Home Prices Should Bottom Out by Midyear

Investors and homeowners in the country’s hottest housing markets (California, Nevada, Florida, Washington, D.C., and parts of the Northeast) are watching helplessly as home values fall and mortgage costs rise. Housing prices will likely drop another 5 percent nationwide in 2008. The market should bottom out by midyear, but be prepared: the improvement in sales and prices will be very slight. Home price research company Fiserv Lending Solutions forecasts that more than three-fourths of the cities it tracks will post negative results during 2008. The rest will post gains of 4 percent or less.

Kiplinger 1/08

Opening Doors for Ag Labor

The Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District recently facilitated a meeting between Concord grape growers and Nursery growers to address the sharing of employees. It was rewarding to see the channels of communication open, as they discussed how to meet the labor needs of the two industries and benefit the local skilled Hispanic horticultural workers. As a follow-up, the SWCD will be working with the Agribusiness Committee of the Development Council and Lakeland Community College to create a Concord grape pruning training video this year.

The Seedling, Winter 2008

Lake County’s Wind Point Reserve Corporate Campus ranks as the fifth largest industrial park in the region. The park’s owner/developer, Deming Enterprises, Inc., has put together 350 total acres with 50 acres occupied with 15 businesses. The park is conveniently located at Lane Road extension north and Route 20 in Perry. This is the latest industrial park being developed in Lake County.

Ohio’s energy co-generation plan

The current debate on the future of electric utility regulation in Ohio is at a critical crossroads. Simply stated, the right legislative changes today can help secure a prosperous future for Ohio’s industrial manufacturing sector while also providing for energy security and enhanced environmental protection.

One component of the proposed legislative changes being heavily lobbied against by electric utility companies is the advanced energy portfolio standard. This standard would require utility companies in Ohio to generate at least 25% of their electricity from advanced energy projects by 2025. 

Not as well known is that the governor ’s proposal would allow for up to half of the requirement to be met by electricity from "co-generation" projects and reduce barriers to distributed energy. Co-generation and distributed energy don’t have the same wow factor as "green" windmills and solar cells, but they are cost competitive, ready to implement, and could provide a tremendous boost to Ohio’s overall economy.

The fact is that Ohio has a vast untapped industrial co-generation energy portfolio. General Electric estimates that steel-related manufacturing plants in Ohio could co-generate up to 1,000 megawatts of electricity from waste gases and waste heat associated with their operations.

Labyrinth Management Group estimates that an additional 500 megawatts of electricity could be generated using waste gases and waste heat from other types of industrial plants in Ohio. In total, these industrial co-generation projects could provide electricity to power the equivalent of more than one million homes at a lower cost to ratepayers than building new power plants.

Promoting industrial co-generation also represents a strategic opportunity to secure higher-wage manufacturing jobs in Ohio.

Legislative changes to promote the industrial co-generation of electricity will increase the supply of electricity and promote utility company competition.

Industrial co-generation projects only need to provide a moderate return on capital investment for required construction, equipment and grid connection. Ongoing operating expenses are limited because the energy source is "free".

Just think - Ohio’s ratepayers purchasing electricity from pooled industrial producers would not have to pay the large, ongoing operating expenses and nebulous "assigned overhead" costs that existing utility companies demand. This must be a very scary thought for executives at utility companies.

The bottom line is that Ohio’s manufacturing companies, their workers and the general public need to tell elected officials and the Public Utility Commission of Ohio that setting goals, providing incentives and breaking down barriers for industrial co-generation projects should happen today, not sometime in the distant future. Ohio’s untapped industrial energy portfolio represents a huge hidden competitive advantage. Governor Strickland’s advanced energy standard recognizes this. The Ohio Legislative and PUCO have a duty to make it a reality.

Lance Traves, Crains

Regional Home Sales and Listings

Northern Ohio Regional Multiple Listing Service covers Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain and Medina counties.

Crains 2/3/08