U.S. apartments may lead a rebound in commercial real estate as vacancies peak in 2010 and the economy adds jobs, according to property research firm Reis Inc. Apartment vacancies probably will peak at 8.2 percent in 2010, the highest level since Reis began tracking the number in 1980, Reis economist Ryan Severino said in a briefing. The number should start to decline in 2011, Reis said.
Idaho was one of the nation’s leaders in entrepreneurial activity in 2009, according to a national study by a Kansas City, Mo., nonprofit. According to the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, startup businesses blossomed during the recession years of 2007 to 2009. Nationally, business startups reached their highest level in 14 years, according to a press release from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a private, nonpartisan fund that promotes entrepreneurship.
“Challenging economic times can serve as a motivational boost to individuals who have been laid off to become their own employers and future job creators,” said Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, which released the study May 24.
Read the full article in the Idaho Business Review here.
NAI Commerce One broker Steven Keim is attending the American Wind Energy Association's Annual Conference: WINDPOWER 2010 in Dallas, Texas May 23rd - 26th. With 20,000 Attendees and 1,400 exhibits, WINDPOWER 2010 is the world's largest annual wind conference and exhibition, and the fastest growing conference in the U.S.
The WINDPOWER Conference Program offers a platform to discuss how our industry can create our energy future, strengthen our struggling economy, and lead to a sound, profitable energy market. The conference program will discuss perspectives, methods and strategies for maintaining and increasing profitability in an environment of technical, economic and political change. Attendees will learn how wind energy can Power America Forward.
The conference has over 60 educational sessions organized into 6 tracks, covering policy, business and technical issues. Conference Speakers include former U.S. President George W. Bush, North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan, Department of Energy EERE Assistant Secretary Cathy Zoi, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, Jr., Iowa Governor Chet Culver, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, and Siemens Wind Power CEO Jens-Peter Sauls. Entertainment includes Elvis Costello and Seinfeld's Jason Alexander.
For more information, visit: http://2010.windpowerexpo.org/ or check out this conference YouTube video from the AWEA CEO Denise Bode:
Washington, DC – As part of a broad effort to expand the use of nuclear power in the United States and reduce carbon pollution, U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced today the Department’s first conditional commitment for a front-end nuclear facility. The $2 billion loan guarantee will support AREVA’s Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility near Idaho Falls, Idaho, which will supply uranium enrichment services for the U.S. nuclear power industry.
“Increasing uranium enrichment in the United States is critical to the nation’s energy and national security,” said Secretary Chu. “Existing reactors will need additional sources of enriched uranium soon. New nuclear plants that could start to come on line as early as 2016 will also need a steady, reliable source of uranium enrichment services. AREVA’s project will help to meet that demand.”
The Idaho Falls facility will use advanced centrifuge technology instead of the more energy-intensive gaseous diffusion process. Although Eagle Rock will be only the second plant to use this technology in the US, it has been employed in Europe for about 30 years to enrich uranium for the commercial power market. The project’s technology uses 95 percent less electricity than the gaseous diffusion technology it replaces, reducing both energy use and environmental effects.
Areva estimates construction of the Eagle Rock facility will create 1,000 jobs. The total project is expected to cost approximately $3.3 billion.
The light-water reactors that comprise the US fleet are fueled by low-enriched uranium, in which the concentration of the easily-split U-235 isotope is raised from less than one percent found in natural uranium to between three and five percent by weight. (Natural uranium is largely comprised of the U-238 isotope.)
Currently, the United States obtains half of its enriched uranium from Russia under the Megatons-to-Megawatts program, in which nuclear materials that were once pointed at the United States are converted to civilian nuclear fuel to power America’s economy. The program expires in 2013, after which alternate sources of enrichment services will be required to support the continued and expanded use of nuclear power in the United States
The project must obtain a Combined Construction and Operating License (COL) from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission before the loan guarantee can be finalized. In addition to the $2 billion in loan guarantee authority under the 2009 Omnibus Bill, the Department has made available an additional $2 billion to support uranium enrichment technology from loan authority provided in 2007.
This is the ninth project to be offered a conditional commitment by the Department of Energy since March, 2009. For more information on the loan guarantee program, please visit http://www.lgprogram.energy.gov/
The Eastern Idaho Apartment Association (EIAA) will feature Don Aslett at its May meeting tonight, 5/12 at 1075 Utah Avenue in Idaho Falls. Networking begins at 6 p.m. with the program starting at 7.
The annual Southeast Idaho Business and Economic Forum will be held on May 12 from 1-5 p.m. at the Art Museum of Eastern Idaho located at 300 S. Capital Avenue in Idaho Falls. The event is free to all, but space is limited. Please RSVP to Jaimi at 208-528-7922 or email jwalker@sammonsrep.com
FEATURED SPEAKERS:
-Dean Mortimer, Idaho State Senator, "Legislative Session Update"
-Mike Ferguson, Idaho State Chief Economist, "State of the Idaho Economy"
-Dan John, Idaho State Tax Commission, "Tax Incentives for Small Businesses"
-Winston Beard, Partner - Beard St. Clair Law Firm, "Healthcare Reform: The Affects on Business Owners"
-Russell Slack, Asst. Vice President, Zion's Bank, "Business Financing: How to Get it & Keep it"
-Steve Fuhriman, Mayor of Ammon
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