According to a 2016 survey of small businesses (under 300 employees) by Nationwide, three in five do not have a succession plan in place. Of those who do, fewer than half have discussed it with a lawyer or financial advisor. Millennial business owners are most likely to have a succession plan in place (61 percent), compared with 32 percent of baby boomers and 32 percent of GenX leaders, according to the study.

The cooler trainers are the latest addition to the college’s HVACR lab, built entirely by students over the last few years as part of COD’s Central Plant Project, located at its Glen Ellyn, Illinois, campus.

According to a recent study by Parks Associates, 13 percent of U.S. broadband households owned a smart thermostat by the end of 2017. And while that’s still under a quarter of eligible homes, that number has nearly tripled from just three years prior, influenced by factors like the ubiquity of the smartphone and the rise of in-home AI.

Actually finding the mercury-containing culprits can be a bit of a riddle, partly because there’s no way to know exactly how many are still out there or where they are located.

Despite the fact that there’s a lot of airtime given to smart thermostats in the media and throughout industry conferences, the reality is that only about 15 percent of households own a smart thermostat, according to Rob Munin, president at Lux Products.

At some restaurants, customers can place an order online and go pick up lunch “as soon as possible” or “at a scheduled time.” Increasingly, service providers — like medical offices — are giving customers the option to schedule online, too. And the HVAC field is no exception.

Sometimes, the best-laid plans in design and construction don’t get translated into practice. What happens once the construction workers leave and the ribbon-cutting is over — the operations and ongoing maintenance — plays a big role in making sure that building lives up to the energy efficiency standards promised.

Following are four examples — a kosher wine shipping center, a chiller plant in a marine research lab, a community pool, and a 10th-floor medical office retrofit — that illustrate just how creative high-efficiency products can be when it comes to unique solutions for everyday issues.

With heating and cooling accounting for nearly half the energy use in a typical U.S. home, it’s not a surprise that the market for energy-efficient products continues to remain strong. According to a recent study by Zillow, energy efficiency ranked among the top priorities during a home search.

And for women seeking a career in the skilled trades, it’s a win-win situation: reliable work and a job market that’s starved for talent.