Posts filed under 'Conferences'
Housing California – Day 1
It was a great day yesterday with many wonderful sessions from policy and lobbying sessions to disaster preparedness.
My favorite was all of the great information on the Mental Health Services Act housing component (MHSA). It is apparent from these sessions that this is a program still evolving although there are some very successful projects already in place and in process.
The agenda today, day 2 includes the current Sec. of HUD! I am looking forward to that for sure.
As always I thank you for your time and interest. Please take the time to Digg, Stumble Upon or add to the other social network of your choice to help me spread the word about these issues. Please forward any questions or suggestions to: askthefm@gmail.com
Add comment April 29, 2009
Housing California Conference, Sacramento – Next week!
As I realize that next week is the Housing California conference in Sacramento CA and it is also when I started this blog, writing my first few entries at the conference.
I will again be attending the conference and probably writing entries each day on topics I consider important and I hope that you will all be interested with me.
For those of you who might be interested in attending here is the link for details about the event:
http://www.housingca.org/events/annualconference/
Although online registration is closed you can still walk in at the conference site at the Sacramento Convention Center. Hope to see you there!
As always I thank you for your time and interest. Please take the time to Digg, Stumble Upon or add to the other social network of your choice to help me spread the word about these issues. Please forward any questions or suggestions to: askthefm@gmail.com
Add comment April 23, 2009
Solar Power Update 11/15/2008
Happy America Recycles Day!
There have been some good and some depressing announcements this week in the solar power arena.
Let’s start with the bad news first and get it out of the way. In an article on Cleantechnica.com (http://cleantechnica.com/2008/11/13/solar-stocks-plummet-despite-obama-victory/) the fact that depsite an Obama victory at the polls all of the solar energy stocks have plummeted along with the market.
Excerpt: “With Obama as President-elect, solar stock prices must be sky high at the moment, right? Wrong. If you look at the values of most stocks around election day, they did increase. This peak was short lived however for most solar companies and it was followed by a huge decline.“
The other bad news comes from a study done by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California in San Diego and covered on Greenbang.com (http://www.greenbang.com/6391/solar-panels-bad-for-global-warming/).
Excerpt: “The problem lies with NF3, or nitrogen trifluoride. You couldn’t find that gas in the atmosphere much just a few years ago, but now its concentrations are rising by 11 percent a year. Worst yet, it’s 17,000 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide (and lasts five times longer).“
Here is the link to the Scripps website for the release of the report: http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/Releases/?releaseID=933
Now on to the technology advances and other news. First we have an announcement covered on Treehugger.com (http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/11/new-solfocus-concentrating-solar-photovoltaic-25-percent-efficiency.php) SolFocus announces a solar concentrating product that increases overall efficiency to 25%! There previous product only achieved a high of 18%.
Next we have a story about a manufacturer, Oerlikon Solar who has improved their thin film solar technology so that the overall efficiency is increased by 16% over similar technology. The article is here on Cleantechnica.com (http://cleantechnica.com/2008/11/14/breakthrough-zinc-oxide-process-increases-thin-film-solar-performance/).
Excerpt: ” So, why is this important? Well, thin film cells are typically a lot cheaper to produce than more common silicon solar cells, but often suffer from significantly lower conversion efficiencies. Oerlikon’s breakthrough moves us a lot closer to the day when thin film becomes more cost-effective than silicon-based panels – which could mean a dramatic rise in the adoption of solar power in homes and businesses.“
Now we have another story about those overachieving folks in Dubai. They have plans to build the world’s largest solar panel manufacturing plant there. Amazing what all that oil money can do, isn’t it? The article is originally in the Khaleej Times (http://www.solartechnologies.net/g_khaleej_times-oct25.jpg) and commented on again at Cleantechnica.com (http://cleantechnica.com/2008/11/14/worlds-largest-solar-panel-manufacturing-plant-to-be-built-in-dubai/)
Excerpt: “Construction is to start in November, and is scheduled to be completed at the end of 2010. The roughly 93 000 square meter manufacturing plant, Solar Technologies FZE, will be able to produce solar panels of up to 5.7 square meters.”
Lastly I have information on a webinar on small scale photovoltaic systems through the Leonardo Energy site: http://www.leonardo-energy.org/drupal/node/3901
Excerpt: “This introductory webinar explains how a small-scale photovoltaic system works, what is the most suitable solution in your case and, if it makes sense, how to start planning and building your installation.
After a briefing presentation, a case study will be presented using the RETScreen analysis software.“
As always I thank you for your time and interest. Please take the time to Digg, Stumble Upon or add to the other social network of your choice to help me spread the word about these issues. Please forward any questions or suggestions to: askthefm@gmail.com
Add comment November 15, 2008
Green Building Conferences coming Soon!
Just a quick note about some upcoming conferences targeting green building.
First there is the Greenbuild International Conference in Boston, MA starting on November 19, 2008. This two day event features many good speakers and forums about green building topics and this years keynote speaker is Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
The website for this event can be found here: http://www.greenbuildexpo.org/
If you can’t attend you can at least listen to the keynote via live streaming on the site.
Second is the AIGA Incite/Insight 2008 in Chicago, IL. on November 20, 2008. The theme is “Addressing the significance of green design”. The website for the show can be found here: http://www.aigachicago.org/node/3612
Although these are too far for me to visit I hope all who attend have a great time and learn much!
As always I thank you for your time and interest. Please take the time to Digg, Stumble Upon or add to the other social network of your choice to help me spread the word about these issues. Please forward any questions or suggestions to: askthefm@gmail.com
1 comment November 11, 2008
Concentrated Photovoltaics Summit USA 2009
Just a quick note to publicize an event that many may not know about. The publicity release can be found here on Leonardo Energy: http://www.leonardo-energy.org/drupal/node/3872
Excerpt:
Building on the huge success of our inaugural CPV Madrid summit attended by over 370 leading solar executives, CPV Today is pleased to present the Concentrated Photovoltaics Summit USA (www.cpvtoday.com/usa) This event will provide practical advice on how to roll out successful CPV projects. Whether you’re a major plant developer, a cell module or component manufacturer, or you offer products or services to the CPV industry, this event will provide you with the perfect meeting place to discuss the challenges and opportunities you’re facing directly with your peers. Read on to find out how to get involved in this world leading summit.
As always I thank you for your time and interest. Please take the time to Digg, Stumble Upon or add to the other social network of your choice to help me spread the word about these issues. Please forward any questions or suggestions to: askthefm@gmail.com
Add comment November 3, 2008
Southern California Association of Nonprofit Housing conference tomorrow
I will be at the Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing Developer’s conference tomorrow at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in Los Angeles California. I have included it previously in my calendar of upcoming events. I will be blogging at least tomorrow on the content of the conference.
Details can be found here for those of you in the Southern California area who might still want to go: http://www.scanph.org/node/630
Hope to see you there!
As always I thank you for your time and interest. Please take the time to Digg, Stumble Upon or add to the other social network of your choice to help me spread the word about these issues. Please forward any questions or suggestions to: askthefm@gmail.com
Add comment September 25, 2008
Conferences for Facility Professionals
In my previous post on up coming conferences I covered what I think of as the majors. (post here: http://askthefm.wordpress.com/2008/06/02/conferences-upcoming-for-facility-managers-and-real-estate-professionals/)
However there are quite a few other more specialized or smaller conferences that are useful and enjoyable as well as often more affordable. A good example is a southern California conference – WESTFAC which is held yearly in Anaheim CA (Link here: http://www.westfac.com/Home.aspx). There others are many and varied and I recommend the list to be found on FMLink here: http://www.fmlink.com/News/Events/
This list includes everything from the National Fire Protection Association conference in Las Vegas NV to the FM Expo being held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. I think you can consider this a fairly complete list! Good luck and happy conferencing!
As always I thank you for your time and interest. Please take the time to Digg, or add to the other social network of your choice to help me spread the word about these issues. Please forward any questions or suggestions to: askthefm@gmail.com
Add comment June 12, 2008
Conferences Upcoming for Facility Managers and Real Estate Professionals
There are more than a few conferences that have advertisements showing up in my mailbox each year. There are more and more all the time. Some are meant to be all encompassing, while others are very specific.
Those that try to be appealing to a wider spectrum are often good for no one. However these are recommended as good general choices:
IFMA’s World Workplace: Oct 15 – 17 2008 Dallas TX. http://www.worldworkplace.org/
This is put on by the International Facility Management Association and generally rotates across the country with one year being on the east coast, then in the middle of the country and then onto the west coast. It has generally a very large vendor display area and lots of classes. Most of the classes support the continuing education for IFMA’s own CFM and FMA certifications and are often excepted for other professional certifications where such credits are also needed.
Today’s Facility Manager: TFM Show 2008 April 22 – 28 2008, Chicago IL. http://s36.a2zinc.net/clients/groupc/tfm2008/public/enter.aspx
This show is already over for this year and it looked to be as complete as the upcoming IFMA show. It is held every year in the same place so I have never attended as I could never justify the travel from California.
Neocon: World Trade Fair 2008 June 9 – 11 2008 Merchandise Mart Chicago IL http://www.neocon.com/
This show tends to somewhat furniture and fixture heavy but offers a full slate of seminars and classes that qualify for continuing education for Architects, Interior Designers and Facility Managers. There is also a west coast version of this show: August 21 – 22 2008 at the L.A. Mart in Los Angeles. http://www.neoconxpress.com/
Disaster Recovery World magazine presents: DRJ Fall World Sept. 14 – 17 2008 San Diego, CA http://www.drj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2072&Itemid=597
This conference is all about Disaster Preparedness and recovery solutions. I recommend this highly if you are tasked with the responsibility for planning in your organization.
Commercial Construction Show: June 6 – 8 2008 Orlando FL. www.cc-show.net
Very specific show as you can probably tell from the name.
BOMA Intl., The Office Building Show June 21 – 24 2008, Denver CO. http://www.bomaconvention.org/BOMA2008/public/Content.aspx?ID=782&sortMenu=104000&ActiveMenu=104
This is the show that truly caters to the commercial landlord and property manager, highly recommended.
Buildings Xchange: Being held at Park City Utah on Sept. 14 – 17 and features a section focused on interiors and another on engineered and energy solutions. http://www.buildingsxchange.com/
I hope that you get to go to one or more of these as I find that the experience can be really eye opening.
As always thank you for your time and I hope that you will please Digg this article if you found it useful or add it to one of the other social networking sights that you may prefer. It really helps me get the word out. Please send any questions or suggestions to askthefm@gmail.com
3 comments June 2, 2008
Going Green at Housing California
Sorry I didn’t post last night as I didn’t get back from Sacramento into Long Beach until 10pm.
However going green was a big topic at the conference with one institute on Monday, five sessions on Tuesday, and three on Wednesday. That over 10% of the conference sessions! Not to mention that they had a new section of the vendor area, called the solar spot which was a tent outside on the patio with several well versed green technology vendors ready to share their expertise.
I have several of the presentations from one of Tuesday’s sessions, “New Programs for funding Solar Power on Existing Buildings” that can be found here:
http://askthefm.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=11
http://askthefm.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=10
http://askthefm.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=9
However in my opinion the most informative of the “green” sessions was the last one on Wed. that finished out the conference, “Residential Green Building Programs -Putting them all together”.
It featured representatives from the Heschong Mahone Group, a consulting firm who has been administering the investor owned utilities (IOU) energy effciency and rebate plans for the last several years and who has also been retained for the 2009 programs. Also there where speakers from PG&E, Green Point Rated and Davis Energy, the LEED for Homes Consultant for California and Nevada.
They were all very well informed and presented well. I have the matrix which shows a snapshot of all of the green rating and a good selection of the energy rebate programs.
http://askthefm.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=12
It seemed to me that these certification programs are coming of age very quickly and that even some or most of the cost for these certifications can be covered by utility rebate programs, at least in the case of Green Point Rated’s program. Especially since most of the requirements for the certification are a direct match to most of the tax credit financing (TCAC) requirements. I apologize in advance that the links in the matrix above are not active, however I have inserted a few of the more important below for you:
Utility Energy Efficiency Site: www.flexyourpower.com
Heschong Mahone Group: www.h-m-g.com
California Solar Energy Site: www.gosolarcalifornia.ca.gov/
Green Point Rated’s Site: www.greenpointrated.org
Davis Energy(LEED Consultant): www.davisenergy.com
Well I have covered quite a bit of information in this post. There is certainly a great deal more about green technology and especially solar power that has been in the news lately and I feel I have only just scratched the surface. If any of you have specific topics in this area you are interested in please drop me a note at askthefm@gmail.com and I will get busy trying to bring that to you!
Add comment May 2, 2008
Housing California Day 2 – 4/29/2008
The talk this morning by Lynn Jacobs, Director of Housing and Community Development was indeed all about the various sources of funds available for low income housing and about the current project to secure a permanent and ongoing source of funding for development.
The highlights included the fact that all of the current RFP’s and NOFA’s have received 150% of funds available in good quality applications.
However the proposal for the new funding stream is to be finalized by June 30th and will go to the governor for fiscal 2009!
The second part of this morning’s session was given by the principals of Action Media and a good summary of their talk can be found here:
http://www.actionmedia.org/services/frameissues.html
Finally the lunch session was covering the need for all of us to defeat Proposition 98 and to pass Proposition 99. The slogan is “We hate 98 but 99 is Fine!” More details can be found here:
Well it is late and I will sign off for now. I will cover the the sessions I attended today and those tomorrow in my next post.
1 comment April 30, 2008
