Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

By Andy Owens aowens@scbiznews.com Published Aug. 11, 2014

Ed Fargo has two choices for his nine-mile drive to MWVs office building in Summerville: electric car or electric motorcycle.

When he drives his Nissan Leaf, the vehicle can be seen plugged into the charging station outside MWVs offices in the Nexton development. Fargo can make the trip to and from work six times, about 100 miles, for $3.

Kenneth T. Seeger, president of MWV Community Development and Land Management, oversees the 5,000-acre mixed-use development under construction at the intersection of Interstate 26 and U.S. Highway 17A in Summerville.

Seeger said the idea is catching on with others coming to the development. The Courtyard by Marriott hotel and SCRAs office building are also offering car charging for guests and employees.

We really encourage everybody else who is building buildings out here to have similar facilities, Seeger said, adding that bike racks and showers are part of MWVs office culture and could be incorporated into others. Each elements a little different.

Seeger said the effort has sparked a trend within Nexton, but the larger goal isnt to just focus on electric vehicles or recharging stations. The goal is to create comprehensive infrastructure so that mixed-use developments can create jobs and also help take cars off of the roadways.

The site for Nexton wasnt picked just because MWV had land in and near Summerville. The location positions the development to pull from Summerville and entice businesses and industry to locate in the companys nearby commerce parks.

MWV, which also is partnering with The Rockefeller Group on an industrial, build-ready commerce park near Jedburg, sees Nexton as an extension of an economic development package that will get motorists off of Interstate 26 between Summerville and Charleston and provide a better work-life balance for those who want to work near where they live without sitting in traffic.

Seeger said MWV took a regional view to appeal to businesses and industries that dont need to travel farther than U.S. Highway 78. With Summerville nearby, a company could locate administrative offices in Nexton, then locate distribution or manufacturing operations in Jedburg and Ridgeville. That could draw workers off of Interstate 26.

See the rest here:
Developer sees hubs of commerce in plugged-in office buildings

BURLINGTON -- Efficiency Vermont is partnering with Sunward Systems and Sunnovations to launch a new effort to help Vermonters install affordable solar water heating systems in their homes. The average U.S. household spends up to $600 per year on water heating costs. Solar water heating technology can reduce those costs by up to 80 percent. This pilot offering from Efficiency Vermont will reduce the upfront cost of solar water heating systems by $1,600, for systems installed before November 30.

"Efficiency Vermont staff members are always looking for new ways to help Vermonters reduce their energy usage and costs," said Jim Merriam, Director of Efficiency Vermont. "We are really excited to partner with a Vermont-based company to make it easier for our customers to install clean, renewable solar technology that will dramatically reduce their water heating costs."

Manufactured by Canadian company Thermo Dynamics Ltd., the systems available through this pilot offering use rooftop or ground-mounted solar collectors to gather heat from the sun -- a free energy source, and transmit it to hot water storage tanks inside the home. In addition to the $1,600 instant discount, participating customers will receive a free energy data monitoring package made by Sunnovations. The monitoring systems allows users to remotely track the energy usage of their water heating system in real time, receive alerts about pending maintenance issues, and calculate the dollar value of their energy savings as they accumulate over time.

"This pilot offering is a great opportunity to partner with Efficiency Vermont in bringing the benefits of solar hot water to more Vermont homeowners," said Tom Hughes, CEO of Sunward Systems. "These systems are an excellent option for Vermonters who want to use clean, free, renewable energy rather than more expensive fuels."

Matt Carlson, CEO of Sunnovations, highlighted the innovative features of the data monitoring system included in the solar water heater offer. "Sunnovations Ohm Monitoring System gives homeowners the information they need to take control of their solar hot water systems and ensure that they are delivering as much value as possible," he said. "This limited time offer is a great deal -- and a great opportunity for Vermonters to start reducing their energy costs from day one."

Those interested in participating in this initiative should contact Sunward Systems toll-free at 877-803-2480 or visit http://www.gosunward.com to learn whether a solar water heating system is right for their home. Customers of Washington Electric Co-op and the Energy Co-op of Vermont may be able to take advantage of additional discounts and savings and should contact their co-op's main office for more details.

Note: This partnership discount is available to all Vermonters who use an energy source other than natural gas for hot water heating.

Efficiency Vermont was created by the Vermont Legislature and the Vermont Public Service Board to help all Vermonters reduce energy costs, strengthen the economy, and protect Vermont's environment. For more information, contact Efficiency Vermont at 888-921-5990 or visit http://www.efficiencyvermont.com.

Sunward makes solar hot water simple. Headquartered at 6221 Shelburne Road in Shelburne, Sunward is Vermont's leading supplier of solar hot water equipment. Its systems include Vermont-made components and are completely solar powered. For more information visit http://www.gosunward.com.

Sunnavations' mission is that "solar-powered hot water should be an obvious, affordable alternative for all American homes and businesses." The Ohm system and all of the Sunnovations' products are designed to further that mission by making solar water heating less expensive, easier to install and more reliable. Visit http://ohm.sunnovations.com.

Go here to see the original:
Efficiency Vermont, Sunward Systems, to launch new solar water heating initiative

IT'S STILL JUST DIRT - PENNY ESSELTINE

At the end of July, Tillsonburg Horticultural Society members crossed the Canada-U.S. border for an international bus tour taking in the Buffalo National Garden Festival and Garden Walk Buffalo, which included 370 gardens located in clusters within a three mile radius in the city.

Our guide Sally Cunningham said, We are real proud of whats happened in this region. Twenty years ago 16 neighbours said lets do a garden tour and now there are 370 gardens in Buffalo that are now seen by as many as 55,000 people in just one weekend of Garden Walk Buffalo.

Our first Festival stop was Marcia Scullys Hidden Gardens of Eden, in Eden, New York. Sally said this was one of the most respected gardens in the region. Marcia likes to under grow plants under plants, and many, many pots. Marcia said it takes her three hours each day just to water the pots. She has hypertufa (hand-made) pots as well as old fashioned tin washtubs, filled with hosta pots, and even birdbaths pot filled with as many as 12 different kinds of succulents.

For the hardier plants Marcia pulls pots in close to the house in the fall and tips them on their side so the water does not accumulate too much. For the more tender plants in her garden she digs them up and takes them, bare-rooted in pans, all the way to her Florida winter home where she plants them in the garden there.

Tillsonburg Horticultural Society tour organizer Christine Nagy said that in the 15 years shes been touring gardens this is the best she has seen.

The imagination and creativity is amazing, said Nagy.

Smug Creek Gardens in Hamburg, New York was next. Its home to King of the Hosta World Mike and Day Lily Queen Kathy. Mike told us they have four gardens, all in virgin woodland, including four terraces up the hill with plants like day lilies, hydrangea and rudbeckia, a garden of small hostas (up to 12 inches tall) in rockery in the shade, a garden in a bog with raised beds to keep the roots out of the water, and a hosta glen. The deck too is a garden with more than 100 plants in pots. Thirteen acres in total and everything is labelled.

Thursday morning started in a modest income area of central Buffalo where Garden Walk Buffalo began. On 16th Street, Joe and Scotts amazing place has every kind of coleus known to man. One hundred and fifty pots planted with annuals each year.

Its always evolving, something different every year, mostly coleus," said Joe. "I sprinkle Miracle Grow in the hole before I plant.

Go here to read the rest:
Tillsonburg Horticultural Society takes in Buffalo Garden Festival 0

Tree Crown Thinning Adelaide - Contact AdelaideTreeRemovalcom now on 08 7100 1599
http://AdelaideTreeRemoval.com Tree Removal in Adelaide At Adelaide Tree Removal we enjoy our job and are incredibly committed towards the care and management of trees. Tree removal is dangerous...

By: Aaron Arborist

Continued here:
Tree Crown Thinning Adelaide - Contact AdelaideTreeRemovalcom now on 08 7100 1599 - Video

BERKELEY LAKE Berkeley Lakes tree ordinance has been amended, a move that provides tighter guidelines for tree preservation and replacement.

With the changes made Thursday, the ordinance provides for an increase in minimum tree density on individual properties, from 32 to 40 trees per acre. Property owners are also required to replace trees that are removed from their lots.

The amendment also establishes alternative compliance guidelines. Should a property owner not be able to comply with the new density guidelines, a fee may be paid to the citys Tree Replacement Fund, proceeds from which will be used to plant trees on public property.

The new tree removal permit fee is $50.

The July 30 moratorium on issuance of tree removal permits was lifted. For more information of specifics of the citys tree removal policy, visit http://www.berkeley-lake.com.

Council members also approved a citizen request for the city to pursue Community Wildlife Habitat certification from the National Wildlife Federation. The application fee for the certification is $75.

Movie production ordinance adopted

A city ordinance established to regulate activities involved with filming and movie production within city limits was adopted. With the recent filming of a breast cancer awareness ad on Lakeshore Drive, and the upcoming September filming of a scene for the film The Fifth Wave, City Administrator Tom Rozier explained that such an ordinance is necessary to protect citizens and property.

A special called council meeting was held Wednesday to present the proposed ordinance and place it on first read, paving the way for a second reading and adoption on Thursday.

The ordinance also established movie production permit fees, which categorizes projects as being either low impact or high impact.

View post:
Berkeley Lake amends tree ordinance

Mozilla is beginning a broader second phase of an experiment to show ads to Firefox users, a move that ultimately could help reduce the organization's reliance on revenue from Google.

The first phase of its program, called directory tiles, gave Mozilla the option to show ads or promoted content in a grid of thumbnail images that appear when a user opens a new browser tab, but it's offered only to new Firefox users. Enhanced tiles, though, are for existing Firefox users. The new feature gives publishers an opportunity to replace a thumbnail users already would see with one that's potentially more engaging, said Darren Herman, Mozilla's vice president of content services.

The program could give Mozilla more breathing room. Its share of desktop browser usage is slipping, and its presence in mobile browsing is miniscule, so Mozilla needs new levers to push its agenda. The sponsored tiles could mean more money for Mozilla and a new way to influence how advertisers use the personal data of those who see and click on ads.

The directory tiles are links Mozilla picks on its own, but the enhanced tiles modify links that the user already would see. Instead of seeing an automatically generated thumbnail image that might represent the site poorly -- a login screen, for example -- an enhanced tile would show imagery that looks and works better.

"We're looking at logos, images, or anything related to that site," Herman said.

Showing ads and promoting sites is a significant departure for Mozilla. Today, the nonprofit organization gets the vast majority of its money from Google when Firefox users send the search engine traffic that results in revenue from search ads. The ads would mean a new, potentially much broader source of revenue, though.

"We do see it as an opportunity for us to recognize the value we're bringing to all constituents in the market," Herman said -- in other words, to get paid for Firefox's influence over what people see. "Directory tiles and enhanced tiles are an opportunity to work with marketers and content owners to help them distribute their content."

More revenue doesn't hurt, but Mozilla has bigger ambitions: it hopes the tiles program will revive its influence in the advertising world. The company has had fraught relations with advertisers in the last two years due to its push for a Do Not Track standard that lets people inform Web publishers and advertisers when they don't want their online behavior tracked. Mozilla hopes its tiles program ultimately will "make the Internet healthier," Herman said.

"We're showing the world you can get into the advertising ecosystem, building trust, transparency, and user control into those experiences," he said. "Forty-three billion dollars are spent in online ads every year. The opportunity for us is to clean the Web up, to make it healthier...We have to participate. We can't just sit on the sidelines telling people what to do."

See more here:
Mozilla expands advertising experiment to many more Firefox users

Davie outdoor sheds | (954) 584-2800
Franks Sheds will provide you a accurate support services knowledge. A family manage organization happily helping the particular Southerly Florida area since 2005. Our objective can be to offer...

By: Aaliyah Franksshed

See original here:
Davie outdoor sheds | (954) 584-2800 - Video

Metal Sheds Grand Prairie TX 75052 | 877-689-0730 Call Now! | Storage Sheds Outlet
For more on Metal Sheds visit- http://www.storageshedsoutlet.com or Call- 1-877-689-0730 Storage Sheds Outlet, leading providers of top quality outdoor storage sheds offers world-class Metal...

By: storages hedsoutlet

Read more here:
Metal Sheds Grand Prairie TX 75052 | 877-689-0730 Call Now! | Storage Sheds Outlet - Video

Two Sheds a Tamper at Retford railway station 2/08/2014
First GBRF Class 66 no 66713 is seen passing through north with the 6O68 Middleton Towers- Barnby Dun Roc. Glass GBRF Sand train. Freightliner class 66 no 66502 is seen passing south working...

By: UK Transport Aviation footage LTD

Read the rest here:
Two Sheds & a Tamper at Retford railway station 2/08/2014 - Video

Dylan Zylstra spends a good deal of time in the weight room, especially in the off-season that starts almost as soon as the regular seasonends. (Full-size photo)(All photos)

Read our preview of the upcoming college football season in this special section.

There are days when Dylan Zylstra asks himself, Wouldnt it be awesome to just go toclass?

Just class, nothing else. No endless sessions in the film room, no lifting heavy plates in the weight room and the dining room. No getting knocked on his butt atpractice.

And definitely no bear crawls in an overheated gym room at 11 p.m. inFebruary.

In other words, nofootball.

Noway.

As painful and miserable as it can get sometimes, the feeling of running through the tunnel on Saturday gets you through almost anything, said Zylstra, a senior defensive lineman at EasternWashington.

And when the cheeringends?

Pretty soon, Im going to be looking for a job, and I think Im going to have an edge because I know to work hard, Zylstrasaid.

Read more from the original source:
EWU defensive lineman Dylan Zylstra understands the commitment needed to play college football - Thu, 21 Aug 2014 PST