What’s the fastest growing sector of the green building movement? According to consultant Jerry Yudelson, not the usual architectural highlights of zero energy buildings, but the more prosaic existing building upgrades profiled in his latest green building book, Greening Existing Buildings. Building upgrades are being seen throughout the U.S. and Canada.
The day has been cold and damp, and Bob has been called to do a routine checkup on a heat pump in a condominium complex. Most of the units in the complex are frosted over, but the unit that he is to service has a very different frost pattern. Bob is trying to figure out what’s going on when Btu Buddy appears to help him.
Caldwell School District has opened the state of Idaho’s first school to pursue Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification - Van Buren Elementary - with the help of McKinstry, an Idaho-based building expert that provided mechanical engineering services and sustainability consulting.
As an HVAC contractor, you have an opportunity to help educate your customers. With the amount of environmental pollutants we’re exposed to every day, it’s crucial for us to ensure we’re providing our customers with not only high-performing products in their homes, but also healthier indoor environments.
The greatest energy cost reduction opportunity lies with the HVAC system - a facility’s largest discretionary source of energy demand and, thus, its highest controllable expense. Advancements in commercial energy efficiency systems have now made them far more affordable for small to mid-sized facilities.
“Exit planning takes time, and preparation is the key,” according to Eric R. Voth, a business consultant and author of How to Sell Your Privately Owned Company: A Basic Guide for Independent Business Owners, Baby Boomer’s Edition. Business owners need to begin by preparing their assets.
A new class of economically viable solar power cells - cheap, flexible, and easy to make - has come a step closer to reality as a result of research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where scientists have deepened their understanding of the complex organic films at the heart of the devices.
Bob gets a service call where the owner says there is not enough heating at one end of an office building. With Btu Buddy's assistance, Bob checks the duct system and finds that a piece of duct liner is laying down in the duct blocking the airflow and he proceeds to correct the problem.
With help from James River Air Conditioning, the Children’s Museum of Richmond has substantially reduced its utility usage implementing the contractor’s Practical Green® solutions - a combination of preventive maintenance and retro-commissioning - designed to reduce operating costs and extend HVAC equipment useful life.
On Jan. 1, amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) took effect but the new amendments left many unanswered questions. Now, as instructed by Congress, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has proposed rules designed to bring some clarity to both employers and employees.