Geothermal energy is one of the lesser-known types of renewable energy, but a new Alphabet company called Dandelion wants to change that by harnessing the heat underneath your yard to heat and cool your home. For the time being, the service is only available in certain areas of upstate New York. The signup website allows you to check if your home is within the serviceable area by zip code, and boasts immediate savings over your current energy payments thanks to zero down financing for qualified customers. Since the system simply either draws heat into your home from the earth below, or wicks heat from your home down into the earth, there are no service charges to pay, so youre only paying for your installation over time. The payments are touted as being fairly low. Your installation also comes with a smart thermostat.

If your home is within the service area, the process of signing up starts with a chat aboutyour home to assess it for installation with Dandelions experts. If that checks out, theyll come out to your house and plan the installation. If all goes well, the installation itself should take 2 or 3 days, and is done by contracted professionals. The installation can be done alongside a traditional heating and cooling system based on gas or electricity. Nodes are installed under the floor and in the walls of your home, and are hooked up to pipes that go down into the ground. From there, the system is able to pull heat up from the ground, or push it down into the ground from your home. Thanks to the simple setup, a Dandelion hookup can not only heat and cool your home, but can even be used in place of an electric or gas-powered water heater.

The newest spinoff from Alphabet to become an independent company was born within X, and in its current form, consists of X product manager Kathy Hannun serving as CEO, X technical program manager James Quazi as CTO, and former Conergy exec Katie Ullman in charge of marketing. The operation brings together experience from both inside and outside Alphabets wheelhouse, includingSolarCity and Mosaic. The company is still in its infancy, and there is so far no word on when or if the program may expand.

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Alphabet's Dandelion Offers Geothermal Heating & Cooling - Android Headlines

July 11, 2017 by Julie Chao Thermal imaging was used to measure surface temperatures near the window, which in turn was used to evaluate the occupants level of thermal comfort. Credit: Berkeley Lab

By using advanced lighting and automated shades, scientists from the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) found that occupants on one floor of a high-rise office building in New York City were able to reduce lighting energy usage by nearly 80 percent in some areas.

The dramatic results emerged at a "living laboratory" set up to test four sets of technologies on one 40,000 square-foot floor of a building.

Berkeley Lab partnered with the Building Energy Exchange (BEEx), an independent nonprofit, to demonstrate that even in relatively modern office buildings, installing the latest generation of smart, actively controlled energy efficient lighting and shading can dramatically lower energy costs and enhance the quality of the work environment. These results will be important in speeding market adoption of emerging energy-saving technologies, according to Berkeley Lab scientist Eleanor Lee, who led the project.

"Context matters when it comes to figuring out where the market barriers are with respect to contractors, facility managers, and office workers isolated tests in a laboratory environment are often not enough," she said. "Reducing stakeholders' uncertainty about performance and occupant response in a real-world setting can be critical to accelerating market adoption."

On the living lab floor, T5 fluorescent lights were swapped out for dimmable LEDs with new sensors, which were adjusted throughout the day using advanced controls depending on daylight levels and occupancy of the space. Automated shades were raised or lowered to open up views to the outside, admit daylight, or reduce glare as needed. Researchers monitored the effects of the retrofit for six months, following a year-long baseline monitoring period before the upgrades were installed.

Compared to the baseline condition, energy use for lighting in the 40-foot deep perimeter zone on the living lab floor declined 79 percent, while the associated peak lighting electric demand went down 74 percent. Much of the savings came from the switch from fluorescent lamps to LEDs and being able to dim lights across the floor, not just next to the windows. The advanced controls enabled more granular fixture-by-fixture control with wireless sensors and communications, enabling zone control to be customized at the work-group level.

Many of the decisions related to configuring the controls were driven by the desire to maintain bright interiors and access to outdoor views. Despite the huge reduction in energy use, people surveyed on the living lab floor were generally content with the lighting levels and indoor temperatures.

Though heating and cooling use weren't monitored during the study, researchers estimated that a building-wide retrofit would have provided total electricity cost savings of $730,000 a year, assuming an average rate of $0.20 per kilowatt hour. Using industry estimates of typical installed system costs ranging from $3 to $10 per square foot, the retrofits would pay for themselves in three to 12 years. The researchers also emphasized the importance of installer and operator training, along with systems that have strong diagnostics and troubleshooting tools, in boosting the adoption of these technologies.

BEEx acted as local managers for the Living Lab and documented lessons learned across the entire process of technology selection, procurement, and installation. These lessons have formed the backbone of multiple educational resources, from exhibits to professional training sessions and toolkits, aimed at professionals who make decisions about lighting systems in commercial spaces.

"Using everything we learned on this project, we've developed a series of tools that will really help the engaged design professional or building owner make better decisions about lighting system upgrades, and avoid the common pitfalls on the road to a high performance office space," said Yetsuh Frank, BEEx managing director of strategy and programs."

The market for efficient lighting and shading controls continues to evolve. When the study began in late 2013, the researchers said, even basic features like wire color weren't yet standardized among technologies, causing confusion during installation.

But "manufacturers have really thought about how to reduce the complexity of their systems" over the past decade, Lee said, making them easier to install and more turnkey, while costs continue to come down. She added: "In the next 10 years, as components integrate with coordinated, optimized systems, we anticipate these technologies will deliver even better performance at even lower costs."

Explore further: Study finds big energy savings in the New York Times building

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Shading and lighting retrofits slash energy use in New York 'Living Lab' office demonstration - Phys.Org

Before the construction of Hamere Noh Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church in southwest Las Vegas, Demelash Assefas congregation held services in a rented space on University Road and South Maryland Parkway.

Before and after every service, church members would set up and take down their religious objects so the next congregation could use the space. And although Ethiopian Orthodox services are traditionally on Sundays, the churchs 500 members attended on Thursdays because the space was already claimed by another congregation during their normal time.

Now the congregation has its own space closer to where members live. The Ethiopian church was completed about two years ago and is just one of many places of worship recently constructed in the rapidly growing Southwest.

Now everything is settled; we just vacuum and go on to the next service, Assefa said.

Las Vegas growth, especially in the southwest, has made church construction the bread and butter of general contractors such as George Boghos. On a Monday morning at a construction site on West Post Road, Boghos walked through the open entry of what will soon be St. Michaels Antiochian Orthodox Church, a member of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch.

I designed this and Im building it from the ground up, he said. Boghos, an architect, said he does a lot of research before embarking on each project. For St. Michaels Antiochian, he worked with the congregations priest, Father John Nicholas, to create a design faithful to the churchs ancient roots in the Middle East.

St Michaels parish was established in Las Vegas in 1965 and was originally in northeast Las Vegas, and when Father John arrived in 2001, its congregation had no more than 60 families.

Now he has 195 families.

No one lived around the church (in the northeast), Father John said. The new location is absolutely centrally located. Its very convenient for everybody, including the northwest people, Green Valley, Henderson and all that.

Boghos likely will return to the site of the Ethiopian church in the next few years to build a banquet hall and community center on an adjacent vacant lot. Assefa said his congregation is still growing; with about 500 members, the building already is at capacity. On holy days, between 800 and 1,000 people of Ethiopian descent show up for services and celebrations, he said.

Most Ethiopians live in south and southwest Las Vegas, Assefa said. We still need more space. We have a large community.

Every Sunday, more than 200 children show up for Bible study and Ethiopian-language classes, he said. An average of two baptisms are held in the church every week, Assefa said, adding to his constantly growing congregation.

From the parking lot of St. Michaels, the red roof of St. Geragos Armenian Apostolic Church is visible in the distance. The 5,800-square-foot church, which Boghos also built, sits next to an accompanying 8,000-square-foot banquet hall and community center. The church took about seven months to build and was blessed in May 2016.

The churches he has built have become part of Boghos life, too. When his eldest daughter married her husband, a Lebanese man, the couple chose St. Sharbel Catholic Church on Rancho Destino Road in southeast Las Vegas (St. Sharbel was a monk and priest from Lebano in the mid-19th century).

St. Sharbel was one of the first churches Boghos built in Las Vegas; it was completed in 2008.

Boghos has a few other projects in the works, including Govindas Sanctuary, a Hindu temple in the southeast valley that will include a worship area, a reference library with Vedic literature, living quarters, gardens and meditation sites, and rooms for yoga classes. And directly next door to St. Michaels Antiochian is the future site of Korean Areumdawoon Church, a member of the Christian Reformed Denomination.

Boghos is Armenian Catholic and added hes happy to help build houses of worship for any faith.

I believe in the good book, Boghos said. The good book says be nice to people So if youre Orthodox, if youre a Protestant, youre a Catholic. It doesnt matter.

Contact Madelyn Reese at mreese@viewnews.com or 702-383-0497. Follow @MadelynGReese on Twitter.

By the numbers

According to the UNLV Center for Democratic Culture, Nevada ranked fourth in 2015 with the greatest number of immigrants as a total share of the population after California, New York and New Jersey.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, foreign-born residents made up more than 20 percent of Clark Countys population, compared with 13 percent of the rest of the U.S. population.

Further Clark County Census data show that of Las Vegass foreign-born residents, 58 percent were from Latin America, 27.6 percent from Asia, 8.6 percent from Europe, 3.3 percent from Africa, 1.8 percent from Northern America and 0.6 percent from Oceania.

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As southwest Las Vegas grows, so does number of churches - Las Vegas Review-Journal

Over the week of July 16 21, the Central Texas Conference Youth in Mission group will gather at the First United Methodist Church to stay inside the church as they set out and volunteer in construction-based mission work. This group is one of many that travel across Texas to provide community service, with groups also gathering in Crowley, Granbury, and Temple.

The CTCYM serving in Corsicana consists of individual youths and adults from five different United Methodist churches; this includes groups from China Spring, Grapevine, Weatherford, and two from Arlington.

Christina Norris, Junior High Youth Director explained to The Daily Sun what her volunteers will be going through.

Our students and adults give up a week of their summer to work hard, sweat, and sleep on the floor because they want to follow the teaching of Christ, she said. They want to be a tangible example of Christs love We eat, sleep, play, and worship together as one family.

During the day, 10 different work teams of youth and adults will head out to do construction-based mission work in the community. Projects normally worked on may be building a wheelchair ramp for someone who is unable to easily get in and out of their home.

It is difficult to adequately describe the feeling you get when you see a wheelchair-bound home owner use their new wheelchair ramp for the first time, knowing that you and your team have truly had a difference in their life, Norris said. It is always amazing to see what a group of junior high students and adults can accomplish in one week when they work together towards a common goal. We hope to inspire others to come together and share the love of Christ to those in need.

The Daily Sun will be following the CTCYM during their stay in Corsicana and provide updates and pictures of the groups' work. To learn more about the mission group, be sure to visit the trinity student ministries website found below.

psparks@corsicanadailysun.com

OntheNet:

http://www.trinitystudentministries.org

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Church youth mission group to provide service to community - Corsicana Daily Sun

PLATTSBURGH Road crews are busy again around Clinton, Essex and Franklin counties with many projects as the season gears up.

General maintenance operations are ongoing on roads throughout the region, including maintenance, ditching and guiderail repair. Traffic is controlled by flaggers when needed.

Fines are doubled for speeding in work zones, and officials urge drivers to be cautious.

Take a look at some of the projects happening now:

CITY OF PLATTSBURGH

Lorraine Street: Water-line and street reconstruction underway.

Oklahoma Avenue: Slope reconstruction at Old Base Marina area.

Bridge Street: Demolition of Highway Oil building continuing with small city park planned.

Maine Road: Getting ready for water-main pipe replacement.

Saranac River Trail: Phase 2, which will include the two bridges at Saranac Street and Durkee Street Extension, will be starting this year. Will continue through 2018.

CLINTON COUNTY

Arthur Road, Chasm Road, Town of AuSable: Paving work continuing on Chasm and Arthur roads. Anticipate some delays.

Prospect Street, Town of Champlain; Chapman, Church streets, Rouses Point: Contractor is nearing completion of work on both streets as part of construction of the Northern Tier Multi-Use Path. Next, the work will shift to Church Street in the Village of Rouses Point. The project also includes the Town of Champlain over the course of the project. Estimated completion date is Dec. 1.

Lamberton Road, Town of Mooers: Replacement of the Lamberton Road Bridge is underway, and detour routes are in place and will be maintained through the construction period. Estimated completion is Oct. 31.

Jarvis Road, Town of Peru: Replacement of the Jarvis Road Bridge underway. Detour routes will be in place and be maintained through the construction period. Estimated completion is Oct. 31.

Route 374, Town of Dannemora: Installation of 5.8 miles of new water line is continuing between the Village of Dannemora and the hamlet of Chazy Lake. Completion is scheduled for Dec. 31.

ESSEX COUNTY

Route 22, Town of Essex hamlet of Whallonsburg:Closed between County 12 (Jersey Street) and County Route 22M (Middle Road)until 5 p.m. today for culvert repair and replacement.Car detour is County Route 55 (Whallons Bay Road) out of Whallonsburg and County Route 22M (Middle Road).Trucks detour is County Route 80 (Lake Shore Road) between the hamlets of Westport and Essex.

Hulls Falls Road, Town of Keene: Road repair on stretch still damaged from Irene, when road sloughed off into the river. Road is open where Hulls Falls Road meets Route 73, but still shut to all traffic at site of repair work. Project is expected to take all summer.

Trout Brook Road, Minerva: Work starts this week to replace the bridge. A temporary span will be in place through the duration of the project.

Route 9N, AuSable Forks, town of Jay, Essex County: Route 9N bridge replacement over West Branch of the Ausable River. Bridge reduced to one alternating lane controlled by traffic signals. Tractor-trailer truck detour using Silver Lake Road (Clinton County Route 1), Bonnieview Road, Route 86 and Route 9N.

Northway (I-87), North Hudson, Essex County: Traffic reduced to one lane in each direction at Exit 29 for bridge rehabilitation over the Branch River in the Town of North Hudson, Essex County. Additionally, the on ramp at Northway Exit 29 from Blue Ridge Road to the southbound Northway is closed during construction. Motorists will be detoured south on Route 9 to the southbound on-ramp for the Northway at Exit 28 and Route 74.

FRANKLIN COUNTY

U.S. Route 11, Malone: Durable pavement marking placement will be performed 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Traffic controlled by flaggers. Expect minor delays. Completion expected by Friday, July 14.

Route 11B, Malone:Durable pavement marking placement will be performed 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Traffic controlled by flaggers. Expect minor delays.Completion expected by Friday, July 14.

State Route 30, Malone:Durable pavement marking placement will be performed 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Traffic controlled by flaggers. Expect minor delays.Completion expected by Friday, July 14.

Route 86, Town of Brighton: Work continuing between the hamlet of Gabriels and Donnellys Corners. One-way traffic controlled by flaggers.

County Route 4: Westville into Fort Covington. Paving continuing on first 4 miles off State Route 37, heading west to State Route 95. Flaggers in place; delays possible.

Lane Street bridge, Malone: Closed deck replacement expected to take five months. Detours in place.

County Road 25 bridge, Malone:Closed deck replacement expected to take five months. Detours in place.

Compiled by News Editor Suzanne Moore

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Road Construction Roundup: July 11, 2017 - Plattsburgh Press Republican

Sunlight filtered through stained glass windows at the former Cascade Presbyterian Church on Monday morning as community leaders and other attendees gathered to bid farewell to the churchs former role and welcome its new function as a place for homeless teens.

St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County broke ground Monday on its Youth House at the site. In coming months, the nonprofit organization will remodel the church to provide housing and social services for homeless girls ages 16 to 18.

The Youth House will be as much like a home as possible, according to St. Vincent de Paul spokesman Paul Neville.

A manager will live on-site, and the girls will be able to remain, rent free, for up to two years as long as they remain in high school and until they graduate. The house will include a community space, kitchen, laundry, counseling office and computer lab. Each student-resident will be assigned a mentor. A full-time caseworker will help the students connect to social services and work with mentors and school officials to create individualized plans for steps after high school.

The remodel will cost an estimated $1.85 million, but the organization already has raised about 70 percent of the overall construction cost via donations grants from the Oregon Community Fund, as well as the Collins, Chambers and Autzen foundations.

Earlier this year, local philanthropist and community activist Tom Bowerman announced a $50,000 challenge grant from the OCFs Barbara Bowerman Fund, and donors since have fully matched the grant. Banner Bank has approved a construction loan for the project.

Mondays event which officials described as a ground shaking instead of a groundbreaking was emotional. About 100 people attended the event at the former church at 33rd Avenue and Willamette Street in south Eugene.

The hourlong event included remarks from community leaders, including Eugene Mayor Lucy Vinis, Springfield Mayor Christine Lundberg, Bethel School District Superintendent Chris Parra and Dave Williams, the executive director at Hosea Youth Services.

It was not a typical groundbreaking ceremony; there were no shovels, no dirt and no sledgehammers. Instead, it featured musical instruments a guitar, a cowbell, a tambourine and maracas.

Following a series of short speeches, local musician Rich Glauber played guitar and led the group in a song that featured some key phrases and ideas expressed by those who spoke at the ground shaking event:

Put the suitcase down/youre home in this town, Glauber sang. This is a ground shaking/hope is in the making/its earth-changing.

St. Vincent took on the project in the summer of 2016 after the south Eugene-area neighborhood association contacted the nonprofits executive director, Terry McDonald. The neighborhood association wanted St. Vincent to acquire the former church to serve the communitys growing homeless population.

St. Vincent bought the building in December 2016 for $585,000 after the Eugene-Springfield Home Consortium provided a $625,000 federal HOME grant. Although St. Vincent spearheaded the effort, it had some help from several other organizations, including Hosea Youth Services, which will operate the Youth House; the Eugene, Springfield and Bethel school districts; The 15th Night Coalition; and the Eugene-Springfield Home Consortium in an effort to address one of the areas largest issues: homelessness.

On any given night in the Eugene-Springfield area, nearly 400 homeless high school students ages 16 to 18 struggle to find a place to sleep, according to Neville.

Many of them end up couch-surfing with acquaintances, and some end up on the streets, where they are vulnerable to violence, drugs and a thriving human-trafficking trade the along the Interstate 5 corridor, he said.

The most recent data, for the 2015-16 school year, indicated a higher number of K-12 homeless students in Oregon than during the Great Recession, according to data from the state Department of Education.

Last school year, 21,340 homeless students were enrolled in K-12 public schools, or about 3.7 percent of Oregons public school population.

The Department of Education reported the number of homeless pre-kindergarten students in Oregon as 1,929.

Just imagine for a second that youre a 15- or 16-year-old kid, carrying suitcases of your bedding and clothing, and then your backpack with a couple of books, said Janet Thorn, a homeless-student liaison for the Springfield School District. How are you supposed to concentrate on schoolwork?

Thorn said the people gathered at the former church on Monday who have made the Youth House possible have increased the odds of a better future for homeless youth.

This is going to give them an opportunity to change that cycle, Thorn said.

Follow Alisha on Twitter @alisharoemeling. Email alisha.roemeling@registerguard.com .

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Ceremony marks start of church's evolution into Youth House | Local ... - The Register-Guard

Traffic patterns in a small portion of North Augusta will undergo a major change in a few days, with the start of the annual Nike Peach Jam.

The basketball tournament, featuring the country's top teen talent, comes this year in the midst of a massive construction project designed to add two gyms, to give Riverview Park Activities Center a total of six. Play is to start Wednesday and run through Sunday.

At the helm is Rick Meyer, director of the North Augusta Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. Referring to construction, he said, "It stops Tuesday, but what you'll see Monday will be very limited. There won't be anything major going on. They'll push a little bit of dirt around, and it's ... finishing the cleanup, to make the site look as neat as possible when Wednesday rolls around."

With the park's landscape having changed, new parking plans are in place. "I think the biggest change you'll see is that we will designate parking areas for different groups, due to the construction. We haven't done that too much, because there was plenty of ... room to get around."

Meyer, offering examples, said there will be one designated area for NCAA coaches, and another one for volunteers, workers and staff.

As usual, valet parking will be offered for the teams and "a handful of Nike VIPs," he said.

"We'll have a traffic cop," he added, confirming plans for the North Augusta Department of Public Safety to have a representative on hand for the afternoon and evening sessions, when traffic is normally heaviest. Other municipal employees will be on hand during other hours, to help keep traffic flowing.

Helping with the indoor hospitality is Mike Chavous, who is also in parks, recreation and tourism. He leads culinary outreach to the teams (53 the most in the event's history) and coaches alike.

The volunteer corps, representing First Baptist Church of North Augusta and TrueNorth Church, numbers 126 "136 with the guys who do the grilling," Chavous said.

Rooms were set up Friday and Saturday, "and Monday, we'll be cutting peaches," he added. "Tuesday, the food comes in. Wednesday is the banquet."

Several teams play Wednesday evening, but most start Thursday. The championship game is set for Sunday at 2 p.m., with live coverage to be on ESPNU.

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Riverview Park taking construction break - The Star

Laura Seitz, Deseret News

Brent and Majorie Castle stand in front of their Ogden home on Friday, July 7, 2017. Their home was recently painted and repaired by volunteers from the Washington Heights Church.

OGDEN After her husband's death, Kathy Hanks didn't know if she would ever repaint the faded, colorful fish-scale shingles that cover the gables of her home.

The 72-year-old has lived in Ogden for more than 40 years, and her house hasn't been painted for at least three decades. The Victorian-style home was built in the 1890s and sports more than eight colors, including washed-out yellow sun bursts under the eaves.

"I've wanted to get it repainted for so long. And yet how can I find somebody who can do it?" Hanks said.

Members of the Washington Heights Church came to her rescue recently as part of a weeklong service project. Volunteers painted the house using paint colors Hanks had picked out years ago with her husband.

"I have a swing on the front porch and I could just sit there even in the winter time and just stare and look at the colors and enjoy them," Hanks said. "For them to come volunteer and provide everything is just amazing."

The church volunteers fixed up 19 homes and yards in Ogden during a community service week at the end of June. More than 750 members and friends worked from dawn to dusk to repair and repaint the exterior of houses.

"We had so many great people that showed up. They treated this house as if it were theyre own," said volunteer Ron Eikenberry. "The house is absolutely stunning now."

He and his wife, Terri, led the team that fixed up Hanks' home. The couple began working on the house a few days before the service week, power washing the outside and getting it ready to paint.

"The detail work was absolutely perfect. I couldnt be more pleased to be a part of a church community like the Washington Heights," Ron Eikenberry said.

Brent and Marjorie Castle live next door to Hanks. Their house was also picked for the service project.

"It obviously needed a paint job. It was pretty sad looking," Marjorie Castle said of their house. "They put all the right colors in all the right places. We absolutely love it."

The couple is celebrating 49 years of marriage in August. They've lived in their Ogden home since 1971. Marjorie Castle said the volunteers let the couple pick out the paint colors for the house.

"We wouldve been grateful for a good whitewash, but to be able to (paint it) like we really wanted to was unbelievable," Marjorie Castle said. "I can feel that the house loves it."

Ogden city officials and Pastor Jimi Pitts selected the houses through an application process, and none of the homeowners belong to members of the Washington Heights Church. Hanks and the Castles are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"Our goal has been to just demonstrate Gods love in practical ways," said lead Pastor Roy Gruber. "To not just exist as a church community on our location, but also to be engaged in the community that we care about thats all around us."

The church budgeted $35,000 to buy supplies to revamp the 19 homes.

"I went there because I belong to a church community that is so much more about reaching out into the community and sharing what we have with others," said Terri Eikenberry. "We do this out of a love for Jesus."

Olivia Brown, another volunteer, teaches fifth grade at Farr West Elementary School. She said she attended the service project instead of going to a teachers' activity.

"I dont want to leave. I love these people Im serving with, and Im so dedicated to this project. I want to see it all the way through," she said.

The Washington Heights Church holds a community service week every other year. Next year, members are planning to work on construction projects in Haiti, India, Peru and Mozambique.

"We just do it because we think its the right thing to do and because we have the capability and the resources to do it," Rev. Gruber said.

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Repainted, repaired and revamped: 19 Ogden homes fixed up by ... - Deseret News

NORTHAMPTON >> Troop 5, which is chartered by North & Southampton Reformed Church, has added four new Eagle Scouts to their aerie. Nicholas Verrecchio, Charles Gwynn, Tyler Andre and Matthew Lyons, who each earned the highest rank in scouting, bring the total number of Eagle Scouts from Troop 5 to an impressive 159.

Nicholas Verrecchio completed his Eagle Scout Service Project at St. Vincent De Paul Catholic Church in Ivyland. He led a team of volunteers in a restoration of a gazebo on the church grounds. The project included power washing, shingling and staining the structure as well as installing newly-built planters in the surrounding garden.

Nicholas began his scouting career as a Cub Scout with Pack 145 in Richboro before crossing over to Troop 5. He served his troop as an Instructor and Assistant Senior Patrol leader before being elected Senior Patrol Leader which is the highest youth leadership position within a troop. He is a Centurion, Troop 5s award for those who have camped over 100 nights. Highlights of his scouting career include a canoeing trip along the Juniata River and camping at The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve.

The son of Lisa and Anthony Verrecchio of Ivyland, Nicholas is a 2017 graduate of Council Rock High School South. He participated in the schools High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware program and is employed by Walgreens. Nicholas will study engineering at The Pennsylvania State University Abington campus in the fall.

Charles J. Gwynn chose St. Andrew Catholic School in Newtown as the beneficiary of his Eagle Scout Service Project. Charles and his team of volunteers created a 1,000-square-foot outdoor classroom and viewing area in which students can learn academic subjects and explore the outdoors. The project included clearing the space, adding topsoil and mulch as well as installing railroad ties.

Before crossing over to Troop 5, Charles was a Cub Scout at Pack 28 before moving to Pack 200 where he earned the World Conservation Award and Arrow of Light. Charles served his troop as Instructor, Assistant Senior Patrol Leader and as Den Chief to Pack 5 were he mentored 10 cub scouts as they crossed into his troop. Charles took advantage of training opportunities offered by the BSA completing Den Chief, National Youth Leadership Training and Powder Horn. He currently holds the position of Junior Assistant Scoutmaster in his unit.

Charles is the son of Christopher and Andrea Gwynn of Upper Southampton. He attends both William Tennent High School and Middle Bucks Institute of Technology where he studies web design. He has earned two Distinguished Employee Awards for his work at Anns Choice in Warminster and spends summers working as a computer technician assistant at St. Andrew Catholic School. After graduation, he plans to attend college where he will study history.

Living Streams Fellowship was the beneficiary of Tyler Andres Eagle Scout Service Project. Tyler led a group of volunteers in a hardscaping and landscaping project that included the removal of river stones around the building and redistribution beneath the wheelchair ramp, mulching garden beds and planting trees at the church in Huntington Valley.

Tyler began his scouting career with the Scout Association of Trinidad and Tobago before coming to the U.S. with his family and joining Troop 5. He has held several leadership positions within the troop including Quartermaster, Instructor, Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, Senior Patrol Leader and Junior Assistant Scoutmaster. Tyler is a Troop 5 Centurion and member of Order of the Arrow Ajapeu Lodge No. 2. Along his Trail to Eagle, Tyler participated in three high adventure trips with his troop- Maine, the Juniata River and the Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve.

The son of Kathy Ann Andre of Upper Southampton, Tyler is a 2017 graduate of William Tennent High School where he participated on the Track, Cross Country, Indoor Track Teams. He is a member of the Living Streams Fellowship Chapel where he assists with the audio/visual for the Sunday services. He is employed by Blue Sage Vegetarian Grill in Southampton where he has worked his way from bus boy to host. Tyler has joined the Pennsylvania National Guard and is currently stationed at Fort Jackson in South Carolina for basic training.

Matthew Lyons completed his Eagle Scout Service Project at Davis Elementary School where he led a group of volunteers in the construction of planters for an outdoor classroom. Working with Jennifer Bergin of the school, Matt designed planters which allow students to interact with the soil and plants at eye level.

Matt began his scouting career as a boy scout when he was recruited by fellow scout Jimmy Murray. Despite a late start in scouting, Matt earned his Eagle Rank with sufficient time to earn Eagle Palms before he turns 18. He served his troop as Chaplains Aide, Patrol Leader, Den Chief, Assistant Senior Patrol Leader and most recently as Junior Assistant Scoutmaster. He is a Troop 5 Centurion and member of Order of the Arrow Ajapeu Lodge No. 2. Highlights of Matts scouting career include trips to Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve and Horseshoe Scout Reservation; he will travel to Florida National High Adventure Sea Base this summer.

The son of Helena and Peter Lyons of Southampton, Matt is a senior at William Tennent High School where he is a member of the robotics team and the schools anti-bullying committee. He plans to study computer science or software engineering after graduation.

Original post:
Four Boy Scouts from Troop 5 in Northampton Township advance to the rank of Eagle - Bucks Local News

CONNEAUT Tony Rose of Conneaut hopes to clean up in his new retirement job.

Rose is owner of NorthSide Soft Wash, a business he launched this year. Its a power wash system that blends environmentally safe products and dialed-down power to provide an effective scrubbing experience while reducing the risk of damage to surfaces, he said.

It will not etch siding, fencing or decks, Rose said. It gets better results. (Soft Wash) kills algae and doesnt just blow it away.

Rose has power washed houses in the area as a sideline for years. When he recently retired from Farrell Insulation, he decided to make his pastime a full-time venture.

Ive got to keep busy, he said. Ive been power-washing homes for a long time. I thought maybe there was a little market for it. So few people were doing it.

Plenty of study preceded the decision to embark on a new business, Rose said.

I put a lot of thought and research into it, he said. I already had half (the equipment) I needed.

Born in Kentucky, Rose said he has lived in Conneaut pretty much all of my life. City residents are supporting one of their own, helping to keep the fledgling business busy.

Im booked up for the next two or three weeks, he said recently.

So far, his calendar has been completely occupied with Conneaut-area clients.

Conneaut has been very good to me, he said. Ive never had to leave the city (for work).

To date, NorthSide has tackled only residential projects. That will change soon, when he gives the Hampton Inn in Austinburg Township his first commercial customer a good cleansing.

Rose generally works alone, but if necessary he can count on a friend and a grandson for help.

On average, Rose says he needs only two or three hours to make a small, ranch-style home sparkle.

I try to book two homes a day, he said.

NorthSide Soft Wash is fully insured, provides free estimates and stresses customer service, Rose said.

I will walk around the house with the homeowner to make sure they are satisfied, he said. I charge an honest, fair price.

Ideally, people should have their decks and siding power washed every two years, Rose said. Looking at a house or fence every day, owners dont see their property getting dirty and dingy.

They get used to it, Rose said.

Recently, windows have been added to the NorthSide repertoire.

It has worked out perfectly, he said.

Wendy DuBey, Conneaut Area Chamber of Commerce executive director, said she was excited to see NorthSides start-up.

The Chamber was happy to welcome NorthSide Soft Wash as a new member this year, she said. Before opening his business, Tony did extensive research to find the best results to clean home exteriors, businesses, fences, decks, driveways, sidewalks, trailers, and campers affordably.

Rose considers himself fortunate, offering a service that is personally satisfying.

I enjoy doing what I do, he said. I take a lot of pride in my work.

For more information, contact Rose at 440-265-6407.

Originally posted here:
Rose turns sideline hobby into a full-time business - The Star Beacon