As building owners become more interested in LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification and saving energy in general, opportunities will flourish for HVAC contractors who can provide energy-saving solutions. When solutions improve comfort and IAQ, they become even more attractive.
Can sustainability be compared with the methods we use to gauge healthy buildings, those that have an acceptable level of IAQ? Yes they can, says Hal Levin of the Building Ecology Research Group, Santa Cruz, Calif., a featured speaker at ASHRAE lAQ2007, sponsored by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers.
A lot of problems in the world seem so big, there doesn’t seem to be much that the average Joe or Jane can do about them. Members of the HVAC industry, however, have the capability to do a lot about carbon emissions, which in turn are a major contributor to global warming.
Christmas came early to my house. Early in November, my husband and I had our regular HVAC contractor, Jerry, install a new furnace and air conditioner. It all started with the air conditioner, which died a timely death (it was about 20 years old) this past summer.
Tim Gregori of CORE, the Center for Organizational and Relationship Excellence, at the Clockwork 2007 Congress in Phoenix, discussed the unique set of challenges facing family-owned businesses to an audience of smallish, family-owned contracting companies.
The
trends affecting most of North America - the need to conserve energy, reduce
emissions of greenhouse gases, and the predicted drop in workforce numbers -
plus gains in technology itself - are combining to enhance new HVAC
technologies, and to breathe new life into some not-so-new technologies.
As more electronics and wireless devices become mass produced and used in more consumer-oriented products, their benefits are being more widely used in a variety of HVAC applications, from residential troubleshooting to IAQ. More applications are also going online.
If you thought solar heating-cooling all but died with tax credits in the 1980s, you’d better think again. Renewed interest in lowering buildings’ carbon footprints, reducing energy bills, and generally reducing energy consumption has renewed the interest in technologies such as solar heating, cooling, and power production.
Eugene Silberstein’s dedication to students landed him as a runner up in the Best Instructor contest co-sponsored by The NEWS and the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute. It’s the third year in a row that the teacher has brought home the honor.
“Black and White” was the theme of the Clockwork Home Services franchise Congress. The theme was carried out in a variety of ways, from a cleverly modified special use of the Humphrey Bogart black-and-white movie classic “Casablanca,” with Clockwork president of franchise operations Tab Hunter magically added to the cast, to the gala closing banquet with its black-and-white dress code. But the message itself was simple. If you measure your results, the effectiveness of your systems becomes as simple as black and white