Economic recovery has been more U shaped than V shaped, but the HVAC industry is slowly turning upward, as evidenced in a recent rise in some equipment sales numbers reported by the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI). March’s overall year-to-date factory shipments of central air conditioners and air-source heat pumps reached just over 1 million units, a 7 percent increase as compared to March of 2009. Measuring heat pumps themselves, these shipments have also increased 7 percent over March 2009 totaling 385,717.

Heat pump usage, especially in regions and climates ideal for the technology, are growing. This growth, coupled with energy efficiency and economic concerns, is generating innovative technology and fresh approaches to residential and commercial heat pump applications.

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Grand Hall’s Factory Authorized Service Technician (F.A.S.T.) program designed to provide reliable and quality installation and repair service to Grand Hall’s water heating systems, held its first training session for the new Eternal Condensing Hybrid Water Heater in Chicago, during the year’s first quarter.

“The class was pivotal to our understanding of the new Eternal Condensing unit. Right now we can’t even keep the new unit in stock,” commented Bill Firestone, sales manager for Banner Plumbing. “The class was great. The style of the sessions is easy going and interactive. After finishing the class, all attendees had acquired the necessary expertise.”

Led by F.A.S.T. Program Developer Jim Firlein, the F.A.S.T Class involved over 40 contractors in the Chicago area and resulted in two full classes. By focusing the session solely on the new Eternal Condensing, attendees were able to gain complete understanding of the unit’s benefits and features as well as necessary installation knowledge.

The class is a supplement of the F.A.S.T. program which provides each contractor member with ongoing training, factory support and one-on-one instruction; thereby treating the members as employees of Grand Hall. In addition, participating contractors reap the benefits of lead generation from inquiries on the Eternal Web site where each F.A.S.T. member is indicated by a star symbol.

“At the start of the program there were nearly 300 participating mechanical contractors and that number continues to grow,” states Jim Firlein, Eternal’s Mid-Atlantic regional sales manager and F.A.S.T. program developer. “Previously, due to the full year warranty on labor, if these contractors got a call back within that year they would have to go back and fix the problem on their dime. Now we prepare the contractors to ensure everything is installed correctly the first time and the contractors are being reimbursed by Grand Hall – Eternal’s manufacturer – for their time.”

Another benefit of the program is Eternal hybrid owners who need installation, maintenance or repair know that when they call the F.A.S.T. contractor, they will have dependable service from someone who is specially trained.

By: Glenn Hurowitz

To offshore drilling advocates, the oil-soaked birds washing up on the Gulf shore are a regrettable sacrifice in our pursuit of a higher calling: energy independence. Oil is a nasty business, they admit, but to them, offshore drilling is better than continuing to buy our oil from hostile countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.

They imply that we have a choice between dirty bombs and dirty oil.

Nothing could be further from the truth: offshore drilling has never and will never make us less reliant on Saudis, Iranians, or Venezuelans. Whether we like it or not, oil from those countries is cheaper and in many ways cleaner than oil from deep under the sea — and until that changes, Americans are going to continue to use it.

A lot of that is because of basic geology. It’s easy to get oil out of the Saudi desert and other parts of the Middle East. Middle Eastern oil tends to sit in immense, highly concentrated pools close to the surface. Even though many Saudi oil fields have been in production for decades, there’s still loads of oil left. More oil comes from a single Saudi field, the Ghawar, than every country except the United States and Russia — even though Ghawar has been in production since 1951.

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The UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) recently declared that smart meters must be installed in every UK household by 2020 as part of the government’s drive to reduce the country’s carbon emissions. Yet reaction to the DECC announcement has not been universally positive: some are opposed to the concept of smart metering because of fears over costs, the security of their data and lack of choice as a consumer.

Smart meters – which display, store and transmit detailed data on energy usage between the supplier and the customer – are the central component of a dynamic, flexible smart grid, which will dramatically change the way energy is produced, bought, sold and consumed. In simple terms, the smart grid is a network that uses IT to manage the supply of electricity efficiently. Unlike the current, rigid grid, it enables greater consumer participation, giving customers the opportunity to interact with suppliers and other participants on the grid. Not only that, but immediate information about energy use and pricing incentives provides a more tangible, monetary incentive to us all to change the way we use energy.

Smart metering aims to encourage the customer to cut their carbon footprint by making them aware of exactly how they are consuming their energy, and, perhaps more persuasively, what that energy costs them. Of course, many of us already take part in car-sharing schemes, buy energy-efficient appliances and offset the carbon impact of our long-haul flights. So from a purely altruistic point of view, having a simple piece of technology in our homes that can help us cut carbon dioxide emissions sounds like a no-brainer.

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By: Jonathan Hiskes

Big Oil is nothing if not brazen, so while BP works to protect its tattered reputation in the Gulf, two Texas oil companies are on the attack in California. Their target is Assembly Bill 32, the most ambitious cap-and-trade climate plan in the nation, which was signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) in 2006 and is set to really kick into gear next year. Their weapon is a ballot initiative that would mothball the plan until state unemployment drops to below 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters (from a current 12.6 percent), which would effectively kill the plan for the time being.

Last week, a group turned in 800,000 signatures in support of the initiative, ensuring it a place on state ballots in November. Texas refinery companies Tesoro and Valerog an attack on Gov. Schwarzenegger’s signature and private donors have poured more than $1 million into the campaign. Clean-air advocates worry that figure could reach $50 million by year’s end.
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