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The U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) predicts that during the May-through-September summer driving season this year, regular gasoline retail prices will average about $3.95 per gallon, peaking in May at a monthly average price of $4.01 per gallon.

Members of the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) recently visited Washington, D.C., to share their thoughts and concerns with legislators through AHRI’s annual Public Policy Symposium.

New technology has had a significant impact on the zoning market in the last five years. This roundup provides a sampling of the latest products and systems available from industry suppliers to assist contractors in zoning system design, installation, and service.

Manual Zr is the new ANSI-recognized standard for residential zoning. Its development was spearheaded by the Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA). As the newest manual in the ACCA library, it is the result of combined efforts of original equipment manufacturers, zoning equipment producers, and HVAC contractors.

The Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA) announced that the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has approved its HVAC Air Duct Leakage Test Manual, second edition, as an American National Standard.

ConsensusDocs® users will be able to work on their standard construction contracts using Microsoft Word® on a PC or Mac as a result of an upgraded new web-based platform released by the ConsensusDocs Coalition.

The OpenADR Alliance, a nonprofit corporation created to foster the development, adoption, and compliance of a smart grid standard known as Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR), has announced the successful testing of the OpenADR 2.0a profile standard.

The Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA) has announced that the National Institute of Building Sciences has joined its board of directors. Dana Kennish “Deke” Smith, FAIA, will represent the Institute on the CABA board.

Upon occasion, I have been wrong about things, and when that occurs, I am quick to point out what that really means: I thought I was wrong about something but actually turned out to be right.

What if HVAC dealerships were more like car dealerships?

While it can be easy to get fixated on one issue during an election cycle, there will be many other effects of the ballots we submit in November. And many of these results will not be evident for years down the road.

It is a difficult balance to save energy and money yet maintain a comfortable and healthy indoor air environment. A logical solution to controlling indoor air pollution is good ventilation coupled with indoor air quality (IAQ) monitoring using gas sensors. This can ensure healthy indoor air as well as a more efficient HVAC system.

According to a Harris Poll, majorities of Americans are doing some basic things to be more energy efficient like turning off lights, televisions, or other appliances when not in use (82 percent), replacing incandescent bulbs with fluorescent ones (58 percent), and looking for Energy Star labels when replacing appliances (55 percent). But there are other things majorities of Americans are not doing.

The Batavia Housing Authority was looking to lower utility costs through a conversion from electric resistance baseboard heaters to gas heat and engaged Trautman Associates to conduct an energy conservation study to evaluate various types and arrangements of gas-fired equipment.

Bob and Tim were just finishing a service contract call when they were contacted by the dispatcher about a no cooling call at a new installation at a small retail store. The weather was unusually warm for this time of the year.