The results of the survey reflect a “significant improvement” over last year’s survey, which found 70 percent of participants expected the economy to be better in 2013 than 2012, while 3 percent predicted it would be worse.
HVACR manufacturers are optimistic about business prospects for the coming year, according to an ASHRAE/AHR Expo survey sent to more than 1,000 manufacturers worldwide. Seventy-nine percent of respondents said their prospects for business in 2014 were either excellent (19 percent) or good (60 percent).
The California Energy Commission awarded $1.7 million to a partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Cool Earth Solar Inc. (CES) to conduct a community-scale renewable energy integration demonstration project.
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index® increased in May to 76.2, up from 69.0 in April. This is the highest level it has reached in five years.
Industry revenue for the global HVAC industry is forecast to reach an estimated $95 billion in 2018, according to “Global HVAC Equipment Industry 2013-2018: Trend, Profit, and Forecast Analysis,” a market research report released by Lucintel.
The Air Conditioning Contractors of America’s (ACCA) Contractor Comfort Index registered at 58 for February. The statistic revealed that HVACR contractors are continuing their cautiously optimistic outlook for 2013.
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is forecasting that single-family starts will grow 22 percent in 2013 and that single-family construction will grow another 30 percent in 2014.
Heating, Air-conditioning, and Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) recently announced that while HVACR average distributor sales declined 1.8 percent in December 2012, they increased 5.6 percent for the year.