City of Derby Taxes / Confusion

Our business is located in Derby, CT.  It is a classic "mill town" with much of it's earlier industry focused along both the Housatonic and Naugatuck river to obtain power in the form of canals and sluices running water wheels and machinery.  When I say "classic" mill town, I also refer to the demise of industrial businesses, and vacant brick buildings becoming decrepit and eyesores before eventually being demolished.  The downtown core has experienced this gradual decline, and it detracts on the surface of what the City has as potential.


Derby is also the smallest "City" in Connecticut (meaning an incorporated municipality).With little real-estate for new business to locate into, and the tax base (Grand List) shrinking as business departs - the burden of operating government falls upon those remaining.


There was a nail clipper manufacturer that operated here for years - gone.  Next door to our company was a business that made rubber gasket for washing machines, refrigerators, and automobiles - sold and moved out of state.  There were car dealerships - shuttered.  There were lumber stores - vacant.  Downtown was a national company that processed yearbooks and school photos - consolidated elsewhere.  Those are just a few examples of reductions to Derby's Grand List.


There have been new business faces arrive in the City, but they are usually rehabilitations of existing facilities.  A Kmart retail store is remade into a Lowes Home Improvement.  A Pearl Vision Center becomes a Starbucks.  A former Woolworth's retail location becomes a restaurant.  None of these are true expansions or growth of our tax base, which is desperately needed.


Despite the arrival or departure of businesses, there are costs that remain to be paid for such as Police, Education, Public Works of Bridges/Roads, etc.  The majority of income provided to Connecticut municipalities comes from Property Taxes based upon value assessed of real-property (real-estate and buildings) multiplied against a mill rate.  Personal property (cars, trailers, business machinery, office equipment) also generates Property Taxes with the same multiplier of a "mill rate".  The mill-rate is set every year via a budget process of elected officials with opportunity for public comment.  The assessors valuations used in the calculations of Property Tax due, is 70% of market value.


Market values change, and the State of Ct requires a re-valuation periodically of all real property (real-estate and buildings).  This occurred in Derby in 2011 and was implemented upon our tax bills for 2012.  In "theory" if all property in the city faced a market downturn of 10%, and the mill-rate went up 10%, the net taxes paid would be level to the previous year.  The reality is that certain property becomes more valued, some less, some have had improvements since last valuations, and thus the total taxes paid for real-property is a guessing game until the mill-rate is set.  It's this guessing game and period of confusion that usually causes incorrect comments by the media or elected officials on the subject.


Lost in such confusion is the fact that the mill-rate is also applied to personal property, and if real-estate values have gone down as a whole across town, and thus the mill rate goes up as a multiplier, then the property tax paid on vehicles, machinery, equipment, etc - will likely go up.


This year offers an extreme of confusion given the disparity of values arrived at in the re-valuation process.  To better explain this, I will be open with our information to use as example.


Our facility is located on three parcels of land, all of which abut one another and are within an Industrial Zone that defines how it can be used.  Each parcel gets it's own property tax bill as a legal lot of land.  Two of the parcels are vacant and are only used for surface storage.  They have had no change in character over the past years, and are of similar size.


During the revaluation, one of those two parcels went down in valuation by 16%, understandable in the current economic climate compared to several years ago.  With the new mill rate we paid 6% more in taxes on that parcel.  The second of those two vacant parcels went down in value by 50%, and with the new mill rate we paid 37% less in taxes.  The third parcel that is not vacant and has structures upon it (termed improvements) went down in value by 19% and we paid 4% more in taxes.  Overall, our real-estate holdings went down in value by 21% and we paid essentially a zero% change of $73.30 more in property taxes on real-estate only.  On the whole however (including personal property taxes on vehicles and machinery), our total personal property taxes remitted to City of Derby increased by 29%.


How can one parcel be valued 16% less, and the adjacent (abutting) parcel of similar size, same zoning, and likewise no change in character from simply being a vacant lot go down in value by 50%?


I went to a re-valuation appeal hearing, but basically got no answers as to why such a discrepancy could occur.


On top of this, there has been much current confusion in the public with City Government firing the Finance Director, or maybe he resigned, but possibly the resignation letter was forged, so a lawsuit ensued.  In short order, the parties arrived at a settlement between them, but then it wasn't confirmed or agreed to by the Alderman, and thus it was taken to court, where it has been stated that the Finance Director was not qualified for the position, yet hired anyway.  All of this soap opera occurred while the operations of finances and annual City budget approval were left to be delayed without any leadership or guidance from a Finance Director, on top of this year being a challenging period of implementing the revaluation and subsequent tax bill mailing.


This sad comedy of staff/leadership caused me to pay attention to all of our Property Tax bills.  What I found was unsettling.


Of easy comparison, is the Personal Property Tax for vehicles, of which we have fourteen of various types ranging from trucks, vans, trailers, and passenger cars.  As a vehicle ages, it's value decreases.  The values are arrived at via a standardized listing throughout the state, thus a car in suburban Easton has the same value as in urban New Haven.


One of our vehicles stood out, a 2011 F250 4x4 Diesel Crew Cab Pickup.  In 2011, it was assessed at $27,590 and we paid $769.76 in property taxes.  The year's 2012 tax bill showed an assessed value of $31,160 and $1,106.18 in property taxes.


How can a 2yr old truck with over 100,000 miles on it go up in value by 13%, and with the new mill rate, go up in property taxes by 44%?


The assessed value used on a tax bill is by definition 70% of market value.  State law: "Motor vehicle assessments are based upon 70% of average retail value as determined by your local assessor".


Using the NADA (National Automobile Dealers Association) guide, this vehicle has an "average trade-in" value of $27,200.  70% of this 3rd party arrived at market value is $19,040.  If this value were used, the tax bill at 35.5 mill rate would be $675.92, or $430.26 less.


The total Personal Property Taxes (all vehicles, machinery, equipment, etc - not including the Real-Estate Property Tax) rose by 29% this year.


I will be appealing my vehicle's property tax assessment.


UPDATE: I visited the Tax Assessors office and questioned the valuation for the truck.  The staff person looked it up in a reference guide, noted that the valuation was incorrect and provided a corrected tax bill.  It took 20min.

De-Construction Part6 - Complete

NOTE: Part of our Vision Statement is to be a Respected Company in the Community. That comes through communication regarding our activities. A portion of our property that is in high profile to the community is undergoing some changes. This communication series is to communicate what is happening.

Read Part5 of this series

***

"Rack Storage" brown building

We prepared to dismantle a significant sized structure on our property, starting in August.  It was completed by September 30th.  The footprint of the warehouse was 42,000 square feet, a light-engineered design style, with everything framed off the steel storage racks which supported the siding, roofing, electrical, plumbing - basically everything.  The warehouse was never used by us since moving to the property in the late 1980's.  It was a shell that had no stairs, elevator, or other ready access.  When the structure was designed, materials and product were delivered via conveyor belt.  All of these elements, along with accessory structures, were removed over 25 years ago, previous to our ownership.

Recycling Center unloads scrap.

Transporting sheething to recycler

The storage rack elements and accessories were all dismantled and removed in two months.  95% of these elements were recycled for their scrap value.  Close to 1/2 a million pounds of steel were transported by us to a recycle center within 20 miles.  Other materials were taken away as refuse.

Removing is systematically

Sheeting removed from racks

While this activity wasn't technically a "demolition", it is important to not that such work, If approached in a proper way, can be accomplished in a "green" manner.  Systematically removing the materials made it easy to consolidate for shipping to scrap yard.  Keeping the standpipe and cast iron separate from the light steel, allowed us to get the best price rather than be a mixed materials.  In essence we were constructing the facility in reverse, or deconstructing it rather than simply demolishing it.

Removing the Racks

The "floor" of the warehouse (technically not a "building") was elevated and it remains, acting now as a shed roof for our storage area below, sheltering our materials from the weather elements.  Longtime local residents may recall that the area below was where the outlet store "Sewers Delight" was once located selling cloth remnants from the days when the location housed a fabric dyeing and printing company (Hull Dye Print Works).

Finished with removal

With no specific plans at the present, the steel beams may be wrapped with the material we use on building facades to create a more pleasant presentation to the community, and help accomplish a roofing membrane and drain system to the deck for it's long-term protection.

  

Housatonic River 2011 Spring Floods

Our property is located along the Housatonic River in Derby. From our location one can access Long Island Sound and beyond with vessel, but just north of us is the Ousatonic Dam (sometimes called the Derby Dam). This is what created the canals on both the Shelton and Derby sides of the river that provided water power for factories such as the building we occupy (once a munitions factory, then a textile print/dye factory, now a solar powered building products manufacturing company)

Being so close to the river, the spring thaws from upstream snow annually cause quite a rush of water over the dam with a roaring sound to draw the onlookers. This year, it was particularly impressive. Cars floating down the river, docks being torn away, and numerous homes under water. Our local online newspaper covered the flood story and this video shows the dam from the Shelton side of the river (our facility is just out of view further downstream on the Derby side) with the fury of the river at it's 5th highest level ever.

Our property has some low lying frontage on the shore that gets covered in such spring storms and quickly dries out as the waters recede. Below is some video that shows the aftermath. Taken on Thu Mar10, 2011.

This next video begins at the most downstream corner of our property, and walks upstream to show why the under-story vegetation along a river bank is so important to maintain it's integrity and keep from being scoured away. In fact, the event left behind a layer of silt at least 6" deep.

And although it looks like the water was close to our building, this particular parcel's structure was constructed after the 1955 flood (which was several feet about this 2011 event), and the foundation was not impacted, as you can see by this last video.

Accolades and Recognition

Having done numerous projects in New York, it's fun to pick out our work on buildings in movie scenes. Recognizing our own work is nice, but it's nicer to be recognized by others for what we do.

Alcoa is the supplier of the main material we utilize "Reynobond" which is an aluminum composite sheet material. They have recognized us in 2010 for Outstanding Achievement. This is the 5th time we have been recognized by Alcoa for our "exceptional accomplishments".

They also produce an annual calendar to highlight projects where their Reynobond material is used in architecture around the world. It's considered an honor to have one of your projects featured in their calendar, and it is distributed widely to architects and fabricators. We are honored to have a project featured in the 2011 June page. It is 100 Park Avenue in New York City.

And the next time you are watching a movie filmed in NYC, you might see some of our work. This same 100 Park Avenue Building was captured in a pivotal scene of Will Smith's "I am Legend". See it on the right of this photo with the sidewalk scaffolding in place.

Imagery from the 2007 Movie, copyright Warner Bros.

Public Charging of Snowy Tesla

The company has installed a weather proof electrical outlet, which is openly available to any electric car owner who wants to charge their car with free electricity generated at our location from our solar panel array. You can actually power your electric car with clean energy from the sun generated at the location where you top-up your battery.

Today we had another visitor take advantage of the offering, this time from Tesla Motors themselves! Michael Sexton, Senior Sales Advisor for Tesla Motors in New York City stopped by to visit on his way into New Haven. I showed him our manufacturing operations, we had lunch, and then he left with a full "tank" of sun juice!

As you can see, when he left, the snow was accumulating. I'm often asked how the Tesla Roadster performs in snow. As Michael illustrates - quite fine. He has snow tires mounted, and with the car's electronic traction control, it performs quite well. In fact, the battery weight is perfectly distributed over the tires of the rear-drive car.

As the Tesla illustrates, battery operated vehicles, including delivery trucks or fleet operations, need not be worried about cold weather or slippery surfaces. It is a vehicle like any other, but simply is powered by electricity rather than petroleum.

NOTE: It wasn't that long a stay to charge up the car, it started snowing during the first photo and was coming down at a good pace by the time he left.

Sunny Statistics 2010

The PV Solar System has completed it's 2nd Electric Year (2009Dec17 thru 2010Dec19). As comparison, look to the results for the 2009 Electric Year found hear.

For the 2010 Electric Year:

• The system was in place for 368 days (29 days of which there was no production due to equipment issues, snow load prevented access to equipment repairs in Feb/Mar).
• The average system output was 330kwh/day.
• The average consumption of our operations was 295kwh/day.
• Highest daily electricity generation was May10 with 724kwh
• 112% of consumption was generated from the PV Solar System.

January, November and December (and March due to equipment shutdown) were the only months when the PV Solar System didn't generate more than our entire operations electricity consumption. Since the system was installed on 2009Mar23, enough electricity has been generated on-location to power all of the company's operations.

Recognizing the excess generation capacity, during this year, items that were powered from other sources were replaced to electricity fueled such as hot water heaters and one vehicle vehicle. A sewer pumping station that was operated separately from our company previous to 2010, but which served our property and that of 3 adjacent parcels, was connected to our infrastructure and is now powered by solar generated electricity.

With there still being an excess of power after these changes, further avenues of efficient utilization and conversions will be examined in 2011.

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Hot Water Heater - Electric vs Gas

The hot water heater in the manufacturing area serviced wash basins and a bathroom. It was gas fired, 50 gallons, and needed replacement. We switched to a 6 gallon electric which we believe will yield substantial savings.

A physical review revealed that use of hot water occurred only at end of work periods (break-time, lunch, end of day). Otherwise, the system was maintaining 50 gallons of hot water during off periods (such as evenings and weekends).

An on-demand system would not work due to the heavy load that occurs upon lunch time as an example, when all the workers are using actively washing up before a meal.

A 6 gallon tank was found to be the right size for our peak use. The tank takes up less room, and doesn't require the venting like the former natural gas fired tank.

The comparison of costs and determining payback of investment is offered via this government website.

The system has been in place for 2 months, and functions as projected. We have ample electricity surplus from our PV solar array, so we have eliminated a natural gas purchase for the energy, as well as have eliminated the pollutants from burning the gas. All hot water in our facility comes from electric heaters, with electricity gathered from our Photo-voltaic array of panels.

Electric Vehicle Public Charging Station

Just this month, we installed a weather proof outlet to charge our Tesla electric vehicle at our Derby location to harness the "free" solar electricity rather than power a car by hydro-carbon fuel.

As early adopters to such means of transports, the challenge for electric vehicle drivers is finding places to charge up quickly. After we installed our equipment, we thought: why not offer free charging to other electric vehicle owners? One hour of charging on our 220v 40a outlet would only cost us about 40 cents. If someone were to spend an hour charging their vehicle, it would put another 25 miles in their "tank", and while they waited they could enjoy some food and bring business to our favorite pizza joint across the street, Apollo Pizza (tell Gus we sent you).

We put together a webpage describing our charging location and what we offered, and made mention of it on the forum pages of the Tesla owners website. To my knowledge, IDA International is offering the first free public charging location for electric cars that is powered from the sun in the State of Connecticut - maybe the USA?

It didn't take long!! On 2010/Sep/20 we had our first visitor with Mike from New Jersey! On his way toward home from Massachusetts, he stopped for a quick top-off while he toured our factory where we explained how the solar array functioned that was currently filling his car with energy.

Visit our Derby location and we will offer you free electricity for your car that we've gathered from the sun. And you might enjoy a good pizza!!

PV Solar - Excess generation payout

Ever wonder what the utility would pay if you generated electricity for them?

In Connecticut where our facility is located, utilities (electric, water, etc) are regulated by the Dept. of Public Utilities (DPUC). Photo-Voltaic generated electricity is considered a Class 1 Renewable Energy Resource, and the DPUC has a ruling on how generators of such energy should be dealt with.

In our region United Illuminating Co. is the electric utility. UI delivers our electricity, and in our case we also purchase our actual electricity from them as a provider (since deregulation, you can also choose to purchase electricity from other providers, re-sellers or aggregators - but everyone must deal with UI who owns the poles, transformers and "grid" infrastructure to deliver the power).

UI has a "Class 1 Renewable Net Energy Rider (NEC1)" to accompany their tarrif schedule and abide by the DPUC ruling. The rider states:

• Net energy billing shall be performed monthly, and payments for excess sales to the Company shall be made on an annual basis, for the period from April of each year to March of the following year.
• During the annual period, if energy sold to the Company in any month exceeds energy purchased, the excess sales will first be credited to the customer in the current billing period and any remaining net sales will be carried forward for crediting on a per kwh basis in the next billing period or a subsequent billing period within the annual net energy period.
• Any excess kwh remaining at the end of an annual period shall be paid at that time according to the Average hourly Connecticut ISO-NE real time locational marginal price (RT-LMP), for the hours 10am-4pm during the annual period.

In plain english: If the array generates more kwh than consumed in a month, the credit kwh carries forward to the future period. If there is a kwh credit at the end of the annual period, the value is paid to the generator. Value is determined by the peak period prices posted by the Regional Transmission Organization (Independent Systems Operator - New England) for our location within their system.

From 2009April till 2010March (billing periods) Our Photo-Voltaic array generated 8480kwh in excess of what was consumed. The ISO-NE RT-LMP for that period is .04663 per kwh. Thus we made $395.42 for the excess power generated. The true value of our PV system is deferring purchase of kwh from the utility.

To put this into relational terms, 8480kwh is approximately 6months of electricity for the typical household.

PV Solar System - First year results

This is a press release of IDA International Inc.

Derby, CT (March 29, 2010) - IDA International Inc. today announced the results from 1 year of operating a photo-voltaic system at its facility in Derby, CT.

You can read the unveiling "operational" announcement of the system here. Data points:

• First year operations period 2009-Mar-23 thru 2010-Mar-23.
• System size is 525 photo-voltaic panels with a 100kw DC to AC inverter.
• Generated 111,266kwh of electricity, thus providing in excess of all consumption needs for operations on-site.
• Single day record of 695kwh was set on 2009-May-19.
• Nine months had more electricity production than consumed by operations, the exceptions were Nov, Dec, Jan.
• Based on data from the EPA for our electricity provider (United Illuminating), this clean generation avoided 103,032 lbs of carbon dioxide, 263 lbs of sulfer dioxide and 96lbs of nitrogen oxide from polluting the air.
• The "credits" from our renewable energy generation (as opposed to generation from coal or gas) were sold to the Ct. Clean Energy Fund.

See how clean the electricity you consume is via this EPA webpage.

Contact: thomas.harbinson@ida-intl.com

Sunny St Patrick's Day

Today provided an opportunity to illustrate just what a sunny day is like in it's impact on the earth.

Our Photo-Voltaic Solar Array records all it's statistics on a server every 5 minutes. This data can then be analyzed, or for today's purposes graphed. If any educator / researcher would like the raw log data, please contact me via email.

Data:
PV System size: 525 panels.
Inverter capacity: 100kw DC to AC.
Date: 2010/Mar/17 (St Patrick's Day)
Weather: Clear, no clouds, high temperature in the 60's.
Begin civil twilight 6:33 a.m
Sunrise 7:01 a.m.
Sun transit 1:01 p.m.
Sunset 7:01 p.m.
End civil twilight 7:29 p.m.
Electricity Creation begin 7:04 a.m.
Peak Generation (88.8kw) 1:39 p.m.
Electricity Creation stop 7:09 p.m.
Total Electricity for day 597kwh

Photovoltaic Energy in winter

The PV Solar array has some data from winter months operations we would like to share.

There are less daylight hours during the winter time, the angle of the sun is lower in the sky and at times there is snow covering the array. Still, we have been successful in generating significant amounts of our total electricity consumption.

In November we generated 98% of our consumption, December was 65% (due to an equipment problem), January thus far is 75%.

During the winter months, we draw down on the credit on our account due to excess generation from the summer months. In April, if there remains a credit of kilowatt hours, it is swept clean and paid to us at a "wholesale" rate based on the New England regional electrical pool's cost for electricity generation (ISO New England).

As of today, our credit, or "banked" kwh is over 10,000 which represents a month and a half of consumption. Our forecast is to easily complete a year of solar generation come mid March 2010, where we operated our entire manufacturing and office facility off the sun.

Facility Improvements

Our factory and office are located within a structure built in the mid 1800's as a munitions factory. Bringing the facility up to a modern aesthetics and efficient layout is a challenge.

Every year we try and improve our facility. In 2007, that was a new standing seam roof over the factory. In 2008, that was a photo-voltaic solar array on the building where it faces the sun. In spring of 2009, we upgraded our air-conditioner and air handler equipment. Today we upgrade our shed-storage area with a new floor.

The area did have a rough concrete area, but it was uneven over the various building floors and foundation remnant that previously stood in that place.

We kept the concrete locally supplied by Haynes Materials in Seymour, and the contractor for the floors was Paul Kochiss from Oxford. Steel reinforcement came from Fox Steel Products in Orange. Preparation work of the area was performed Eddie Bleau in Seymour. I'd be happy to provide a reference for any of the above.

Air Conditioning Upgraded

In keeping with our intent to be environmentally sensitive, the HVAC roof-top unit on our office was replaced.



The old unit was placed there in 1989, and you can see by the exhaust marks that it was no longer running at high efficiency.


Fortunately, our location allowed easy access by a crane for loading and unloading. Note the skylights in the office area that let in ample natural light into the workplace.






The new units use a environmentally sound refrigerant of R-410A.


We hope that by bringing natural daylight openings into our building's design, and following enviornmatally sensitive operating methods, we can illustrate to others the benefits of thinking toward environmental and efficient design. We may even become a "leader" in the LEED field.

Announcement of 96kw Photo-Voltaic Electric System: Operational

This is a press release of IDA Internationl Inc.

Derby, CT (March 23, 2009) - IDA International Inc. announced today that it had completed installation of a 96kw photo-voltaic system at it's facility in Derby, CT.

Company President, Thomas Harbinson, recognized this as an exciting milestone for the company. "I'm pleased to announce that our facility will now be generating over 90% of our electricity needs, purely from the sun. This is an investment in our company's future and it's location in Derby, CT. While this is a decision that has taken significant time to implement, this has given us time integrate many decisions that will yield the optimum of results. We believe following our company's vision with emphasis on a "green" standard will be rewarding to the company from a financial perspective, and earn respect from it's customers, vendors and community as a company that sets environmentally sensitive standards."

The photo-voltaic (PV solar) system is a 525 array of panels mounted on the south facing roof of IDA's manufacturing building, a structure that dates to the late 1800's. Buildings then were often constructed in a "solar oriented" manner to take advantage of the sun lighting the workplace through windows and skylights, making this location ideal to take full advantage of solar electric generation potential. Our location is Lat: 41.324845, Long: -73.098274 Our building compass reading is 223-226 degrees (a "true" or "solar" reading adjusted for magnetic declination is 210-213 degrees). Our building roof pitch is: 25 (degrees). This data yields a Solar Pathfinder Annual Average of 98%

The location has a history of "green" energy use. The building was constructed adjacent to a canal where hydraulic power was taken from the river to run manufacturing machinery. One of the early occupants was a munitions company that built cannons. The building later housed a fabric dye and printing operations that were not clean operations by modern standards. The Hull Dye and Print Works was the last such entity, closing after a fire in the mid 1980's which substantially damaged the facility, leaving contamination from dyes and chemicals that needed remediation. The property was purchased from the City of Derby in the late 1980's and the long task of returning the property to viability began.

The project was partially funded by a grant from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund’s On-Site Renewable Distributed Generation Program, which provides qualified projects funding that can equal as much as 50% of a project’s cost. Combined with federal investment tax credits and accelerated depreciation, solar projects in CT can realize returns in the range of 15-20%.

IDA International Inc. is a turn-key operation for curtain-wall and other building facades. IDA serves the greater metropolitan area with engineering, fabrication and installation of construction elements that create a structure's building envelope. For more information regarding IDA's solar system, contact thomas.harbinson@ida-intl.com, or visit the company's green manufacturing page at their website, http://www.ida-intl.com/

U.S. Green Building Council

IDA International Inc. has joined the U.S. Green Building Council.

Several of our recent projects have attained LEED ratings for their construction methods. IDA has long held the same beliefs and practices upheld by the USGBC, and our membership with them formally indicates our support of their ideals.

The USGBC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization with a vision of a sustainable built environment within a generation. Its membership includes corporations, builders, universities, government agencies, and other nonprofit organizations. USGBC is dedicated to expanding green building practices and education, and its LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System™.

Announcement of 96kw Photo-Voltaic Electric System Installation

This is a joint press release of IDA International Inc., and The Solar Center.

New PV System to Reduce IDA-International’s Energy Consumption by Over 90% Percent and Annual Carbon Emissions by 43 Tons.

Rockaway, NJ (October 29, 2008) – The Solar Center announced today that it will be commencing installation of a 96 kilowatt solar system for IDA-International of Derby, CT, its largest solar installation to date in that state.

Company President, Shannon Whitworth Kayen, hailed the project as another big step in The Solar Center’s continuing expansion of its CT presence, especially in the commercial solar marketplace. “We’re pleased to be able to work with IDA-International and the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund in advancing the cause of solar, reducing global warming gasses, furthering the goal of national energy independence, and supporting Connecticut’s congested southwestern electric grid, all while providing our customer with a project that will, ultimately, yield a substantial low-risk return on investment,” said Whitworth Kayen.

For its part, IDA, a manufacturer of facades and custom curtain-walls for commercial buildings, made a mission several years ago to bring an environmental awareness to its operations, with the vision toward becoming a green manufacturer. Many of the facades they construct are for buildings where the owner is seeking LEED status from the US Green Building Council. Thomas Harbinson, IDA's President, stated "we already use components that have a high recycled material content, and now our fabrication and assembly of those parts into a finished product will also be done in an environmentally sensitive manner." Harbinson adds, "Generating electricity from sunlight is a decision that took time to implement. Fortunately, when our 1800's era factory building was built, the designer took solar orientation into account for bringing daylight into the workplace. That orientation now works to our advantage with maximum potential for solar electrical generation. A standing seam metal roof as part of our building envelope both eases the attachment of the solar panels to our building, and reduces the heat gain on the building structure due to it's high emissivity." IDA hopes to illustrate that former under-utilized industrial buildings can be given new life with a green aspect such as solar electric generation. It's a business direction for other companies to take a serious look at.

The project was partially funded by a grant from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund’s On-Site Renewable Distributed Generation Program, which provides qualified projects funding that can equal as much as 50% of a project’s cost. Combined with federal investment tax credits and accelerated depreciation, solar projects in CT can realize returns in the range of 15-20%.

The Solar Center, Inc. is one of the largest designers and installers of solar energy systems in the region, serving NY’s Hudson Valley, Long Island, New Jersey and Connecticut. For more information contact them at 973-627-7730, or visit their web site at http://www.thesolarcenter.com/

IDA International Inc. is a turn-key operation for curtain-wall and other building facades. IDA serves the greater metropolitan area with engineering, fabrication and installation of construction elements that create a structure's building envelope. For more information, contact them at 203-736-9249, or visit their green manufacturing page at http://www.ida-intl.com/

Welcome to our company blog

Greetings, and welcome to the first entry on our company web log.

Our intent is to use this venue to convey items which both customers and the community may find of interest. Typically referred to as press releases, a blogging publication tool allows the concept to be expanded from those typical subject to include items a reader might have difficulty discovering about otherwise.

For example, we will discuss our upcoming solar array installation that is of interest to both customers and the community.

All the best - TomH