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www.HartfordBusiness.com April 20, 2015 • Hartford Business Journal 7 WHAT'S AHEAD: ■ 4/27 Focus: Education ■ The List: Largest College and Universities ■ Nonprofit Profile: Catholic Charities CALENDAR TUESDAY, APRIL, 21 Baseball and Breakfast Josh Solomon, owner of the New Britain Rock Cats, will be the featured speaker at the upcoming MetroHartford Alliance Rising Star Breakfast. The event, which runs from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., will take place April 21, at the Hilton Hartford hotel, 315 Trumbull St., in Hartford. Solomon will talk about the minor league baseball club's move to Hartford next year and how it will impact the city and team. The Rock Cats will move from New Britain in 2016 to play in a newly built stadium in Downtown North. They'll be renamed the Hartford Yard Goats. The talk will include a panel discussion and Q&A session. Cost to attend is $20 for Alliance members; $40 for nonmembers. For more information or to register go to: http://web.metrohartford.com/ events/Rising-Star-Breakfast-2084/details. F O R A C O M P L E T E L I S T O F G R E A T E R H A R T F O R D B U S I N E S S E V E N T S , G O T O W W W . H A R T F O R D B U S I N E S S . C O M A N D C L I C K O N ' T H E A G E N D A . ' A L L C A L E N D A R I T E M S M U S T B E S U B M I T T E D E L E C T R O N I C A L L Y V I A O U R W E B S I T E , H A R T F O R D B U S I N E S S . C O M . REAL ESTATE Fewer CT homes in foreclosure The inventory of mortgaged Connecticut homes in foreclo- sure continues to decline, as more delinquent loans work their way through the legal process, according to Core- Logic. Connecticut's foreclosure inventory was 2.1 percent in February, unchanged from the month before, but down from 3.2 percent in Feb. 2014, ac- cording to CoreLogic's National Foreclosure Report. A total of 5,239 foreclosures were completed in Connecticut over the past 12 months through February, up from 4,968 in the same period a year prior. The state's inventory is the lowest it's been since at least Dec. 2012, though it is the eighth-highest in the country. Connecticut is one of 25 judicial states, where foreclosures tend to take longer because lenders are required to prove delin- quency to a court before issuing a notice of default to a borrower, according to CoreLogic. ENERGY & UTILITIES Proton OnSite tapped for power-to-gas tests Wallingford's Proton OnSite said the country's largest natural gas utility has selected it to participate in tests that aim to dem- onstrate a novel kind of energy storage. Proton OnSite is lending two of its electrolyzers to Southern California Gas Co. for a power-to-gas system. The electrolyzers will use electricity from solar panels to produce hydrogen from water. That hydrogen will then be injected into a simulated natural gas pipeline at UCLA Irvine's National Fuel Cell Research Center (NFCRC), the company said. Demonstrations will also take place at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado. While Germany has commercial-scale power-to-gas systems in use, SoCalGas said its system would be the first of its kind in the United States. Power-to-gas is thought of as a potential less-costly alternative to using batteries to store renewable energy. LEGISLATURE Keno gets another chance Legislators held a public hearing last week on a bill that would legalize Keno in Connecticut, as the state seeks to raise more gambling revenues. The Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee convened the hearing at the Legislative Office Building, which brought out sup- port and opposition to the bill. Connecticut Veterans of Foreign Wars State Commander Greg- ory Smith wrote that Keno could bring much needed revenue to VFWs, which could help them expand their efforts to get military vets disability compensation, GI Bill benefits and to help elderly vets. Patrick McHugh, a senior vice president for Scientific Games International, which has been a Connecticut Lottery vendor since 1988, wrote that seven of the top 10 lotteries in the country offer Keno. They include Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York. The bill would benefit restaurants, bars and retailers, McHugh wrote. More than 100 Connecticut residents submitted brief testimony mostly opposing the bill. Republican State Sen. Tony Hwang also opposes the bill, argu- ing that the estimated $28 million in revenue is not worth the so- cial costs of addiction and disproportionate impact on minorities and low-income residents. Hwang noted a June 2013 Quinnipiac Poll, which found 59 per- cent of state residents opposed allowing Keno in restaurants, bars and stores. Orafol Americas selected EMCOR Services New England Mechanical (NEMSI) to install a new central chilled water plant at their 98,000 square foot facility in Avon, CT. NEMSI had been providing mechanical service and maintenance for over 15 years to the site. NEMSI delivered a creative, cost-effective solution that tripled the size of the process chilled water system, eliminated the negative pressure problems in the building, and addressed noise issues voiced by neighbors. The team overcame unforeseen schedule delays, secured a large utility incentive, and coordinated with the site expansion work, to minimize the capital expenditure and keep their process energy costs virtually unchanged. EMCOR Services New England Mechanical Helping Orafol Americas Achieve Maximum Energy Efficiency O f f i c e s i n : V e r n o n | N e w L o n d o n | T r u m b u l l | P a w t u c k e t , R I | P a l m e r , M A | A l b a n y , N Y Call: 860.871.1111 Toll Free: 800.741.6367 Visit: www.nemsi.com Orafol Americas counts on NEMSI to design, install, maintain, and protect their building's most important systems. What Can We Do For You? » HVAC, Plumbing & Process Piping » Design-Build Construction » Energy Management Systems » LEED Certification Programs » Electrical Services » Comprehensive Preventive Maintenance Programs » 24/7/365 Emergency Response License #s: E1-104939 • S1- 302974 • P1- 203519 F1- 10498 • SM1-192 • MC-1134 The NEMSI solution at Orafol was the winner of two prestigious construction industry awards. P H O T O | H B J F I L E