Trends

Energizing Indiana Seminar

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I attended an Energizing Indiana Seminar on Tuesday in South Bend presented by the Indiana Energy Association.  In our area, the partners that we work with are NIPSCO and AEP.  (Marshall County REMC has programs as well, but opted out of IURC (Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission) due to what they felt were onerous reporting and oversight requirements and the associated costs.)  There are quite a few incentive programs available to businesses and residential customers as well.  Unlike some of the tax incentive programs such as EPAct, these programs provide checks directly from the Utility Companies which means municipalities and other tax exempt entities should be able to take advantage of them as well.

Many of these programs encourage renovations that will pay savings dividends on their own.  (Green That Saves Green!)  The incentives are there to give the extra kick to encourage implementing them now.   I am planning on researching this further and I will include details here, but if you’re interested in pursuing this, please contact us and we can look into your specific situation now!

Time For Multifamily Housing?

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Fairfield Garden Court, Plymouth, IN

Easterday Construction has been involved with multiple multi-family housing projects over the years.  The Garden Court projects have figured prominently in our experience.  Currently many of the economic indicators are reportedly pointing towards the need for more multi-family housing.  Rental properties are projected to be in demand.  A recent article here points to the Top Ten Reasons for owning multi-family housing.  Check out the article and contact us if you’re interested in a foray into this type of investment.

Construction Material Prices Jump

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Construction materials prices rose 1.4 percent in March, the largest monthly increase since April 2011, according to the U.S. Labor Department’s April 12 producer price index (PPI) report. On a quarterly basis, construction materials prices increased 2.7 percent and are 3.8 percent higher than March 2011. Following a similar pattern, nonresidential construction materials prices moved up 1.6 percent for the month, 2.9 percent for the quarter and 4 percent year over year.

Excerpt from ABC Construction Economic Update, April 12, 2012

CUTPL Knox Box Presentation

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I will be discussing adding a Knox Box (or two) to the Culver Union Township Public Library (CUTPL) building tonight at the library board meeting.  This discussion was prompted by one of the board members seeing my previous post regarding Knox Boxes and Culver Garden Court.

I’m pleased that others in the community are picking up on this.  I still believe this is a positive step forward for our community and can lead to greater safety in emergency situations.  Knox Boxes can be installed on commercial, industrial, municipal and residential buildings as well as private residences.  When combined with a safety walk-thru to familiarize the emergency personnel, this installation can improve safety for both the occupants and the first responders.  It can save emergency repair costs as well!  If you’d like a quote on installing a Knox Box in your home or business, please don’t hesitate to call!  You can also use the Contact Us page on our website here.

Now if they just hook the treadmill to a generator…

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I have this vision of rows of these in lieu of office cubicles, each one hooked to a generator so that all the little office worker bees have to generate their own power for their computers.  I guess that would reduce goofing off on the internet since you’d have to walk to goof off.  People would start bringing real cards to work because online solitare would be too much effort!  How many of you remember the bike generator in Soylent Green?  “Soylent Green is people!”

This is the TrekDesk.  It comes in several models and is supposed to be adaptable to any treadmill.  Their site quotes the American Heart Association, saying that 10,000 steps a day can reduce your chances of a heart attack.  It also quotes the National Institute of Health saying that walking reduces the risk of Cancer and quotes the American Diabetes Association saying that walking reduces the risk of Diabetes.

It’s an interesting concept for a home office, though I can’t imagine being able to work and read a computer screen while walking or running at any kind of workout pace.  I guess any movement is better than none.  Seems like it might be a kind of smelly office space too.