The latest issue of our company e-newsletter is out today, featuring a look at our company’s first 20 years, our new energy efficiency manager, Greg Carnegie and recent project news.

In Milan, a green construction of an entirely different variety is underway with the building of two residential skyscrapers.

The two buildings (26 stories and 18 stories) will quite literally, be covered in green. 480 big and medium-size trees, 250 small trees, and roughly 11,000 groundcover plants, according to Boeri Studio, the architectural firm behind the design. It’s the equivalent of almost 2.5 acres of forest on the sides of the buildings, the firm says.

Pike Research recently published a high-level overview of “Five Metatrends to Watch in 2013 and Beyond” in the energy sector. Trend No.3: Technologies are converging. Dave Roberts at Grist, interprets:

“What Pike means by this is that energy technologies (and sources) have traditionally developed independently of each other, but they are starting to combine into “integrated solutions,” pulled along by market demand. So, for instance, where once a building owner might have bought a furnace from one company, building upgrades from another, and a backup diesel generator from another, she might now be searching instead for a provider of power services. A service provider is not selling particular technologies, it is selling heating, cooling, and/or emergency backup, which it might provide through any of a number of combinations of renewable energy, energy storage, and efficiency upgrades….Whereas one kWh is as good as any other kWh, energy services can be specialized and custom-crafted for niche markets. Service providers have an increasingly diverse array of renewable energy generators, fuel cells, energy storage, and intelligent automization solutions to choose from. The toolbox is getting bigger.
Roberts concludes: The effects of this market convergence will also be difficult to forecast, for the same reason: It involves dozens of technology, regulatory, and business practices evolving in concert, with unpredictable, emergent network and system effects.

Our site modifications at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina in downtown San Diego are winding down. Property enhancements include a new entrance drive at the Bay Tower, new walkways to the Bay View Lawn and Pavilion function spaces and redesign of the 2,000 square foot terrace outside the Bay Tower Lounge, just steps from San Diego Bay.

Greg Carnegie, CEM, recently joined Reno, as our company’s new Energy Program Manager. A 25 year professional in energy and facility management, Greg strengthens Reno’s depth of expertise and capabilities in its prominent and growing work in the energy efficiency field. Initially, Carnegie will provide energy audits and solutions to the County of San Diego on existing county buildings. Reno ESP (Efficient Sustainable Practices) has a five year contract with the County for this work. Welcome aboard, Greg.

The current issue of US Builders Review features a look at our 20 year history, how our company starting in 1993 “with nothing,” as Matt Reno says, and was built on drive.

Last Thursday I had the honor, along with several of my industry colleagues, to be named an officer of the Associated General Contractors of America San Diego Chapter for 2013.

The installation took place at the AGC Annual Installation Dinner at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines and was attended by some 400 AGC members.

Jeff Turner of Flatiron was installed as the 68th President of the AGC San Diego. Jeff succeeds 2012 President Dave Carlin of Soltek Pacific Construction Co. Other AGC officers installed were Senior Vice President Brian Jordan, Helix Electric. Inc., Secretary/Treasurer Jon Cloud, J. Cloud, Inc. and yours truly as Vice President. New members of AGC’s Board were also installed at the dinner. Congratulations to all.

A big thank you to the San Diego Chapter of the Associated General Contractors for their nomination of Reno Contracting for the 2012 Good Business Award. To quote famous author Alfred A. Montapert, “All lasting business is built on friendship”. We’re honored and proud to accept this nomination. Winners announced on January 24th at the AGC Annual Installation Dinner.

Joanna Masterson of Construction Executive provides an in-depth look at how Reno Contracting, through its collaboration with Coyle Residential, as well as other general contractors, are leveraging the multifamily construction market.

A recent article in BusinessWeek.com, written just prior to the election, details how, despite major breakthroughs, the U.S. economy is harnessing only a fraction of solar’s potential benefits. Money quote:

“Economically and technologically, the game is over,” says Bill Powers, a San Diego engineer and board member of Solar Done Right, a group that proselytizes for rooftop solar power. “The hangups in the U.S. are strictly political.”

My own take? Seems like everything is a little “political”, especially on November 13, 2012. I am not a big proponent of roof top solar installations; maybe a ballasted system is okay or if the roof is designed and constructed with solar in mind. Being in contracting and having dealt with too many roof leaks may have jaded my view. The thing is that it needs to make sense. If I can buy solar for my home and with the savings, (probably a partial solar power offset to my electric bill rather than the whole house), have a payoff in seven years, that is a pretty decent deal in my book. The uncertainty(s) is in the feed in tariff from state to state – utility to utility, the tie in cost, and of course there are a lot of facts one can twist to their own persuasion to make a point. This is a new model still in the process of being created, with few solar arrays in existence long enough to really provide a long term picture to reference. We are being pushed by multiply forces into a sustainable economy; we’ll need to wait until the spin comes to a rest to decide for sure what is optimal. I think it merits a hard look, probably worthy of an investment today, but it is certain to be different five years down the road and that is what so many have trouble accepting.