Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Oct. 31, 2011

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Note 6. Property, Plant and Equipment

Property, plant and equipment at October 31, 2011 and 2010 consisted of the following:


							Estimated
	2011			2010			Useful Life
Land	$	524		$	524		—
Building and improvements		7,579			7,582		10-26 years
Machinery, equipment and software		66,552			65,729		3-8 years
Furniture and fixtures		2,755			2,695		10 years
Power plants for use under PPAs		13,538			13,538		3-10 years
Construction in progress (1)		5,762			3,114

		96,710			93,182

Less: Accumulated depreciation		(72,785	)		(66,503	)

Property, plant and equipment, net	$	23,925		$	26,679


(1)		Included in construction in progress are costs of $1.0 million and $0.9 million at October 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively, to build power plants that will service power purchase agreement contracts.

Depreciation expense was $6.4 million, $7.4 million and $8.6 million for the years ended October 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for long-lived, physical assets that are used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services and not intended for resale. Examples include land, buildings, machinery and equipment, and other types of furniture and equipment including, but not limited to, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment and software. This disclosure may include property plant and equipment accounting policies and methodology, a schedule of property, plant and equipment gross, additions, deletions, transfers and other changes, depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, net, accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization expense and useful lives, income statement disclosures, assets held for sale and public utility disclosures.

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