A symbol of change, as the season transcends.

I blanket the earth in hues warm and bold,

But as winter approaches, I’ll cover the cold.

• The US federal government has 500 million square feet of office space, which costs billions of dollars each year to lease, operate and maintain …..and recent reporting shows most have usage well below 50%. Could this exposure be halved to save tax dollars? Could unused federal buildings be used to build out affordable housing options?

• ‘Tis Apple picking season! Apples are a $99 billion global industry. It takes about 18,5 gallons for a single apple to ripen. Drip-irrigation systems can save around 65% of water usage. The consumer’s understanding of seasonality has slipped away and they expect certain produce items to be available year-round. Scientists are now attempting to create apples that can withstand climate change as Apples prefer warm summer days and cooler nights. In 2010, the first sequencing of the genome of a single Golden Delicious occured. Detailed genomic mapping of apples has provided scientific confirmation of something that is intuitively obvious: many apples are closely related. Images of apple-picking have always been a real estate marketing favourite. (FT)

• When fire smoke is in your area, the first thing to do is to go inside and close all the windows and doors. But the particles and gases in wildfire smoke can still creep in through the edges of windows, cracks in the foundation. Use high-quality air filters (such as a HEPA or MERV13 filter), set central air-conditioning to recirculate indoor air and layer in air purifiers to reduce pollutants like dust, molt, bacteria and allergens. Gases – which can settle on surfaces and pose a threat to human health long after the haze outside clears – can be significantly removed via simple cleaning, such as dusting, mopping, and vacuuming.

• 33.12% of all sales nationally of single-family homes over $1 million in the second quarter of 2023 were cash deals. (ATTOM)

• And the color of the year for 2024 from BENJAMIN MOORE……is….in the wysteria vein with a more blue-ish cast….. Blue Nova 825. more…..

• A project described as the “world’s largest offshore wind farm” took a major step forward over the weekend after producing its first power. Located off the coast of northeast England in the North Sea, the Dogger Bank Wind Farm is being developed in three phases and will have a total capacity of 3.6 gigawatts once fully up and running. ….enough to power over 2.5 million homes. This is about the size of 7 coal-fired plants. A fourth phase has been proposed. (CNBC)