Blogs

Check out my post on some of the politics surrounding President Obama's Better Buildings Initiative to cut energy use in existing buildings.

In my years in this industry, I have learned that continual exposure to training is essential to success. With the varied types of equipment, power sources and technologies that we are deluged with daily, no one person is capable of remembering all of the key aspects of each variable we are charged with...

Reports from McKinsey & Company are not on the required-reading list for most facility managers. McKinsey is a consulting group that targets senior management, and they’ve made a name for themselves by analyzing opportunities and challenges that have strategic importance. Lately, McKinsey has...

At the heart of the House and Senate climate-change bills is cap-and-trade, a complex system that, put very simply, requires companies to pay for their greenhouse gas emissions. Opponents of cap-and-trade like to call the idea cap-and-tax. But the preferred alternative to cap-and-trade, in the eyes of...

It’s too late to prevent all the harm that will be caused by climate change, say some experts, so we now have to start dealing with the new risks. The idea of adapting to shifts in the climate is gaining momentum in the face of evidence that climate change is already taking place, and will continue...

Any fans of The Daily Show out there? Last week, Energy Secretary Steven Chu was Jon Stewart's guest to talk about the Waxman-Markey bill that just passed in the House, as well as other energy-related topics. One of those - which you almost NEVER hear on mainstream television programs - was about...

Indianapolis, IN Indianapolis based refrigerant producer ICOR International, Inc. announced in April the appointment of Mr. David F. Butler to the position of National Sales Director. Mr. Butler brings over 25 years of HVACR industry experience to the ICOR team including several years of service to the...

The Empire State Building announced a major energy retrofit. One goal of the project was to create a process that could be used by other existing buildings to balance profitability with carbon impact. Check out my blog here .

As a structure, the Empire State Building is about as far it as can be from the one-room schoolhouse. But the Manhattan landmark has taken on a little of the function of a little red schoolhouse. The Empire State Building is now a virtual classroom for lessons on how to plan and carry out energy upgrades...

On January 1st 2010, equipment manufacturers can no longer use R-22 in their air conditioning systems. The federal production and consumption allocation for R-22 (HCFCs) will be drastically reduced and the price will surely skyrocket. This will make servicing R-22 equipment even more expensive and in...

Barack Obama’s honeymoon period has already come to an end. Between concerns about the cost and content of the stimulus package and the administration’s bad habit of picking nominees who failed to pay their taxes, the glow that surrounded the new president has dimmed. Add in the other major...