Back on July 8, I got an e-mail asking if there had been a final ruling yet regarding the sale, after Jan. 1, 2010, of R-22 units built before Jan. 1, 2010.

When much of the continental United States hit a period of very hot, humid weather in late June, air conditioning contractors began to breathe a sigh of relief. Now that we are hunkered down into the “lazy, hazy days of summer,” as the song says, what does the balance of the season portend for contractors?

One thing I’ll miss about the Tonight Show With Jay Leno is the Monday night “Headlines” section that featured poorly worded headlines, sentences, or advertisements from various publications.

Attendance and exhibitor numbers may have been a bit off at the most recent National Restaurant Association (NRA) Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show, but new refrigeration technology seemed to be on the rise.

Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp. is now entering what company officials described as the “under-served and dormant” test and measurement instrument sector. The target audience is HVACR technicians and electricians, with many units coming in separate models for HVACR or electrical needs, the company said.

California energy standards regarding refrigeration are expected to become federal mandates in 2010 and already a number of refrigeration equipment manufacturers are drawing attention to products that now meet those standards and mandates. That was evident among many exhibitors at the National Restaurant Association (NRA) Restaurant Hotel-Motel Show.

The HVACR industry, like many others, is always promoting change. And we are always appreciative when that change results in better, more energy-efficient and environmentally-correct products. I suppose change also has to mean a change in the makeup of the manufacturing sector. We have certainly seen it over the years.

It used to be that a soda drinker would have, at the most, eight to 16 choices of beverages to choose from at those self-serve dispensers in fast food restaurants or convenience stores. Well, those days of hoping the dispenser will have just the right blend could be a thing of the past.

I haven’t been traveling all that much for business recently, but I did have a recent 90-minute drive to the Milwaukee area to attend a press function presented by Milwaukee Tool, which is be featured in the July 6 issue of The NEWS.

Despite a slow economy contributing to “declining demand” for R-22, there are still expected to be “some shortages” of the refrigerant as early as 2010. And there is the possibility of “more aggressive climate legislation” even as the HVACR industry moves to get HFCs regulated separately and perhaps less severely.