The fifth fuel, as it is referred to in environmental circles, is energy efficiency. Oil and gas dependency is old school. Who wants to be at the mercy of the Middle East, Russia, or Hugo Chavez? A single bomb dropped on Iran will make $100/barrel oil look cheap - so says my chief energy advisor, who must remain anonymous lest he start charging me for stock tips.

It would be great if this much-needed industry (hey, everyone needs to be cool inside, warm inside, and refrigeration, right?) could duplicate the successful American advertising campaign created by the advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners for the California Milk Processor Board in 1993, which was later licensed for use by milk processors and dairy farmers.

Now you see it, now you don’t. I’m talking about copper. One minute the tubing is there and the next minute it is not. Copper thieves are as common as bees on honey, as flies on… Oh well, you get my drift.

I just saw a comment from a visitor to www.achrnews.com that accused our magazine of being “a shill for the manufacturers.” I think he was only partially correct. He should have said The NEWS is a “shill” for the industry and I would have been honored.

I have to take time out to congratulate HVAC instructor Robert Stringham and some of his thoughtful students at Edison Academy in Alexandria, Va. Stringham, students, and some staff members were scheduled to put on their third (and final) carbon monoxide awareness workshop Saturday (Oct. 27) at the Lowe’s store in nearby Woodbridge, Va.

As the HVAC world becomes ever-more enveloped in the green wave, it seems that the focus of many companies is on environmental concerns. No problem with that. However, what about refrigerants? The HCFC changeover that begins in 2010 has actually already begun.

I give up. I surrender. Technology has beaten me down. I am coming out of my Baby Boomer closet and admitting that I cannot keep up with the tech wars.

Everywhere I travel these days I see green. At the HARDI convention, there were seminars on the Energy Star “whole-house” program and a new LEEDS Certification program for residential new construction.

I have to take time out to bring a little slice from the last International Service Leadership (ISL) Owner’s Conference, held in St. Louis Oct. 11-13.

The president of International Service Leadership (ISL) can certainly entertain contractor members. He proved that at the association’s owners’ conference held this past week (Oct. 10-12) in St. Louis. The affable leader had them, as the cliché goes, laughing in the aisles.

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