As California goes, so goes the nation. The state now has in place the California Energy Commission's (CEC's) energy-consumption standards, which provide minimum efficiency standards for refrigeration equipment - and those standards made their way into the national Energy Policy Act signed by the president in 2005, to take effect in 2010.

What would you do if you had 500 air conditioning experts in a building where the a/c was a bit on the fritz and temperatures outside were in the 90s? This situation happened at the 18th International Compressor Engineering Conference and 11th International Refrigeration Conference.

There is a need to step back and look at the big picture when it comes to the dynamics of the supermarket industry. Michael Sansolo, senior vice president of the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), will discuss this topic in his opening address of the 27th Annual FMI Energy and Technical Services Conference, to be held Sept. 10-13.

Refrigerants are vital to a contractor, especially during the summer with its increasing air conditioning needs and taxing demands on refrigeration equipment. So, what's happening in the refrigerant sector is important. Here then is a summary of some of the most recent developments.

Contractors trying to find a good tech might want to try this: Give the prospect eight tasks with strict time limits in every aspect of HVACR. And have some 13,000 persons looking over the tech's shoulder. Far-fetched? But that's just what close to 50 students went through in the HVACR component of the SkillsUSA championship.

Wholesalers are not seeing a lot of recovered R-22 coming back to them for reclaim. That is causing them to ask what contractors are doing with the refrigerant. Is it being hoarded? Is it being vented? Is potentially contaminated refrigerant going right back into a system?

President Bush used an address at the Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show to touch upon issues of interest to owners of food service businesses that could well extend to HVACR contractors, who also play a part in restaurant customer comfort and food product safety.

Contractors who do commercial refrigeration work in restaurants, hotels, and motels know that trends in ice making, cooling, and freezing as well as servicing are ever changing. A large number of those newest trends were on display at the recent Restaurant Hotel-Motel Show.

Every report of hurricanes, heavy rains, flooding, tornados, and earthquakes can create nervousness but can also result in contractors redoubling efforts to do everything possible to mitigate damage to their businesses, assure the safety of their employees and be able to rapidly respond to the needs of their customers.

OK, I wasn't 100 percent correct. I'm referring to my column in which I noted the trend for many expos is to go to an every other year format. There are expos that are held every year and do very well, thank you.