As new concepts and theories for residential energy production emerge, many sceptics voice their opinions claiming these new ideas simply don’t life up to the hype. Solar power is one such idea which has generated a considerable amount of cynicism.

With this article I aim to shed some light on some of the common misconceptions regarding the use of solar roof panels as a viable means of residential energy production.

“Solar panels will take too long to pay for themselves”

Year after year we are seeing our energy bills going up by ever increasing percentages. The promise of cheaper fuel bills from nuclear power never came to fruition so the need to consider renewable energy sources such as solar power is now a viable alternative. In the current economic climate, investment in cheaper bills for the future is a sound financial idea as remaining reliant on non-renewable energy sources such as coal, gas and oil can only become more expensive as they become scarcer and therefore more expensive.

On average UK homes consume around 3000 units of electricity each year and typical solar energy panels will produce around 1500 units each year (estimated average under UK conditions) which is half of the average yearly consumption. It’s difficult to state exactly how long it would take for residential solar panels to pay for themselves as many variables are involved. These variables include the initial cost of each solar panel, the type of installation plus the cost of installing the system, the price your electricity supplier charges and whether or not your energy supplier will pay you for any extra units which are fed back in to the grid. It is also worth checking with your local council as many grants are available which could cover up to 50% of the cost of installing home solar panels. What we do know is that non-renewable energy prices will continue to rise. It is no longer a question of ‘can I afford solar panels?’ It’s more a question of ‘can I afford to not have solar panels?’

“Britain is not sunny enough”

This is a common false statement regarding the use of solar panels in the UK. Most people assume solar energy panels need direct sunlight in order to function. In actual fact they only require light from any source rather than direct sunlight as they absorb the electromagnetic radiation found in photons. This means that a solar roof panel will even work at night by absorbing photons from star light and street lighting; however, this happens on such a minimal scale you’d never notice. The output of each solar panel is considerably higher on sunnier days as strength of light (or the shear amount of photons) is a major factor, as is the angle the solar panel to the sun.

“Solar panels are useless during the short winter days”

Although there is some truth to this statement, residential solar panels are far from useless during the winter months. The daylight hours are significantly shorter meaning each solar panel will generate less power over the course of a full day. The truth of the matter is that hour for hour; each solar energy panel is on average equally as efficient as it would be throughout the summer. Prior to the installation of solar panels one should consider how much sun light will be hitting their solar panels during the winter months. Your roof may be in the shadow of nearby trees or a chimney stack may reduce the efficiency of the solar panels by leaving all or part of the solar panel in permanent shade whilst the sun is lower in the sky.

“If I don’t generate enough solar power, I’ll have no electricity”

This simply is not the case. Your home will still be connected to the national grid, so anytime you need more electricity than the solar panels are providing, you’ll get it as normal from the mains. It is unlikely that a household will be able to produce 100% of it’s electricity as a result of installing solar roof panels as we have become far to reliant on electrical appliances. Saying that, it has been proven in the past that once a household begins generating its own electricity using solar panels, its occupants become far more conscious of the way in which they use it and day by day will use far less electricity.

“It takes more energy to manufacture a solar panel than it will ever put out”

The energy payback of solar panels varies depending on which type of solar panel is fitted. Currently, the microcrystalline-silicon solar panels have an estimated energy payback of less than 4 years where as the ‘thin-film’ solar panels have an energy payback of around 3 years. Future developments in renewable solar energy coupled with increased production are expected to halve the energy payback time of both microcrystalline-silicon PV solar panels and thin-film solar panels.

“Modern solar panels are still not efficient”

Solar energy has come along leaps and bounds since the development in the production of the first practical solar cells in the 1950’s. These had a sunlight energy conversion efficiency of around 6%. By the late 1980’s scientists had developed solar cells with an efficiency of 17%. By 2000 solar cells had an efficiency of 24%, rising to 26% in 2002, 28% in 2005 and 30% by 2007. Increased efficiency coupled with lower production costs means residential solar energy systems are cheaper and more efficient than ever before.

You may ask yourself one question regarding the above figures, “If solar panels are getting more efficient and cheaper year after year, maybe I should wait a few more years?” Although there is some logic to this idea, the truth of the matter is waiting a few extra years could well prove to be a false economy. At the moment the British government are offering a variety of grants to financially assist those seeking to run a greener home, including the installation of domestic solar panels which could save you up to 50% of the installation costs. Government grants like this may not be available a few years down the line.

Contractor Listings in LA

I’m good at what I do and, I want to expand this year really big on home/ commercial renovations and much more. I want much bigger paying jobs than what i’m getting now and, in the past I turned down a few because of this. I know by getting the license I have plenty of more jobs and higher pay too. I have a good strong crew that know what they are doing and mostly all the tools to build a house. If anyone knows a good and efficient way of applying or go to an agency in newyork area please inform me I would apreciate it very much.

im totally renovation a home i bought. i was wondering what the best software for this is? i am finishing the basement, taking out closets and bathrooms to make the kitchen bigger, combining 2 bedrooms to make a master suite with bath and walk-in. has anyone had experience with a good and fairly cheap software to help me with measurements and give me an idea for where i want to go with it design wise? thanks

I want to build a new construction home. The loans I have researched want interest-only payments until the house is complete. That is impossible considering that would be as much as a house payment and I already have a hefty one of those! I will make a nice profit off my house once it’s sold but I can’t do that until my new home is built. And I can’t build my new house until…….you see my problem?! They also require $5K down. Can that be included in the one loan I get so I don’t have to take out two loans? I have to be overlooking something. I can’t imagine it’s this difficult for everyone who already owns a home and wants to build. Any tips or knowledge would be greatly appreciated!!

A common question being asked in todays financial climate, “Are apartment financing, MultiFamily property refinancing or apartment construction loans still available?” The answer to this question is a resounding YES. I continue see loans funded for apartment purchases, apartment refinances and construction lending. This is awfully good news in a time of a protracted credit crunch; a credit squeeze which has now gone global in it’s scope.

A source close to my company, one with ties to the top counsels of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, recently confided that Fannie and Freddie have been making money ONLY in the Apartment and Mobile Home Lending sectors.

The upshot is this: These two venerable institutions of probity are determined to increase liquidity and strengthen apartment lending programs. The Fed needs to hang it’s hat on something, so why not strengthen an already existing stable lending platform to promote future growth in an industry already doing well: Apartments.

This protracted credit squeeze began as a virus. This virus started with the housing industry and contaminated the commercial real estate market along with just about every stock, financial instrument, business man, woman or line of credit in the country. Apartments have been the least impacted the credit crunch, but sales volume has still registered sizeable decline.

What a mess it has become. The chill in the credit markets began in October 2006. By October of 2007, this chill had become a deep freeze.

To understand the steep decline in the commercial real estate industry,

one need only look at the numbers: Total commercial sales volume for October 2008 was barely one-quarter of it’s October 2007 level and just over 20% of the levels it achieved in 2006. Now that is a drop!

The aggregate deal volume and sales volumes for commercial real estate as a whole is down 75%, October 2007 to 2008.

For apartments, the fall off in deal volume has been sharp and steady: The number of properties trading hands has fallen 60% from October 2006 to October 2007 and has fallen another 75% this past 12 months.

There are several explanations for this but perhaps the number one reason is price risk, as measured between the spread of cap rates and the 10-Year Treasuries. In the apartment sector, this spread has more than tripled, (not

Good) to a spread of 263 bps from their narrowest point in July of 2006, when it was 81 bps.

Between 2000 and 2004, the total renter households declined by 1.9 million as home ownership increase from 66.9 percent to 69 percent.

In 2005 this house-hold, rental-living trend began to reverse itself. Since the beginning of 2007,the home ownership rate has fallen by 110 basis points, resulting in 1.5 million additional renter households. This reversal is most pronounced in the younger age segment but it cuts across all age lines. The trend is up for rental-living-units.

In the end, Apartments are holding up well. Financing IS available and more people than ever are in need of rental housing.

Renewable Energy Videos

Proper interior bathroom lighting provides comfortable, adequate, un-shadowed light. There are several styles of bathroom lighting, and proper placement of your lighting is important for best results.

Styles of Bathroom Lighting

Bath and Vanity (also called a bath bar) has two or more bulbs and is installed over the mirror and sink. The number of bulbs you will require depends on the length of your mirror.

Adding Sconces to the sides of a mirror can help even out the light on your face and eliminate shadows during activities such as makeup application and shaving. In addition, sconces add a decorative touch to help complete your overall bathroom design.

Ceiling Lighting is used in addition to the lighting around the mirror. Ceiling lighting helps to illuminate the rest of the bathroom and can be used in the center of the room or in alcoves to improve overall conformability and safety.

Lighting Placement

The purpose of mirror lighting is to surround your face with light. A Bath and Vanity fixture is intended to cast light downward, while the sconces are intended to illuminate from the sides. The bath and vanity fixture should be about the same width as your mirror. When hanging the fixture, take into consideration the relative heights of your family and install the lighting at about average forehead height. An average height in most homes is about 66” from the finished floor. The mirror should be hung 1-5” below the bottom of the fixture. The sconces should be equal height on either side of the mirror and positioned to fill in the sides of your face with light.

Most bathrooms will also require at least one ceiling fixture to properly illuminate the remaining area of the bathroom. If your bathroom has additional alcoves you may want to consider adding small fixtures in those areas for even overall lighting.

Matching your lighting and plumbing fixtures

Consider the finish of your bath faucets when purchasing your new light fixtures. Most manufacturers offer a variety of finishes to match bathroom faucets, lighting and accessories for a cohesive overall design.

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My husband and his brother have been starting their own construction business, building custom homes, in a small city. They’re both very experienced and do a great job. The only ones involved with the business are my brother-in-law and his wife + my husband and me. My sister-in-law takes care of the finances, and I’ve been put in charge of the advertising. I have no idea where to start! We don’t have a lot of money to work with here, but we’ve got to get their name out somehow.

Any suggestions would be great!!!

Stephen Bush asked:


Church loans often suffer from several problems, and as a result specialized business finance strategies are required. Typical church financing will involve multiple difficulties.

Church loans are probably the most difficult form of commercial financing to successfully close. Churches are an integral part of local communities, so it is necessary to improve church financing solutions. In almost all cases financing will require a very specialized commercial real estate loan that is typically not widely available.

Churches are not typical commercial enterprises but they do have substantial business financing requirements. This article will offer an overview of four key church loan financing difficulties and a listing of six practical church financing strategies.

Four Major Church Financing and Business Finance Difficulties -

Before addressing possible solutions for the most common church loan needs, it is important to discuss the typical barriers to obtaining appropriate financing. Historically church financing has been difficult to arrange for several reasons:

(1) Church Loan Obstacle Number One: Church properties are unique. Lenders are therefore concerned that if commercial loan payments are not made in a timely manner and the lender is required to assume ownership of the property, it will be very difficult to find a new owner because of the unique property features.

(2) Church Financing Difficulty Number Two: Commercial lenders usually require individual guarantors for church financing, and this is inappropriate for a church loan. The financial structure of churches simply does not lend itself to a traditional lender/guarantor approach. Many commercial lenders are not comfortable with the potential lack of individual guarantors because of the difficulty of reselling the church property if negative financial circumstances occur in the future.

It is unfortunately very common for church financing to have been secured only after church members have authorized an individual guarantee for church financing. The need for individual guarantors acts as a serious barrier first because church members might be unwilling to do so and second because there might not be individuals who have enough financial resources to provide an individual guarantee for larger church financing needs.

(3) Church Financing Difficulty Number Three: When church financing is obtained, there are frequently unacceptable business finance terms such as very small loans, low loan-to-value (LTV) of 50% to 60%, short-term loans and high interest rates. These onerous terms are tantamount to the church loan being declined, and if the terms are accepted, the church is likely to experience continuing financial difficulties due to unrealistic commercial mortgage requirements.

(4) Church Financing Difficulty Number Four: Construction, renovation and land acquisition are even more difficult for churches to finance than purchases or refinancing. As a result, needed repairs are often postponed indefinitely and new churches frequently take many years to become a reality.

Six Practical Church Loan and Commercial Mortgage Solutions -

There are common-sense financing solutions for the church loan issues described above. Here is an overview of church financing that is now available from some non-traditional lenders:

(1) Church Loan Financing Approach Number One: Non-Recourse Loans (instead of guarantors). As noted above, the willingness to forego traditional guarantors does require a non-traditional lender. With this church financing approach, church lending will not depend on individual guarantors.

(2) Church Loan Solution Number Two: Long-term business loans. Church financing will be much more successful when it is long-term instead of short-term (payments will be reduced dramatically).

(3) Church Loan Solution Number Three: Low interest rates (usually a maximum of prime plus 1%). In reality many churches have been taken advantage of and charged excessive interest rates because lenders perceived that they did not have any other realistic options.

With payments limited to prime plus 1% or less, church financing payments will be noticeably reduced. In combination with longer-term loans, the overall payment reduction will make a significant contribution to church cash flow improvements.

(4) Church Loan Solution Number Four: Church loan financing minimum of $500,000. This allows churches to complete most financing in one step rather than piecemeal over a period of years.

(5) Church Loan Solution Number Five: Higher LTV (75%-90% is possible). This results in a more workable amount of 10% to 25% (rather than 40% to 50% with traditional church financing) for the down payment or non-financed portion in refinancing.

(6) Church Loan Solution Number Six: Church financing can now include new construction, renovation, land acquisition, purchase and refinancing. Due to flexible church loan financing, it is not necessary for any of these important church loan activities to be postponed.

Collectively the six church financing solutions described above should benefit a large number of churches by allowing refinancing with much better financial terms and by facilitating the construction of new churches on an accelerated timetable. The six church loan financing approaches should result in financial covenants that will contribute to the long-term financial profile of prudent churches which adhere to the church financing approaches suggested.

Regardless of the practical business finance and commercial mortgage strategies that have been described above, it is appropriate to emphasize that arranging appropriate church financing will almost always be difficult. Due to the specialized nature of a church loan, unavoidable complications with the commercial real estate financing should be anticipated. As a result, prudent church borrowers should attempt to acquire a better understanding of these complex business loan issues.



Renewable Energy Videos

Reconditioned power tools - depending on who you ask - are either the bane or the boon of the power tool industry. Mostly they’re the boon, especially if it’s a name brand tool from a name brand reseller.

However if you’re not careful there’s a chance that your great deal today may turn into tomorrow’s yard sale giveaway. Or worse - a prolonged and difficult exchange with a retailer that’s way more headache than it’s worth.

Professional and extreme hobbyist woodworkers have strong opinions about everything from the best type of woodworking joints to the best cabinet saws for small wood shops. They also have strong opinions about refurbished or reconditioned power tools.

Woodworkers from the woodworking forums WoodNet, FamilyWoodworking and LumberJocks all recently shared what they thought about reconditioned power tools.

Their thoughts on reconditioned power tools ranged from “just wait for a sale and buy new” to “primarily (and proudly) buy reconditioned!” The majority of woodworkers appeared to have bought reconditioned at one time or another.

From their responses it was possible to put together five questions you should be asking before you buy reconditioned power tools.

1) Is there a Warranty?

Are you slapping your head and saying “DUH”?

You might be surprised at how many reconditioned power tools sell without warranty. Especially at fly-by-night traveling tool sales and end-of-bin sales of off brand or broken tools. If there’s no warranty then there’s no deal. Except perhaps if you need spare parts and the price is a steal.

2) How Does the Warranty for Reconditioned Compare to the Warranty for New?

More often than not you’ll find that the warranty for new power tools is exactly the same as the warranty for reconditioned power tools.

The one case I heard where they were different was on a major stationary tool that offered a six month warranty for reconditioned and a year warranty for new tools.

Still, this is a crucial indicator of how much trust the company puts in their reconditioning process. If the warranties are identical to new then, well, you’re looking good if the price is right

3) Why Was this Tool Reconditioned?

This question is likely not going to be easy to answer - though if you’re in a brick and mortar you might as well ask someone to see if they know.

In the best cases reconditioned power tools are purchased, possibly opened, used once or never and then returned.

In the worst cases they’re used as anchors, or at least they’re used hard and lived in the back of a pick up truck.

In between there’s some sort of a design flaw in the tool and it will never work quite the way it should. You’re wise to cross check any reconditioned tool you’re getting serious about by searching through your favorite woodworking forums to get some general opinions.

Whatever the reason for the return, if you’ve answered question 1 in the affirmative you should be ok. Just understand that there’s a wide range of possible reasons that a tool is reconditioned and you’re opening yourself up to accepting any of them when buying recon.

4) How Much Below Lowest New Price is this Reconditioned Tool?

It’s of the utmost importance to ask yourself about your cutoff point for price. How far below brand new price is low enough to warrant the potential for the hassle of returns and the tool breaking soon after the warranty expires.

Some forum respondents won’t buy reconditioned power tools unless they’re 25% cheaper than the cheapest available new price. Some hold out for 40%.

At a certain price point (around 10-20%) you are better off just getting a brand new tool, according to a WoodNetter.

Your mileage will certainly vary, but it’s crucial that you know going in what’s your acceptable price discount. Otherwise you might end up feeling burned… I think it’s for this reason that some woodworkers said they only bought reconditioned for tools that they didn’t plan to use that often.

5) What was this Tool’s Reconditioning Process Like?

In cases of reputable reconditioning, it’s anecdotally noted that reconditioned tools are often more thoroughly and rigorously checked than brand new tools.

A spokesman for Bosch reconditioned tools said:

“A certified factory reconditioned tool has been through a complete inspection by factory trained technicians at the Robert Bosch Power Tool National Reconditioning Center. Genuine factory replacement parts have been installed by the technicians as necessary. The reconditioned tool is guaranteed to meet all original specifications and to perform as new.”

If you’re buying from a reputable manufacturer then you’re sure to win in the end - just ask these 5 questions and you’ll get a deal you can gloat about to all your woodworking friends

Contractor Listings in LA

We were all ready to build our dream home when we found out that our bank won’t finance a “log” home. This is our local bank where we do all our banking/financial matters. They said something I don’t understand about companies they go through won’t finance such construction. What’s the difference in stick built and log built? OK, that is two questions!
Our builder is Amish. He is the best in the area, so I’m sure there is no financing with him… Thanks to the first lengthy answer, very helpful!