All Facilities & Grounds Articles
  • How tech trends will affect homebuyers

    Terri Williams Interior Design, Furnishings & Fixtures

    When searching for a home, buyers used to have three options. They could search the classified section, drive around neighborhoods looking for sale signs, or enlist a realtor to find available properties. However, these methods were time-consuming and often produced high failure rates — in part because sellers and their agents were likely to highlight a home's positives and downplay any negative features. "But now, homebuyers have so many new ways to search for their perfect home," says Jerry Clum, founder and CEO at Hommati.com, a searchable real estate website that uses technology to help agents promote their listings to potential buyers.

  • Remodelers ride a wave of consumer optimism

    Michael J. Berens Construction & Building Materials

    Consumers have a lot to be happy about. Job growth is strong, household incomes are increasing, inflation and interest rates are low, and the economy keeps chugging along, defying warnings of bubbles bursting and an impending recession. That optimism has been good for remodelers, who are benefitting from consumers’ willingness to spend and invest in their homes. Spending on home improvement surged in the month of December, according to recent reports.

  • Infographic: It’s 2020, is your business AI-ready?

    Brian Wallace Science & Technology

    One in three business leaders believe AI will have the greatest impact on their business in the next year, but few are acting on this knowledge. So, how can your enterprise get ahead of the competition with artificial intelligence? Find out more with this infographic.

  • Study: Why wood pallets are better for the environment than plastic

    Scott E. Rupp Distribution & Warehousing

    If you've ever wondered whether wood or plastic shipping pallets are more eco-friendly, the fight is over, and a winner has been declared. Wood is better for the environment. This is according to Penn State researchers, who, after conducting a series of detailed comparisons, say that the shipping pallets made of wood are slightly more environmentally friendly and sustainable than those made of plastic. "Few people realize the significance of this issue — there are about 700 million pallets produced and recycled each year in the United States alone," said Chuck Ray, associate professor of ecosystem science and management.

  • Proposed federal budget boosts nuclear production, ignores social costs

    Michelle R. Matisons Civil & Government

    The proposed Fiscal Year 2021 federal nuclear defense budget, unveiled on Feb. 10, includes new weapons manufacturing. This anticipates more growth while plans still ignore total costs, a concern for those immediately impacted in nuclear weapons laboratory towns like Los Alamos, New Mexico. The Trump administration’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) budget is $19.8 billion: a 20% increase from last year. But higher numbers than those should be expected as total operational, capital, and social costs loom outside current projected expenditures.

  • Elevated camping in an Airstream treehouse

    Dave G. Houser Recreation & Leisure

    Treehouses have long been a source of youthful fantasy, promising a leafy escape from earthly demands. Today, RV camping enthusiasts can relive such reverie with a treetop stay in a brilliantly repurposed Airstream trailer. That's the rare opportunity awaiting travelers who tie up at The Mohicans, a unique collection of treehouses and cabins nestled in the quiet woods of Ohio’s Amish country 70 miles northeast of Columbus. Owners Kevin and Laura Mooney conceived this novel resort concept in 2011 following Kevin’s retirement from a career in banking.

  • US employers add 225,000 jobs; unemployment ticks up to 3.6%

    Seth Sandronsky Business Management, Services & Risk Management

    In January, U.S. nonfarm payrolls grew by a total of 225,000 after December's gain of 145,000, while the rate of unemployment rose to 3.6% from 3.5% the previous month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2019, the average monthly gain of jobs was 175,000. The total number of unemployed persons rose to 5.9 million in January from 5.8 million in December. January's data showed that unemployment among major worker groups experienced little or no change versus December's numbers.

  • Coronavirus: A reminder for employers to have contingency plans for health…

    D. Albert Brannen Business Management, Services & Risk Management

    The recent outbreak of coronavirus in China reminds us that employers need to take certain actions to be prepared for public health crises in general. This article outlines some of the basic steps that employers can take now to get ready for a rapid spread of flu, coronavirus or some other pandemic threat. For example, you should strive to keep your safety policies and practices up to date. Consider what policies or practices you can adopt now that may come into play if there is a pandemic or major outbreak.

  • Why California needs a public utility option — but not prisoner futility

    Michelle R. Matisons Waste Management & Environmental

    When universal values of dignified workplaces cautiously attending to dwindling resources are contemplated in the U.S., minds often wander to the Golden State. But not so fast. Northern California's International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) 1245 union opposes new legislation, Senate Bill 917, to turn bankrupt PG&E into a public utility — harkening back to yesteryear’s spotted owl vs. logger debates regarding old growth forests. The term "labor power" takes on new meaning to survive these divisive times; labor clashes with the environment again.

  • When a pandemic tests us in healthcare

    Keith Carlson Medical & Allied Healthcare

    Pandemics regularly challenge the global healthcare system. SARS certainly taught us some lessons, as did the H1N1 outbreak. Enter, stage left, the 2019-20 coronavirus. As this current viral threat circulates around the world — mostly via those who have recently been to the Wuhan area of China — the World Health Organization (WHO) is grappling with public relations, epidemiology, containment and quarantines, travel restrictions (and some outright bans), as well as deciding whether this is truly a pandemic or not.