Opinions

Subscribe

Recently, I read an article about a company named OPower that is attempting to motivate people to reduce energy consumption with reports that compare their average energy use to their neighbors. When utility customers get their reports from OPower, they see a smiley face if their energy use is lower than their average neighbor’s use.

Every time major international environmental conferences take place, I have a tendency to wait with baited breath to see how the outcome could negatively affect the way HVACR business is done and the associated cost. Two fairly recent examples are the Kyoto Protocol and the Copenhagen Accord.

I confess … before working for The NEWS I would never have suggested that someone enter the trades as a profession. My job as a former high school teacher was to prepare a white collar workforce and trade schools and community colleges weren’t where we were aiming students. In retrospect, I was ignorant.

Ccontractors should seize the day and reposition their companies to recruit young people, and to appeal to highly skilled workers. We need to tell the working world (and school counselors) that we are a stable, recession-proof industry with lots of new technology products and lots of opportunity.

Pluses and minuses of the one-man shop. What’s going on in the classroom.

The Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) and several other contracting organizations have raised concerns with some aspects of the Home Star program. We don’t disagree with its stated goals. But just because legislation has lofty goals doesn’t mean it’s headed in the right direction.

The most important thing to know about the Home Star legislation now pending in Congress is that the bill is first and foremost an emergency job creation package developed to address the persistent crisis in America’s construction sector.

Is contractor licensing a good thing for the public or just a restriction on the number of contractors? As a contractor, I have been involved in this licensing question for quite some time now, and thought it would be good to obtain your viewpoint on this issue.

Subway’s $5 Footlong® has been one of the company’s most successful promotions, and I admit that its commercial jingle used to get stuck in my head every time I heard it. But even more impressive than the catchy jingle is the story of how the $5 Footlong came to be.

A lot of savvy contractors have been turning their attention to providing energy audits to help validate energy-saving measures to their customers in all markets. Both government and utility incentives are helping to drive this market - which includes validation tools and training programs.