As diverse financial reports trickle in, it appears the country’s economic freefall has slowed and according to many economists, “We have found the bottom.”

On Aug. 12, the Federal Reserve announced that the recession is heading towards an end, and according to a New York Times article, the Federal Reserve is “taking a step back toward normal policy.”

With this good news in hand, the United States is now embarking on a new journey — recovery.

We are not completely out of the woods yet. Unemployment and inflation issues remain at the top of the nation’s problem list and it will be interesting to see what the financial outcome of vast government bailout programs will yield.

The recovery pattern is uncertain. It may be a quick rise back to the top, a brief lull and then a quick rise to the top, or it may mean stability without a vertical rise to previous income levels and profits. The United States economic structure may be experiencing its new normal, but only time will tell what shape the recovery will take.

Still, the trip down is coming to an end and I am curious as to how each of you have fared.

Any bumps and bruises?

How is the staff?

Did you have to let anyone go or did you hire people?

Acquire any ailing businesses?

Shut the doors of your business?

Participating in any economic stimulus programs/contracts?

The recession has affected everyone in a different way and I would like to hear your story.

Sharpen your pencils and get out your marketing plans, because the government is looking to provide contractors with a new tactic to sell energy-efficient heating and cooling systems — higher energy costs. They didn’t mean to, but in their effort to protect the environment with a carbon cap-and-trade bill (H.R. 2454 American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009), the government succeeded in making energy potentially more expensive. According to the Associated Press, the early costs of the climate change law would be modest, pushing electricity prices up a mere 20 percent by 2030. When studied by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) at the request of U.S. Reps. Henry Waxman and Ed Markey, H.R. 2454 was found to be easier to afford this side of 2020, but that more substantial energy price increases were established by 2030.

Now, instead of throwing your hands in the air and ranting about the cost of doing business, let’s discuss the opportunity in front of you to possibly increase sales. Residential and commercial customers are all concerned about energy, but armed with proof, you as the contractor can show them that the extra money spent up front on a higher efficiency unit is truly going to pay off in the long run.

I am not suggesting you scare your customer into higher efficiency equipment, but the customer will most likely appreciate being educated on what is to come.

The Senate is expected to return a vote sometime early this fall and there is no telling what changes will be made before the bill is passed. There is one thing for certain though; energy prices are on the rise.

Four years ago I began working in the HVACR industry. I knew the terms hot, cold, sticky, and ductwork. After being immersed in the terminology and technology, I have found that while the rest of the girls are checking out the tile color in my friend’s new apartment bathroom, I am standing in the utility closet wondering why the HVAC system hasn’t been upgraded since the Reagan administration.

Needless to say, I wasn’t surprised that when I got a new thermostat about a month ago, I was excited.

I plugged it in, programmed it, and off it went, controlling the indoor comfort of my domicile. The new thermostat and the old thermostat are the same brand — set exactly the same way. I noticed, however, that with the new thermostat, I am often too warm. Thinking this was all in my head, I got out the old thermostat and placed it directly above the new one for a few days to see what it read.

And after a month of comparisons, I have come to the conclusion that something is definitely not right.

The problem is what?

The new thermostat reads 71˚F and the old one reads 72˚. When the old one read 71˚ I was comfortable. When the new one reads 71˚ I am sometimes comfortable, but more often too warm.

Did I miss something? Which is correct, and why is my once perfectly comfortable home too warm now that I have upgraded my thermostat?

Although I am not a wholehearted subscriber to the “sky is falling due to CO2” doctrine, I am learning new things about the environment that seem to be based in solid science. Take the Hawthorne Effect for example. Coined from a behavioral study done between 1924 and 1932 of the factory workers at Hawthorne Works in Cicero, Ill., scientists learned that the workers automatically improved the behaviors being measured strictly because they were being measured. This observed phenomenon has potential for environmental advances, especially when it comes to built environment applications. Once the HVACR industry began measuring IAQ, duct leakage, and now usage patterns, etc., it found ways to improve system efficiency via controls and more advanced equipment. Applying the ideas of the Hawthorne Effect to the environment has, on some levels, improved HVACR efficiency and resource usage.

Another new term I have recently learned is biomimicry. In essence, it is the imitation of nature, which operates in cycles. As an industrial throwaway society, we primarily operate in a straight line, not a circle, according to The Story of Stuff at www.storyofstuff.com. I have been known to use the phrase “tree hugger”, but this video’s scientific argument discussing the industrial process is the first piece of environmentalist information that actually made logical, scientific sense.

These environmental problems have been identified for a long time, but the most effective solutions are complex and an overall solution will likely require a new step in foundational productivity. I learned this phrase during Daryll Fogal’s keynote technology address at the Honeywell Users Group Symposium in Scottsdale, Ariz. Fogal, Honeywell Building Solutions’ vice president of Engineering and Technology, explained that when “you build stuff and it stays built, that is foundational productivity.” It helps slow down the industrial line on which society is currently stuck.

The three terms — Hawthorne effect, biomimicry, and foundational productivity — are finding a place in the HVACR industry as it endeavors to improve efficiencies from manufacturing to installation to preventive maintenance.

I am not quite ready to give up my plastic water bottles and grocery bags…but I’m thinking about it.

I don’t get a chance to watch too much TV, but recently I have taken some time to relax in front of the tube. The most annoying thing about watching TV is commercials, especially bad ones.

Besides insulting my intelligence and offending my personal standards, I am convinced that the makers of commercials think I am deaf. I have to crank up the volume to hear programming and then fumble for the mute button as I try to simultaneously plug my ears when the commercials begin.

The worst commercials on TV, however, are the local business spots. I am talking about Bob Salesman who went out to the car lot with a man dressed in a gorilla costume and an immense amount of triangle shaped flags, and then spent 30 seconds hollering about how glad he would be to get me into a new car. The commercial is obnoxious, annoying, and unbelievable.

As HVAC contractors, your customer audience experiences many of the same things when they are watching TV. I know you have a great product, are professional, and have the customers’ best interests at heart, but if you’re running TV spots, have you considered what your commercial is saying about you?

Television commercials can be a great marketing tool, but the next time you find yourself annoyed at some ridiculous piece of marketing, take a second to watch and consider what impression your different marketing tools are leaving with your customers.

In the meantime, I am considering investing in a DVR.

Is anyone keeping count of how many celebrities have legitimately died in the past few weeks? I ask this, because rumor has it that fake celebrity death announcements are gaining popularity. People are headed towards the Internet armed with rumors and suppositions all for the sake of clicks.

The federal government can be guilty of much the same game. It allegedly doesn’t start rumors, but nothing stopped President Obama from lauding the passing of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 as nothing short of the hope of our global future. He made it sound like this legislation was already a law.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, whichever side of the H.R. 2454 bill you are on, the bill only passed in the House of Representatives with a vote of 219-212. That leaves the decision up to the Senate.

Most of the HVACR industry associations have had plenty to say about this bill. Some say it is rushed, a disaster, a terrible piece of legislation that “chaos would result from enactment.” The bottom line? Everyone has something to say about it, not many know what they are talking about, and very few are telling the unbiased truth.

The Senate is currently reading over the House bill and “marking it up.” They are expected to vote on it sometime in the late summer or early fall. Until then the American public is left to churn the rumor mill and continue clicking away at political and pop culture rumors.

I’ll keep you posted as this bill continues to develop. You let me know when you find out if Harrison Ford or Brittany Spears have actually died.

I got a letter in the mail a few weeks ago from my health care provider. The fine physicians, statisticians, and financiers at BlueCare Network wanted me to have my cholesterol tested. Apparently they have decided it costs more to take care of someone once they are sick than it does to invest in a little preventive maintenance.

Sound familiar?

Honeywell has been prescribing this same philosophy for quite some time. Its Global Service Response Center (GSRC) provides “maintenance, health, and wellness of the systems it services.” The multi-functional support center offers service dispatching and installation scheduling; remote HVAC and energy diagnostics and troubleshooting; and a help desk.

“Emergency calls cost a lot more than a standard service call,” said Tom Sumner, head of the GSRC, during a breakout session at the annual Honeywell Users Group (HUG) meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Addressing the preventive maintenance of the built environment is the focus of the GSRC, one that should save its customers money. Consider it health care for a building.

Thankfully my cholesterol is normal and my doctor will not be haranguing me to eat more fiber during my next scheduled visit.

I benefit from this health status report, and end users will benefit from knowing how healthy their building or residence is as well.

Let the U.S. government and the American Medical Association duke out “socialized health care” and federal budgetary woes. For now, try a preventive maintenance stance with your customers and see what they think about saving money.

I have recently been accused of using my blog space to bash science. A few people didn’t appreciate my quoting of the 31,478 American scientists who signed a petition questioning the validity of global warming.

Granted, I should have checked a little further into www.petitionproject.org, but finding absolute proof that global warming is a myth was not my aim. I merely intended to raise the question, what if popular science is wrong? I was hoping to get the HVACR industry thinking.

After all, the climate legislation spawning from the “global warming crisis” will profoundly affect the equipment being produced and installed.

Now, let’s not panic. Change can be a good thing. Take a look at the new Wi-fi equipped coffee house atmosphere McDonald’s has created. I admit I scoffed when the remodeling began, but I enjoyed conversing with a friend the other day in this new atmosphere. Who’d of thought McDonald’s could pull off a middle class coffee house with flair? The play area is still annoying, but that goes without saying.

As a writer, I am always interested in a good story, but as an editor for The NEWS, I am interested in the whole story, even when it comes time to question popular science.

Despite the intense push for change coming from President Obama, it is important that the nation’s lawmakers take the time to research and implement change correctly. Please, no writing in the margins of the bill this time. America’s pocketbooks can’t take anymore stress.

Thanks to those who pointed out the shortcomings of the Petition Project. I truly appreciate hearing both sides of the story.

Here is another interesting little tidbit that consumers — your customers — are hearing from some of the general media in regards to energy and cost savings for this cooling season. In an article titled “Portable Air Conditioners Bring Cool Relief to Sizzling Energy Bills,” at www.prweb.com, Steven Hong, president of Sylvane.com offered portable air conditioning units as an alternative to running the entire central air system.

“These appliances [portable air conditioners] help consumers save energy and money by allowing them to shut down their central air conditioning systems and instead cool only the rooms they use the most,” he advised. “Financially, it doesn’t make sense to cool every room in the house if you only spend time in your living room and your bedroom, for instance.”

Call me naïve, but I don’t think this is quite what President Obama had in mind when he started talking about energy savings. Granted, Sylvane is selling a product, along with other portable IAQ and home comfort devices, but perhaps it is time for you — as the professional contractor — to expand your current marketing program. If a consumer considers Hong’s suggestion a viable and cost-effective solution, what type of argument are you able to offer to these misguided customers?

You and I both understand that Hong hasn’t really provided a whole-home solution. We also understand that he hasn’t addressed IAQ, humidity, or efficiency. But the customer understands saving money and in a tight economy, saving money often trumps saving energy.

I can hear you laughing at me now. The HVACR industry has laughed at other “indoor comfort solutions.” Do you remember when the Ionic Breeze hit the market with its promises? Contractors never thought that consumers would go for that product either. Need I say more?

We throw efficiency numbers, IAQ, and best practices information around all the time. You the contractor, me the editor, we have an understanding. But what about all those “other” sources advising homeowners how to save money, be energy efficient, and improve IAQ?

Take HealthNewsDigest.com for example. This source for information offered a list of tips from Dr. Neil Schachter, past president of the American Lung Association of the City of New York, to help homeowners “breathe easier”.

This list included avoiding some common household cleaners, adding houseplants, turning up the air conditioning, changing air filters (never mentioned an electronic air cleaner), and turning off the humidifier.

I am by no means an IAQ expert, but I think it is time for the voice that homeowners are hearing ring loud and clear be the voice of the HVACR contractor. No offense Dr. Schachter.

If you wholeheartedly accept that global warming exists and that we humans caused it, I am curious as to whether you ever considered that Al Gore lied and science backed him.

I’m not saying he did, but maybe his “Inconvenient Truth” was more of a convenient exaggeration. There are folks out there making solid arguments that global warming is a myth.

In fact, there are 31,478 American scientists, including 9,029 with Ph.D.s, that have signed a petition saying, “There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate.” You can see their argument at www.petitionproject.org.

Let’s suppose that Gore is wrong and global warming is a myth. Why was it created? Who stands to gain? I don’t think it is the American people or the HVACR contractors currently clamoring to jump on the green bandwagon. And is anyone monitoring the carbon cap-and-trade talks in Congress? This sounds like the wave of the future and the protection of the American people, but I am afraid the temporary jolt to the economy may just be bracing it for a sudden impact if the public hangs its hat on carbon credits and green propaganda.

Who is looking out for the public and the HVACR contractor as Congress legislates efficiency standards and carbon emissions? And who checked Gore’s facts? He may have “invented” the Internet, but his global warming theories just might leave us all out in the cold.

The next time you hear someone say, “HVACR contractors aren’t tech savvy,” send them to www.blackallmech.com. Not only do they incorporate video into their well-designed Website, but they also communicate with some of their customers via video.

Mark Geiger, vice president of sales and marketing for Blackall Mechanical Inc. in Dallas, sent me one of those face-to-face videos to comment on my March 9 article, “Contractors Market With Social Media.” 

It was interesting to actually see Geiger and hear what he had to say about the applications his company is using to further its marketing reach. Social media territory may be new for the HVACR industry, but one social media facet, Facebook, has reached 200 million users and is continuing to grow. Its demographics are shifting some too. What began as a college-age phenomenon is showing exponential growth in the 35-54 age bracket and is becoming even more popular among women.

Geiger’s company uses Facebook to generate revenues by making online connections that eventually lead to solid referrals as well as providing a viral market effect. Sounds like an excellent place for just about any HVACR contractor to start finding potential customers.

Blackall is also using video to compete for customers’ valuable time. Be it video, Facebook, Twitter, or texting, let us know what you are doing or thinking about doing to enter the social media realm.

As Linus Pauling, Nobel Prize-winning scientist said, “The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.”

Check out Geiger’s video here: http://blackallmechtv.com/AngelaHarris.

Not to sound like a stereotypical female, but why don’t we talk like we used to when land lines and fax machines were the primary modes of communication? Was it something I said or didn’t say? Is there another magazine? Is it because I use new technology to communicate with you?

I blog, Facebook, Twitter, and text, but you are still rather quiet on HVACR matters. Just because I am working with new technology doesn’t mean I don’t still want to talk to you. In fact, I am rather socially inclined. I want to hear what you have to say about legislation, installation, ductwork, refrigerant phaseouts, etc. I want to hear your side of the story, even if it is to tell me off or just to agree with me.

And I am not the only one wanting to hear from you, the reader. The NEWS has six other bloggers, a Facebook page, a group on Facebook, Mike Murphy’s Twitter following, calls for information on our microsites, and countless polls and surveys laced throughout www.achrnews.com. We are working hard to implement new technology to improve the quality and the quantity of our communication with you.

I still answer my phone and the fax machine continues to work, but I am hoping someday soon my readers will become a little more socially inclined.

Looking towards the busy season, contractors from across the country may run into a repair this year that is not usually on the list of standard maintenance — corroded copper coils.

Residents, in Southern coastal areas especially, are finding that their a/c units aren’t the only thing corroding. Copper wiring, fixtures, etc., are experiencing this phenomenon as well.

According to multiple reports from local news and health departments in Florida, Texas, Nevada, and more, shipments of tainted drywall from China are allegedly emitting sulfur dioxide that is causing ill effects on the hardware and the occupants of the home.

So far, the only fix is to gut the house, install new drywall, and replace or repair any wiring, appliances, or other materials damaged.

Who is going to pay for all of that? Should the homeowner, the drywall installer, or the drywall manufacturer? Are sulfur dioxide damages even covered under homeowner’s insurance, or should the damaged coil be covered under manufacturer warranty?

Southern residents aren’t the only ones experiencing this issue, and where initially some a/c manufacturers may have been willing to replace the coils, as this problem becomes more widespread, some are deciding that it is not a warranty issue and will not be covered.

Class action lawsuits are already being filed and much research has begun, but as a contractor on the frontlines of home comfort, IAQ, and customer service, how are you going to handle this situation when it arises?

And, what do you do for your customer until somebody comes up with a solution?

President Bush may have identified terrorism’s Axis of Evil in 2002, but it is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that has identified the atmosphere’s Axis of Climate Evil in 2009. In a proposed finding issued in mid-April, the EPA declared that greenhouse gases contribute to air pollution and possibly pose a serious threat to public health and welfare. The six members of the Axis of Climate Evil — carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride — were declared based on a “rigorous, peer-reviewed scientific analysis by scientists around the world” that was ordered in 2007 by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The proposed endangerment finding states, “In both magnitude and probability, climate change is an enormous problem. The greenhouse gases that are responsible for it endanger public health and welfare within the meaning of the Clean Air Act.”

The analysis went so far to as to propose that climate change also has “serious national security implications.”

Sounds like trouble is on the horizon for these six. The HVACR industry may not have to worry too much about the six members of the Axis of Climate Evil, but it does need to concern itself with the climate change laws being proposed to combat them. The findings are for public comment and once the final findings have been issued, let the regulating process begin. No regulations were included in the current proposal, and of course, “Before taking any steps to reduce greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, EPA would conduct an appropriate process and consider stakeholder input.”

Can anyone figure out what the government means by “appropriate”?

Global climate change, commonly referred to as global warming, is shaping much of the policy currently being formed on Capitol Hill. These new policies are packed with more sunshine than can be soaked up by a California raisin. For HVACR contractors, this is a good thing. When the general public expresses concern for the environment and their pocketbooks, contractors have an opportunity to assist them in their effort to “save the whales” and the Benjamins. So what is there to worry about?

Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigerating Institute’s Don Davis, vice president of government affairs, offered something for the industry to concern themselves with as environmental legislation continues to pour from Washington — “Socially aggressive people, applying socially aggressive policies to technical applications.”

Consider this the next time you jump on the global warming bandwagon and keep an eye out for regulation that surpasses consumer demand.

I recently returned from Washington D.C., where the media spent much of its time prattling about AIG bonuses. Despite this temporary distraction, the overall clamor heard from Capitol Hill is that of change, and the clanging is much louder than the few coins you have left in your pocket after paying your taxes this year. How the change will effect the HVACR industry remains to be seen, but the new tax incentives for consumers to purchase high efficiency equipment seems promising. Well, until you take a look at some of the increased efficiency requirements in order for the equipment to qualify for the tax breaks — 16 SEER matched with 13 EER on central a/c split systems, for example.

This issue came up a few times during the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute’s annual Public Policy Symposium held March 18 and 19. The general consensus of the represented manufacturers came down to one statement. “In essence, you have just given everybody a tax break on a Maserati.”

In the midst of an economic downturn, who can afford a Maserati? And, where is the financing going to come from in the tightened credit market? I’m all for change, especially if it makes it into my pocket, but the promises of the economic stimulus package are based on a lot of “if, then” conditions.

So, instead of hearing promises, I want to hear solutions. Knowing what political and financial tools you have available, what are you the contractor going to do to make sure the economic stimulus adds more than change to your bottom line?