Everywhere I travel these days I see green. At the HARDI convention, there were seminars on the Energy Star “whole-house” program and a new LEEDS Certification program for residential new construction.

I have to take time out to bring a little slice from the last International Service Leadership (ISL) Owner’s Conference, held in St. Louis Oct. 11-13.

The president of International Service Leadership (ISL) can certainly entertain contractor members. He proved that at the association’s owners’ conference held this past week (Oct. 10-12) in St. Louis. The affable leader had them, as the cliché goes, laughing in the aisles.

This came from some anonymous source, but it’s just too good to pass up the parody of Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise in “A Few Good Men.”

I think that U.S. businesses are trying to spoil their employees. How else would you explain traveling masseuses, paintball games, karaoke contests, flextime work schedules, and tailgate parties?

The green movement is officially going full throttle. I say that because a story concerning a “green” home graced page 1 of a recent edition of the Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat, the local conservative community newspaper.

A spate of energy legislation this past summer has resulted in U.S. House and Senate versions that will likely be negotiated into one regional mess. The crux of the matter for the HVAC industry is regional efficiency standards.

If an HVACR contractor is to truly provide solid comfort and energy savings for a homeowner or building owner, the contractor has to do more than just install or repair the air conditioning system and/or furnace system.

Too many people think that contractors have not embraced the Internet. Let me beg to differ with you. The NEWS recently completed a research study on Internet usage and you might be shocked by the results.

It seems that in today’s tough economic climate (and here in Michigan it is tough), a lot of business owners choose to survive rather than thrive. Hey, I think I just coined a phrase.