You know about all those wind turbines you see in many parts of this country. Their primary purpose is to generate electricity - as least when the wind is blowing.
One ongoing stream of press releases to me comes from an environmental group in Germany called Deutsche Umwelthilfe. Mostly the releases concern the failure of those responsible to properly dispose of refrigerant in domestic refrigerators.
One of the most talked-about issues in the industry’s changeover from HCFC to HFC refrigerants is when the per-pound cost of the former is expected to overtake the cost of the latter. That crossover point hasn’t been reached yet, and a lot of issues are mixing themselves into an already confusing situation.
Rules, regulations, and legislation face contractors and technicians as they enter the transition year of 2009 that will end with a major cutback in supplies of HCFC-22 and the end of its use in new equipment. The inauguration of a new President is expected to result in stronger support in the United States for the Kyoto Protocol.
The third “R” of recover-recycle-reclaim is solidly in place and just waiting for more contractors to bring in questionable refrigerant. That was apparent in the results of a NEWS survey of reclamation companies, listed as “Certified Refrigerant Reclaimers” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Service Hotline has been one of the longest running components of The NEWS. The question-and-answer format has been popular. The problem is that the well has run dry - we need some new questions.
Government regulations on everything, from such basic issues as what kind of vehicles you can drive and refrigerants you can use, to such lofty topics as carbon footprints and sustainability, are expected to become even more expansive and complex. That was the message of speakers at the annual Food Marketing Institute Energy & Technical Services Conference.
Contractors who are on the lookout for qualified service technicians know that getting them is only one-third of the equation. The next two steps involve training and keeping them. There are many dynamics in those last two and their relation to each other.
