With increasing numbers of customers making green and energy-efficient decisions, it’s becoming even more important for HVAC contractors to pay attention to their customers’ air quality. “Adequate fresh air should be an equal priority to energy savings,” said Allen Rathey, president of the Healthy House Institute (HHI).
A while back we requested that you search the stacks of old NEWS issues in your offices and elsewhere, so we could find the oldest issue among our readers. We’ve heard from some folks with pretty old issues of The Electric Refrigeration News (our magazine’s first title).
The HVAC industry got a Christmas gift from the federal government in late 2010, when those energy efficiency tax credits were approved for one more year - although at the lower level of $500. Contractors have been using the credits to help give replacements and upgrades a quicker payback.
Aaron Rittenhouse is the senior solutions account executive with Brady Energy Services, a company that provides energy systems and building solutions for commercial and industrial facilities across North Carolina. The commercial-industrial-institutional contractor is preparing to become more deeply entrenched in the geothermal market.
Michael Montano, president of 1800Anytyme Plumbing, Heating, A/C and Electrical, noted, “The Internet has turned the direction of our marketing efforts upside down.” Recently the company pursued social networking and online reputation management, and it now gets more than 60 percent of its business from the web.
Are they programs or are they apps? To be on the safe side, let’s just call them tools. How have they been developing to meet specific needs within this industry? According to Brad Mathews, vice president of marketing, Dexter + Chaney, “The trend is that software development has truly focused on the service process.”
Christine Crane of Enterprise Selling Solutions Inc. recently introduced us to ACquotePro, a real-time, web-based selling tool that is said to allow contractors to quickly create customized proposals for every job, no matter the size. Contractors input their costs, desired profits, and financing needs, and the program figures out the rest.
For years, ASHRAE officials have been pointing out that the commercial and residential efficiency standards (90.1 and 90.2) should be considered a bare minimum of efficiency, and that they could in fact be made a great deal more efficient. A new code has upped the ante of building efficiency levels, and the message for contractors is to look at the building as a system.
Around mid 2010, North American Technician Excellence (NATE) named veteran association executive Peter Schwartz as its new president and CEO. His primary goal, he said, is “to elevate the value quotient of NATE certification, at all levels of the industry, as a requisite rather than an option.”
Commercial building owners and operators know their energy costs are high. HVAC-mechanical contractors know they can do things to help, but there is a disconnect between their offices, and it’s nothing more than a language barrier.