With the Obama Administration committing billions of dollars to ensuring that electric cars will become a meaningful segment of the U.S. auto market and every major carmaker developing new-generation electric vehicles, an estimated 40 million plug-in electric vehicles are expected to be on the road by 2030.
Michael Boches is the CEO and co-founder of Geoscape Solar, an innovative solar design and installation company. Geoscape Solar provides comprehensive solutions that make it easy and affordable for homeowners, businesses, municipalities and other organizations to invest in solar energy.
Challenging Marketplace Means Fund Managers Need To Promote Fundamentals and Transparency To Attract Equity
Well, it was a fun ride while it lasted. The money was flowing in, deals were plentiful, returns were soaring and for some it didn’t even require real experience or knowledge in the actual operation of a real estate asset. As we all know, those days are long gone and some would argue it’s a good thing. In their place, however, has emerged a climate that is far different than the one that lasted from 2004 to 2008. Today, raising money is more challenging than ever and communications between fund managers and their investors is more critical than at any time in recent memory. In this post- Madoff, post-CMBS implosion, post-Lehman world, investors have been severely burned and are more cautious than ever about whom they invest with and more demanding than ever about what types of information they want disclosed to them.
On February 18, 2010, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) issued draft guidance "for public consideration and comment" with regard to Federal agency consideration of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change in evaluation of proposals for Federal actions under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321 et seq. [PDF] Significantly, the term "Federal actions" includes Federal permitting of funding of private projects as well as solely governmental activities. 40 C.F.R. 1508.18(a). This draft guidance reinforces statements made by CEQ that "it is appropriate and necessary to consider the impact of significant Federal actions on greenhouse gas emissions and the potential for climate change to affect Federal activities evaluated through NEPA." "No Basis for Excluding Climate Impacts From NEPA Reviews, CEQ Says," N.Y. Times online "Greenwire, published: January 15, 2010. [Article] Entities that may be affected by the rule may wish to consider commenting on it to EPA. CEQ will receive public comment on the guidance document until May 24, 2010.
I recently had the privilege of attending and speaking at a local green
real estate symposium in Manhattan. There were over 230 people from 171 firms who attended this well timed event shortly after the new health care reform bill had passed. While I do not want to focus on what happened at the event, I would like to share some of my thoughts after attending this great event.
If the year 2008 was not reason enough to change your approach to investing, the year 2009 should push you over the top. It has been more than a decade since the internet changed the way investors get information. Gone are the days in which you called your broker to get stock quotes or the latest earnings news. At your fingertips you now have a virtually limitless supply of data. CNN gives us nonstop market commentary and there are millions of web sites, blogs, email newsletters and magazines that provide individuals with an almost infinite supply of investment advice. Yet with all this advice, investors still got killed in 2008. As I wrote in my book, if you were looking for a reason to abandon traditional methods of investing, 2008 gave you a plethora of reasons to do so. And the year 2009 only added more reasons to abandon traditional approaches.
Some years ago, I was sitting in a client’s office. He was on the phone with someone and made it clear that he wanted me to listen to his side of the conversation. As his caller continued to talk, my client used hand signals to get my attention. He then waved his arms excitedly and pointed toward the phone. After a dramatic pause, he asked: "Why don’t you appoint me as the trustee"? A moment later he smiled broadly, indicating a positive response from his caller.
Commercial real estate in the post-World War II age has been viewed as a cyclical business. Values and rents go up, soften as the economy softens (but generally not to the level of the prior cycle's trough), only to rise again. The current cycle, in which we are bouncing along the bottom, is an extreme version of what experienced landlords, tenants and their professionals have lived through many times. What makes this cycle different is the low or, in some areas, non-existent leasing velocity for all types of commercial leases, coupled with significant difficulties in raising debt or equity for real estate acquisition, development and refinancing. Out of these adverse conditions, landlords and tenants may create opportunities that are mutually beneficial.
These times are a call for action. During one of the toughest economic climates imaginable, large businesses are struggling to maintain a standard of daily operations in the midst of corporate downsizing while individuals face their own hardships in the form of the gravest unemployment rates since 1982. National unemployment hovered at 10 percent in November, more than double the 4.9 percent that the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in December 2007, at the outset of the current recession. This is the time for companies to look internally, to take an open, honest look in the mirror at their workforces to assess how to raise the bar to better serve their clients and further differentiate their service offerings from the pack.
Recently, two companies separately agreed to pay civil penalties totaling a combined $77,000 to resolve accusations that they violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act in connection with their hiring processes. The Federal Trade Commission brought separate lawsuits in federal court against Quality Terminal Services, LLC and Rail Terminal Services, LLC. In both lawsuits, the FTC alleged that the companies contracted with a credit agency to conduct background checks on employees and applicants, including criminal record reviews, and then made hiring and firing decisions based on those background checks. The FTC also alleged that each company failed to provide the employees with the notices required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
As renewable energy gains an even stronger foothold as the “power source of choice” in our homes, office buildings, schools and retail centers, industry professionals are pooling their knowledge and resources to respond to an influx of end-user needs. These multi-disciplinary partnerships are now being aggressively sought by municipalities and commercial/industrial/retail owners seeking to convert the sun’s rays into the most efficient alternative power supply and significant cost-savings.
When it comes to managing one's risk of loss to a "down-stream" provider in the Construction Industry, the insurance topic that frequently arises is "Additional Insured" (AI) status. However, too often, focus rests on the language of contracts, rather then on the Standard Operating Procedures employed in regard to them.
The changes you're facing right now may seem daunting, or even downright terrifying. Don't let fear and doubt constrict your future, though. You have a lot more control than you think you do. It's time to stop waiting to be fed like a goldfish and start developing some (shark-like) initiative.
