Due to escalating energy costs over the past several years, supermarket chains are exploring new equipment designs to reduce their energy consumption. This article provides a detailed comparison of a typical supermarket refrigeration system designed with air-cooled condensers versus one with evaporative condensing.

Bigger is better. All businesses must either “grow or die.” If you’re a small business owner, you might have been nodding along as you read those business maxims, agreeing wholeheartedly. After all, it’s what you’ve always heard. But according to Ed Hess, these “truths” are anything but.

Lucid announced a partnership with the Seattle 2030 District to provide energy and water monitoring for commercial buildings in downtown Seattle. Lucid’s Building Dashboard® will enable managers and tenants to track ongoing progress toward a 50 percent reduction in energy and water usage.

Bob and Tim were on their way to a no cooling call at a commercial building. When they arrived, they talked to the building manager and checked the thermostat. It was set at 72°F but the thermometer was reading 78°. Tim said, “The fan is running, so there is control voltage and the thermostat seems to be calling for cooling.”

Indoor air quality (IAQ) products such as germicidal ultraviolet (UV-C) lights, gas phase air purification, and photo catalytic oxidation (PCO) have given contractors a “one-two-three punch” to help customers battle allergens, pathogens, odors, and other pollutants commonly found inside residential and commercial buildings.

Along with underfunded corporate and public pensions, many union pensions are massively in the red. For employers who have union workers who participate in these types of multiemployer pension plans, the growing liability involved with withdrawing from pension funds presents a serious issue.

U.S. Bancorp and SolarCity have announced the creation of a renewable energy tax equity fund that will help to initiate the first phase of project SolarStrong, SolarCity’s five-year, nationwide initiative to provide existing privatized military housing with access to affordable solar power.

In this month’s troubleshooting situation, our customer’s description of the problem is “not cooling” and “blowing warm air,” and the equipment that is supposed to keep this residence comfortable is a split system that has been in service for 16 years.

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.