On March 10, staff members of First Site Development attended the Builders Association of the Hudson Valley Trade Show in New Windsor. This was the first trade show for First Site and it was a success. Staffed by DJ Sadowski, Craig McKenna and Jonathan Meyer, our booth was unique and well received. We had an eye-catching, bright yellow eight-foot balloon, Lego toys drawing, give-a-ways and much more. Congratulations to the winner of our drawing - Steve Schweitzer with The Builder Development Corp!
Many quality contacts were made, including several contractors with upcoming jobs. Often, those in need of site work services do not realize there is a difference between a guy with a backhoe and a true professional who provides expertise and value. This trade show was an excellent opportunity to demonstrate to contractors that the difference can add much to their bottom-line.
Everyone knows that all projects are built on a good foundation. Our 60-plus years of combined experience makes sure that you get the best quality and value for your money. Our strength is being able to handle any size project while maintaining a personal, down-to-earth approach. For more information on First Site Development, go to www.firstsite.biz or call 845-635-DIGS.
It’s pretty obvious why solar power is so effective in states like California, Florida, and Arizona; you’d be hard-pressed to find a day that isn’t warm, sunny and clear in the southern and western United States. But just because we Northerners don’t have the luxury of owning anything but tropical shirts, sandals, and sunglasses doesn’t mean that we can’t harness the power of the sun just as well as individuals do on the west and gulf coasts.
In fact, temperature has little-to-nothing to do with the effectiveness of solar power – something that we are well aware of at Hudson Valley Clean Energy, New YorkState’s largest and most experienced solar installer. Hundreds of homeowners, businesses, municipalities, and nonprofits all over the HudsonValley have also snubbed this widespread myth about solar power and are taking full advantage of this unlimited natural resource every day.
An all-too-common misconception about solar energy is that a warm climate is required in order for the sun to be a viable source of power for our homes and businesses. However, evidence actually supports the contrary. Solar energy is not measured by heat, but rather in peak sun hours per day. When compared with the rest of the country, the HudsonValley and the entire northeast compare quite favorably to states such as California and Florida. The city of Los Angeles, for example, averages 5.2 peak sunlight hours per day; the city of Miami averages 5.2 hours. Meanwhile, here in the HudsonValley, we average about 4.5 peak daylight hours – which is really not that much less than the warmer areas of the United States.
Sure, we tend to have higher amounts of cloudy, gloomy days than the Sunshine and Golden states, and our winters tend to be jam-packed with brutal snowstorms, icy conditions and sub-freezing temperatures. This is a harsh reality we were reminded of far too often this winter, which local utility Central Hudson Gas and Electric Corporation has dubbed the most devastating winter in the history of the company. Still, this bears very little relevance in the effectiveness of solar technology, since solar systems in the Northeast produce an approximately 5-to-10 percent higher power output than systems in the south. Lower year-round temperatures create a lower electrical resistance in the solar modules (or, more popularly referred to as “solar panels”), as well as other components such as electrical inverters. Since the output generated from solar modules is actually higher in cold temperatures, the gap between solar energy’s effectiveness in the northeast versus the southwest is closed even further.
So forget everything you thought you knew about solar power and embrace the power of the sun. Our customers are generating their own power naturally every day, whether it’s a fraction of their energy demands or 100 percent of their total electric usage. And with other technologies such as solar hot water and geothermal heating and cooling, it’s even possible to produce more power than you actually use – like Hudson Valley Clean Energy’s groundbreaking carbon-free headquarters in Rhinebeck, the first of its kind in the region.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Aging in Place – The Next Big Thing? March 15, 2010 by Crans Baldwin The more I travel, and the more I have the chance to speak with interior designers and also health care professionals, the more I am struck by the potential size of the “aging-in-place” market, and the number of interior designers that are unaware of this phenomenon. Let me commend to you the ASID website. They have an excellent section on Aging & Accessibility”. Let me quote from this site. “One of the biggest challenges in the next 30 years will be how to meet the demand for quality living environments for the burgeoning population of older adults”. ”But aging in place is not just about the home. The aging of the population will affect every interior environment – private, commercial, and public”.
From another website (Service Magic), “According to the AARP, over 80 million Americans will reach retirement age within the next 15 years, and over 80% of those retirees would like to stay in their present home as long as possible. Most homes aren’t built with the needs of aging seniors in mind.”
Just a thought, but this sounds like a huge marketing opportunity for the interior design profession at a time when the profession needs such a thing! It takes study and accreditation, but in return there is business to be had right now!
