Do you want to be a part of an experiment? I need some HVAC heroes willing to put Twitter to the test. You game?

In the midst of vast political and economic changes, the challenge of hiring a competent and legal workforce presents the nation with a demanding task. The federal government is now requiring any general contractor or subcontractor - working on or looking to work on federal contracts - use an employment status verification system for all new hires.

The Waxman-Markey bill is making its way through Congress, but officials are beginning to question the likelihood of the bill passing into law this year.

In the current economy, focusing strictly on survival could cost struggling members of the HVACR industry their business. When economic hardships come, survival is understandably the main concern, but survival without preparations for the changing economic future can be deadly.

Distributors think outside the box, but most of them won’t venture past its four cardboard walls to find new revenue streams. That is what Peter Bonfe, president of Bonfe’s Plumbing, Heating & Air Service Inc., Minneapolis-St.Paul, Minn., discovered when he went in search of a distributor to help him haul equipment off a jobsite.

Registration for the Heating, Airconditioning and Refrigeration Distributors International’s (HARDI’s) 2009 Annual Conference begins at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 1, but the association is already “Turning Up the Heat on Recovery.”

It may be time to let go of the staunch old ways of doing business and embrace some creative thinking when devising your 2010 business strategies.

Congress is back in session and the HVACR industry is waiting to see what the Senate has to say about the Waxman-Markey bill, H.R. 2454 - the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES). The bill, which already passed in the House, contains sweeping environmental reform that will change the way this industry and America does business.

Monetizing social media ventures has proven to be a difficult task. With the pencil pushers and bean counters clacking away at profit and loss sheets, justifying the time spent on Facebook, Twitter, etc. can be next to impossible at times.

The HVACR industry is more than air conditioners and IAQ. Wrapped into sponsorships and electrifying paint jobs, many manufacturers and contractors sponsor and participate in the racing world.