Reinventing the Nail November 28, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, government, insurance, manufacturing, architecture , add a commentPopsci.com has an interesting article about how Ed Sutt, the son of an architect/contractor in suburban Connecticut, stumbled into an idea to redesign one of the most basic tools of construction: the nail.
Sutt, who now works for Stanley Bostitch, researched the problem of houses collapsing during hurricanes to help design a new nail, the HurriQuake.
Tests conducted by researchers at Florida International University and the International Code Council—the independent building-safety standards organization—confirmed that the HurriQuake has more than twice the “uplift capacity” of standard power-driven nails. Other independent tests showed that the HurriQuake can double a typical home’s resistance to high winds and add up to 50 percent more resistance to earthquakes.
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Big Dig Firms Sued Over Tunnel Accident
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, government, insurance, manufacturing, transportation, architecture , add a commentMassachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly announced he will sue 15 companies that worked on the $15 billion “Big Dig” roadway project in Boston, alleging negligence that caused a ceiling panel to fall and crush a woman this past summer.
The civil suit claims project manager Bechtel/Parson Brinckerhoff was “grossly negligent” in building the tunnel, part of which collapsed less than four years after it was opened. The lawsuit also names the manufacturers and distributors of the epoxy used to hold bolts.
The family of Milena Del Valle, the 38-year-old woman killed on July 10th, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in August.
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Homeowners Can Sue Agent for Lapse in Coverage November 17, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, government, insurance, real estate , add a commentAccording to BusinessWeek, a federal judge has ruled that Michael and Lucille Catchot can sue their Nationwide Insurance agent, Michael Felsher, for negligence after he allegedly let their flood insurance policy lapse a few short days before Hurricane Katrina caused severe damage to their home.
The couple claims they paid their flood insurance premium two or three days before it was set to lapse, by dropping a check through the mail slot in Felsher’s office. Nationwide claims they missed the deadline for renewal by one day and has denied the Catchots’ $79,000 claim.
Nationwide attorney F. Hall Bailey argued on behalf of Felsher, claiming he isn’t liable for the company’s “coverage determination” and, therefore, should not be a defendant in the lawsuit. U.S. District Court Judge L. T. Senter, Jr. rejected the argument, however, saying the negligence claim can proceed.
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Housing Starts Lowest in Six Years
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, government, real estate, finance , add a commentOctober starts of new homes plunged a whopping 14.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.486 million, the lowest since July, 2000, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.
Building permits also took a hit and were down 6.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.535 million, the lowest in nine years and the largest percentage drop in seven years.
The retreat by home builders led many experts to abandon hopes of a quick recovery in the housing market.
From MarketWatch:
But Stephen Stanley, chief economist for RBS Greenwich Capital, saw a silver lining in the October data.
“We see this as an unambiguously good thing,” he wrote. “The faster builders address their bloated inventories and bring the pace of home construction down, the quicker the housing correction will play out and the economy can return to a more normal footing.”
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Micro-CHP Makes Inroads November 15, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, government, public utilities, real estate , add a commentResidential micro-combined-heat-and-power (micro-CHP) units are making their way into the U.S. according to this article.
Used for years in industrial applications with much larger units, the technology has finally gotten small and quiet enough for serious consideration in residential settings and is already available in Europe and Japan. Combining an internal-combustion engine generator with high-efficiency home furnaces, the unit heats a home while outputting one to four kilowatts of electricity—that’s $600 to $3,200 worth each year.
Slowly gaining ground, the trend is “not at all pie in the sky,” says Cheryl Harrington of the Regulatory Assistance Project, a nonprofit that helps states and nations develop energy policy. “The question is how to get electric utilities to actively support this kind of generation when it is on the customer’s side of the meter.”
Micro-CHP doesn’t come cheap - just with a long-term discount. Basic systems cost from $13,000 to $20,000, installed. Even at the lower range, that’s at least $6,000 more than a new high-efficiency hot-air furnace, even after a gas company rebate. Result: The payback period on the initial investment is three to seven years, depending on the cost of electricity, say officials at Climate Energy. The company expects to install about 200 systems next year, mostly in New England.
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Crude Oil May Rise with Winter Demand November 10, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: wholesale, business, government, manufacturing, transportation, finance, mining , add a commentThe price of crude may rise next week, as higher U.S. consumption as winter approaches reduces stockpiles.
From Bloomberg:
Twenty-one of 43 analysts, traders and brokers, or 49 percent, said prices will increase, according to a Bloomberg News survey. Five expect a decline and 17 forecast little change.
World oil demand peaks in the fourth quarter as refineries increase production of heating fuel. Implied demand for distillate fuel, or diesel and heating oil, averaged 4.4 million barrels a day over the four weeks to Nov. 3, up 8.9 percent from a year earlier, the Energy Department said this week.
The reductions agreed on by OPEC started November 1st, reducing oil output by 1.2 million barrels a day. The group is scheduled to meet again on December 14th.
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Fedex Grounds Airbus and Takes Off with Boeing November 9, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, government, manufacturing, transportation, finance , add a commentCiting delays in delivery, FedEx Express, a unit of Fedex Corporation, said it would buy 15 Boeing 777 freighter aircraft, while canceling its order for 10 A380-800F Airbus aircraft.
The agreement with Boeing, who plans to deliver the aircraft over a span of three years beginning 2009, adds an option for 15 additional aircraft.
From Reuters:
Production problems with Airbus’s A380 superjumbo have plunged the group into crisis and forced it to reexamine its projects and restructure its business.
“The decision to purchase Boeing 777s was taken after Airbus announced significant delays for delivery of A380s,” said Maury Lane, a spokesman at FedEx Express, the express package delivery unit of FedEx. “Global package demand continues to grow and we need the appropriate aircraft to meet that demand.”
“Airbus regrets FedEx’s decision but we understand their need to urgently address capacity issues,” said an Airbus spokesman.
The spokesman added that Airbus remained committed to the freighter program. “We still expect the A380 freighter to be a successful program from the outset, although we did not expect demand to be very high at the start.”
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Bush to Meet With Big Three Auto Manufacturers
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, government, manufacturing, transportation , add a commentA meeting long promised by President Bush will finally take place in Washington on Tuesday, according to the White House. The meeting with the heads of General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., and DaimlerChrysler AG’s Chrysler Group was scheduled for months ago, but was pushed back until after the election.
Many have complained that the administration has neglected the problems of the Big Three manufacturers and its workers, while the White House said the president speaks with the automakers all the time.
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Foam Approved for Agricultural Euthanasia November 7, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, agriculture, government , add a commentFoam similar to that used by firefighters for putting out vehicle and other chemical-type fires has been approved by the U.S. Agriculture Department for euthanizing commercial poultry in the event of an outbreak of deadly bird flu.
From the Associated Press:
Gassing involves more workers and exposes them to potentially infected birds, and it can be difficult to maintain a high enough concentration of gas to kill the bird, according to the department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Foam can be used to suffocate floor-reared flocks — chickens and turkeys raised primarily for meat — to contain deadly bird flu, APHIS spokeswoman Karen Eggert said. Foam can also be used in outbreaks of rapidly spreading disease, such as Exotic Newcastle, when state or federal officials deem it necessary.
And it can be used when birds are in structurally unsound buildings, such as a building damaged by a hurricane or other natural disaster, she said.
The use of gas is considered unsafe for people, more labor intensive and less humane.
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LEDs to Begin Replacing Lightbulbs November 6, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, government, manufacturing, public utilities, real estate, retail , add a commentAccording to CNET News.com, the LED lightbulb will become an economical competitor to the traditional lightbulb in about two years. If true, this prediction could lead to drastic reductions in energy bills and energy consumption worldwide.
Right now, LED bulbs that produce about the same level of illumination as a conventional 60-watt bulb are available for about $60. The big selling point for an LED this expensive is it’s long life: about 100,000 hours. Based on historical pricing info, the same LED should cost around $20 in two years.
“At $20 the payback in energy occurs in about a year,” [Steven DenBaars, a professor of material science at the University of California Santa Barbara] said. The rapid return on investment will occur in places such as stores and warehouses, where the light is on through much of the day. A year after that, LEDs will be even more economical for more places as costs continue to decline.
Approximately 22 percent of the electricity consumed in the United States goes toward lighting, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
To make matters worse, traditional lightbulbs are incredibly inefficient. Only about 5 percent of the energy that goes into them turns into light. The majority gets dissipated as heat.
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