Eagle Quest Properties

An 8-foot flat ceiling can make a home feel cramped and uniform these days, as higher ceilings, both flat and vaulted, take over the housing market. Forty-two percent of builders responding to a 2002 NAHB survey said their homes had 9-foot first-floor ceilings, and 15 percent claimed ceilings of more than 9 feet. In a June 2005 AIA survey, 51 percent of residential architects said they use increased ceiling heights, two-story entries and vaulted ceilings to add volume to their homes.

Creating a cathedral ceiling in a ranch or split level home is one of the easiest ways to break out of the box, architecturally speaking. Cathedral ceilings can open up a house, adding a more spacious feeling to just about any room.

On the other hand, rooms with cathedral ceilings can be difficult to heat and cool. Homeowners may love the appearance of their newly remodeled room, but find that it is uncomfortable to live in.

via Raising Ceilings Without Raising the Roof – 8/1/2005 – Professional Remodeler.

The new congress center for the 4th World Solar Cities Conference, which takes place in September 2010, is now complete. Located in Dezhou of the Shandong Province, the 75,000 square meter (807,293 square feet) center includes exhibition centers, scientific research facilities, meeting and training facilities, and a hotel. It'll be a showcase of solar design, solar desalination, and, of course, about 50,000 square-feet of solar panels on the exterior.

With advanced roof and wall insulation, the conference center is supposed to be about 30% more efficient than China's national standard. And, notwithstanding its size, renewable energy will power 95% of the center's energy needs.

via Massive Solar Powered Sundial Building Now Complete in Dezhou, China.

Workers on the twin tunnel component of a water treatment facility in North Vancouver have voted to certify a new union, after construction on the stalled project restarted this fall.

“It’s the first time in North America where there were two different general contractors on the same project whose workers voted to displace the same incumbent union,” said Mark Olsen, Business Manager for the Construction and Specialized Workers’ Union Local 1611.

“There were issues such as shifting, the ratification of an extension of the existing agreement and in general members realized they would be better represented by three traditional unions.”

About 130 union members who are working on the Seymour-Capilano Filtration Plant twin tunnel project recently participated in a Labour Relations Board-supervised vote.

via North Vancouver twin tunnel workers vote to certify new union – Journal of Commerce.

Turns out that nearly a third of renters are willing to pay more for green units, though rent premiums are likely less than 5 percent. So says the results of a 2009 multifamily energy management research study conducted by Parks Associates exclusively for Multifamily Executive magazine.

“Those who don’t think that green and energy-efficient initiatives are fruitful should reconsider their stance,” said Bill Ablondi, director of home systems research for Parks. “A growing percentage of prospective renters are willing to pay a rent premium.”

via Research Says 30% of Renters Likely to Pay More for Green Units, 5% Rent Premiums Possible – Green Building, Multifamily Trends – Multifamily Executive Magazine.

The new chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission said she would ask China to help pay for the billions of dollars in damage to U.S. homes blamed on Chinese-made drywall.

“I will find out if any discussions are going on in China about the costs, are they prepared to participate in providing funds, and what would it take for that to occur,” CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said in an interview ahead of a trip to China next week for a biennial U.S.-China consumer product safety summit.

It wasn’t clear what the Chinese response would be to a request for compensation. The Chinese Embassy didn’t respond Thursday to phone messages seeking comment.

via U.S. to Press China on Drywall – WSJ.com.

Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay and opposition leaders said a public inquiry must be called if reports of price fixing and collusion for municipal infrastructure projects among Quebec construction firms are confirmed by police.In a report which aired Thursday night on Radio-Canada’s investigative news program Enquete, Paul Sauve, president of the masonry company LM Sauve, said a group of contractors nicknamed “the Fabulous 14″ control most of the bids in Montreal and have colluded to keep rates high, taking turns “winning” contracts.Construction costs in the Montreal area are 35 per cent higher than they should be because of the price fixing, one entrepreneur who spoke on condition of anonymity told Radio-Canada.

via Montreal construction costs 35% higher because of price fixing: report.

Google is disappointed with the lack of breakthrough investment ideas in the green technology sector but the company is working to develop its own new mirror technology that could reduce the cost of building solar thermal plants by a quarter or more.

“We've been looking at very unusual materials for the mirrors both for the reflective surface as well as the substrate that the mirror is mounted on,” the company's green energy czar Bill Weihl told Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday.

via Google plans new mirror for cheaper solar power.

As energy costs continue to rise, an increasing number of companies and organizations are turning to energy managers in an effort to maintain costs.

“In the last number of years the private sector, which is more financially driven, and other large institutional and industrial groups and property landlords have hired energy managers,” said Carman Travis, an energy consultant with the Moncton office of consulting firm MCW Maricor.

“Companies recognize that some smart decisions from a good building operator, trained with some of the appropriate understanding to identify energy conservation strategies is good business. Depending on your site – a large industrial site, for example – they could pay for themselves in a day or in a couple of days.”

via nbbusinessjournal.com – Innovative way to improve efficiency: hire an energy manager | Dave MacLean – Breaking News, New Brunswick, Canada.

Data centres consume 10 to 30 times more energy per square foot than regular office space, and at the extreme, up to 100 times more electricity. And the power consumed by data centres is rising exponentially.

Not only are companies adding more servers, the servers consume more power. The power consumed by an average server jumped from 150 watts in 1996 to 400W in 2006; total electricity consumed by data centres doubled between 2000 and 2005. By 2011, lifetime energy costs for powering and cooling servers will equal 71% of the server hardware costs.

via Upgrading data centres can slash electricity costs.

A controversial 42-storey condo building that will be built without permanent parking spots cleared a key hurdle yesterday.

The Toronto-East York community council overruled city staff skeptical about the dearth of parking to allow a plan that provides for only nine car-share rental spots, plus 315 spaces for bicycles.

The condominium would go up on the site of the century-old Royal Canadian Military Institute on University Ave. near Dundas St., which would be demolished, with elements of its facade preserved at the base and a thin tower above.

“If you look at the evidence of what sells downtown, the majority of units under 750 square feet in the downtown core sell without parking,'' said Stephen Deveaux, a vice-president with the developer, Tribute Communities. Parking spots typically add $20,000 or more to the cost of a downtown condo.

via TheStar.com | News & Features | ‘Car-free’ condo: 42 storeys, no parking.