Simonson also noted that several materials are contributing to the increase in costs. In the last 12 months, copper and brass mill shapes have increased 87%, asphalt jumped 48%, diesel fuel spiked 40%, gypsum products were up 26%, plastic construction products increased 18%, and cement was up 15%.

Architecture and Engineering Hourly Billing Rates Escalate
Architecture, engineering, and environmental consulting firms are charging more for their employees' time than ever before, a recent report shows. Data in Natick, Mass.-based ZweigWhite's 2006 "Fee & Billing Survey of Architecture, Engineering, Planning & Environmental Consulting Firms" show that across the 29 employee positions reviewed for the report, hourly billing rates increased an average of 17% since 2003. Seven percent of that increase has come in the past year.

Data in this new edition of the annual report were compared to data from the 2003 edition, revealing that median hourly billing rates increased the most for senior architects (32%), senior scientists (28%), mechanical engineers (27%), senior process engineers (26%), and senior planners (25%). Senior landscape architects, senior civil engineers, senior mechanical engineers, architects, and planners all increased from 20% to 22% each over the same time period. At the other end of the scale, structural engineers, senior interior designers, and senior structural engineers saw the lowest percentage increases from 2003 to 2006 -- all less than 10% over their 2000 rates. No position saw a decrease.

To obtain a copy of the 2006 report, visit the ZweigWhite Web site.

California State Legislature Rewrites Solar Initiative
In the next two weeks, the California State Legislature is expected to vote on Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), a solar bill that makes a variety of changes to the solar plan enacted in January by the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC). The PUC proposed to spend $3.2 billion over the next 10 years to subsidize the installation of one million solar rooftop systems across the state. The subsidy funding would be raised by surcharges on utility bills.

According to the legislature, SB 1 addresses technical issues, such as changes needed to continue the sale of power from newly installed rooftop systems to local utilities, and broader public policy issues not addressed by the PUC plan. Under SB, 1 about $150 billion from the subsidy fund would pay for research and development of photovoltaic technology. The bill would also extend the solar initiative to municipal utilities, which provide about 27% of the state's electricity but fall outside the jurisdiction of the PUC. Critics of the bill say that the bill proposes no additional funding for the expansion of the program — and that the reduction in subsidies for customers of San Diego Gas & Electric and other investor-owned utilities would be about $800 million. Supporters of the bill note that the surcharge won't be imposed on low-income ratepayers.

Massachusetts Residents Support
In-State Alternative-Energy Initiatives
Nine out of 10 Massachusetts residents want the Bay State to emerge as a national leader in alternative energy, including wind power projects such as the proposed Cape Wind offshore project, according to a recent Opinion Research Corp. poll for the Newton, Mass.-based Civil Society Institute. The survey found that residents think it would be a good idea for Massachusetts to be "a national leader in using cleaner and renewable energy on a large scale by moving ahead with offshore wind power and other alternative-energy initiatives."

More than 81% of Massachusetts adults and 61% of residents of the Cape/the Islands now support the proposed Cape Wind offshore wind farm project. Opposition statewide is just 14% and only slightly more than 36% in the Cape/the Islands. About three out of four of all Massachusetts residents and more than half of Cape/Island residents pick wind power "to provide electricity for Cape Cod and the Islands" as their top choice over such alternatives as nuclear power (10%), coal (4%) and other energy sources (4%). To read the full survey findings, visit the Civil Society Institute's Web site.

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