Keith Evans

Keith Evans has been writing professionally since 1994 and now works from his office outside of Orlando. He has written for various print and online publications and wrote the book, "Appearances: The Art of Class." Evans holds a Bachelor of Arts in organizational communication from Rollins College and is pursuing a Master of Business Administration in strategic leadership from Andrew Jackson University.

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What Does It Cost to Replace a Central Air Conditioner? | eHow

Repairs, upgrades and replacements in Oswego School District buildings and other facilities could cost nearly $8 million, school district board members were advised this past week.

A list of prioritized projects prepared by members of the district's Citizens Advisory Facility and Planning Committee was submitted to the board for discussion.

The total cost for all the projects was estimated at $7.8 million by Mike Barr, director of facility construction and development; Bill Baumann, director of operations; and Pat Dacy, assistant director of facility construction and development. They conducted an evaluation of all property in the district, which was submitted to the committee for review and recommendation.

The school district operates a total of 22 schools.

The three officials toured each building and met with the administrators and building engineers at each school, to survey conditions.

They also received assistance from engineers, architects, and contractors in preparing a list of major needs and concerns for each building.

Officials said the district has $7.2 million in funds remaining from past construction projects.

They include projects from 2007 through 2013 that came in under budget, and a balance from bonds sold for the recently completed additions to the district's two high schools.

Superintendent Dr. Matthew Wendt said he and other staff members reviewed the committee's recommendations and trimmed the list to 13 projects with an anticipated cost of $3.6 million.

Board member Greg O'Neil said he was opposed to using the remaining funds from the high school addition projects for repairs to other facilities.

The rest is here:
Committee lists $7.8M in school facility upgrades

Commercial building energy efficiency retrofits will surpass US$127 billion in annual market value by 2023, says firm

Press release, April 7; Alex Wolfgram, DIGITIMES[Tuesday 8 April 2014]

Residential and commercial buildings account for 35-40% of total energy consumption worldwide. Commercial buildings, in particular, consume large amounts of energy related to heating/ventilation/air conditioning (HVAC), lighting, water heating, and other building systems. Efforts to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions have led to increasing deployments of energy efficiency retrofits for commercial and public buildings. According to a new report from Navigant Research, the worldwide market for energy efficiency retrofits in commercial and public buildings will grow from US$68.2 billion in 2014 to US$127.5 billion by 2023.

"Because the existing building stock dwarfs the amount of new building space being added on an annual basis, energy efficiency retrofits are a critical pathway to greening the world's commercial buildings," said Eric Bloom, principal research analyst with Navigant Research. "Enrollment in voluntary green building certification programs has been on the rise around the world, even as regulatory and policy measures in a growing number of regions provide strong support for energy efficiency retrofits."

One key question within the building retrofit industry is the initial reason or motivator for pursuing energy efficiency retrofits. The vast majority of building owners and managers who decide to complete an energy efficiency retrofit are motivated primarily by system replacements rather than the motivation to improve efficiency, the report said. Navigant Research added that it estimates approximately 15% of all energy efficiency retrofits are initiated with increasing energy efficiency as the primary motivator, while the remaining 85% of energy efficiency retrofits are initiated for other reasons.

The rest is here:
Commercial building energy efficiency retrofits will surpass US$127 billion in annual market value by 2023, says firm

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Ed Ruping/ The Chronicle

By Jessica J. Saggio | April 09, 2014

Taking on the tax is a series that will break down the penny sales tax issues specific to East Seminole County, schools and to those opposed. The county takes a vote on the issue in a special election on May 20. Voters will decide whether the county will raise sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent, generating about $63.1 million annually for the next 10 years.

An SCPS history lesson

Seminole County Public Schools are no stranger to promoting a sales tax.

A look back into 2001 and 2010 shows that this isn't the first time the school system has toiled with the tax at hand, and neither have voters. Needing the funds for integral projects, school officials say they have desperately needed the sales tax funding as budgets continually are cut at the state level.

But before one delves into those tax issues, its important to note that the School Board wasn't always involved. In 1991, voters passed a sales tax referendum generating about $360 million in sales tax revenue. The school system wasn't yet on board with a portion of the revenue.

But in 2001, the tide changed as the School Board jumped on board with the idea of a sales tax referendum. Voters again passed the sales tax with a 72 percent majority. According to county documents, the tax generated $590 million, with 25 percent of that going to SCPS.

See more here:
Taking on the tax part 1: Schools

Bellevue College recently received a $410,000 grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce Energy Efficiency and Solar Grants program to construct an 83KW solar photo-voltaic array on the roof of the R building on the main Bellevue campus. The DOC also awarded the college an additional $195,000 for campuswide energy efficiency upgrades.

The new solar array will be a large addition to an existing 7KW system and could generate enough electricity to power up to 70 percent of the building electric load on a sunny summer afternoon or an estimated 85,737 KwH per year.

These awards come on top of $2 million in grant funding awarded to Bellevue College in the last two grant cycles from the DOC for energy efficiency projects including campuswide lighting and water retrofits, HVAC controls, campus equipment replacements or repairs, energy meters for all buildings and the Building Dashboard, a system allowing visitors to see real-time data on energy use on campus by building.

The grants awarded to Bellevue College are part of the first conferred under the DOCs 2013-2015 Energy Efficiency and Solar Grants program. The agency announced grant awards to five higher education institutions, 27 local governments and four state agencies in March 2014.

Read more from the original source:
Bellevue College awarded $605,000 in Department of Commerce funding

Lori Wolfe/The Herald-Dispatch

Culloden Elementary School students and staff are supplied with plenty of bottled water as they return to school on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014, in Culloden.

Mar. 30, 2014 @ 11:04 AM

HUNTINGTON -- More than $100 million in construction projects have been completed in the eight years since a $65.4 million bond was approved by Cabell County voters, and school officials are now working to complete at least three more major projects costing $18 million before 2016.

Now that bond-affiliated projects are completed, Cabell County Schools officials have started to check off items from their new to-do list, which is created largely from the county's Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan, or CEFP.

In the plan is a renewed focus on the county's elementary schools, with the immediate emphasis falling on Culloden Elementary School and an "expeditionary learning" incubator school that will come from the consolidation of Peyton and Geneva Kent elementary schools.

The CEFP that guides the school system's project choices was adopted by the school board in 2010, and it serves as a road map for the next 10 years of operation.

It includes assessments and infrastructure needs of each Cabell County Schools facility, said Mike O'Dell, assistant superintendent of operations.

The opening of Huntington East Middle School in January ended the CEFP's emphasis on middle schools and instead turned it toward elementary schools, some of which are the oldest buildings in the county school system, O'Dell said.

"That's not to say we are going to neglect middle schools and high schools," O'Dell said. "It's not just for construction of new schools. It's also used to determine what work needs to be done on existing schools -- windows, roofs, air conditioning and heating -- things like that."

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Cabell continues school construction

By Al Everson BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Mar 26, 2014 - 11:20:37am

The Volusia County School Board and its allies are going all out to build support for continuing the half-cent local-option sales tax for schools.

Just a little more than five months remain before Volusia County residents will vote on the tax in the Aug. 26 primary, and the campaign for the voters hearts and minds has already begun.

We want to provide a quality education system, Superintendent Margaret Smith said.

Smith said tourists can help area residents do that.

Generally, about 35 percent of that tax is paid by visitors, she said.

Smith and School Board members are trying to get out the word about the sales-tax referendum when they speak before business and civic organizations. The School Board gave its blessing but no money to the creation of a political-action committee to press for passage of the tax proposition.

That PAC, Citizens for Excellent Schools, bears the same name of the organization that worked for the 2001 school sales-tax referendum. Citizens for Excellent Schools may raise private funds for the campaign to get out the vote to continue the tax.

The politics of education

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Volusia County School Board hopes to sell plan to put your tax dollars to work

BEAUFORT The County Board of Education delayed action Monday on a proposed $27.8 million local budget thats 28 percent more than the current year, largely to meet unfunded state mandates.

That amount includes $22.8 million for operations and $5 million for capital.

The board will resume talks Tuesday during its regular meeting, allowing more time to get questions answered on the operations budget. The board didnt discuss the capital side of the budget Monday because members had previously agreed on the capital request at an earlier meeting.

Once the school board approves its total request, the proposed budget has to go to county commissioners for funding approval. The county board had asked the educators to submit their request Thursday, but Superintendent Dr. Dan Novey said he planned to contact County Manager Russell Overman to inform him of the delay.

The 28 percent increase concerned school board member Mark Mansfield.

If it comes to a 2-cent tax increase, will they do that? he asked during the special meeting held in the school systems central office on Safrit Drive.

Board member Cathy Neagle replied, Will they cut services or stay with a good school system? Our overall goal here is to maintain the same level of programs.

State and federal money also make up the school systems budget, but totals wont be available until later in the year after the General Assembly convenes. The current years budget total is $73.2 million for the combined funding of federal, state and county funds.

Of the proposed $22.8 million for operations, $22 million would come from the county. Thats 17 percent more than the $18.8 million appropriated this fiscal year. The fiscal year starts July 1.

The remaining amount comes from fines and forfeitures, sales tax reimbursements, tuition, fees and other sources.

See the article here:
Budget totals $27.8 million

RIVERDALE, N.J., March 21, 2014 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- A three-year agreement between the appliance manufacturerElectroluxand Camfil -- the world's leading provider of clean air solutions -- highlights the increasing importance of total cost of ownership (TCO). As more companies take a holistic, long-term view of costs, they're discovering that a product's price tag tells only a small part of the story. Indeed, often it is the product with the higher upfront cost that leads to greater overall savings -- making it the wiser investment. This is particularly the case, as Electrolux discovered, when it comes to commercial air filters.

While traditional air filters tend to carry lower initial costs than more sophisticated models -- like thehigh-efficiency air filters from Camfil-- they also degrade more rapidly, requiring more frequent change outs, as well as more energy to push the air flow through the filter. The result: a surprisingly high total cost of ownership, once replacements, installation, energy use, and disposal costs are factored in.

Yet high-efficiency filters change the equation. Thanks to their innovative design, and their focus on sustainability, Camfil filters use less energy, last longer, and require less frequent replacement and disposal. So a higher upfront price actually leads to cost savings in the long run. By demonstrating this -- showing not just the best-of-breed performance of its air filters, but their total cost of ownership advantage -- Camfil was able to secure the Electrolux agreement, which covers three Electrolux appliance plants in the United States. While unit costs will roughly double, total costs will be reduced in excess of 30 percent.

As organizations ranging from hospitals to manufacturing plants to educational institutions strive to contain costs without sacrificing performance, life cycle cost analysis is enabling them to focus on preferred products. What these organizations are finding is that with the right vendor, total cost of ownership can be lowered even as performance is improved. Camfil's energy efficient, sustainable air filters, for example, have already helped customers reduce their HVAC energy costs by 20 percent, their installation costs by 50 percent, and their disposal costs by 70 percent -- all while maintaining optimal indoor air quality.

To help potential customers understand what savings are possible for their own particular circumstances, Camfil offers its uniqueLife Cycle Cost software. It enables users to enter their current filter brand, type, operating parameters, and cost to compare the lifetime costs of their existing filters with Camfil air filters.

As companies like Electrolux are discovering, a low initial price may be an enticing proposition, but low long-term costs are a winning one.

The world leader in air filtration systems, Camfil provides clean air solutions for hospitals, hotels, office buildings, educational institutions, and pharmaceutical and biotech companies. We provide the tools to achieve sustainability, maintain high air quality, and reduce airborne infections -- all while lowering total cost of ownership. Camfil customers go green without ever sacrificing performance. For more information, visit us online at http://airfilters.camfilfarr.us, or call us toll-free at 888.599.6620.

Media Contact: Lynne Laake, Camfil, 888.599.6620, Lynne.Laake@camfil.com

News distributed by PR Newswire iReach: https://ireach.prnewswire.com

SOURCE Camfil

Continue reading here:
Camfil-Electrolux Agreement Proves the Importance of Air Filter Life Cycle Costs

Beaverton, OR (PRWEB) March 14, 2014

Housing costs in Washington County are among the highest in Oregon, and an estimated half of the 70,000 renting households in this county live in housing that is unaffordable. This fact alone makes the preservation of 69 affordable apartments at Farmington Meadows a reason to celebrate.

Guardian Real Estate Services, in partnership with HUD and Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS), recently completed a $14 million dollar rehab project that maintains 69 affordable homes for seniors and families in Beaverton, Oregon. Without the continued funding the rehab ensured, the projects full HAP Section 8 contract would have expired in November 2012, and residents of Farmington Meadows would have simply been priced out of their homes.

Farmington Meadows is a wonderful example of the potential for successful preservation of our states existing affordable housing portfolio, especially those properties with valuable federal subsidies that can stretch our limited local resources even further, says Jessy Olson, Development Projects Manager for Guardian Real Estate Services. Not only are rehabs a more efficient way to build green and save resources, but these properties are already a significant part of the local community, so we find a lot of value in preservation efforts and are pleased that OHCS prioritized this project.

Originally built in 1982, Farmington Meadows was in need of major repairs to keep the community viable for its residents. The community now also meets the 30-Year OHCS Rehab Construction Best Practices and the OHCS Green Path Standards.

The renovation includes: a full building envelope replacement, improvements to HVAC systems to reduce moisture in units, site drainage improvements, landscaping and amenity improvements, parking lot and walkway replacements. The apartment interiors received nearly complete upgrades with new flooring, appliances, cabinets and countertop surfaces. A brand new community room and play structure was also added.

Project investment partners include Oregon Housing & Community Services, Enterprise Community Investment, and JP Morgan Chase. Guardian Real Estate Services serves as the developer, co-owner and property manager. Carleton Hart Architecture is the project architect and LMC Construction is the contractor.

The community is invited to the Grand Re-Opening Celebration on Wednesday, March 19 from 2 to 4pm at 4566 Southwest 160th Avenue, Beaverton, OR 97007.

Refreshments, and self-guided tours of the property will follow a short program. The celebration is open to the public and community members are encouraged to attend.

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Originally posted here:
14M Rehab Keeps Affordable Housing Available in Oregon's Washington County