The NEWS’ booth will be a virtual hotbed of activity at the 2008 AHR Expo in New York. We’ve got two snow bunnies that will be dragging show-goers into our booth, No. 1728, to try their hand at an interactive snowmobile arcade game.

The last time you read this page, you might have been laughing because I don’t know how to count to 10. I had only listed four of 10 simple things to do to grow your business. What better way to start the New Year than by picking up where we left off. Here are a few more simple things you can do.

In order to tackle the world’s complex energy challenges, all stakeholders - from energy producers and policy-makers to HVAC industry experts and end users - must be better informed and educated and willing to share their knowledge. That was the overriding theme of the sixth Danfoss EnVisioneering Symposium.

The next 10 things you read are not guaranteed to increase your sales, but I’ve met people who swore to me that all of them will work - if you execute effectively. Maybe they will work for you. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

If you enjoy business acronyms the HVAC industry offers as many as you could ever want. However, one of the latest movements gaining momentum - Net Zero Energy Buildings - needs a little help. It doesn’t have an acronym, and everybody knows that to gain traction in this market, you must have one.

I’ve run into people in the past that believe taking responsibility for one’s actions somehow makes non-performance OK. It doesn’t. What if your spouse had an affair, and came to you with the line, “I take complete responsibility for my actions”?

Nordyne and WinWholesale Co. announced a new partnership on Dec. 7. WinWholesale’s HVAC distribution groups will begin selling NuTone heating and cooling products, a new brand of air-conditioning, heat pumps, and furnaces. WinWholesale® will make the product available initially through its wholly-owned Noland Co. with 107 locations.

Corn futures jumped for a while as everyone and his brother thought ethanol production would be the next Google on the stock market. Now, it’s sweet potatoes making news. A group of researchers at North Carolina State University have found that the sweet potato can out-produce corn by quite a stretch.

It is time to take a serious look at the testing methodology for determining Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER). If the automotive industry is any indication, HVAC test procedures are probably overdue for some changes.

This week there is legislation being voted on by the U.S. Congress which, if passed, could create a patchwork of regional or state standards for air conditioning and heat pump equipment efficiencies. The NEWS has written about this before, but the blog today is because the timetable has been moved up.