Architecture Blog

January 3, 2012 – Hudson, OH – Companies and business owners across the country are going “green” in a whole new way by executing strategic energy reduction initiatives.  These initiatives are benefiting companies’ profit margins as well as the environment.  Throughout northeast Ohio, First Energy has issued millions of dollars in lighting rebate incentives to local businesses. And companies that have created sustainable environments are reducing carbon emissions.

Customers of Hudson-based ROI Energy have saved an estimated $1.2 million this year alone with lighting retrofits.  Though future energy rates cannot be determined, ROI Energy’s clients can anticipate a savings of $12 million over the next ten years.

ROI Energy’s customers reduced carbon emissions in excess of 7,800 tons annually, which is equal to 1,422 cars taken off the road or 880,000 gallons of gasoline saved.

“The ability to reduce lighting energy costs by 50% in today’s economy while increasing light levels are the biggest benefits. Lucrative rebate incentive dollars paid directly to business and building owners along with the ability to deduct their entire energy reduction project the first year, are icing on the cake,” notes Bob Taussig, President of ROI Energy.  “Presenting a turn-key energy savings package with an excellent return on investment to top management makes my job extremely rewarding.”

The “green” movement and taking steps to create sustainability is an important consideration for corporations and their customers.  ROI Energy reports their lighting retrofit installations are up over 300% due to Illuminating Company and Ohio Edison lighting rebate incentives. First Energy provided millions of dollars directly to businesses who agreed to have lighting retrofit projects performed in 2011, in their effort to reduce energy use.

“Without exception, our customers with warehouses and manufacturing facilities were thrilled with the increase in light levels realized from their new, high bay T5 and T8 fixtures, at the same time reducing their energy costs by over 50% year after year, helping them to remain competitive,” comments Taussig.

ROI Energy Solutions, Inc. of Hudson specializes in providing turnkey lighting retrofit projects for Ohio area factories, warehouses and distribution centers.  Their specialty is retrofitting (converting) industrial, 400 watt metal halide high bay lighting to energy efficient T-5 and T-8 high bay fixtures, typically providing twice the light using half the energy. More importantly, projects are installed without disrupting their customer’s production.

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Foreclosures are rampant throughout the United States. As people have lost jobs, gotten laid off, or been downsized, foreclosures keep rising. Most people fight to the end with the bank to try and get a reduced payment approved in order to stay in the home. That tactic usually fails, eventually. What is staggering, is the average time that it takes a foreclosure to actually go through from first missed payment to final foreclosure is much longer than you think.

The national average is at 674 days! Wow, that’s a long time. That’s almost two years. In other places it is as high as 1,053 days. According to one study, 40% of those who are delinquent on their mortgage have not paid a dime in over two years. The new game is basically paper confusion. People are now challenging the paperwork during the “robo-signing” scandal of 2010. Banks are being delayed on foreclosures for months and months over this because it takes time to review and investigate.

Another tactic being used by folks in foreclosure is to request the paperwork showing that the bank they are battling is the legal holder of the mortgage. This is not as easy as it seems for the bank. Most mortgagees are transferred electronically, and the paperwork can be very difficult to find. This has actually caused foreclosures to cease because the bank indeed could not find the paperwork. The home dwellers now have another chunk of time until the bank decides to try again.

It’s almost like a game of cat and mouse. Paperwork and requests for legal papers have allowed many people to remain in their homes for years. Whether you agree with the tactics or not, a couple things are true. The bank owns the house and wants its money. People will find ways to avert the system in order to provide for themselves and their families.

Unless you have been living under a rock you know that the economy isn’t very good. More specifically, the housing market is a mess and has taken a real beating for the last several years. Places like Vegas and Phoenix have become literal dens of abandonment. Large portions of entire allotments have empty houses. Houses that were once homes to families living very different lives. People have left their homes, and simply walked away. They cannot afford to live there anymore.

So now we have all of these empty homes that are not being paid for, have been neglected, and home owners who simply cannot afford to pay anymore. As unemployment rose, many people were losing their jobs because of closures, shutdowns and down sizing. Most people want to own a home and they want to be able to pay for it. Once you are jobless, it makes it pretty tough to continue.

There are ways that things can be turned around. The market has been showing signs of life. One example is the sheer numbers that people have to work with.

A few years ago, the government had a tax break that basically paid all first time home buyers $8,000 back. It was a real nice deal, and many people took advantage of this benefit. Come full circle – from that time until now, the interest rates have come down far enough that anyone can get a house and save. It has been reported that the savings on a $200,000 home from the difference in interest rate from  the days of the $8,000 benefit to now reach about $80,000. So, when you compare $8,000 to $80,000 – there is no comparison. People ought to be lining up around block for this deal. They did for $8,000.

The problem is, people are uninformed. Everyone knows that interest rates are down. They just have not done the math to extract out what that means for them. Once people realize this, they cannot believe the numbers. Some real estate agents are latching on to this information and are running with it. Those who are, have reported some success. The $8k story was hyped by the media, so a lot of people heard, and many people acted. The $80k story of savings is not being talked about at all, for sure not in the media. It’s still exists, and it needs to be shared.

Two different times a year it is estimated that five million birds of 250 differing species fly through the city of Chicago. The birds are migrating and can travel thousands of miles each year. When the birds pass through large cities, they are attracted to reflections and especially light. Tens of thousands of these birds are either severely injured or die each year from collisions with buildings.

The song sparrow is a bird that is a common casualty in Chicago. The song sparrow are nocturnal, which means that they fly at night. When they fly beside buildings, the lights in and on the buildings can confuse the birds. Sometimes they crash into the building, and other times, exterior lights disorient the birds and cause them to circle the building continuously until they are exhausted and have to land. According to Rebekah Creshkoff, “birds can fly into glass windows as they fly toward a reflection or even a planter inside the building.”  Rebekah is part of the New York City Audubon Society, a group that works to get lights turned off in buildings at night, and initiates and supports legislation to protect wild birds. Rebekah goes on to say, “The problem is easy to overlook because you don’t see it in the aggregate. A person will see one dead bird here, one bird there. But it is still a huge problem.”

In Chicago, the city is backing the effort.

The lights on the roof of the Sears Tower have been turned off during the two appropriate times of year. The crown of lights on the top of the John Hancock Center have been dark as well.  And such popular architectural icons as the Wrigley Building and the gothic Tribune Tower have dimmed their lights, too.

The goal is to attract less attention at night. Migrating birds are attracted by the lights of buildings, and many times confuse a light bulb with the stars that navigate them. And often times, the birds crash into the windows. The light that helps people in the dark, is the same light that can kill birds.

”We think several hundred thousand birds a year die from striking buildings in Chicago,” said Suzanne Malek, who is the deputy commissioner of natural resources. The Lights Out program asks building owners to turn out their ornamental lights during migration season which runs from April to May and September to October.