most fearsome predator," Leto quips. Warming up on a few moderately easy routes that snake up alongside Sender One's imposing overhang, Leto adds that he hopes to pack on 10 more pounds: "It's great because I go from being very sick and very infirm to being strong and monstrous" in the movie. The friends have climbed at indoor gyms whenever the Las Vegas-based pro climber has been in town to promote Free Solo, and Honnold has been careful not to push Leto too far out of respect for his actorly obligations. "Jared's climbing is not the most important thing for him, obviously," he says, adding: "I think it would be cool to do stunts — I want to wind up as Tom Cruise's stunt double, to do climbing in a movie. Don't you think that'd be fun?" One of his early climbing heroes, a well-known Yosemite legend named Ron Kauk, climbed for Sylvester Stallone in Cliffhanger and for Cruise in Mission: Impossible II.

Understandably, most people still want to talk about Honnold's ascent of Freerider, even though his climbing career has moved on in some ways, including a record speed ascent of another route on El Cap and an expedition to Antarctica. "But then I spend all day, every day, talking about the Freerider climb, so in some ways I haven't moved past it at all," he says. "It's the first time in my life I've had that kind of weird disconnect between what I'm working on versus what I'm talking about."

He hadn't climbed outside in more than a month, and yet now, as he moves from bouldering to a few rounds on the hang bar to the overhanging wall, he seems content. "I feel surprisingly strong for the fact that I live in hotels now," he says. Honnold and a friend have been toying with the idea of attempting a route somewhere on the Trango Towers, a massif of 20,000-feet-high granite peaks in northern Pakistan that has attracted top climbers for years. "I just want to get to the top of some of the most striking towers in the world," he says. "Honestly though, we'll see if it even happens because of scheduling."

In other ways, Honnold's life post-Free Solohas mellowed. He's happily ensconced with McCandless at the Vegas home they purchased during filming of the movie. They climb together often. Co-director Vasarhelyi points out that Honnold has successfully managed to scale this emotional challenge. "They found love," she says. "It's a Shakespearean story, the little engine that could." Honnold says the emotional drama of the documentary belies a more serene domesticity that he thoroughly enjoys. "You only see a few minutes onscreen, so it doesn't show that you're living together in harmony," he says. "It only shows the moments of tension around this big challenge." Still, it seems evident that conquering the solo climb has freed up something deeper in Honnold. Whereas in the movie Honnold was demonstrably uncomfortable when hugging his friend Tommy Caldwell's kids, now he struts around the gym proudly holding Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi's daughter, Marina, in his arms. They call him "Uncle Alex."

Later, as he belays Leto, who scrambles up another route, a friend stops by to chat. Honnold asks about the friend's romantic relationship. "It's casual," the friend says. "Is it consistent?" Honnold asks, and the friend nods. Honnold thinks on this for half a second. "Consistently casual is still consistent," Honnold says, smiling. "After three great years with Sanni, I feel qualified to give relationship advice." He says he wants a family and kids of his own one day. "Are you going to let them climb?" the friend asks. Honnold doesn't hesitate. "I'm sure my kids will grow up underneath the moonboard in my home." For someone who has explored the most extreme corners of what's physically and psychologically possible, Honnold seems keen to resume a life of normal pleasures. "As soon as the Oscars are over, he's going to be itching to get in a van with Sanni and go on a climbing trip and life as usual," says Retseck. Leto reaches the top of the wall. Honnold brings him down, they laugh, and move on to the next route.

#jared leto #alex honnold #free solo #bffs #interviews #morbius

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theliberaltony · 6 years ago

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via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

Welcome to a weekly collaboration between FiveThirtyEight and ABC News. With 5,000 people seemingly thinking about challenging President Trump in 2020 — Democrats and even some Republicans — we’re keeping tabs on the field as it develops. Each week, we’ll run through what the potential candidates are up to — who’s getting closer to officially jumping in the ring and who’s getting further away.

The Democratic National Committee announced Thursday its first presidential primary debates will be held in Miami, Florida on June 26 and 27, which is less than three months away, but the presidential field is still far from set.

Miramar, Florida Mayor Wayne Messam entered the race this week, inching the primary field count closer to 20 candidates. And with former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Michael Bennet, and Rep. Tim Ryan (among others) discussing possible runs, it may not be long before the group tops 20. If that happens, that could pose serious problems for the DNC and the thresholds it set for its initial primary debates. The party has currently capped the number of debate participants to 20 and said in February that if more than 20 candidates met this criteria, they would give preference to candidates who cleared both the polling and fundraising thresholds, and if that was still too many people, they would include candidates with the highest polling averages.

Here’s the weekly candidate roundup:

Mar. 22-28, 2019

Stacey Abrams (D)

In an interview on “The View” Wednesday, Abrams responded to reports that Biden was interested in naming her as his running mate as he reportedly prepares to mount a presidential bid.

“I think you don’t run for second place,” the former Georgia gubernatorial candidate said, adding, “If I’m going to enter a primary, I’m going to enter the primary.”

Abrams said she still has not reached a final decision about her political future, but is “thinking about everything,” including presidential and Senate campaigns.

Michael Bennet (D)

The Colorado senator told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Thursday that he’s “very inclined” to run for president in 2020.

“We’re looking at it and I think … the American people need somebody who’s going to run and tell them the truth in 2020,” Bennet said. “We can’t get anything done around here if we continue to do what we’ve been doing here for the last 10 years, it’s not just since Trump arrived.”

Joe Biden (D)

CNBC reported Wednesday that a Biden presidential announcement could come as late as the end of April, citing those familiar with his plans.

The former vice president also attracted attention for expressing regret over his handling of the 1991 Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for now-Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, during which Anita Hill accused Thomas of sexual harassment. “To this day, I regret I couldn’t come up with a way to get her the kind of hearing she deserved,” he said, during remarks at the Biden Courage Awards in New York Tuesday, honoring students who have worked to prevent sexual assault.

Cory Booker (D)

A CNN town hall in South Carolina on Wednesday touched on a number of Booker’s campaign priorities, including criminal justice reform and the rising costs of health care.

The New Jersey senator said he would “absolutely” consider issuing mass pardons for those convicted of marijuana-related crimes, noting that “there is no difference in America between using and even selling marijuana between blacks and whites, but if you’re African-American in this country, you’re almost four times more likely to be arrested for that.”

Booker also somewhat broke from his past support of the pharmaceutical industry — which is particularly prominent in his home state — by pledging not to take money from industry executives and PACs.

Pete Buttigieg (D)

Buttigieg had a relatively strong performance in a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday, polling at 4 percent,which tied him with Sen. Elizabeth Warren and vaulted him into an upper-tier of candidates where in a crowded field capturing more than 1 percent support is hard..

Sports fans who have noticed the resemblance between Buttigieg and Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens got a kick out of Stevens expressing his admiration for the South Bend mayor and noting he has “followed him pretty close.”

“I’ll be real candid, I love a lot of his platforms. I’m a big fan of his,” Stevens told NBC Sports Boston. “I haven’t endorsed anyone yet, I don’t get into the political stuff too much, but he’s a hard one for me to root against. He’s also rising pretty quickly.”

Julian Castro (D)

Castro called President Trump’s claim that the GOP would soon be known as “the party of health care” by calling the declaration “stunning.”

“This administration is going completely against the will of the people; going against the will of Congress, and trying to pull the rug out from under millions and millions of American families,” he said on CNN Tuesday.

John Delaney (D)

The former Maryland congressman said in response to Barr’s letter to Congress, which summarized the results of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation that “as an American” he was glad “on some level … that the President of the United States was not indicted for colluding with a foreign power.”

“I was happy that the report is over because I think we’ve spent way too much time talking about this, and obviously I think every American on some level should be happy with the headline results,” Delaney said on Fox News Wednesday.

Tulsi Gabbard (D)

While acknowledging she supported Mueller being given the opportunity to complete his investigation without interference, Gabbard tweeted Monday that Americans now needed to “set aside our partisan interests and recognize that finding the President of the United States not guilty… is a good thing” for the country.

Kirsten Gillibrand (D)

Gillibrand became the first candidate to release her 2018 tax returns Wednesday, revealing that she earned roughly $218,000 and paid nearly $30,000 in taxes. The New York senator further called on her fellow candidates to follow suit. Elizabeth Warren’s website includes 10 years of tax returns but her 2018 form has yet to be posted.

In her first major event since officially joining the race, Gillibrand spoke outside of Trump International Hotel in New York last weekend, where she called the president a “coward” and said she has “stood up against Donald Trump more than anyone in the Senate.”

Kamala Harris (D)

On Tuesday, Harris rolled out a plan to invest federal money in raising teacher salaries across the nation, promising an average increase of $13,500, plus additional funding for educator training programs.

“Our country’s success is a product of the two groups who raise our children: parents and teachers. We are not paying our teachers their value,” the California senator said in a statement. “Teachers should not have to work two or three jobs to pay the bills.”

John Hickenlooper (D)

In a Washington Post op-ed, the former Colorado governor said he supports “the concept of a Green New Deal,” but that the much publicized proposal put forth by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. “sets unachievable goals.”

“We do not yet have the technology needed to reach ‘net-zero greenhouse gas emissions’ in 10 years. That’s why many wind and solar companies don’t support it,” Hickenlooper writes. “There is no clean substitute for jet fuel. Electric vehicles are growing quickly, yet are still in their infancy.”

“Amid this technological innovation, we need to ensure that energy is not only clean but also affordable,” he continues.

Amy Klobuchar (D)

The Minnesota senator announced a $1 trillion infrastructure plan Thursday, focused on repairing and replacing roads, highways and bridges; expanding public transportation; increasing internet access; rebuilding schools; and modernizing airports and seaports, among other initiatives.

“This plan is about bringing our country together,” Klobuchar said in a statement. “Building bridges is not just a metaphor — this is what I’ve done and what I will continue to do as president. ”

Terry McAuliffe (D)

CNN reported Wednesday that McAuliffe, the former governor of Virginia, is leaning toward entering the presidential race, citing Democrats close to him as sources.

McAuliffe has long said that he is considering a campaign, but numerous outlets have previously reported that the former governor’s decision could be influenced by Biden’s deliberations.

Wayne Messam (D)

The relatively unknown mayor of Miramar, Florida officially entered the race Thursday morning with a video detailing his background as the son of Jamaican immigrants who earned a football scholarship before starting a construction business and entering local politics.

In an interview with CNN, Messam touted his outsider status as an advantage in the crowded field of Washington politicians.

“I see it to be a unique opportunity for Americans to look at another option of leadership,” he said, adding “When you look at a mayor, Americans see mayors favorably. We are at the front line of what Americans are dealing with every day.”

Seth Moulton (D)

The Massachusetts congressman, who is still considering a presidential campaign, issued an electoral reform plan Thursday, which included things like expanding automatic voter registration, granting Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. statehood, and making Election Day a national holiday, CNN reported.

Beto O’Rourke (D)

After a quiet week following his whirlwind first days on the campaign trail, O’Rourke will hold a trio of kick-off rallies in El Paso, Houston and Austin, Texas Saturday.

The Texas congressman finished third in a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday, garnering support of 12 percent of respondents, trailing only Biden and Bernie Sanders, who have consistently finished first and second in early primary polls.

Tim Ryan (D)

Ryan continues to deliberate over a presidential run, but he acknowledged this week he could join the field soon.

“In the next few weeks definitely got to pull the trigger one way or the other, got to make a decision,” Ryan told the Youngstown Vindicator Monday, while adding he was concerned he was not hearing enough about “jobs, health care and pensions” from the current candidates.

The Ohio congressman will visit Iowa Saturday for the Iowa Farmers Union “Heartland Forum.”

Bernie Sanders (D)

The Vermont senator told MSNBC Tuesday that he does not support “incremental reform” to improve the Affordable Care Act, only his “Medicare-for-All single payer program” and argued for the complete elimination of private insurance.

In a column in the Des Moines Register, Sanders pledged to support Iowan farmers and take on corporate agribusinesses, writing that farmers have “been systematically stripped of their ability to control their own futures and no longer know whether their hard work will earn them future success and stability.”

“When we are in the White House, we are going to strengthen antitrust laws that defend farmers from the corporate middlemen that stand between the food grower and the consumer, and have now become so big and powerful that they can squeeze farmers for everything they’re worth,” Sanders wrote.

Elizabeth Warren (D)

Much like her crusade against some of the country’s largest tech companies, Warren is also proposing that large agriculture businesses be broken up, writing in a blog post Wednesday that “we must address consolidation in the agriculture sector, which is leaving family farmers with fewer choices, thinner margins, and less independence.”

Northeast corridor travelers felt kinship with the Massachusetts senator earlier in the week when, in a viral moment, TMZ captured her running to New York’s Penn Station to catch a train.

Bill Weld (R)

The former Massachusetts governor and Libertarian vice-presidential candidate, who established a presidential exploratory committee in February, said during a radio interview Monday that he’ll reach a final decision on a primary challenge of President Trump by April.

“I’m leaning towards doing it unless something changes, and set myself an informal deadline of the month of April to pull the trigger,” he later told reporters in New Hampshire.

#IFTTT #Politics – FiveThirtyEight #politics #538 #Adam Kelsey

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promote-local-business-online · 3 years ago

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What is Stagflation? - Womack Weekly Commentary: September 7, 2021

WOMACK WEEKLY COMMENTARY

Renew. Regenerate. Refocus.

September 7, 2021

The Markets

Stagflation isn’t trending, but it was mentioned in quite a few headlines last week.

Stagflation is a portmanteau of ‘stagnation’ and ‘inflation.’ It occurs when a country experiences slow economic growth along with high inflation and high unemployment. In the United States:

Economic growth was strong during the second quarter; 6.5 percent year-over-year, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. However, some forecasts for third quarter’s economic growth have been revised downward. Economists at one large investment bank lowered their estimate from 9 percent to 5.5 percent, reported Lindsay Dunsmuir of Reuters.

Inflation is the rise in prices over time. The Federal Reserve prefers to measure the rise by looking at median Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) inflation. Median PCE was up 0.29 percent from June to July 2021, and up 2.2 percent over the past 12 months. The Federal Reserve’s target for inflation is 2 percent.

Employment showed a solid increase in August, although the gains were less robust than many expected. Unemployment ticked lower (5.2 percent), the labor force participation rate remained unchanged (61.7 percent), and average hourly earnings ticked higher ($30.73).

The culprit behind slowing growth, rising prices and recent unemployment levels is COVID-19. The spread of the Delta variant created a new wave of parts and labor shortages. Demand for goods is rising as many people appear to be less concerned about the virus. Shortages of goods coupled with high demand for those goods have pushed prices higher.

The Economist reported that the Delta variant, “…looks like a stagflationary force that is sapping growth less dramatically [than the original COVID-19 strain] but firing up inflation. Delta is weighing on consumer spending in the rich world but not causing a collapse. In countries with lots of vaccines, cases are no longer doing as much to stop consumers from moving around.”

Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished lower, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and the Nasdaq Composite moved higher. The yield on 10-year Treasuries ticked higher during the week.

S&P 500, Dow Jones Global ex-US, Gold, Bloomberg Commodity Index returns exclude reinvested dividends (gold does not pay a dividend) and the three-, five-, and 10-year returns are annualized;

and the 10-year Treasury Note is simply the yield at the close of the day on each of the historical time periods. Sources: Yahoo! Finance, MarketWatch, djindexes.com, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, London Bullion Market Association.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. N/A means not applicable.

WHAT DOES WAVE POWER LOOK LIKE?

If your neighbor mentioned wind energy, you might picture a towering turbine planted in a field or rising offshore. If a friend talked about a solar farm they saw while on vacation in Colorado, you might picture acres of solar panels angled to catch the sun’s rays. Waterpower often brings hydroelectric dams to mind.

What do you picture when asked about wave power?

Almost three-fourths of the Earth is covered by water. Tides surge and retreat. Wind blows waves across the tops of oceans and lakes. Freshwater and marine life drift on currents.

Water generates a lot of kinetic energy. “When it comes to renewable energy, waves have other resources beat in two respects. First, unlike solar, waves offer a consistent energy source regardless of time of day. Second, waves provide much greater energy density than wind due to water’s heavier mass,” reported Mary Beth Gallagher in MIT News.

Despite its potential, wave energy lags far behind in the race to develop renewable energy sources.11 While diverse methods for capturing wave energy have been developed, none have become widely used. As a result, when wave power is mentioned, nothing in particular may come to mind.

That may change soon. This month, “…researchers will float a yellow platform out into the waters of the Pacific Ocean, north of the Hawai’ian isle of O��ahu. It’s not just there to roll upon the waves…if all goes well, it’ll turn those very waves into electricity…Wave energy could, for instance, charge up the buoys that landmark the sea. It could power the desalination plants that make seawater drinkable, potentially providing life-sustaining hydration to places like islands that need it most. It could help make aquaculture more sustainable. And it could power electric vehicles at sea,” reported Rahul Rao of Popular Science.

Will a yellow and black cylinder bobbing in the ocean become the symbol for wave energy? Only time will tell.

Weekly Focus – Think About It

“My grandparents lived with us. And I remember watching 'Doctor Who' with my granddad on his new telly. These were the days before remote controls but my granddad, being quite a resourceful sort of chap, had fashioned his own remote control - which was a length of bamboo pole with a bit of cork that he'd glued on the end.”

—Bill Bailey, comedian

Best regards,

Womack Investment Advisers, Inc.

WOMACK INVESTMENT ADVISERS, INC.

Oklahoma / Main Office: 1366 E. 15th Street - Edmond, OK 73013 California Office: 4660 La Jolla Village Dr., Ste. 100 - San Diego, CA 92122 Phone (405) 340-1717 - Toll Free (877) 340-1717

Website: www.womackadvisers.com

Womack Investment Advisers, Inc. (WIA) is a registered investment adviser whose principal office is located in Oklahoma. Womack Investment Advisers, Inc. is also registered in the State of California, the State of Illinois, the State of Indiana, and the State of Texas. WIA only transacts business in states where it is properly registered, or excluded, or exempted from registration requirements.

Are you prepared for market volatility?

youtube

Be prepared and have a plan. Watch our new video above on successful investing and receive a free report on how much risk you should be taking.

P.S. These views are those of Carson Coaching, not the presenting Representative, the Representative’s Broker/Dealer, or Registered Investment Advisor, and should not be construed as investment advice.

* This newsletter was prepared by Carson Coaching. Carson Coaching is not affiliated with the named firm or broker/dealer.

* Government bonds and Treasury Bills are guaranteed by the U.S. government as to the timely payment of principal and interest and, if held to maturity, offer a fixed rate of return and fixed principal value. However, the value of fund shares is not guaranteed and will fluctuate.

* Corporate bonds are considered higher risk than government bonds but normally offer a higher yield and are subject to market, interest rate and credit risk as well as additional risks based on the quality of issuer coupon rate, price, yield, maturity, and redemption features.

* The Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged group of securities considered to be representative of the stock market in general. You cannot invest directly in this index.

* All indexes referenced are unmanaged. The volatility of indexes could be materially different from that of a client’s portfolio. Unmanaged index returns do not reflect fees, expenses, or sales charges. Index performance is not indicative of the performance of any investment. You cannot invest directly in an index.

* The Dow Jones Global ex-U.S. Index covers approximately 95% of the market capitalization of the 45 developed and emerging countries included in the Index.

* The 10-year Treasury Note represents debt owed by the United States Treasury to the public. Since the U.S. Government is seen as a risk-free borrower, investors use the 10-year Treasury Note as a benchmark for the long-term bond market.

* Gold represents the 3:00 p.m. (London time) gold price as reported by the London Bullion Market Association and is expressed in U.S. Dollars per fine troy ounce. The source for gold data is Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED), https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GOLDPMGBD228NLBM.

* The Bloomberg Commodity Index is designed to be a highly liquid and diversified benchmark for the commodity futures market. The Index is composed of futures contracts on 19 physical commodities and was launched on July 14, 1998.

* The DJ Equity All REIT Total Return Index measures the total return performance of the equity subcategory of the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) industry as calculated by Dow Jones.

* The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), commonly known as “The Dow,” is an index representing 30 stock of companies maintained and reviewed by the editors of The Wall Street Journal.

* The NASDAQ Composite is an unmanaged index of securities traded on the NASDAQ system.

* International investing involves special risks such as currency fluctuation and political instability and may not be suitable for all investors. These risks are often heightened for investments in emerging markets.

* Yahoo! Finance is the source for any reference to the performance of an index between two specific periods.

* The risk of loss in trading commodities and futures can be substantial. You should therefore carefully consider whether such trading is suitable for you in light of your financial condition. The high degree of leverage is often obtainable in commodity trading and can work against you as well as for you. The use of leverage can lead to large losses as well as gains.

* Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice and are not intended as investment advice or to predict future performance.

* Economic forecasts set forth may not develop as predicted and there can be no guarantee that strategies promoted will be successful.

* Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investing involves risk, including loss of principal.

* The foregoing information has been obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but we do not guarantee it is accurate or complete.

* There is no guarantee a diversified portfolio will enhance overall returns or outperform a non-diversified portfolio. Diversification does not protect against market risk.

* Asset allocation does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss.

* Consult your financial professional before making any investment decision.

Sources:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/stagflation.asp

https://www.bea.gov/news/2021/gross-domestic-product-second-quarter-2021-advance-estimate-and-annual-update

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/goldman-sachs-economists-cut-q3-growth-forecast-us-2021-08-19/

https://www.clevelandfed.org/our-research/indicators-and-data/median-pce-inflation.aspx

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

https://www.economist.com/leaders/how-the-pandemic-became-stagflationary/21804167 (or go to https://resources.carsongroup.com/hubfs/WMC-Source/2021/09-07-21_Economist_How%20the%20Pandemic%20Became%20Stagflagnant_6.pdf)

https://www.barrons.com/articles/wall-street-stock-market-fall-forecast-51630709312?refsec=the-trader

https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/Pages/TextView.aspx?data=yieldYear&year=2021 (or go to https://resources.carsongroup.com/hubfs/WMC-Source/2021/09-07-21_Barrons_Nothing%20Can%20Take%20the%20Stock%20Market_7.pdf)

https://www.usbr.gov/mp/arwec/water-facts-ww-water-sup.html

https://news.mit.edu/2019/race-develop-renewable-energy-technologies-1218

https://www.popsci.com/environment/wave-power-searay/

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/bill_bailey_1064281

Best Regards,

Greg Womack, CFP

WOMACK INVESTMENT ADVISERS, INC. Oklahoma / Main Office: 1366 E. 15th Street - Edmond, OK 73013 California Office: 4660 La Jolla Village Dr., Ste. 100 - San Diego, CA 92122 Phone (405) 340-1717 - Toll Free (877) 340-1717

Website: www.womackadvisers.com

Womack Investment Advisers, Inc. (WIA) is a registered investment adviser whose principal office is located in Oklahoma. WIA is also registered in the State of Illinois, the State of Indiana, the State of Texas, and the state of California. WIA only transacts business in states where it is properly registered, or excluded or exempted from registration requirements. Individualized responses to persons that involve either the effecting of transaction in securities, or the rendering of personalized investment advice for compensation, will not be made without registration or exemption. No client or prospective client should assume that any information presented or made available on or through this website, is a receipt of, or a substitute for, personalized financial planning consulting advice. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. No FDIC. Investing in the stock markets carries risk.

#investment #Financial Adviser #finance #united states #womackadvisers #advisor #Financial Advisor #Financial Advisers

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charllieeldridge · 3 years ago

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10 Best Coworking Spaces in Denver, Colorado

Being a remote worker can be challenging and lonely, especially if you’re an entrepreneur running your own business all on your own in the middle of the Mile High City. Luckily, there are many coworking spaces in Denver so that you can connect with others, network, and work somewhere new!

I’ve been a freelance design studio owner while living in Denver for almost a year now, so I know how tough it can be to work from your home every day.

After using a shared workspace in Denver, my productivity immediately shot up, and I started looking forward to working each day.

So, if you’re curious about the best coworking space in downtown Denver, you’re in the right place. By the end of this article, you’ll be racing to buy a membership to one of these fantastic locations.

Here are all of the most amazing coworking spaces in Denver!

1. WeWork

Easily, one of the top coworking spaces in Denver (and worldwide) is WeWork. This globally recognized company blew up in popularity a few years ago and has become an easy place to work as a remote worker ever since.

In Denver, there are a few different locations for WeWork, so you can choose whichever one is closest to where you are located or where you’ll be visiting.

There’s Financial House, Wells Fargo Center, Tabor Center, The Circa Building, The Lab, and the Triangle Building.

Arguably the most popular WeWork in Denver is the Financial House.

Pricing at WeWork Financial House is pretty affordable; there are day passes available for $29 USD per day, dedicated private offices starting at $600 USD, and an all-access pass for $299 USD.

If you don’t need a private office, opt for the all-access pass because you can use it to enter any WeWork locations across the country.

The Financial House is located right downtown and includes various amenities like a mother’s room, event space, recreational games, bike storage, and a coffee bar.

2. Green Spaces

Green Spaces is another excellent spot for coworking in Denver with a few locations, similar to WeWork.

It’s aptly named because the entire company works to be environmentally friendly with their coworking spaces, as they feature recycling, solar panels, and tons of plants.

The Green Spaces location in Denver is in RiNo, or River North, which is just north of downtown. So, it’s in an excellent neighbourhood, and RiNo, in particular, is filled with tons of fantastic coffee shops.

Pricing at this shared workspace in Denver varies depending on which type of monthly membership you’re interested in getting.

A private office starts at $695 USD, a dedicated desk is $399 USD, a pod desk (dedicated seat in a pod) is $299, and access to the lounge space (traditional coworking) is $199 USD.

This coworking space has high-speed WiFi access, printers, bottomless coffee and tea, a kitchen, mailing services, and you’ll get access to the Winter Park location by purchasing a membership through the RiNo one.

3. Thrive

Thrive is one of the best coworking spaces in Denver, Colorado, because of its ideal location and pricing model.

Compared to other coworking spots around the city, this one is located right next to Ballpark (the Coors Field area) and has prices for monthly access starting at as little as $50 USD per month.

In addition to the Ballpark location, Thrive can be found in Centennial, Cherry Creek, and West Arvada, so you can choose the one that’s located closest to where you are in Denver.

Each one has its own amenities, but because Ballpark is right in Denver’s centre, that’s the one that will be discussed here.

Ballpark’s Thrive coworking space has phone booths, conference rooms, bike storage, refreshments, snack machines, printers, video conferencing equipment, and reliable high-speed internet, in addition to other great amenities.

Private office suites for 1-2 people start at $650 USD, a dedicated desk starts at $400 USD, and a mobile (regular coworking pass) membership starts at $50 USD per month. To learn more about their prices and get more of a custom quote, you have to book a tour.

4. Expansive 16th Street

One of the best coworking spaces in Denver that’s highly underrated is Expansive 16th Street, formerly Novel Coworking.

What immediately makes this such an excellent spot for coworking is that it’s located right along the 16th Street Mall, which is right in the city centre.

It’s so easy to get to because of its location, meaning you can take the Light Rail, public bus, or even an electric scooter to this coworking location pretty quickly.

This coworking location offers a wide variety of amenities, including furniture in offices, an espresso bar, lounge area, hi-speed printers, great wifi, and direct fibre internet. Plus, it’s located inside a smart building.

Arguably one of the greatest things about Expansive 16th Street is that it also has a huge rooftop patio with tons of outdoor seating. So, you can enjoy the Denver weather and have the Rocky Mountains as your scenery while working from the top of this great building.

Like all other coworking spaces, the pricing varies depending on which type of monthly membership you decide to purchase.

Office suites for between 10 to 500 people start at $2,999 USD, office space for 1 to 20 people starts at $399 USD, a dedicated desk starts at $329 USD, a coworking pass starts at $249 USD, an expansive office pass (private office through reservation) starts at $219 USD, and a virtual office (address for receiving mail) starts at $59 USD.

5. CTRL Collective

Next is CTRL Collective, which is often rated as the best spot to cowork if you work in a creative industry. The entire marketing effort at this coworking space is targeted towards creative entrepreneurs looking to connect.

CTRL Collective is located in LoDo, which is the best place to work in all of Denver. It’s mainly located inside the Dairy Block, an area filled with fantastic art galleries and restaurants.

Memberships range from private offices to a hot desk, meaning you can have full access to all lounge areas to work. The private office suite (available for 2 to 50 people) starts at $1,525 USD, a dedicated desk starts at $599 USD, and a hot desk costs $350 USD.

With a purchase of the hot desk membership, you’ll be able to use both the Denver location as well as the two locations around the Los Angeles area.

At the Denver location, there’s email service, high-speed internet, conference rooms, a creation lab, free coffee, and a photo studio.

6. Enterprise Coworking

Enterprise Coworking is another ideal coworking space in Downtown Denver. Their central Denver location is in RiNo, but if you’d rather work in a suburb, they also have a location in Greenwood Village.

This remarkable coworking space has free beer, an on-site cafe, is pet-friendly, and has 1 GB fibre internet. Plus, there’s a recreational room, indoor bike storage, parking, free local coffee and tea, and printing services. What more could you need?

The coworking space features private office suites, dedicated desks, and all-access passes. Plus, they offer virtual memberships if you need a physical business address for your business.

Private office suites are custom quoted, so pricing is available upon request on their website.

The coworking floater pass starts at $99 USD a month, while dedicated desks start at $450 USD a month. A virtual membership is only $50 USD per month, which is lower than most other coworking offices.

Oh, and did I mention that there’s also a rooftop patio? It offers unbeatable views of the skyline.

7. Alchemy Creative Workspace

If you’re looking for coworking in Denver, you’ll also want to consider Alchemy Creative Workspace. This coworking space really focuses on creating connections and cultivating business growth, which can be helpful if you’re an entrepreneur working alone.

Because there’s a significant emphasis on a personal connection, the amenities are fantastic and are community-oriented.

There’s fast and secure wifi, free kombucha and sparkling water, free coffee and tea, conference rooms, printing services, dog-friendly offices, and business tools.

While this coworking space is not as downtown as LoDo, it’s still pretty central. Alchemy Creative Workspace is located in West Wash Park, an area known for being pretty modern. Plus, it has some top-notch bars.

Private office suites start at $1,199 USD, dedicated desks start at $400 USD, and a coworking membership is $265 USD. They also have a one-week membership (access for seven days) for $89 USD a week and a day pass for $25 USD a day.

8. Shift Workspaces

Shift Workspaces is a modern and industrial coworking space in Denver. This workspace offers flexible memberships and has tons of meeting areas for all of your conference needs, even if you are working remotely.

Great amenities that help with productivity are available to all members at this location. They include fast internet, ergonomic furniture, mailboxes, 24/7 access, a print centre, parking, free coffee, fitness classes, a gym, outdoor seating, and even massage therapy.

Membership prices at Shift Workspace are similar to those at other coworking spaces throughout the city.

A private office starts at $625 USD, a dedicated desk starts at $499 USD, a coworking space starts at $299 USD, and a virtual office begins at just $69 USD.

Plus, Shift Workspaces has more than one location around Denver, so you can hop around from place to place. Their locations include Corona, Bannock, and Littleton. Choose whichever one is closest to your location, or maybe even try them all!

9. Spaces – Ballpark

If you’re looking for coworking spaces in Denver, Colorado, and you’re creative, then you’ll most likely love Spaces. It’s located between Ballpark and Lodo and is situated inside an old 1940s building, one of the more historic spots in the city.

Spaces has four meeting rooms, an on-site restaurant, dedicated desks, breakout areas, parking, fast wifi, and private offices. Plus, they offer a variety of networking events to those that have memberships with them.

Monthly memberships are available depending on which type of space you’re interested in booking.

Private office space starts at $400 USD, a coworking membership starts at $226 USD, a dedicated desk starts at $377, a virtual office starts at $112 USD, and meeting rooms cost $44 USD an hour.

Because all of their rates are “starting at” prices, you have to tour the location and get more of a custom quote to find out exactly how much it will cost you to have a membership there. However, their starting prices are very comparable to other coworking areas.

10. The Hive on 16th

Last but not least is The Hive on 16th, another excellent coworking space located right on the 16th Street Mall. It’s incredibly centrally located and is right next to Denver Pavilions, a great spot filled with restaurants and all the shops you could ever need.

This coworking space is mainly known for its incredible views that are unbeatable.

You look out the window, and you’re surrounded by the beauty of Denver, and some of the office spaces even have fantastic views of the Colorado State Capitol building.

Of course, there are tons of amenities that are an added bonus to having a membership with The Hive on 16th. There’s printing, phone booths, whiteboards, a kitchen, coffee bar, hi-speed wifi, and a snack bar.

Plus, this coworking space has a partnership with Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters, a local roastery, so there’s always great coffee.

Private offices at The Hive on 16th start at $735 USD per month and increase depending on the number of people that will be in the office.

A designated desk starts at $365 USD for a standing desk or $329 UDS for a traditional desk. A day pass is $25 USD, while hot seat access starts at $65 USD per month.

Conclusion

Now you know all about the best coworking spaces in Denver. Because there are so many of them, I highly suggest touring a few that sound like they might be a good fit and then book your membership from there.

Plus, a lot of the coworking spaces on this list give you a free day pass if you schedule a tour, which means you can try out the buildings and amenities before you even make a payment.

Hopefully, this post has inspired you to try out one of Denver’s great coworking spaces.

The post 10 Best Coworking Spaces in Denver, Colorado appeared first on Goats On The Road.

10 Best Coworking Spaces in Denver, Colorado published first on https://travelaspire.weebly.com/

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solarpricingxbvy328 · 4 years ago

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Homeowner’s Guide To Going Solar - Department Of Energy

Solar Panel For Home Price

Table of ContentsSolar PriceInstallation Cost Of Solar Panels 2021How Much Does Solar Panel Installation Cost?How Much Do Solar Panels & Installation Cost?Solar Panel System CostHow Much Does Solar Panel Installation Cost?Are Solar Panels Actually Worth It? A Cost AnalysisHow Many Solar Panels Does It Take To Power A HouseSolar Panels PricesSolar Panels PricingSolar CostSolar Panels For Home PriceSolar Panels: Are They Worth It?Solar Calculator: How Much Do Solar Panels Cost?Cost Of Solar Panel InstallationCost Of SolarAre Solar Panels Worth It? - Home Improvement

When you get a cost price quote from a solar business, you'll have a much better understanding of how going solar will impact your financial resources.

One of the most typical questions individuals ask when they are considering setting up photovoltaic panels on their house is "How much do solar panels cost?". To respond to that question, let's take a look at the average solar panel installation expense and what affects that cost. We'll likewise take a look at a couple of simple methods to decrease those costs and the finest way to get a really accurate estimate of solar panel cost for your house.

How Expensive Is Solar Energy

How Much Does It Cost To Install Solar Panels?

Think utilizing the US typical photovoltaic panel costs. (the current average is around $18,600 but it can differ significantly by your house and area) Get a much better price quote for your specific home with our totally free solar panel cost calculator listed below. Get a true quote with complimentary quotes from expert solar installers As I discussed above, typically house owners typically spend around $3 per watt for a complete photovoltaic panel system with setup.

This is just the national average though and so your real costs may be a lot more or much less depending upon many elements such as location and your particular house. A better way to get a quote of just how much solar panels may cost you to install on your house is with our free online photovoltaic panel cost calculator listed below.

Solar Panels Cost Guide - Prices & Calculations

For the most accurate solar panel expense and savings examination just go to UnderstandSolarPower. com and finish a fast questionnaire to get more info about particular solar panel expenses and cost savings for your real house (home solar cost). By utilizing this approach, specialists can take into account your specific roof size, age and other information, which will truly assist you make the most informed choice possible.

Odds are that your actual set up will cost more (or less) than that $18,600, as you most likely don't require that specific 6. 2 kW installation. A larger house or a larger household typically suggests a bigger solar installation, and that indicates a bigger expense. Have a look at the graph listed below, where we lay out approximated solar costs by setup size, to see what we indicate.

Solar Panel Cost For Home

We pointed out that the average cost has to do with $3 per watt, however in reality prices range from a low of $2. 70 in some states to $3. 70 or more in others. We formerly checked out typical $/ watt installation costs one state to another, and here are a couple of highlights from across the nation: You can see that, simply in this small sample, costs differ by as much as $0.

And bear in mind that's a $0. 71 distinction per watt. For a 6,200 watt setup, that's a total cost distinction of $4,400. While California and Arizona are in the middle, those states are usually great value due to the fact that they have actually greater production provided the quantity of sunlight exposure. The good news is that, no matter where you live, there are tax credits and financial incentives for solar homeowners. rooftop solar cost.

Solar Systems Pricing

The federal Financial investment Tax Credit (likewise referred to as the ITC or federal solar tax credit) is the single most significant financial incentive for solar house owners, and all house owners are eligible for this remarkable credit! It enables you to declare a federal income tax credit equal to 30% of your solar panel setup costs.

Needless to say, that's big cost savings! There are a couple crucial points to learn about the federal ITC:, so if you're thinking about going solar, do it this year. When the new years begins, your investment expense will go up! In 2021, that credit will drop to 22%, prior to finishing passing away off at the end of 2021.

Solar Panels: Are They Worth It?

The IRS will not write you a check for that $1,000 difference, as the ITC is non-refundable. It will just drop your owed taxes to $0 - prices on solar panels. If you're on a set earnings or retired, talk to your tax preparer to see if you can completely benefit from the credit. It's not all problem though.

If you purchase your own solar setup by means of cash or a loan, you are eligible for the tax credit. If you finance by means of a lease (like is typical at Sunrun and SolarCity/Tesla), the business not you owns the installation and the tax credit. An excellent solar installer can assist you out with these incentives and rebates and supply you with details about the programs that you may get approved for.

Cost Of Solar Energy

Other incentives, like utility rebates, your installer will likely assist you out with or even get in your place. They must know precisely how to optimize your rewards to the fullest capacity by utilizing any local and federal programs offered - solar energy panel cost. Remember that since not every home will have the exact same energy usage rates, even if they are the very same size, it is advised to make use of an expert solar installer in order to get a precise estimate for your house and household requirements.

You're also spending for the other equipment like the inverter, wiring, and mounting hardware as well as the set up labor, style, permitting charges, sales tax, marketing, and sales procedure. Fun fact: the solar panels only account for about 15% of your total setup expense! On top of that, you may likewise need shingle repair work, roof upgrades, or tree trimming or elimination if your roof gets excessive shade - price to install solar panels.

Average Cost For Solar Panels

Obviously, installers aren't just trying to be annoying or up-sell with these repair work. Experts approximate that solar setups should last 25 years or more rather a long time - installing solar panels cost. The finest solar installers will mention whether your shingles must be replaced ahead of time, as eliminating solar setups to change a roof generally costs $2,000 or more.

If there's just localized damage where you wish to set up solar possibly water or hail damage for instance you can usually just replace the shingles that will be covered by the solar panels. It can be exceptionally aggravating if your installer advises brand-new shingles prior to you install your photovoltaic panels.

Cost Of Solar - Solar Power Now

It's much better to understand all of this now prior to you have a solar setup on your roofing, then to find out in 10 years! Nearly all solar installers either carry out roof repair themselves or have a company they work with that'll cut a discount to do both together, however we encourage you to bid out the procedure prior to making any decisions.

With all these expenditures, you're probably questioning whether installing solar is even still an excellent investment. That's a great concern! In a word, absolutely. In fact, with setup expenses dropping over 60% since 2010, solar is a better financial investment than ever prior to! And while the cost of solar innovation continues https://en.search.wordpress.com/?src=organic&q=solar power to drop, the cost of utility electrical power continues to go up. cost of residential solar panels.

Do Solar Panels Save Money?

9% each year. That's really the main core of solar cost savings. You pay a one-time charge (ie your setup cost) in 2019 to set up solar and you're then able to prevent those energy cost walkings as well as the current high energy costs for the next 25 years. Obviously, some states like California, New york city, and Hawaii have much higher energy rates than in other states, so solar savings will be biggest in those states, however that doesn't suggest it's a bad decision in other areas.

You can likewise see that property owners in certain states like Utah, Oregon, and Colorado, see greater savings thanks to incentives or more powerful sunshine than states like Florida and Texas which delight in comparable utility rates but offer absolutely no or couple of solar rewards. But even in those states, setting up solar on your roofing is still a rewarding financial investment! Here are some methods that you can save on your solar panel costs and find the finest offers, while still making sure that you get a top quality planetary system and setup.

5 Things You Need To Know Before Installing Solar Panels

In reality, a 2017 research study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory concluded that smaller local solar panel installers often charge about 10% less than big national solar panel installers such as SolarCity and Sunrun, likely thanks to lower marketing and customer acquisition expenses, so make sure to check out local options (home solar cost).

If you can pay for to pay upfront in cash then you most likely should - photovoltaic system cost. It is the easiest method to save thousands of dollars on interest, leasing fees, and all the other costs that funding will require. Simply to show you just how much you can save by paying in money, let's envision you got a 5% interest, 12-year loan to pay for your $18,600 solar setup.

Solar Panel Systems 101: Specs, Costs, And Benefits

How Much Does It Cost To Install Solar On An Average House

As pointed out above, solar tax credits and refunds are definitely among the absolute best ways to save cash on solar costs. Talk with an expert installer and find out what local and federal programs are offered for your home. Benefiting from all of the available rewards can equate to tremendous cost savings in a lot of cases.

As of 2019, there are still some excellent rewards around! South Carolina, for example, offers a 25% state tax credit for solar setups. Together with the comparable federal tax credit, this adds up to a 55% discount on the whole expense of your solar setup! The state of Utah provides a similar tax credit worth 25% of the installation cost, or $2,000, whichever is less.

Solar Panels For House Cost

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We highly suggest this technique as it will conserve you time and give you the most accurate price quote available for your anticipated photovoltaic panel costs.

The very first and most obvious question we receive from people thinking about solar energy is: In this short article, we attempt to respond to that concern to the finest of our capability, however it is necessary to keep in mind that each solar system is a custom-made solution. It's likewise essential to comprehend what goes into determining the cost of a planetary system - solar system installation costs.

Solar Costs Per Watt

Solar Panel Installation Cost

There are 2 primary setup methods for solar: roof mounts and ground installs. Roof mounts are connected to existing structures. Ground installs and carports need additional posts that should be anchored into the ground. This typically results in greater labor and element expenses. There are 2 standard variables with photovoltaic panels: power density and color.

For example, a photovoltaic panel that is the same size may produce in between 300-400 watts, depending upon the power density. Typically speaking, the more power dense the panel, the higher cost per watt. Color is the other variable with solar panels - roof solar panel cost. The basic panel has a blue cell, white backsheet, and silver frame.

Solar Panel Cost: Estimate Solar Cost For Your Home Online

There are 3 types of solar inverters: String, Micro, and Power Optimizers. String Inverters link panels together in several groups. Each group feeds into one string inverter, feeding several panels into one inverter. String inverters tend to be more cost-efficient than other kinds of inverters. Micro inverters are set up on each private panel.

Power optimizers have a lot of the benefits of micro-inverters. price of solar. They are generally more pricey than string inverters, but less costly than micro-inverters. Solar can be installed on metal, shingle, and flat roofings. Every one requires different components and differing levels of labor. Shingle roofs https://green-energy-systems.arkmason.com need a particular flashing piece to connect the panel racking to the roof.

Solar Panel System Cost

Panels are set up on a flat roofing system using a ballast install - a tray held in location by a cinder block. A lot of solar systems are designed to offset as much energy intake that makes sense economically. The more energy production needed, the more panels and equipment the system will need.

If a system is set up in a location with shading, it may require extra panels to fulfill the customer's

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magzoso-tech · 5 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/how-to-harness-solar-energy-for-good-and-profit/

How to Harness Solar Energy for Good and Profit

Your business can be successful and sustainable without installing a single panel.

December 18, 2019 6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

When you consider the benefits inherent to using solar power — monetary savings, environmental sustainability and a better reputation — it’s really no surprise that massive corporations like Amazon and Target have gone all in on installing solar panels. But while business leaders across the board say solar energy is top of mind, many companies don’t think it’s feasible to install panels for many reasons, including affordability, lack of control over a commercial property or limited roof access. A 2015 NREL and DOE report projected that nearly 50 percent of consumers and businesses were unable to host their own photovoltaic systems, the fancy term for how power is generated from the sun. But thanks to a new development, companies are no longer limited to using clean energy they host themselves and can make use of solar energy without installing a single panel.

This advancement is known as community solar. It’s essentially a solar power plant whose electricity is shared by multiple households, companies or institutions. Sometimes called a solar garden or a shared renewable-energy plant, community solar offers the benefits of renewable energy to businesses of all sizes, regardless of roof access. You no longer need to be a Target or Amazon to make use of this energy source; being a more sustainable, profitable and reputable company is well within your reach, and we’ve broken down how below.

Related: Job Opportunities in Solar

Setting the Stage for Community Solar

At its essence, community solar systems are large batches of solar panels located on public or jointly owned private property. Sometimes, you purchase individual solar panels that are then installed for your own use; in other cases, you simply buy a set amount of energy production every month. In these instances, the solar panels are shared by many community subscribers who receive credit on their electricity bills for their share of the power that’s produced. While community systems are simple in concept, there are actually several models with different rules and offerings to cater to all kinds of businesses. Here are some of the most common ones:

Utility-Sponsored Model: Under the utility-sponsored model, utility companies give consumers the option to purchase renewable energy from a shared facility. The utility company owns the energy and sells or leases shares to consumers who then purchase an amount of electricity at a fixed rate for a contracted period. Since the periods can be months or years long, the model offers protection from rising rates for grid electricity as it becomes more popular. This option is usually best for small and local businesses because subscription is typically limited to a specific distribution area. The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD): SolarShares Program is a good example.

On-Bill Crediting Model:Residents and businesses can invest in portions of a local solar facility and receive credit on their electricity bills for the power they produce. Credits may be in the form of kilowatt-hour offsets or monetary credits on the bill. The rate of energy fluctuates by location according to various states’s laws and regulations. Large-scale companies that have more available capital may find this option attractive. Colorado’s Clean Bill Energy LLC is one example.

Special Purpose Entity (SPE) Model:The SPE model allows individual consumers or companies to enter into a business project to develop a community solar facility. Under this model, participants design, construct and own the community solar facility and then work with a utility company to allocate benefits to its subscribers. Two examples include the Clean Energy Collective and University Park Solar.

Nonprofit “Buy a Brick” Model:Led by a charitable nonprofit, this model allows donors to contribute money to a shared renewable-energy installation for companies to use in underserved communities. Grid Alternatives is one example.

Solar Shines a Light on the Gold for Businesses

Picking the right solar model could mean reducing the cost of your energy bills between 30-50 percent. In 2017, the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA) calculated that the top 10 private companies have garnered massive savings of around $47 million using solar, and if the systems operate for another 20 years, they could save nearly a billion dollars.

It’s not all about profitability, though. Investing in community solar helps businesses achieve added value through adherence to sustainability goals and, ultimately, community investment. As Nielsen reports, consumers want to work with companies who are sustainable and environmentally responsible, while an additional 90 percent of CEOs say that sustainability is a differentiating factor in their company’s success. It’s one reason why major companies like Walmart have developed sustainability strategies and goals, including solar energy. The notion that all companies should aggressively promote and communicate their energy and climate strategies by implementing clean-energy solutions like solar has become increasingly popular for consumers and investors alike.

Research from the Harvard Business Review notes that “good environmental stewardship protects a company’s social license to operate, but also drives sales to customers trying to manage their own climate impacts.” As companies invest in community solar, they become a part of a larger movement for sustainability, environmental protection and even long-term job growth. Using community solar provides opportunities for companies to support low-income communities through cleaner energy initiatives while fostering partnerships with solar energy companies who help promote cleaner infrastructure.

For example, ConEd’s Brooklyn-Queens Neighborhood Program not only helped reduce utility rates, but also allowed the company to defer a $1.2 billion infrastructure investment, which saved ratepayers money and was therefore reinvested into the community. By investing more into the local economy, companies can build better reputations and support their communities in sustainable ways.

Related: Surging on Solar for a Brighter Future

Solar Powers the Future of Business

According to the SEIA, there are currently 43 states with at least one functioning community-solar project. Additionally, the organization reports that over the next several years, the United States’s community-solar market will account for up to 3 gigawatts of energy to the grid. To put that into perspective, just a single megawatt of solar energy powers 164 homes, so 3 gigawatts has the ability to power nearly half a million homes. The 2017 Solar Means Business Report shows that across the United States, 2.5 gigawatts of solar capacity now powers more than 4,000 companies, showing its potential to successfully power businesses across the nation.

Despite President Trump’s solar tariffs, U.S. solar power is booming, and the future of solar as a corporate power supply seems inevitable. As the world reaches a global climate crisis, community solar finally offers a way for businesses without rooftop access to take meaningful steps toward a stronger reputation, a more profitable bottom line and a more sustainable future.

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paulbenedictblog · 5 years ago

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%news%

New Post has been published on %http://paulbenedictsgeneralstore.com%

News top stories daily news hot topics Goat house-crasher, hurricane setbacks, artist haven: News from around our 50 states

News top stories daily news hot topics

News top stories daily news hot topics Alabama

1st viscount montgomery of alamein: Thirteen nights of relaxing, terror and lawful cases are ahead at ZooBoo, which begins Friday. The Halloween-themed evening event on the 1st viscount montgomery of alamein Zoo has supplied generations of River Set apart apart electorate a total lot of seasonal relaxing. Activities consist of afflicted hay rides – as properly as a weak, non-upsetting model – plus games, bouncy castles, rides, seasonal concessions and tons extra. Gates open nightly at 6 p.m, with the festivities operating Fridays through Sundays till the tip of the month. Admission is $17 for ages 3 and older. For zoo members, the value is $8.50. Coupons for $1 off are readily available on-line. The 1st viscount montgomery of alamein Zoo says it serene needs higher than 1,500 volunteers to build ZooBoo 2019 a success.

News top stories daily news hot topics Alaska

Sitka: Fresh expertise is expected to encourage detect and survey stipulations that result in landslides, a researcher says. The landslide detection system in Sitka will visual show unit soil moisture ranges and encourage residents and scientists trace landslide patterns, the Sitka Sentinel reports. University of Oregon postdoctoral researcher Annette Patton helped set up the system funded through a $2.1 million grant from the Nationwide Science Basis. The mission changed into as soon as initiated after heavy rainfall in 2015 resulted in a landslide that struck a Sitka subdivision and killed three males, she says. The monitoring stations at three locations in Sitka will transmit info every 5 minutes and manufacture a physique of info over time. A operate is to survey the relation of landslides to varied styles of storms, Patton says.

News top stories daily news hot topics Arizona

Mountainous Canyon Nationwide Park: A mission to preserve murals inside a ancient watchtower discontinuance to the Mountainous Canyon’s east entrance is total. The 1930s murals within the Desert Come all the plot in which through Watchtower maintain been frail down by weather and guests over a long time. Crews maintain been working over the previous four years to preserve them. Workers filled deep gouges in window sills and staircases where guests had carved names. They removed writing left in marker, nail polish or pen. Besides they removed salt deposits and tried to retain what changed into as soon as left of the pigment within the murals. Grant funding covered unprecedented of the mission. Current architect Mary Colter designed the watchtower, and Fred Kabotie and Fred Geary painted the murals. The 70-foot watchtower affords guests mammoth views of the painted barren space and the Puny Colorado River gorge.

News top stories daily news hot topics Arkansas

Puny Rock: The teach will overview a proposal to engage smash from the country’s first “national” river watershed after a racy hog farm permitted a buyout from the teach to discontinuance its field following years of environmentalist complaints. The Arkansas Department of Vitality and Ambiance hired Harbor Environmental to draft the closure thought for C&H Hog Farms, which changed into as soon as achieved slack September. It entails completely banning medium and racy hog farms from the Buffalo Nationwide River watershed. C&H took a $6.2 million buyout from the teach this summer to shutter the farm. Critics maintain expressed bid over air pollution, but the be taught has now not explicitly stumbled on that C&H prompted the algae within the river. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports folk can post comments on the thought till Oct. 15.

News top stories daily news hot topics California

Sacramento: The teach will limit rent will increase for some folk over the next decade after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a legislation Tuesday aimed at combating a housing crisis within the nation’s most populous teach. Newsom signed the bill at an event in Oakland, where a sleek file documented a 43% expand in homelessness over two years. Sudden rent will increase are a contributing reason behind the teach’s homeless downside, which has drawn the ire of Republican President Donald Trump. “He wasn’t sinful to highlight a vulnerability,” Newsom said of Trump’s criticisms to an viewers of housing advocates. “He’s exploiting it. You’re seeking to treatment it. That’s the variation between you and the president of the US.” The legislation limits rent will increase to 5% every yr plus inflation till Jan. 1, 2030. It also bans landlords from evicting folk for no reason.

News top stories daily news hot topics Colorado

Denver: A doctor fired after seeking to encourage a terminally sick man assemble pills to pause his lifestyles has filed an up to this point lawsuit that challenges her firing by a Christian properly being facility firm. Within the case in opposition to Centura Health filed Monday, Dr. Barbara Morris alleges it retaliated in opposition to her in violation of the teach’s assisted suicide legislation and unlawfully inserted itself the doctor-patient relationship. Colorado legislation prohibits corporations from interfering with a doctor’s official judgment. Morris changed into as soon as fired in August after she and patient Neil Mahoney requested a center of attention on to inform whether or now not Centura might likely stay her from serving to him. He has sought encourage in other locations and isn’t fragment of lawsuit anymore. Centura says it’s now handiest a case about whether or now not an employer can fire a employee who violates its insurance policies. But Morris’ lawyer, Jason Spitalnick, says it’s about whether or now not Centura’s polices can violate Colorado legislation.

News top stories daily news hot topics Connecticut

Storrs: The University of Connecticut plans to present free tuition to in-teach college students from households with an annual family earnings of $50,000 or less. UConn President Thomas C. Katsouleas announced the initiative Friday right through his inauguration. Undergraduate college students will be eligible for the program origin subsequent fall. UConn says this would be supported by a fundraising advertising and marketing and marketing campaign and other school belongings. Yale University announced this week that oldsters earning decrease than $75,000 won’t maintain to contribute to their baby’s training origin subsequent yr. The old threshold changed into as soon as $65,000. Katsouleas on Friday also veritably known as for doubling be taught at UConn over the next seven to 10 years.

News top stories daily news hot topics Delaware

Wilmington: A statewide autism respite program will be reinstated with the encourage of extra teach funds, after the at-home care carrier for college students with autism changed into as soon as suspended with small seek for initially of the month. The newly allocated teach funds will preserve the program operating during the tip of the fiscal yr in June. Christina School District, which oversees the Delaware Autism Program, requested $750,000 from the teach, said Robert Scoglietti, spokesman with the teach Place of business of Management and Funds. The precise amount the teach affords will rely on use of the program during the yr, he said. Christina on the origin made up our minds to slump respite services thanks to skyrocketing costs. All the plot in which during the final yr, seek info from for respite services maintain risen 350%, said Alva Mobley, spokeswoman for Christina. Costs maintain elevated 400%.

News top stories daily news hot topics District of Columbia

Washington: Local lawmakers maintain voted to bar district companies from cooperating with federal immigration companies except supplied a judicial warrant or picture. WTOP-FM reports the emergency legislation unanimously handed Tuesday goals to make certain that that the district doesn’t detain folk fully for violating immigration legislation. The measure prohibits the district from inquiring about the immigration web page of a person in custody. It also limits district agency compliance with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement except supplied judicial input or felony warrants. Limitations consist of now not sharing a person’s release date or providing condominium or gear to the agency so it's going to search a person in district custody.

News top stories daily news hot topics Florida

Panama City: A yr after Hurricane Michael, the county hardest hit by the Class 5 storm is serene in crisis. Thousands in Bay County are homeless, clinic therapy and housing are at a top class, and officers divulge home violence has been a enviornment. Michael changed into as soon as among the many strongest hurricanes ever to build landfall within the US. It barreled onto the Florida Panhandle on Oct. 10, 2018, with 160 mph winds, ripping properties from their foundations and devastating Tyndall Air Force Notorious. It left 22,000 of Bay County’s then-180,000 residents homeless and resulted in total insured losses of nearly $7 billion. This summer, county officers unveiled a almost 300-net page blueprint to rebuild. Amongst their tips: Employ transport containers and 3D expertise to form new homes, and provide signing bonuses to trap new doctors.

News top stories daily news hot topics Georgia

Americus: Some residents are opposing a $500 million solar farm in southwest Georgia that shall be one in every of the nation’s biggest. WALB-TV reports Sumter County commissioners held a listening to Tuesday on whether or now not to grant zoning approvals for Americus Solar LLC, a subsidiary of Chicago-essentially based Invinergy. Some opponents divulge the solar farm will damage property values, difficulty wildlife and use too unprecedented land away from farming uses. The firm would quilt unprecedented of 9,700 acres in solar panels, even though it says it’s serene evaluating how huge a solar farm to form. The firm says this will additionally simply pay $35 million in yearly property taxes and use 500 folk right through construction. It also says the mission will encourage rebuild frail-out farmland. The set up would generate 1,115 megawatts of electricity.

News top stories daily news hot topics Hawaii

Honolulu: A buyer satisfaction leer of air passengers has ranked town’s airport the third worst in North The United States. The Honolulu Giant establish-Advertiser reports Daniel K. Inouye International Airport has obtained the ranking within the J.D. Vitality 2019 North The United States Airport Pride Survey. Inouye airport ranks behind Fresh York’s LaGuardia and Fresh Jersey’s Newark Liberty as the worst among 62 airports. Honolulu ranks second-worst within the racy-airport class, where it changed into as soon as fourth-worst the old yr. The annual survey is essentially based on responses from 32,276 U.S. or Canadian residents who handed through on the least one North American airport. The leer ratings airports on terminal services, airport accessibility, baggage claim, security test, test-in and baggage test, food, beverage, and retail.

News top stories daily news hot topics Idaho

Boise: The woodland in and around one in every of the nation’s top ski destinations is in grief from an ongoing combination of unusually warmth temperatures, drought, wildfires, insect invaders and pathogens. So the U.S. Wooded field Service is starting up an environmental diagnosis to search out programs to encourage the woodland’s properly being at Sun Valley Resort’s Bald Mountain ski field, a sizable financial driver for the space closely dependent on tourism. The skill Bald Mountain Stewardship Project entails the entire 3,000-acre ski field. Officers divulge wildfires in 2007 and 2013 surrounded 9,150-foot Bald Mountain with burned woodland, increasing bark beetle attacks. Pine beetles, dwarf mistletoe and white pine blister rust are also killing trees on the ski-scamper-carved mountain that kinds a scenic backdrop for the resort cities of Ketchum and Sun Valley.

News top stories daily news hot topics Illinois

Lynwood: The owner of a suburban Chicago flight school is taking accountability for a wheel stumbled on lodged within the ceiling of a condominium over the weekend. Amy Summers of SummerSkyz Inc. of Lansing says the wheel that homeowner Linda Taylor-Whitt stumbled on placing from the ceiling of a lavatory slack Saturday is a helicopter ground-going through wheel. Taylor-Whitt says she and her family found the wheel and the damage it prompted after they returned from dinner. She says Summers has been in touch with her and explained what took field. Summers says the wheel is ancient to dart a helicopter from one hangar to 1 other. It changed into as soon as serene connected to the helicopter when a flight trainer flew it out of Lansing Municipal Airport. Summers says she has reached out to the Federal Aviation Administration.

News top stories daily news hot topics Indiana

Indianapolis: After making a establish within town’s song neighborhood, rapper Sirius Blvck needs to utilize his reputation to encourage other artists. Known for solo recordings as properly as work with the disbanded Ghost Gun Summer collective, Blvck based the Fresh Fingers Tune Competition that debuts this weekend in any appreciate-ages venue Healer. “I’ve in any appreciate times desired to utilize the social capital that I’ve built to then form a platform,” he says. “And use that platform how I seek match, which is to make certain that that we present condominium for marginalized voices and folk that gain pushed out of the neighborhood.” Fresh Fingers also entails a spotlight on philanthropy. The Oct. 11-12 event will expand cash for nonprofit organizations similar to Ascent 121, an agency that affords lengthy-time interval trauma care services to teen survivors of intercourse trafficking.

News top stories daily news hot topics Iowa

Cedar Rapids: A person that spent higher than 25 years in detention center for a abolish he didn’t commit is urging school college students to encourage inmates who might likely additionally simply be harmless. Terry Harrington spoke to Coe College college students Tuesday, recounting how he changed into as soon as wrongly convicted within the 1977 shooting loss of life of a security guard when he changed into as soon as a teen. Harrington had exhausted his appeals and changed into as soon as serving a lifestyles sentence on the Iowa Train Jail when he met a detention center barber who believed in his innocence. “One girl made a distinction in my lifestyles,” said Harrington, now 60. The barber obtained Council Bluffs police info that published authorities had withheld proof showing one other man had been a right suspect but changed into as soon as unnoticed. Witnesses who had implicated Harrington recanted, announcing they’d been coerced. The Iowa Supreme Court docket overturned Harrington’s conviction in 2003.

News top stories daily news hot topics Kansas

Topeka: The teach has seen a huge soar in syphilis cases over the previous 5 years and a spike within the different of infants born with the sexually transmitted disease. The federal Centers for Disease Aid watch over and Prevention says Kansas reported 152 cases of foremost and secondary stage syphilis in 2018, when compared with 60 in 2013. The rise changed into as soon as 153%. The scamper of cases per 100,000 residents grew to 5.2 in 2018 from 2.1 in 2013. Kansas had eight cases of newborns being born with syphilis in 2018. The teach had handiest a single reported case from 2013 through 2017. Kansas Health and Ambiance Secretary Lee Norman said babies born with syphilis might likely additionally simply be developmentally delayed, maintain seizures or die if the infection is now not handled right through a pregnancy.

News top stories daily news hot topics Kentucky

Whitesburg: A community made up of black lung disease sufferers and supporters is dedicating a memorial to miners who maintain died of the disease. The Dusky Lung Association of South Jap Kentucky is net hosting the event in Whitesburg on Sunday. They'll dedicate a headstone memorial for miners who maintain died of the disease in Letcher and surrounding counties. The disease is prompted by respiratory coal dirt, and rates of the disease maintain risen in sleek years. The dedication event will be at 2 p.m. at Riverside Park. The association has been calling consideration to a authorities trust fund that affords about 19,000 sickened miners or their surviving dependents with residing and clinical advantages. A tax that affords the fund changed into as soon as reduce again in half of initially of the yr.

News top stories daily news hot topics Louisiana

Winnfield: Federal authorities maintain dramatically expanded detention of immigrants within the teach. Since final yr, eight local jails maintain started maintaining asylum-seekers and other migrants, making Louisiana an unlikely epicenter for immigrant detention below President Donald Trump. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it’s now detaining about 8,000 migrants in Louisiana out of 51,000 nationally. These new services are a combination of weak teach prisons and native jails and are several hours away from higher cities. They're some distance from where most immigrants’ rights groups and lawyers are essentially based. Migrants whinge of mistreatment and extended detention. ICE refused several requests to commentary on why it targeted on Louisiana.

News top stories daily news hot topics Maine

Presque Isle: A carve specialist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension has educated the teach’s potato farmers they might likely wish to reduce use of a broadly ancient pesticide that controls blight. Steven Johnson said national and world changes within the legislation of a fungicide called chlorothalonil might likely quick the changes, and growers might likely possess bright to newer styles of chemicals. The Bangor Each day Info reports chlorothalonil has been ancient widely within the farming of potatoes and other vegetation since the 1970s. Nonetheless, the U.S. Environmental Protection Company considers it a “likely human carcinogen” and has attempted to reduce its use. The European Union banned the pesticide in March, and Canada has lowered the amount that shall be ancient right during the growing season.

News top stories daily news hot topics Maryland

Annapolis: A teach panel has voted to engage an emblem that entails a Confederate flag from a plaque in Maryland’s Capitol that honors the Civil Wrestle’s Union and Confederate troopers, but the teach is conserving the plaque. The Train Condo Believe voted 3-1 by email to use higher than $2,400 to engage the emblem, which contains a Confederate flag and a U.S. flag, and overlay it with a solid image of the Maryland teach flag. Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and Laura Mears of the Maryland Historic Believe voted for the switch and to preserve the plaque. Maryland Condo Speaker Adrienne Jones, the teach’s first black speaker, supported putting off the entire plaque and voted in opposition to the thought.

News top stories daily news hot topics Massachusetts

Boston: The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway has reduce again ties with the nonprofit that had tended to the park for the previous 10 years. WORK Inc., the space’s biggest employer of folks with disabilities, has groomed the park for 10 years. The Boston Globe reports the conservancy that manages the 1.5-mile-lengthy park has chosen to dart forward with Block by Block, a for-profit firm from Kentucky. WORK Inc. President James Cassetta called the choice an “absolute shock” and a slap within the face to the disabled. Jesse Brackenbury, govt director of the Greenway Conservancy, denied the dart discriminates in opposition to those with disabilities. He said the Kentucky firm supplied a extra competitive mark. The new contract took enact final week.

News top stories daily news hot topics Michigan

Lansing: Counselors within the teach are cheering after the initial passage of legislation aimed at safeguarding their capacity to coach psychotherapy. The teach Condo voted unanimously this week to near the bill to the Senate. It would elaborate the scope of boom for Michigan’s 10,000 licensed official counselors. The measure is a response to a teach division’s proposed revision of counseling rules. A teach spokesman says sleek legislation would now not give counselors the authority to diagnose and use psychotherapy approach. Counselors divulge they’ve been doing so for years, nonetheless, and the rule of thumb changes would maintain significant penalties for them and the 150,000 folk they lend a hand.

News top stories daily news hot topics Minnesota

Brainerd: Natural world officers in central Minnesota are discovering it’s now not easy to gain rid of deer carcasses infected with power losing disease. The disease changed into as soon as found in a wild deer in Crow Fly County earlier this yr, the first confirmed case within the teach open air southeastern Minnesota. Legislators maintain space apart $50,000 to space up dumpsters in disease areas. The Minnesota Department of Natural Sources is presupposed to empty the dumpsters and use the carcasses to landfills. But Minnesota Public Radio reports that Marv Stroschein, the Crow Fly County landfill supervisor, refused to settle for any infected deer. He says he’s anxious the disease might likely infect the surrounding atmosphere. The Minnesota DNR earlier this yr lastly gave the landfill a 15-yr-weak incinerator.

News top stories daily news hot topics Mississippi

Jackson: A federal center of attention on will hear arguments in a lawsuit that challenges the teach’s genuine, multistep direction of of electing the governor and other statewide officers. Friday’s listening to comes decrease than a month earlier than the gubernatorial election between Republican Tate Reeves and Democrat Jim Hood. Mississippi’s 1890 constitution requires a statewide candidate to use a majority of the neatly-liked vote and a majority of the 122 teach Condo districts. If no person wins both, the election is certain by the Condo, now managed by Republicans. Attorneys for black plaintiffs divulge thanks to the vogue teach Condo districts are drawn, the electoral system dilutes African American votes. Train attorneys divulge the system is now not discriminatory.

News top stories daily news hot topics Missouri

Jefferson City: A newspaper’s overview of teach info shows taxpayers maintain spent $366,000 on non-public attorneys to shield weak Gov. Eric Greitens’ use of a self-deleting text message app. The Kansas City Giant establish reports the bulk of the spending changed into as soon as by the governor’s field of labor. About $161,000 of it came after fellow Republican Mike Parson become governor following Greitens’ resignation in June 2018. A teach audit in September confirmed that taxpayers had spent higher than $200,000 earlier than Greitens resigned to shield him in a 2017 lawsuit. It alleged Greitens’ field of labor ancient the app Confide to remain away from being subjected to Missouri’s open info regulations. A center of attention on brushed off most of the case in July, but the litigation is ongoing. Greitens resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct and advertising and marketing and marketing campaign violations.

News top stories daily news hot topics Montana

Helena: Two tribal leaders maintain resigned from a job power in express of the teach lawyer unprecedented’s pork up of a proposed oil pipeline from Canada. Montana Department of Justice spokesman John Barnes confirms Jestin Dupree of Citadel Peck and Brandi King of Citadel Belknap stepped down from the Missing Indigenous Persons Assignment Force. Train lawmakers licensed Felony official Normal Tim Fox to build the 11-member panel to better file and score missing Native American citizens. On Monday, Fox intervened in a lawsuit in pork up of putting in place the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta’s tar sands. Dupree wrote in a Facebook post that his tribe opposes the pipeline and that Fox’s intervention is a “slap within the face.” Barnes says the resignations are disappointing, and officers will ask the tribal governments to counsel replacements.

News top stories daily news hot topics Nebraska

Lincoln: Train officers maintain obtained $6.5 million in federal grants to encourage stay and treat opioid abuse. The funding enhance announced Tuesday will pork up the teach’s efforts to reduce the different of opioid deaths. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and products says 183 folk died within the teach from a drug-eager overdose in 2017. Officers divulge the national opioid epidemic isn’t as severe in Nebraska as it is in other states, but it’s serene a bid. Officers will use the cash for a unfold of services, at the side of an habit medication fellowship, expanded gain admission to to remedy-assisted treatment, better monitoring of public properly being info and enhancements to Nebraska’s prescription drug monitoring program. It also will encourage boom clinical services and unfold public consciousness.

News top stories daily news hot topics Nevada

Carson City: Officers divulge the ancient Nevada Train Jail needs one other $50,000 value of labor earlier than it's going to open as a museum. Glen Whorton, Nevada Train Jail Preservation Society president and weak teach prisons chief, says about $30,000 has been spent for enhancements, at the side of making one lavatory handicap-accessible. Whorton educated folk touring the power Tuesday that $50,000 would pay for an American citizens with Disabilities Act-compliant ramp, asbestos putting off, lights, and electricity hook-ups. The detention center predates Nevada statehood and changed into as soon as ancient for 150 years, from 1862 to 2012. Used Republican Assemblyman Pete Livermore of Carson City led a push in 2013 to build it a museum. Carson City Chamber of Commerce govt Ronni Hannaman calls the power fragment of a certain history that can bring guests to city.

News top stories daily news hot topics Fresh Hampshire

Concord: There might likely additionally simply be some imperfect blood between a weak financial adviser and prospects he’s accused of defrauding by a counterfeit charity he claimed eager singer Taylor Swift. The teach Bureau Of Securities Regulation lately obtained a court docket picture to freeze the belongings of Dain Stokes and stay him from contacting weak prospects. Authorities divulge two of those prospects invested higher than half of 1,000,000 greenbacks in what Stokes claimed changed into as soon as a charity mission in Africa interesting Swift, Bill Gates and other celebrities. In court docket paperwork, officers also divulge Stokes educated prospects he changed into as soon as engaged to Swift and promised them a 20% return. Stokes, of Fremont, has been fired by LPL Monetary in Bedford.

News top stories daily news hot topics Fresh Jersey

Trenton: The teach has greenlighted roughly $13 million in film tax credit for “WrestleMania” and David Simon’s production of the Philip Roth new “The Train Against The United States.” The Financial Pattern Authority licensed the tax credit at its board assembly Tuesday. It’s the third spherical of film tax credit below a 2018 legislation that established awards. About $9 million changed into as soon as awarded in August for two projects, at the side of “Joker,” and $6.2 million changed into as soon as awarded in June for four projects. Used Gov. Chris Christie let a weak film tax incentive program expire in 2015. “WrestleMania XXXV” got a $2.9 million award and changed into as soon as shot in April at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. “The Train Against The United States,” starring Winona Ryder and John Turturro, got a $10.2 million award and changed into as soon as shot in Jersey City.

News top stories daily news hot topics Fresh Mexico

Santa Fe: The teach has discontinued financial bonuses for top-rated lecturers as it delivers the outcomes of job-performance opinions for the faculty yr that resulted in June. Public Training Department spokesman Connor Boyle confirmed this week that no cash changed into as soon as allocated by the teach for Excellence in Teaching Awards. The performance bonuses of as a lot as $10,000 had been devised by weak Republican Gov. Susana Martinez. The administration of Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is putting in place a brand new teacher evaluate system for the 2020-2021 school yr with encourage from a 46-member job power and suggestions from neighborhood meetings. Pupil test ratings no longer figure straight in opinions. Lawmakers elevated teacher salaries by 6% or extra this yr with extra pay below extended school-yr calendars.

News top stories daily news hot topics Fresh York

Fresh York: Town has announced a settlement that forestalls floating digital billboards in its waters. Underneath the terms of the agreement announced Tuesday, Ballyhoo Media should pay a $100,000 ultimate if its Conditions Sq.-vogue LED billboards are seen on any East River or Hudson River barges. Town sued Ballyhoo Media in March, claiming the floating billboards created a “public nuisance” and broke zoning regulations. The agreement comes after the teach enacted a legislation in August that banned floating digital billboards in its navigable waters. Ballyhoo launched an announcement announcing it had complied with all local, teach and federal regulations and has a legal swish to soundly operate in Fresh York waters but made up our minds to remain combating town and teach and level of interest on pursuing opportunities in other locations.

News top stories daily news hot topics North Carolina

Raleigh: The federal authorities has denied particular person aid for residents in four counties hit now not easy by Hurricane Dorian appropriate days after approving other funds to encourage local governments restore infrastructure, the governor said Wednesday. Gov. Roy Cooper had despatched a letter to the White Condo seeking federal lend a hand for households in Carteret, Dare, Hyde and Fresh Hanover counties. The aid, which might likely maintain included funds for uninsured costs at the side of rapid-time interval housing, lodging compensation and repairs, changed into as soon as denied in a letter from FEMA, signed by Affiliate Administrator Jeff Byard, announcing that “it has been certain that the impact to the folks and households from this event is now not of such severity and magnitude to warrant the designation of Individual Assistance.” It says the denial will be appealed.

News top stories daily news hot topics North Dakota

Fargo: A person whose lifestyles sentence changed into as soon as overturned within the loss of life of a girl whose small one changed into as soon as reduce again from her womb changed into as soon as resentenced Monday to 20 years in detention center after he apologized and pleaded for leniency in entrance of a almost empty court. There maintain been no apologies from East Central District Resolve Tom Olson for the lifestyles sentence he gave to William Hoehn final yr for his role within the 2017 killing of Savanna Greywind, appropriate for the teach Supreme Court docket to overturn it on charm. “I desire to sentence you to as lengthy as I will be able to by legislation,” Olson educated Hoehn. The heart of attention on somberly renowned that Greywind’s baby, who survived the assault, will serene be in excessive school when Hoehn is eligible for parole, even though his precise release date is incessantly made up our minds by the teach Department of Corrections.

News top stories daily news hot topics Ohio

Ashland: A homeowner has been busy cleaning up after a racy goat broke into her home by ramming through a sliding glass door after which settling down for a nap in a lavatory. The Ashland Conditions-Gazette reports Logan Keathley returned to his family’s Sullivan Township home Friday to search out their German Shepherd agitated and the condominium reeking. That’s when he found “Big Boy,” a goat who had escaped from a farm several miles away, sound asleep in a lavatory. Logan’s mother, Jennifer, started calling associates for recommendation. Ashland County sheriff’s deputies arrived, attach a rope around Big Boy’s neck and tried to entice him open air with food. They lastly grabbed the billy goat by the horns and led him open air. Jennifer Keathley says her home “positively smells adore a goat farm.”

News top stories daily news hot topics Oklahoma

Oklahoma City: A Democratic lawmaker from town and other advocates for extra restrictive gun regulations filed a lawsuit Monday interesting a brand new teach legislation that can enable folk to raise firearms without a background test or coaching. Train Fetch. Jason Lowe’s swimsuit argues that the legislation violates a teach constitutional requirement that bills cope with handiest one enviornment cloth. “This fight is a lot from over,” Lowe said at a info convention. “We imagine this legislation is unhealthy.” Dubbed “constitutional raise” by its supporters, the bill signed by Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt would enable most adults to raise firearms, concealed or overtly, without the for the time being required background test or coaching. Exceptions would come with anyone within the country illegally or those convicted of certain crimes. The bill is scheduled to use enact Nov. 1.

News top stories daily news hot topics Oregon

Salem: The teach’s public info point out says expenses charged by the teach and native governments for public info requests are excessive and wildly uneven, putting in place a barrier for journalists and electorate seeking paperwork. Ginger McCall, who leaves her job Friday, said in a final file Wednesday that expenses, every so incessantly reaching $180 per hour, are onerous when compared to what the federal authorities and other states mark. She instructed a less discretionary price construction and low rates and called for the Legislature and others to commit extra belongings to public info processing. McCall announced her resignation in September, announcing Gov. Kate Brown’s field of labor wanted her to secretly work for the governor whereas giving the impression she changed into as soon as working within the overall public passion. Brown said she regrets the controversy and is dedicated to improving transparency.

News top stories daily news hot topics Pennsylvania

Philadelphia: A person that has maintained his innocence in a abolish case for nearly three a long time has been ordered free from detention center after a center of attention on overturned his conviction. Willie Veasy’s lengthy-operating charm came to an close Wednesday morning, when a center of attention on tossed out the abolish conviction. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the center of attention on educated the 54-yr-weak Veasy that “you’re a free man,” as a crowd within the court erupted in applause. He’d spent 27 years in detention center. Veasy’s case is one in every of two the Philadelphia District Felony official’s Place of business changed into as soon as reviewing attributable to ties to 2 weak detectives accused of using threats, false promises or abuse to coerce suspects into confessing to murders they didn’t commit. Veasy insisted for a long time that he didn’t smash John Lewis on a Philadelphia avenue nook in 1992.

News top stories daily news hot topics Rhode Island

Providence: Supporters of a free tuition program on the Neighborhood College of Rhode Island divulge graduation rates maintain improved, but there might be room to enact better. The two-yr graduation rate on the faculty hit 19% this yr, higher than tripling its historical moderate of 6% and striking it above the national moderate. Enrollment has surged, in particular for minority college students. But CCRI President Meghan Hughes tells The Boston Globe the faculty has extra work to enact by formulation of raising graduation rates for the low-earnings college students the Rhode Island Promise Scholarship free tuition program changed into as soon as designed to encourage. Hughes said the faculty is raising non-public cash to better pork up low-earnings college students. The college expects to use about $7 million this yr on the program.

News top stories daily news hot topics South Carolina

Fripp Island: A family visiting the Palmetto Train fished a huge package from the ocean, took it to their condominium home and opened it up, finding about 44 pounds of cocaine. Beaufort County Sheriff’s Maj. Bob Bromage educated info retail outlets Monday that the family changed into as soon as walking alongside Fripp Island after they noticed the trash derive-wrapped package floating within the water. They dragged it onto the seashore and lugged it to their condominium in a golf cart, later cutting it open to survey bricks of white powder. At that level, they figured they’d better name police. Authorities assessed the cocaine’s mark at higher than $600,000. Officers are working to resolve its starting up place. Bromage said narcotics don’t continually wash up within the county. He thinks Hurricane Dorian might likely additionally simply maintain pushed it ashore.

News top stories daily news hot topics South Dakota

Badlands Nationwide Park: Bison are about to maintain extra room to flow. Folks are invited to maintain an amazing time growth of the park’s bison differ right through a public ceremony Friday. The Return of the Bison Occasion begins at 11 a.m. at Pinnacles Fail to see and should operate a ceremonial fence cutting, a bison release and a grass dance conducted by college students from American Horse Heart School. The park will open higher than 22,000 acres to bison. Thanks to $743,000 in contributions, the park installed 43 miles of new fence alongside with new cattle guards to expand the bison grazing field to 80,193 acres. Park officers divulge the expanded grazing field will contribute to the properly being and genetic integrity of a herd estimated at 1,200 bison and to persevered properly being of the prairie.

News top stories daily news hot topics Tennessee

Maryville: A forestry professor says the fall leaf colors within the Smoky Mountains will be extra subdued this yr. Wayne Clatterbuck tells The Each day Conditions that color changes potentially won’t happen till November. And after they near, they is incessantly of rapid duration. The University of Tennessee professor says the downside is the sleek warmth and shortage of rain. Clatterbuck says some species of trees that require extra moisture already can maintain lost their leaves by the level the leaves delivery to replace. He says species adore oaks will preserve their leaves and “kind of turn burnt crimson.” But tulip poplars and cherry trees are expected to appropriate tumble their leaves with none color switch except to brown.

News top stories daily news hot topics Texas

Austin: A federal court docket of appeals is listening to arguments in a lawsuit accusing the University of Texas of violating free speech rights by putting off Confederate statues. The Texas chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans sued after the university attach three statues of leading Confederate figures in storage. The dart adopted 2017 white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, right through which three folk died. The lawsuit argues that the university breached its agreement with Maj. George Washington Littlefield, who donated the statues in 1921. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals heard oral arguments Tuesday. The Austin American-Statesman reports Texas Felony official Normal Ken Paxton says the court docket should push apart the case. He says the community doesn’t maintain standing to enviornment the university.

News top stories daily news hot topics Utah

Cisco: An artist is seeking to revitalize an abandoned railroad city by refurbishing constructions and converting them into residences for artists. KUTV reports that artist Eileen Muza is the sole real resident of Cisco, a scattering of weak constructions within the excessive barren space 30 miles west of the Colorado line. It changed into as soon as created within the 1880s as a occupy-field for a railroad that connected Utah to Colorado. Town changed into as soon as abandoned when Interstate 70 changed into as soon as built about a miles north. Muza first become mad by town when she visited it whereas on mosey. She purchased it in 2015 and left Chicago. She is fixing up the constructions so other artists can work from them in a residency mission she calls “Dwelling of the Fearless.”

News top stories daily news hot topics Vermont

East Richford: A bridge connecting the Green Mountain Train and Quebec since 1918 has been restored. The East Richford Sutton International Bridge over the Missisquoi River reopened Monday. Marie-Claude Francoeur, a Quebec delegate, says residents on both aspect of the bridge are “now not handiest associates, we're family.” Train officers divulge about 10 to 15 folk use the bridge day-to-day, but that quantity fluctuates with the seasons. Vermont and the Province of Quebec like and preserve the bridge, splitting it about 80% and 20% respectively. Gov. Phil Scott says the newly renovated border crossing will encourage switch between Vermont and Quebec, which switch higher than $2.2 billion value of products every yr.

News top stories daily news hot topics Virginia

Blacksburg: A overview into a panel’s security suggestions after the Virginia Tech mass shooting shows the teach has applied a majority of the proposals. The Roanoke Conditions reports Gov. Ralph Northam launched a overview into the proposal adoptions after a certain legislative session on gun violence changed into as soon as shut down by Republicans. The overview stumbled on 74 of the proposals maintain been fully or partially applied. The overview says three suggestions weren’t applied, at the side of neatly-liked background assessments, which Northam intended to push right during the special session in gentle of the Virginia Sea trot shooting that left 12 folk and the shooter ineffective. The Virginia Tech Panel changed into as soon as space up by then-Gov. Tim Kaine three days after a shooter killed 32 college students and himself. The panel mostly targeted on mental properly being, now not gun preserve an eye on.

News top stories daily news hot topics Washington

Seattle: An environmental community says teach and federal officers are bright too slowly to place into effect cleanup plans for the teach’s waters. The Seattle Conditions reports a 1998 agreement between Northwest Environmental Advocates and the U.S. Environmental Protection Company called for the teach Department of Ecology to build plans for nearly 1,600 our bodies of water. The community says in a court docket submitting that plans for higher than 540 water our bodies that had been presupposed to be carried out in 2013 are incomplete. The community is suing to power EPA to space a timetable for winding up plans for other waters identified as polluted. An EPA spokesman declined commentary on the filings. Train officers divulge such plans might likely additionally simply now not in any appreciate times be the right formulation, noting proceedings can prolong implementation, and in sleek years maintain tried other approaches.

News top stories daily news hot topics West Virginia

Madison: This drug-ravaged teach has opened its first family treatment court docket aimed at maintaining abused and unnoticed young folk whereas serving to fogeys going through capacity loss of custody to beat substance use disorders. The court docket’s debut on the Boone County Courthouse in Madison changed into as soon as renowned Monday. Family treatment courts also will open in Ohio and Randolph counties. Boone County Circuit Resolve William Thompson is closely provocative on serving to folk hooked on pills turn their lives around and envisioned the muse of a family treatment court docket a decade within the past. He said the new court docket’s operate is conserving households together. Drug cases maintain overwhelmed the teach’s court docket system. In a teach of 1.8 million residents, higher than 30,000 folk are in drug treatment. West Virginia has by some distance the nation’s top possible drug overdose loss of life rate.

News top stories daily news hot topics Wisconsin

Madison: Gov. Tony Evers has declared the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, following linked moves in other states away from recognizing it as Columbus Day. WLUK-TV reports Evers signed an govt picture making the designation Tuesday at Indian Neighborhood School in Franklin. Evers says with the governmentpicture, the teach is recognizing and appreciating tribal countries and indigenous folk and the contributions they’ve made to Wisconsin, which is home to 11 identified American Indian tribes. Oneida Nation Chairman Tehassi Hill says the switch has been a truly lengthy time coming and can lend a hand as a tutorial tool about tribal culture and history. Columbus Day remains a federal holiday.

News top stories daily news hot topics Wyoming

Casper: A brand new court docket submitting has published the federal authorities started a fraud investigation into coal firm Blackjewel LLC before the firm’s sale final week of two Wyoming coal mines. The Casper Giant establish-Tribune reports the file filed Saturday signifies the investigation also preceded Blackjewel’s July financial bother submitting. Court docket paperwork divulge Blackjewel owes the federal authorities about $50 million. The court docket submitting says the authorities has been investigating Blackjewel’s capacity violations of the False Claims Act, which holds corporations accountable for defrauding the authorities. The authorities has requested a West Virginia federal financial bother court docket to prolong discharging Blackjewel of its debts, which might likely enable the investigation to continue.

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sciencebulletin · 5 years ago

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Even short-lived solar panels can be economically viable

A new study shows that, contrary to widespread belief within the solar power industry, new kinds of solar cells and panels don't necessarily have to last for 25 to 30 years in order to be economically viable in today's market. Rather, solar panels with initial lifetimes of as little as 10 years can sometimes make economic sense, even for grid-scale installations -- thus potentially opening the door to promising new solar photovoltaic technologies that have been considered insufficiently durable for widespread use. The new findings are described in a paper in the journal Joule, by Joel Jean, a former MIT postdoc and CEO of startup company Swift Solar; Vladimir Bulović, professor of electrical engineering and computer science and director of MIT.nano; and Michael Woodhouse of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado. "When you talk to people in the solar field, they say any new solar panel has to last 25 years," Jean says. "If someone comes up with a new technology with a 10-year lifetime, no one is going to look at it. That's considered common knowledge in the field, and it's kind of crippling." Jean adds that "that's a huge barrier, because you can't prove a 25-year lifetime in a year or two, or even 10." That presumption, he says, has left many promising new technologies stuck on the sidelines, as conventional crystalline silicon technologies overwhelmingly dominate the commercial solar marketplace. But, the researchers found, that does not need to be the case. "We have to remember that ultimately what people care about is not the cost of the panel; it's the levelized cost of electricity," he says. In other words, it's the actual cost per kilowatt-hour delivered over the system's useful lifetime, including the cost of the panels, inverters, racking, wiring, land, installation labor, permitting, grid interconnection, and other system components, along with ongoing maintenance costs. Part of the reason that the economics of the solar industry look different today than in the past is that the cost of the panels (also known as modules) has plummeted so far that now, the "balance of system" costs -- that is, everything except the panels themselves -- exceeds that of the panels. That means that, as long as newer solar panels are electrically and physically compatible with the racking and electrical systems, it can make economic sense to replace the panels with newer, better ones as they become available, while reusing the rest of the system. "Most of the technology is in the panel, but most of the cost is in the system," Jean says. "Instead of having a system where you install it and then replace everything after 30 years, what if you replace the panels earlier and leave everything else the same? One of the reasons that might work economically is if you're replacing them with more efficient panels," which is likely to be the case as a wide variety of more efficient and lower-cost technologies are being explored around the world. He says that what the team found in their analysis is that "with some caveats about financing, you can, in theory, get to a competitive cost, because your new panels are getting better, with a lifetime as short as 15 or even 10 years." Although the costs of solar cells have come down year by year, Bulović says, "the expectation that one had to demonstrate a 25-year lifetime for any new solar panel technology has stayed as a tautology. In this study we show that as the solar panels get less expensive and more efficient, the cost balance significantly changes." He says that one aim of the new paper is to alert the researchers that their new solar inventions can be cost-effective even if relatively short lived, and hence may be adopted and deployed more rapidly than expected. At the same time, he says, investors should know that they stand to make bigger profits by opting for efficient solar technologies that may not have been proven to last as long, knowing that periodically the panels can be replaced by newer, more efficient ones. "Historical trends show that solar panel technology keeps getting more efficient year after year, and these improvements are bound to continue for years to come," says Bulović. Perovskite-based solar cells, for example, when first developed less than a decade ago, had efficiencies of only a few percent. But recently their record performance exceeded 25 percent efficiency, compared to 27 percent for the record silicon cell and about 20 percent for today's standard silicon modules, according to Bulović. Importantly, in novel device designs, a perovskite solar cell can be stacked on top of another perovskite, silicon, or thin-film cell, to raise the maximum achievable efficiency limit to over 40 percent, which is well above the 30 percent fundamental limit of today's silicon solar technologies. But perovskites have issues with longevity of operation and have not yet been shown to be able to come close to meeting the 25-year standard. Bulović hopes the study will "shift the paradigm of what has been accepted as a global truth." Up to now, he says, "many promising technologies never even got a start, because the bar is set too high" on the need for durability. For their analysis, the team looked at three different kinds of solar installations: a typical 6-kilowatt residential system, a 200-kilowatt commercial system, and a large 100-megawatt utility-scale system with solar tracking. They used NREL benchmark parameters for U.S. solar systems and a variety of assumptions about future progress in solar technology development, financing, and the disposal of the initial panels after replacement, including recycling of the used modules. The models were validated using four independent tools for calculating the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), a standard metric for comparing the economic viability of different sources of electricity. In all three installation types, they found, depending on the particulars of local conditions, replacement with new modules after 10 to 15 years could in many cases provide economic advantages while maintaining the many environmental and emissions-reduction benefits of solar power. The basic requirement for cost-competitiveness is that any new solar technology that is to be installed in the U.S should start with a module efficiency of at least 20 percent, a cost of no more than 30 cents per watt, and a lifetime of at least 10 years, with the potential to improve on all three. Jean points out that the solar technologies that are considered standard today, mostly silicon-based but also thin-film variants such as cadmium telluride, "were not very stable in the early years. The reason they last 25 to 30 years today is that they have been developed for many decades." The new analysis may now open the door for some of the promising newer technologies to be deployed at sufficient scale to build up similar levels of experience and improvement over time and to make an impact on climate change earlier than they could without module replacement, he says. "This could enable us to launch ideas that would have died on the vine" because of the perception that greater longevity was essential, Bulović says.make a difference: sponsored opportunity Provided by: Massachusetts Institute of Technology More Information: Joel Jean, Michael Woodhouse, Vladimir Bulović. Accelerating Photovoltaic Market Entry with Module Replacement. Joule (2019)DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2019.08.012 Image Credit: CCO Public Domain Read the full article

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conconow · 7 years ago

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We are proud to announce that a project The Conco Companies provided concrete services for has won another award. The LA Federal Courthouse in downtown LA was recently recognized as a “Gold Winner” in the category for Best Sustainable Project by the LA Business Journal‘s Commercial Real Estate Awards. Last year the Courthouse also won the “2016 Outstanding Achievement and Excellence in Concrete Construction” award presented by the Southern California ACI chapter. In addition the project was selected to compete at the national level at the 2017 ACI National Convention.

Referred to as the “Cube” for its unique cantilevered shape, the 631,000 sq. ft. courthouse was designed and built to earn LEED Platinum certification. The general contractor on the $350 million project was Clark Construction and the architect was Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). The building’s high efficiency systems include a 1,200-ton central utility plant with a 130-ton heat recovery chiller. It also features a 250 KW roof-mounted photovoltaic array of solar panels. A large skylight brings in natural light and the building’s exterior has “pleats” that maximize daylight penetration and minimizes solar thermal gains.

The building’s innovative design allows the cubic volume to “float” over the stone base and is considered to be one of the safest structures against bomb threats or earthquakes. The 10-story Courthouse sits on a 3.6-acre site and includes 24 courtrooms and 32 chambers for judges along with jury assembly facilities and offices for U.S. Marshals.

SOM describes the Courthouse design as “using traditional architectural elements such as processional steps, grand public spaces, and enduring materials like limestone to achieve a strong civic identity.” The project broke ground in 2013 and judges and staff started moving into their new offices in September, 2016.

The Conco Companies are a leading supplier of concrete services for the Western U.S. We got our start in the Bay Area in 1959 by offering clients the best value on a wide range of concrete services and products. Since that time, we have taken a leading role as one of the top concrete contractors in the region. We have four regional offices serving California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon and Colorado.

#concrete services #concrete contractors #building industry

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nightmare-afton-cosplay · 5 years ago

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As Tiny Homes Spread Across the Nation, They’re Getting Bigger—and Pricier

Bela Fishbeyn

It wasn’t exactly a comedown when Spencer Wright, 31, and Bela Fishbeyn traded in their cramped Bay Area apartment for a 300-square-foot house a little more than two years ago. In fact, it’s actually been an upgrade in every way.

The home they bought for just over $100,000 in the Santa Cruz mountains in Boulder Creek, CA, wasn’t made for a hermit. Designed and built by New Frontier Tiny Homes, it has a king bed on a hydraulic lift for storage underneath, a walk-in closet, an outside deck about the size of the house, and an art installation made of reclaimed wood from 1767 Designs.

“The smaller the house, the more attention you can give to each little detail,’’ says Wright, a stay-at-home dad. He and his wife, the executive managing editor of the American Journal of Bioethics, wanted to experiment with a different way of living. “The goal was to make it so nothing would be missing.”

The tiny house movement grew out of the simplicity movement of the 1980s and 1990s. The goal was to build ultracompact houses (preferably without professional assistance) for next to nothing in someone’s backyard, to reduce consumerism and debt and return to a simpler way of life. But over the last 10 years, tiny homes have evolved—and they’re not so simple anymore. Buyers are increasingly seeking larger dwellings with top-of-the-line appliances and high-end finishes, and having builders do the labor for them.

Many of these units are now outfitted with stainless-steel appliances, built-in TVs, and elaborate cabinetry, says Mark Stemen, a geography professor who teaches sustainability at California State University in Chico. Luxurious tiny homes with composting toilets, solar panels, and insulation for year-round living can now go for more than $200,000.

More tiny home communities are opening across the country, as television shows such as HGTV’s “Tiny House Hunters” have led to a boom in popularity for little house living. These units typically top out at about 400 square feet. And now that more builders are getting into the game, and lenders are helping buyers get loans for the properties, prices are shooting up. Folks are also using them as vacation homes and renting them out when they’re not around.

“The tiny house movement is expanding to meet the desires and needs of the people who are in it and joining it every day,” says Coles Whalen, marketing director of Simple Life. The Jacksonville, FL-based developer is creating tiny home communities in the South. It recently unveiled a more expensive, nicer two-bedroom “tiny” home model that is about 540 square feet.

“It’s adapting to accommodate the needs of people who are tired of spending money on square footage they’re not using, but they may want slightly more” room, he says.

Spencer Wright and Bela Fishbeyn’s tiny house was outfitted so that nothing would be missing.

Tiny homes experience square-footage creep

Over the last decade, tiny home companies have seen a rise in folks seeking larger tiny homes.

The plans, shells (exterior structure minus windows and doors) and completed homes sold by Tiny Home Builders used to be, well, small. Standard tiny homes used to be about 20 feet long and 8 feet wide. But now the Cumming, GA-based company is seeing more customers ask for 30-foot plans and shells. Owner Dan Louche is even fielding calls for 40-foot models.

That’s prompted him to ask, “Are you still interested in a tiny house?”

The traditional, do-it-yourself 20-foot tiny homes can cost $15,000 to $20,000, including materials but not counting labor, says Louche. Those who buy pre-made shells then have the plumbing and electrical systems installed.

Twenty years ago, Tumbleweed Tiny House Co. in Colorado Springs, CO, would sell 9-foot by 10-foot houses that weighed about 7,000 pounds, says Pat Clancy, the company’s office manager. Now, they’re offering 30-foot-long abodes that need a special trailer to handle the 18,000 pounds. They’re built in the company’s manufacturing plant.

The company is certified and inspected by the RV Industry Association, in part to help buyers access insurance and financing. Buyers can now finance a tiny home ranging in price from $435 to $630 per month with a 15-year or 23-year term, based on a purchase price of $70,000 to $90,000, according to the company’s website.

The introduction of professional builders and manufacturers has allowed prices to stabilize at around $65,000 to $75,000 for a standard 28-foot finished tiny home, Tiny Home Builders’ Louche says. Anything priced higher than that is typically a lot swankier.

Buyers with money to spend are also working with design teams to customize their dream tiny homes. Tiny Heirloom, in Portland, OR, is selling abodes with motorized decks that retract in 30 seconds. These can go from $89,000 to $220,000. Some models are bought by companies like IKEA looking to showcase the latest tiny trends or by investors looking to rent them out.

But the actual cost of setting up a tiny homestead can actually be much higher, as folks still need to have land to put them on. That can be a challenge where there are unfriendly local zoning laws.

“They’re appealing to someone who is willing to pay for that,’’ Louche says.

The Elm is a Tumbleweed Tiny House starting at $76,000.

Tumbleweed Tiny House Co.

Buyers are turning fancy tiny homes into vacation properties, rentals

Tiny homes still make sense for folks on a budget, even those looking for a more affordable second home. That’s what Chip Hayes was thinking when he developed the Retreat at Deer Lick Falls near Monteagle, TN. The 48-home, gated subdivision features a waterfall, a communal fire pit, and lots of hiking trails nearby. Homes range from 400 square feet to just over 500 square feet.

Hayes had built second homes on Cedar Lake and Tims Ford Lake. But those normal-sized homes ran around $300,000.

“Even if you can afford $300,000 for a vacation home, do you want to pay that?” he asks.

The homes at the Retreat at Deer Lick Falls with land start at $100,000. There’s an additional $95 per month in homeowner association fees for landscaping and mowing. The subdivision sold out in two and a half weeks, Hayes says.

Real estate agents Jack Miller and her husband, Harlen Crossen, of Brentwood, TN, snapped one up right away. They spent $200,000 for a 550-square-foot house on 2 acres of land.

It’s roomy enough for a bedroom plus a couch that folds out into a queen-sized bed, enough space for a family or guests. The house has birch and cedar shingles outside, shiplap instead of drywall indoors, and granite countertops.

“It’s like Ralph Lauren got ahold of the cottage and shook it,’’ says Miller. Crossen loved the place so much he decided to become an on-site sales agent for the development.

The two hope to enjoy the place on the weekends and rent it out as well.

That’s also what Wright and Fishbeyn are doing in California. They lived in their tiny home for more than a year before putting it on Airbnb. Guests can now rent it out for $235 per night.

“Everybody can’t afford a $1.5 million second home,” says Miller. “But a lot more people can afford this, particularly if they can generate income for it.”

The post As Tiny Homes Spread Across the Nation, They’re Getting Bigger—and Pricier appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

from https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/as-tiny-homes-spread-across-the-nation-theyre-getting-bigger-and-pricier/

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trenttrendspotter · 6 years ago

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Fresh from Expo West: 10 Top Natural Trends for 2019

The interest in naturals continues to evolve and capture the imagination of consumers. It’s an exciting time for the industry with the popularization of the plant movement, the emergence of CBD and shoppers’ obsession with wellness. The 2019 Natural Products Expo West, held at the Anaheim Convention Center, March 6 – 9, was a convergence of mainstay and up-and-coming brands vying for the spotlight.

There isn’t a trade show that engenders as much passion as Expo West. Everyone who has ever been to an Expo West remembers it and thinks of their time there with great affection. Great news: The show continues to flourish under new management and to lead the way on natural alternative trends and products.

“Every year at Expo West we foster the connection between emerging brands who are impacting the landscape and industry pioneers who have paved the way for decades,” said Lacey Gautier, group show director at New Hope Network. ”This event highlights the importance of community engagement and the role everyone plays to create a more sustainable packaged goods industry. With so much to celebrate in organic agriculture and ethical business practices, you can feel the energy throughout the campus.”

Here the top 10 trends spotted by globe-trotting trend watcher Nancy Trent:

1. CBD bubble or boom

What’s happening with CBD is reminiscent of the internet bubble of the 90s…or is it?Everyone is racing into the game, but it’s not a game, it’s just the beginning of one aspect of the plant-based revolution we are seeing change the way we live. Just as the Internet bubble resulted in the failure of many individual companies but not the Internet industry itself, the CBD business is likely to thrive but not all of the many companies coming out with CBD products will survive.

According to Sebastien Hebbelinck, founder of Prana Principle, “We are just scratching the surface of the potential of this revolution as we wait for guidance from the FDA.” Hebbelinck, who has been in supplements for over 25 years, began his career in the Netherlands and settled in Colorado as a sought-after expert. Hebbelinck figured out how to maximize the potential of CBD with a line of full spectrum hemp oil extract sublingual tinctures that contain non-psychoactive phytocannabinoids and synergistic compounds such as Cannabidiol (CBD), Cannabigerol (CBG), Cannabinol (CBN), Cannabichromene (CBC), and a range of naturally preserved terpenes. Terpenes is expected to be the next buzzword in plant-based healing.

Hebbelinck’s focus is crafting CBD tinctures without THC and he feels there is a lot of confusion in the market about full spectrum vs. broad spectrum, the safety of THC and claims that manufacturers can accurately make. But the country is moving forward and manufacturers need to be responsible to the FDA, retailers and consumers.

2. Shots are the juice

The juicing trend has reached an all-time high. So has “the awareness of sugar content in our foods, including juice, which has lead to the ‘shot’ movement,” says Kristina Dermody, CEO of California Juice Company. Consumers and people that influence these trends have realized that most of the nutrients we need from juice can be consumed in one delicious shot. This has lead to the success of companies like California Juice Company. The California-grown, organic, nutrient-dense, premium full ingredient fruit and veggies are mindfully formulated to optimize authentic flavors and give the health we need in condensed servings. They are delicious, too!

3. Putting more fun in Functional Foods

Just the Berries has a special species of Organic New Zealand blackcurrants, which are the most nutrient-rich berries in the world, used primarily for eye and vision health. They are very popular in Asia, as top baseball teams from Japan love this brand. Just the Berries is celebrating its 30th anniversary and is launching its first store in the U.S.

Likewise, Wishgarden Herbs, an almost 40-year-old whole herb company, combines the fast-acting power of its whole herb liquid extract formulas with an enjoyable social connection via remedy-drink pairings. “This takes wellness and lifestyle to a whole new level that delivers octaves on ‘functional drink’ efficacy and is also fun, tasty and shareable,” says Catherine Hunziker, CEO of Wishgarden Herbs.

Move over cauliflower pizza: “There can be no doubt that vegetable crust pizza is of interest. Who doesn’t want healthier and tastier pizza alternatives?” asked Benjamin Frohlichstein, CEO of Cappellos. The latest entry into that category is almond crust, with plant protein, healthy fats, nutrient-dense and grain-free pizza crust perfect for keto appetites.

4. The new superfoods

Buyers are inundated with snacks that are so smart, marketers have to find snacks that are not only Keto, protein-rich and grain-free but also have a certain je ne sais quoi too.

“There is a focus on ingredients because people are reading labels and demanding better ingredients,” says Jeff Brinkhoff, CEO of Hopapops. For instance, lotus seeds, the main ingredient in Hopapops, are trending in Europe because they are a true ancient superfood with roots in Aryuvedic and traditional Chinese medicine for helping to maintain health blood sugar levels.

Vegan, all natural TahiniBars are made of sesame seeds with amazing taste and texture, all for only 100 calories. The texture is so appealing, TahiniBars made an ad campaign around their smoothness called “my first crush.”

Brami Snacks, made with lupini beans from Spain, have more fiber than edamame and fewer calories than almonds. To make them even more appropriate for the U.S. market, they come in scrumptious flavors, too. How did we not know about these incredibly delicious wonder beans before?

5. Focus on simply healthy ingredients

Elma Farms latest introduction is POSHI, which stands for the “Power Of Simply Healthy Ingredients.” These plant-based snacks are gluten-free, non-GMO, convenient and low-calorie. Everyone is talking about innovative fermented snacks!

Much of the hummus we buy at the store is pasteurized by heat. Anyone who has had or has made their own fresh hummus knows that it’s all about the freshness of the ingredients. Starting out in farmer’s markets, discovered by Wegman’s, they continue to keep high standards for ingredients. “It’s not about flavor to catch attention,” said Chris Kirby, of Ithaca Cold Crafted. He buys whole lemons and squeezes them in his hummus, which also includes raw garlic.

And when hummus is good, it’s easy to eat too much. That was the concept behind Blue Moose, one of the first organic snacking hummus with portion control 100-calorie cups and dehydrated carrot sticks.

6. Basics, made even better

We all would be eating more beets if they were easier to work with. Thank you Beetroute from the Netherlands for sourcing the most delicious beets and doing the messy prep work. I know I will be eating more beets as you launch in the U.S. market.

Another classic to get a fresh spin: Dates. Joolie’s, with the help of superior technology, produces the most succulent organic Medjool dates I have ever tasted.

In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, the National Peanut Board partnered with Crazy Richards Peanut Butter to roll out an entirely new category with the introduction of its new frozen snack line, Wholly Rollies – Frozen Protein Balls. Wholly Rollies was developed to make healthy snacking simple. “As consumers continue gravitating toward snacking, the National Peanut Board is excited to be part of bringing new products to the freezer case. As a delicious, nutritious and portable snack, Wholly Rollies embodies everything consumers are looking for,” says Ryan Lepicier, SVP, marketing & communications, National Peanut Board.

7. Brands that go above and beyond

“Every year consumers get smarter and more discerning in their decision-making process, whether it’s non-GMO or vegan–these are specific values,” says Sabrina Banadyga, the chief marketing officer of EnerC. EnerC is a caffeine-free, low-sugar vitamin C supplement committed to the triple bottom line: people, planet and profit.

Teatulia, a Bangladesh-based single-garden direct line of organic loose leaf teas, demonstrates a thorough commitment to sustainability by supporting a cooperative and establishing a cattle-lending program. In exchange for maintaining the garden, collective members (who are overwhelmingly female) receive cows instead of the more popular microfinance loans normally associated with Bangladesh. In return for fresh milk, members of the program pay down the loan with milk and cow dung which helps fertilize the tea garden. Teatulia is now introducing a totally innovative line of tea sodas.

It’s about time people started getting picky about their eggs. “There is an increased desire for eggs from chickens that are pasture raised,” said Ryan Miller of Farmers Hen House. People want more protein, they want better protein and they are willing to pay for it. Another reason these eggs are amazing is they only get eggs from authentic sustainable family farms that produce their grain to feed their chickens. And, their processing plant is 100% solar powered!

8. Hydration cleans up

Hydration was one of the hottest categories. We’re thirsty for natural ways to hydrate. Electrolytes are a great way to stay healthily hydrated, but they are hard to drink without calories, sugar, carbs or caffeine. That’s what lead to the success of Ultima Replenisher, a stick pack containing all 6 macro electrolytes without the things you don’t want. It’s made with all plant-based flavors, colors and sweeteners and vitamin C, another thing we like to add to our water.

One water company, Essentia, has done some rigorous testing to prove its hydration value. A clinical trial, published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition (JISSN), showed Essentia has a 9.5pH or higher alkaline water that is better at rehydrating than regular water.

9. Seriously smart supplements

As people continue to push themselves to new limits, the use of brain-health supplements has become an expanding industry, with expected growth to $11.6 billion by 2024. Quality of life is dependent on the healthy functioning of the brain and nervous system. Meaningful improvements to cognitive function can impact the quality of communication and connection in relationships. It gives us more of the mental energy we might need to turn our good intentions, in areas like diet, exercise, and sleep, into reality. And, it supports our ability to adapt to environmental stressors. Neurohacker Collective, a company focused on creating best-in-class wellbeing products using a unique research methodology based on complex systems science, understands that different systems in the body don’t act in isolation. Neurohacker’s flagship product, Qualia Mind, is a premium nootropic used to help stimulate and support overall mental performance of the brain. Qualia Mind incorporates high-quality ingredients to ensure optimal results and transcend basic cognitive enhancement. Neurohacker’s brain supplements, while designed to support increased cognition, also are designed to improve the entire body to support peak performance.

10. Chemical free, from cosmetics to OTC remedies

Increasingly, people don’t want to put anything on their body they wouldn’t put in their body. And that means more interest in plant-based ingredients. But even plants can be processed. Skinny & Co provides one of the only chemical-free, additive-free, and non-acidic coconut oil in the world. Every product starts with handpicked, raw coconuts from the jungles of Vietnam, processed through a patented Nutralock System that keeps the oil cool and 100% raw. With 5 or fewer ingredients in each product, these cleansing balms, body scrubs, deodorants and more, are proving that healthy really is beautiful. As the use of essential oils continues to rise with more people leaning toward natural methods of care, Oilogic says its three collections are safe and impactful for babies & toddlers, kids and adults. A trailblazing leader in family natural wellness, Oilogic Essential Oil includes the right concentration of each powerful oil, diluted appropriately to create a safe, yet effective formula that is ready for use. Natural Products Expo West 2020 will be held March 3rd-7th at the Anaheim Convention Center. Natural Products Expo East will take place at the Baltimore Convention Center September 11th-14th, 2019. Follow @NatProdExpo and #ExpoWest on Twitter and Instagram, and visit us on Facebook for ongoing conversations.

As seen in Whole Foods Magazine

#expo west #Natural Products Expo #naturalproducts #trends #CBD #juice #chemical free #supplements #hydration #superfoods

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