Monday Manufacturing Round-Up:

As we get into the second, full week after the holidays (those four-day weeks sure screw up your perception of the length of a week!) things continue to look up for the construction industry. Bigger companies are starting to see the potential in alternative energy sources, and recent trends in migration within our country may see our corner of the country begin to be more populated. On to the links:

• The National Association of Home Builders likes the numbers they’re seeing for new housing starts. The NAHB is forecasting an increase in housing starts of 25%, including an increase of 32% of single-family homes.
• Market Watch, from the Wall Street Journal is reporting that an A+ BBB rated company, Major Energy, is beginning to offer their solar energy. The University of Massachusetts Medical School will be the first to purchase this form of electricity. Could there be a shift towards new forms of electricity as the bigger players get involved?
• The annual Build 18 Engineering fest, thrown by Carnegie Mellon University begins this week. Students have one week, and $250 to create a prototype of their submitted project proposals. Build 18 not only has great product ideas, but also gives the students a true, hands on approach to what start-up businesses face in their inception.
• Business Insider has a map of where people are moving to and from within the United States.
• And to round up this week’s links, a local bid for a deserted minor league baseball stadium in south Eugene has been denied. The Friends of Civic Stadium’s proposal was denied by the board last week. The Friends group offer was substantially lower than the other proposals, but were counting on nostalgia to be their biggest rallying cry. Unfortunately for them, and baseball fans a-like, that was not enough.

As always, a happy monday to you, and here’s hoping you get a productive week started off right!!