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Greenscape Construction Trends

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bond needs. What Is Greenscape Construction? Greenscaping is a type of landscaping architecture that aims to create sustainable landscapes that benefit society and the environment while saving money. Greenscape construction projects range in size from small municipal parks and school campuses to sports plexes, industrial parks, and other spaces comprising hundreds of acres. The project owners may be government entities, commercial enterprises, sports complexes, or institutions such as colleges or medical centers that are making a commitment to environmental stewardship. In many municipalities, they have adopted greenscaping as the primary approach for dealing with condemned buildings and vacant lots, turning such spaces into sustainable greenspaces, including gardens, playgrounds, parks, or sports facilities. In the spirit of environmental stewardship, someone should deconstruct rather than demolish unwanted buildings, making it easier to salvage building materials for reuse. What Does Greenscaping Involve? Greenscaping typically involves preservation of existing ecosystems and incorporates sustainable design elements such as green roofs, stormwater collection systems, rain gardens, irrigation...

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Interconnection Standards for Solar

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your solar bond needs. What Is Interconnection? Interconnection is the process by which solar energy systems are connected to the electric grid. Standards that vary by state govern the interconnection process. Interconnection permits, however, are issued at the local level, for example by municipal building departments. Why Do Interconnection Standards Exist? Standards help ensure transparency, consistency, and ultimately safety. While interconnection standards are established at the state level, many states are emulating the standards developed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for projects up to 20 megawatts. These FERC standards are called Small Generator Interconnection Procedures (SGIP). Many states have also patterned engineering and safety requirements for interconnection after the IEEE 1547 and UL 1741 standards. Different standards may apply depending on whether or not the solar system is net metered, its capacity requirements, whether it’s a commercial or residential system, and so on. What Does the Interconnection Process Involve? The interconnection process involves 3 steps: application, installation, approval. It’s during the...

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What Is Industrial Solar?

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your industrial solar bonding needs. What Is Industrial & Commercial Solar? Solar systems are an increasingly common sight on the rooftops of commercial and industrial buildings or ground-mounted adjacent to the buildings served by the electricity they generate, but what is industrial solar? These solar systems operate in the same manner as residential solar installations, but on a larger scale. The panels used in an industrial system are bigger, and there are more of them, covering an expansive area. Most industrial solar systems are connected to the local electric grid, which allows a company to export its excess electricity to the grid. In exchange, the company receives credits that can be used to lower or eliminate the monthly bill from the local electric company. Sizing and Positioning of Industrial Solar Systems The amount of energy generated by any solar system is measured in kilowatt-hours per square meter per day and is heavily dependent on the location’s peak sun hours, which can range from...

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How to use Solar Energy in Agriculture

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your solar bond needs. How to use Solar Energy in Agriculture Family farms and large industrial-scale agricultural enterprises increasingly are turning to solar-generated electricity to power irrigation, greenhouses, heating and cooling of buildings housing livestock, dairy operations, drying of produce, refrigeration, and other processes. Read on to find out how to use solar energy in agriculture and how it benefits the industry. Benefits of Using Solar Energy in Agriculture Farmers and agricultural land managers benefit in many less obvious ways from using solar energy.  For example: Agricultural operations can gain an additional income stream by connecting their solar installations to the gris and selling excess solar-generated power to the local utility company. High-value, shade-tolerant crops and pollinator-friendly plant species can be grown beneath solar panels, adding to crop diversity and improving agricultural yields through increased pollination. There is the potential to reduce water use and extend growing seasons through solar-powered irrigation systems. And crops grown beneath solar panels require less water than those...

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Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) Acts

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bonding needs. What Is the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) Act? The Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing program (RRIF) act was first established as part of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century of 1998, and has been revised several times since then. Most recent changes were the result of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act of 2015. The RRIF program authorizes the Department of Transportation to make direct loans and guarantee loans up to $35 billion for the development of railroad infrastructure. Between 1998 and 2015, RRIF loans totaled only about $2.7 billion, and no loan guarantees were made. Consequently, the FAST Act included a number of changes intended to increase utilization of the RRIF program to improve railroad infrastructure. RRIF financing can be used for a number of railroad infrastructure development purposes, such as buying, improving, and upgrading rail equipment or facilities, developing new intermodal or railroad facilities, refinancing outstanding loans for railroad infrastructure projects, and...

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Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act: Private Activity Bonds

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bonding needs. What Is the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act? The $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into Law in November 2021, authorized $550 billion in new spending over the next few years on a variety of infrastructure projects. Much of that spending will be at the state and local levels. In addition to authorizing an historic investment in infrastructure, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act encourages public/private partnerships (P3s) to sponsor infrastructure projects and amends some rules regarding the use of private activity bonds to finance them. What Are Private Activity Bonds? Private activity bonds are debt instruments issued by state or municipal governments to help finance construction projects sponsored by public and/or private entities for the benefit of the public. These are financial instruments to attract private sector investment, not to be confused with surety bonds. Investors who buy private activity bonds are lending money to a state or municipal entity and earn interest on their investment,...

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New $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill in Manufacturing, Construction, and Energy

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bonding needs. Benefits Expected from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act People throughout the country are looking forward with high hopes to realizing the promise of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law in November 2021. With $550 billion earmarked for new spending on a wide range of infrastructure projects over the next few years, the construction industry is predicted to boom, adding millions of good, high-paying jobs in the building trades and related industries. Additionally, the Inflation Reduction Act signed in August 2022 added another $369 billion to the total funds allocated for infrastructure-related projects. The manufacturing sector, in particular, is expected to see substantial benefits from the investment in infrastructure. Not only will the demand for building materials and structural components increase, so will the need for buses, trains, and other vehicles and the parts to build and maintain them. The creation of a nationwide network of electric vehicle charging stations, coupled with legislative actions...

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Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA)

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bonding needs. What Is the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act? The Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) was signed into law in 1998 and reauthorized by the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act of 2015. It established a federal credit assistance program operated under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Transportation to provide financing for certain surface transportation projects that DOT considers to be of national or regional importance. These may include projects to construct, expand, or upgrade highways, railways (primarily passenger lines, but also some used to transport freight), intermodal freight transfer facilities, or port terminals. Only projects valued at $10 million or more are eligible for TIFIA financing. Qualified state and local governments, transit authorities, transportation companies, and public/private partnerships (P3s) can apply for loans, loan guarantees, or standby lines of credit. TIFIA offers 35-year fixed-rate loans with no prepayment penalty and the option of deferring payments until five years after substantial project completion. Interest is...

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A Guide to Construction Bonding Requirements with the New Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bonding needs. What Is the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act? The November 2021 passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act authorized a total of $1.2 trillion in spending, including $550 billion in new spending on a variety of infrastructure projects intended to upgrade, expand, and/or replace the nation’s aging and overburdened infrastructure—roads and bridges, the electric grid, rail systems, transit, ports, airports, water systems, and so on. Broadband expansion and the creation of a network of electric vehicle chargers address two pressing 21st century infrastructure needs that didn’t even exist only a couple of decades ago. The Inflation Reduction Act signed into law in August 2022 added another $369 billion to the total funding for infrastructure-related projects. As a result of this unprecedented investment in infrastructure, the construction industry is likely to see a similarly unprecedented boom. Impact on Construction Bonding Requirements One rule included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is intended to address a gray area in...

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