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Kitchen Magic Announces 2022 Kitchen Design Forecast

Kitchen Magic

Kitchen Magic, a family-owned and operated kitchen remodeling company with over 41 years of experience under its toolbelt, announced today its forecast for what the top trends in kitchen design will be in 2022, keeping homeowners informed on how to stay on the cutting edge of remodeling in the new year. According to the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, elevated spending on residential remodeling projects will continue well into 2022. After a time of unprecedented change that spurred an exponential increase in the time homeowners spent at their homes and in their kitchens, kitchen design as we knew it, changed forever. Homeowners are still looking to further improve their kitchens, inspired by a renewed appreciation for the most used room in the home. With the new year presenting a much-needed fresh start for many, Kitchen Magic is committed to keeping clients on the forefront, uncovering ways to refresh the kitchen by way of remodeling, thus, helping them achieve their renovation resolutions. “In 2022, homeowners will be looking to optimize space and service areas in the kitchen,” said JT Norman, Product & Design Innovation Lead for Kitchen Magic. "Building up these functional areas sets the stage for a sleek and clean kitchen aesthetic.” The company’s design and innovation experts have pulled together a forecast that truly coincides with the clutter-free and practicality often associated with a new beginning. A small sampling of the 2022 Kitchen Magic design trends forecast includes: Knobs & Pulls: The Jewelry of the Kitchen Brass, gold, and champagne tone fixtures are the latest in kitchen hardware. A gold finish is one of the best ways to a add a touch of glamour to the kitchen. Forest Bathing This trend brings the outside inside using materials such as wood, stone, and greenery. When deciding on a palette, think deep, rustic hues and use of color in unexpected places such as appliances and hoods. Scandinavian Influence This trend can be described in 3 words: Clean. Minimalist. Simple. This motif features smooth, straight lines; open floor plans; large glass windows; low profile cabinetry; and geometric shapes. Vinyl is in Vogue Product manufacturing technology has come a long way with homeowners impressed by the fact that they are unable to distinguish vinyl flooring from real wood or stone. It’s one of the more cost-effective flooring options on the market. This product trend will continue past 2022 because of vinyl flooring’s durability and designs. While many homeowners are waiting for January 1 st to commence any remodeling projects, Kitchen Magic hopes that this kitchen design forecast will inspire clients to be “out with the old, in with the new” ahead of the new year. Kitchen Magic’s full 2022 kitchen design trends forecast can be downloaded here. Kitchen Magic has teams of consultants across the Northeast to help homeowners in these regions envision their upcoming projects. To learn more and schedule your free consultation, visit www.kitchenmagic.com. About Kitchen Magic Kitchen Magic is a kitchen remodeling company with headquarters and manufacturing facilities located in Nazareth, PA. Kitchen Magic has been family-owned and operated since 1979. Using an exclusive cabinet refacing process, Kitchen Magic has transformed nearly 60,000 kitchens. Today, Kitchen Magic serves CT, DE, MA, NJ, NY, PA, and RI. Kitchen Magic is recognized by Qualified Remodeler as #1 in kitchen remodeling nationwide, an 11-time Angie's List Super Service Award winner, a Best of Houzz winner for design & service 10 times, and an honored 8-time winner of The Morning Call's Top Workplace Award. Contact Details Kitchen Magic LInda Fennessy +1 800-237-0799 linda.fennessy@kitchenmagic.com Direct Linda Fennessy +1 610-217-0964 Company Website https://www.kitchenmagic.com

December 02, 2021 09:13 AM Eastern Standard Time

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New Legal & General Study on Millennials and Housing Takes on Intergenerational Conflict Over Home Ownership

Legal & General

About half (48%) of non-home owning millennials are saving for a down payment 55% of those who are saving can’t afford to buy yet 12% of millennials abandoned their plans to buy a home 13% of millennials considering a Covid-driven move want to be nearer to family; 8% wanted to move away from family “Thanks Boomers.” There’s a quasi-war over housing going on between U.S. millennials and the generations comprising their parents and grandparents, with many 25- to 40-year-olds caught between blaming older generations for their difficulties in becoming homeowners and feeling dependent on them for necessary financial help if they are ever to succeed. Today, the fourth part of a broad new study conducted by Legal & General Group, U.S. Millennials and Home Ownership – A Distant Dream for Most, is released, diving into the deeply-held grudge millennials hold against Baby Boomers in particular for thwarting their home buying plans. This fourth segment of the data-rich study, Mind the Gap: The Intergenerational Home Ownership Blues, looks at the skyrocketing cost of housing and how changing intergenerational housing needs and other unseen factors are contributing to the reality of housing unattainability for many millennials. With longer healthy life expectancies than ever before, Baby Boomers are deciding to downsize but remain in privately owned housing, putting a strain on affordable housing stock just as the younger generation of home buyers want to buy starter houses. While the long-term consequences of these demographic shifts are still unfolding, the study found other factors exerting added pressure on the housing market, including institutional investment. Legal & General Group Chief Executive Nigel Wilson commented: “The severe shortage of affordable housing in the U.S., as well as the disproportionate amount of wealth held by older generations, significantly mirrors what we’re seeing in the U.K. Beyond older generations staying put in their own homes or being in a more competitive position to purchase starter-size smaller homes as they downsize, we see other market forces at work which are worsening the supply-demand imbalance. In the U.K. at Legal & General, as part of the solution to this imbalance, we are building a larger stock of affordable homes for first time buyers to purchase, as well as creating more opportunities for ownership through rent-to-buy programs.” Study Co-Author and Legal & General Corporate Affairs Director John Godfrey notes: “The proportion of 30-year-old U.S. home buyers has gone down steadily with each passing generation—over half of Baby Boomers owned a home at 30, 48 percent of Gen Xers, and so far millennials are at the bottom with just 42 percent. Considering that home ownership is a fundamental way to build wealth, it bodes poorly for millennials that affordable housing is becoming increasingly inaccessible to them. We should be meeting the demand by creating more opportunity, not less, for home ownership.” Legal & General’s study looks not only at the intergenerational housing gap, but also at demographic choices based on age and life stage, and at various drivers shaping these choices, including corporate investment and the rising cost of housing. The next segment of the study will look at the role of student loans and medical debt in hindering millennials in their home ownership quest. # # # Media Contact: For more information on the 2021 U.S. Millennials and Home Ownership study, or to see a copy of Part 4 of the report, please contact: Meir Kahtan: mkahtan@rcn.com +1 917-864-0800 Meir Kahtan Public Relations, LLC Notes To Editors The information contained in this press release is intended solely for journalists and should not be relied upon by private investors or any other persons to make financial decisions. About the Study Legal & General undertook proprietary research into the attitudes and changes, as well as geographic shifts, U.S. Millennials are experiencing in relation to home purchases and affordable housing. The U.S. Millennials and Home Ownership research was compiled using original survey data 875 U.S. based Millennials who don’t own a property, then segmented into three distinct age groups and other demographic markers. The survey work was carried out by Legal & General. Fieldwork was undertaken during March and April 2021. All surveys were carried out online. About Legal & General Group Established in 1836, Legal & General is one of the UK’s leading financial services groups and a major global investor, with international businesses in the U.S., Europe, Middle East and Asia. With over $1.4 trillion in total assets under management, Legal & General is the UK’s largest investment manager for corporate pension schemes and a UK market leader in pension risk transfer, life insurance, workplace pensions and retirement income. Contact Details Meir Kahtan +1 917-864-0800 mkahtan@rcn.com Company Website https://www.legalandgeneralgroup.com/

December 01, 2021 09:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

UK SMEs forge ahead with cautious optimism as post-pandemic business confidence grows

Stockwood Strategy

Despite lingering anxieties about the pandemic and a variety of economic and commercial issues, the majority of SMEs believe it is now imperative to begin building back from the crisis. They are ready to step up their business investment, with ambitious plans for recruitment, renewal of equipment and machinery, and both domestic and international expansion. Fintech business lender MarketFinance asked 2,000 SME owners across the UK about their outlook for 2022 and beyond, gauging their short and long-term plans for business investment and growth. MarketFinance has today released a comprehensive research report of its findings. Confidence Analysis of the survey results has shown that business confidence amongst SMEs is improving, with many firms now focused on recovery and growth. With pandemic disruptions now largely settled, half of SMEs (48%) expect their turnover to stabilise or to increase over the next 12 months. Similarly, 50% of SMEs expect demand for their products or services to stabilise or to increase over the next six months. MarketFinance’s research has found that the majority of SMEs (63%) expect their business to grow over the next three years Investment With survival mode no longer a necessity and cash flow pressures beginning to ease, the vast majority of SMEs (70%) now feel confident enough to increase business investment over the next 12 months. A quarter of SMEs plan to hire new staff, while 24% expect to purchase new equipment and machinery. When asked how they were factoring borrowing into their investment plans, 23% of SMEs said access to a broader range of borrowing options could enable them to increase investment even further. Borrowing The research findings demonstrate that borrowing will play a key role in recovery and growth with 62% of SMEs saying that prudent borrowing could help them fund growth. However, three quarters (71%) of SMEs do not believe traditional banking products are the most obvious and convenient way to borrow for investment. Despite this lack of alignment between current finance needs and the options available through traditional routes, more than a third of SMEs (37%) are looking to take on new borrowing facilities. Growth With confidence high and a sense of having moved beyond recovery and into a new stage of growth, many businesses are looking forward to seizing a host of opportunities in 2022. Almost all SMEs surveyed (81%) plan to invest in sustainability, while 30% say they are considering merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the year ahead – more than twice as many as those primarily focusing on organic growth (14%). Over a third of businesses (34%) say they already sell overseas, or have plans to begin doing so. That figure is highest amongst the largest businesses surveyed (turnover between £5m and £6.5m) but even amongst smaller enterprises significant numbers are focused on export. Anil Stocker, CEO at MarketFinance, commented: “ It’s clear that the business environment has shifted and SMEs are looking ahead with a quietly confident and cautiously optimistic view. UK businesses intend to ramp up growth through domestic and international expansion, digital transformation and even M&A activity. But as they reset their post-pandemic goals for a post-pandemic, they’ll need to be confident of their funding base. Given that so many SMEs are looking outside of traditional routes in their search for finance, we’re particularly proud to have been accredited by the British Business Bank as one of the few alternative providers under The Recovery Loan Scheme. Schemes like the RLS are a golden opportunity for SMEs looking to gear up for growth, providing easily accessible funding at a lower cost across a wide range of products. We expect to see a large number of SMEs taking advantage of the scheme over the next 6 months as their growth and expansion efforts gain momentum and they invest in ambitious plans for 2022 and beyond.” About MarketFinance MarketFinance is a fintech business lender which believes that SMEs are building the world. By making finance frictionless, they’re solving the cash flow issues getting in the way of progress. MarketFinance uses smart technology to deliver better access to faster, more affordable finance; with one-to-one help whenever businesses need it. Since 2011, MarketFinance has advanced over £2.6 billion worth of invoices and loans, enabling thousands of UK businesses to bridge today’s funding gaps and fuel tomorrow’s big ambitions. MarketFinance is an accredited Recover Loan Scheme lender and has a wide-reaching network of strategic partners including Barclays Bank UK PLC, Tide, Equals Group and Ebury. MarketFinance is backed by Barclays Bank UK PLC, Mouro Capital, Paul Forster (co-founder of Indeed.com) European venture capital fund Northzone (invested in Klarna, iZettle and Trustpilot), Viola Capital and private equity group MCI Capital (also invested in iZettle, Azimo and Gett). Further information visit: www.marketfinance.com Contact Details MarketFinance Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://marketfinance.com/

December 01, 2021 08:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

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QX Global Group is now a proud member of the BDO Alliance USA

QX Global Group

QX Global Group, a leading knowledge process outsourcing company with a growing presence in North America, today announced its membership with the BDO Alliance community, America’s foremost association of independently owned local and regional accounting, consulting, and financial services firms with aligned client service goals. This alliance strengthens and further extends QX’s award-winning and acclaimed industry experiences in enabling transformation of their clients' internal business operations to streamline and simplify their processes. QX will draw upon the knowledge, expertise, and resources of the BDO Alliance to support the transformation and growth of accounting firms in the US by leveraging its vast pool of highly qualified talent consisting of accountants, tax professionals, and consultants. Commenting on the development, Mr. Ravi Kurani, Country Head, North America, said, “This alliance opens up whole new possibilities for QX and our accounting clients in the US. We bring to the alliance community cost-effective, professional and secure outsourcing services to help them resolve talent gaps, extend their service offerings, and thereby increasing both margins and profits." QX brings to the financial community outsourcing solutions that adds value to accounting firms especially in a time when the profession is faced with a severe shortage of skilled staff. “We believe the professionals of QX Global Group share BDO’s commitment to exemplary client service and we want to welcome them into the BDO Alliance USA,” said Michael Horwitz, BDO USA, LLP Partner and Executive Director of Alliance Services. QX continues to build on its rich legacy of providing enhanced outsourcing services in accounting practices, primarily around tax preparation, accounting and reengineering projects. About QX Global Group QX Global Group is a leading provider of business process management services. With over 17 years of accounting and recruitment process outsourcing experience, we help our clients unlock business value by improving process efficiencies and automation in the accounting and recruitment function to enable business transformation. We are based out of the UK with offices in the USA, Canada, Australia, and India. About BDO Alliance The BDO Alliance USA is a nationwide association of independently-owned local and regional accounting, consulting, and service firms with similar client service goals. The BDO Alliance USA presents an opportunity for firms, by accessing the resources of BDO USA, LLP, and other Alliance members, to expand services to their clients without jeopardizing their existing relationships or their autonomy. The BDO Alliance USA was developed to provide member firms with an alternative strategy for gaining a competitive advantage in the face of a changing business landscape. Participants in its Vendor Marketing Program include non-member firms that serve as vendors providing additional products and services to member firms and their clients. The BDO Alliance USA is a subsidiary of BDO USA, LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership. Contact Details QX Global Group Vishal Kurani +1 646-693-9693 vishal.kurani@qxglobalgroup.com Company Website https://qxglobalgroup.com/

November 30, 2021 11:14 AM Eastern Standard Time

ThreatModeler Launches IaC-Assist and CloudModeler to Reduce Threat Drift from Code to Cloud

ThreatModeler Software, Inc.

ThreatModeler, a leader in securing cloud infrastructure from design to deployment, today announced the launch of IaC-Assist and CloudModeler, enabling organizations to implement true DevSecOps. The latest iteration of the company’s technology provides continuous visibility into undiscovered flaws in application design through infrastructure-as-code (IaC) in real-time. Today, many organizations are adopting IaC to help streamline their operations. However, this can open up businesses of all sizes to a variety of new threats. IaC-Assist allows DevOps teams to continuously evaluate their IaC on-the-fly. It improves developer productivity by identifying the design flaw or vulnerability, explaining the issue represented, and providing just-in-time contextual guidance for revision. ThreatModeler embodies secure-by-design principles to provide actionable insights through continuous monitoring, so DevOps teams can detect and remediate security flaws before they become code vulnerabilities. By enabling developers to understand the full scope of their code, this update’s instant remediation capabilities simultaneously minimize risk and ensure sufficient compliance and governance protocols post-deployment. “We’ve learned that security practitioners are concerned about the speed of cloud migration because security policies are often overlooked during deployment,” said Archie Agarwal, Founder and CEO, ThreatModeler. “With the launch of IaC-Assist, ThreatModeler is bringing security into the development environment, providing real-time guidance as DevOps teams write Infrastructure-as-Code. ” With CloudModeler and IaC-Assist, ThreatModeler now enables organizations to reduce their threat drift from code to cloud. “CloudModeler did not just empower our team with visibility into the threats facing our cloud infrastructure,” said Abhishek Rath, Sr. Product Security Engineer, Sisense. “It also enables us to push security to the left in our CDLC. The real-time capabilities of CloudModeler illustrated the interconnectivity of our product data, empowering us to determine how to secure our growing technology offerings most efficiently.” IaC-Assist eliminates a whole security sprint, reducing the manual labor required to scan and remediate security threats. Its patent-pending technology integrates into the CI/CD pipeline and encourages a more proactive, preventative approach to cloud security that saves organizations time, money and resources. To learn more about the latest updates to ThreatModeler Software, Inc.’s suite of products, please visit here. About ThreatModeler Software, Inc. ThreatModeler Software, Inc.’s suite of products empowers DevOps to measure their threat drift from code to cloud. With a fraction of the time and cost tied to other tools, users can design, build and validate threat drift from development to deployment. Teams can instantly visualize their attack surface, understand security requirements and prioritize steps to mitigate threats. CISOs can make critical security-driven business decisions to scale their infrastructure for growth. Contact Details Lumina Communications Michael Stolyar ThreatModeler@LuminaPR.com

November 29, 2021 09:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

A second significant deal for Nofar Energy in Poland’s renewable energy market

Ivri PR

In line with its strategic plan and following its entry into Poland’s renewable energy market, Nofar Energy (NOFR) today announced a second significant deal in Poland. Nofar reported it had purchased a portfolio of solar projects with a total capacity of 185 megawatts. Earlier this week, the company said it had signed an agreement with Electrum SP. Z O.O, a leading player in Poland’s renewable energy market. Under the contract, the two companies will jointly own a corporation devoted to initiating, developing, managing, and maintaining photo-voltaic (PV) and wind energy projects in Poland with a capacity of up to 1,250 megawatts. The expansion of Nofar’s operations in Poland adds to the projects, companies, and development platforms that Nofar already owns in the USA, Spain, Romania, Italy, and Israel. Under the new deal, Nofar Europe (90%) inked an agreement to buy a portfolio of solar projects in Poland with a total capacity of 185 megawatts, which are in different stages of construction and development. The projects are acquired from Paged Real Estate, which will develop them until RTB. The company plans to connect the projects to the power grid in 2023-2024. The portfolio comprises 14 projects with capacities ranging from 1 to 68 megawatts. The projected construction cost of all the projects in the portfolio is € 96.6 million, and their projected annual revenues are estimated at € 11.7 million with a yearly EBITDA of approx. € 7.8 million. Nadav Tenne, CEO of Nofar Energy, said, “the current deal and the partnership with Electrum, which we announced earlier, adds to Nofar’s development momentum in the USA, Italy, Romania, Spain, and Israel. Anchored in the global organizational infrastructure that we built over the past year, including initiation, development, funding, construction, and management in the said markets. Nofar’s unique business model, organizational scheme, and global presence allow it to develop additional growth platforms in profitable growth. At the same time, the company invests in its current operations to ensure continued rapid growth.” Poland’s renewable energy market In February 2021, the Polish government adopted the Polish Energy Policy for 2040 (PEP2040). The policy stipulates that by 2030, coal-based electricity will be reduced from 66% to 56%, CO 2 emissions will be reduced by 30%, and the rate of renewable energies in power generation will increase from 13% to at least 23%. These milestones will be implemented concurrently with constructing marine power generation facilities and increased power generation from nuclear energy. Furthermore, the Polish government has also undertaken to shut down all the coal mines in the country by 2049. Poland’s renewable energy market is projected to grow substantially over the next few years, among others, to comply with the policy objectives. An independent consulting company estimated that 11.3 gigawatts of new power generation projects from renewable sources (solar and wind) will be built by 2025. By 2030, the capacity would increase by 25.7 gigawatts compared with today’s power. Of this capacity, 10.3 gigawatts will be generated from solar plants, 9.4 from land-based wind energy facilities, and the balance from wind energy facilities located in the sea. Thus, by 2025, electricity from renewable sources is expected to account for 21% and 42% by 2030, compared with 13% in 2021. Contact Details nofar-energy Dikla Ivri Pardnoy +972 52-380-4085 Dikla@ivripr.com Company Website https://www.nofar-energy.com/

November 25, 2021 01:55 AM Eastern Standard Time

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REALTORS® Reveal Buying and Selling Tips for a Competitive Real Estate Market

YourUpdateTV

A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/McIbClV5apA Drive down any street in America over the past two years and one thing is obvious: the real estate market is booming. How hot is it? Nearly 9 out every 10 homes (86%) sold in September 2021 were on the market for less than a month. Existing-home sales jumped 7% in September as each of the four major U.S. regions witnessed monthly sales increases. The median existing-home sales price climbed 13.3% from a year ago. So, what is the real estate outlook for 2022? The National Association of REALTORS® weighs in. “All markets are seeing strong conditions and home sales are the best they’ve been in 15 years,” said Dr. Lawrence Yun, chief economist of NAR. “The housing sector’s success will continue, but I don’t expect next year’s performance to exceed this year’s.” Additionally, Yun predicts that mortgage rates will see an increase of 3.7% in the coming months, a rise attributed to persistent high inflation. Home prices rose an average of 12% in 2020 and 2021, while inflation rose 3%. While NAR has a good idea of what to expect nationally, nobody knows your neighborhood better than a REALTOR® who lives and works in your community. They wade through complicated, data-heavy volumes of information about local markets to help consumers navigate what is the most complex and important transaction of their lives. In fact, while most buyers begin their home search online, 9 out of 10 still choose the assistance of a trusted real estate agent to guide them through this infrequent, complicated transaction. For more information, visit https://www.realtor.com/ About YourUpdateTV: YourUpdateTV is a social media video portal for organizations to share their content. It includes separate channels for Health and Wellness, Lifestyle, Media and Entertainment, Money and Finance, Social Responsibility, Sports and Technology. Contact Details YourUpdateTV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

November 22, 2021 09:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

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Nofar Energy enters Poland’s renewable energy market with significant initiative

Nofar Energy Ltd.

In line with its strategic plan and following the launch of operations in the USA, Spain, Romania, and Italy over the past few months, Nofar Energy continued to expand its global traction by entering Poland’s renewable energy market. Today, the company reported that Nofar Europe (90%) executed an agreement with Electrum S.P. Z O.O on the joint holding of a corporation that will initiate, develop, manage, and maintain photo-voltaic and wind energy projects with a capacity of up to 1,250 megawatts. The two companies will co-manage the joint venture, including identifying opportunities for renewable energy in Poland, initiation, development, and acquisition of greenfield and RTB renewable energy projects, and project maintenance. Nofar Europe will own 80% of the joint corporation and Electrum the remaining 20%. Electrum is a leading consulting, engineering, and technology company in the Polish market. As an independent power producer (IPP), it specializes in preparing, implementing, launching, operating, and maintaining investment projects in the Renewable Energy Sources (RES) sector, information, and industry. It also engages in the comprehensive management of energy assets, such as wind and photo-voltaic farms, cogeneration systems, energy storage, hydrogen facilities, SMRs, and WTE). Dr Miroslaw Poplawski, CEO of Electrum, said, “the joint venture with Nofar Energy perfectly fits into the implementation of our long-term strategy based on IPP energy & information business formula and focused on co-creating an alternative energy system. I’m really impressed by Nofar’s vision, innovative thinking and its extraordinary business success way. For sure partnership with Nofar Energy shall generate a very strong positive impact on the RES market in Poland and create exceptionally attractive results for both companies including speed-up of our business development and high profits. What’s more, this agreement makes Electrum much more global and builds an additional value for our brand. No doubt there is a synergy effect between us. Congratulations and all the best for our partners from Nofar Energy!” Nadav Tenne, CEO of Nofar Energy, said, “as part of implementing our strategic plan for expanding our global traction, we devoted the past few months to in-depth studying of the Polish market, and careful assessment of several alternatives for starting operations there. As a result, we chose to establish a joint venture with Electrum because of its extensive renewable energy experience, proven capabilities in developing and setting up complex infrastructure projects, and the high level of its executives and workers. Moreover, Electrum features strong synergy with Nofar’s operations which we believe would yield significant growth and successful implementation of hundreds of megawatts with a robust return on investment. I am excited by the new partnership and congratulate our new partners in Electrum, wishing us success in the new venture.” Poland’s renewable energy market In February 2021, the Polish government adopted the Polish Energy Policy for 2040 (PEP2040). The policy stipulates that by 2030, coal-based electricity will be reduced from 66% to 56%, CO 2 emissions will be reduced by 30%, and the rate of renewable energies in power generation will increase from 13% to at least 23%. These milestones will be implemented concurrently with constructing marine power generation facilities and increased power generation from nuclear energy. Furthermore, the Polish government has also undertaken to shut down all the coal mines in the country by 2049. Poland’s renewable energy market is projected to grow substantially over the next few years, among others, to comply with the policy objectives. An independent consulting company estimated that 11.3 gigawatts of new power generation projects from renewable sources (solar and wind) will be built by 2025. By 2030, the capacity would increase by 25.7 gigawatts compared with today’s power. Of this capacity, 10.3 gigawatts will be generated from solar plants, 9.4 from land-based wind energy facilities, and the balance from wind energy facilities located in the sea. Thus, by 2025, electricity from renewable sources is expected to account for 21% and 42% by 2030, compared with 13% in 2021. Contact Details Dikla Ivry Pardnoy +972 52-380-4085 dikla@ivripr.com Company Website https://www.nofar-energy.com/

November 22, 2021 01:25 AM Eastern Standard Time

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National Rural Housing Coalition Convenes on Housing Advocacy

National Rural Housing Coalition

Washington, DC (November 15, 2021) -- Today, rural housing and community development professionals across the country convene at the annual meeting of the National Rural Housing Coalition (NRHC). Founded in 1969, NRHC is a national membership organization and the nation’s oldest rural housing advocacy coalition. Coalition members will hear today from key U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Officials, including Under Secretary for Rural Development Xochitl Torres Small. In addition, Coalition members will discuss rural housing programs and policy issues and the status of federal legislation affecting affordable housing programs. At the meeting, NRHC will release its most recent Rural Housing Impact Report, made possible through a generous grant from Wells Fargo. The report documents the success of nonprofit organizations in improving housing conditions in small towns and farming communities across America. NRHC surveyed its members on their work financing the construction of homeowner and rental housing, the development of community facilities, and the provision of housing counseling and technical assistance. Coalition survey data was supplemented by data from three housing and community development intermediaries supporting more than 100 organizations working in rural communities: Habitat for Humanity, NeighborWorks, and Rural LISC. The report covers housing activities for organizations’ most recent fiscal year. Among the key findings:  Survey participants deployed $3.7 billion toward creating, preserving, or financing some 20,000 units of affordable housing for homeowners. This included 9,700 units of new housing comprising of 1,046 new construction units; more than 1,600 units through USDA’s Mutual Self Help Housing program and Habitat for Humanity; more than 4,300 home repairs, and some 2,600 units of newly acquired housing. Key sources of financing included private sector capital assembled by NeighborWorks, and USDA’s section 502 direct loan program; and  Survey participants developed, preserved, or managed more than 40,000 units of rental housing in rural communities. This activity included more than $387 million in financing for new construction or preservation of existing housing. The most common sources of funding of included federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits, USDA rural rental housing loans, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Home Investment Partnership. Using an economic impact model developed by the National Association of Home Builders, NRHC estimated that the economic activity resulting from survey participants’ rural housing development generated 13,645 jobs. Other important survey data points include:  More than 72,000 households received housing counseling; of that number, 68,000 received pre-purchase counseling;  Four survey respondents are Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and provided more than $48 million in loans supporting 1,400 units of affordable housing;  Rural housing organizations also provided assistance to 43 water and wastewater systems serving close to 13,000 households;  Three Intermediary organizations provided grant assistance of more than $4.3 million to 173 rural housing organizations; and  Four survey respondents reported providing training and technical assistance to 169 organizations and 700 individuals. The report also includes rural housing “success stories” from 19 NRHC member organizations, highlighting their efforts to improve affordable housing in rural America. The data and stories in the report highlight the success of rural housing organizations at a moment when federal rural housing support has slowed to a trickle. Since Fiscal Year 2000, loan subsidies for low-income homeownership, rental and farmworker housing, and related assistance have been cut by more 60 percent. “A generation of budget cuts for rural housing programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture is one of the driving factors of housing distress in rural areas, including the low rate of construction, the incidence of substandard housing, and the high cost of housing. The report highlights the ingenuity of rural housing organizations in filling the gaps resulting from anemic federal support,” said Bob Rapoza, Executive Secretary of NRHC. Rural housing advocates will use the next few weeks to make their case to lawmakers for more support for rural housing. About the National Rural Housing Coalition In 1969, a group of concerned rural community activists, public officials, and non-profit developers formed the National Rural Housing Coalition (NRHC) to fight for better housing and community facilities for low-income rural families. Today, NRHC works to promote and defend the principle that rural people have the right — regardless of income — to a decent, affordable place to live, clean drinking water, and basic community services. For more information, visit Ruralhousingcoalition.org. Contact Details National Rural Housing Coalition Bob Rapoza +1 202-393-5225 bob@rapoza.org

November 15, 2021 08:56 AM Eastern Standard Time

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