Five Most Valuable Green Building Lessons

1. You should be able to achieve the same energy and water savings as any Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum building around the world, because there is nothing magical or geographically specific about good design.

2. A high-performance building stands out due to the commitment of the owner and building team to achieve “best-in-class” results. noted that the projects he studied were all LEED Platinum, which means they started with high-performance energy-efficiency and water-conservation goals, along with other green building measures.

3. High-performance design uses about the same energy everywhere in the world, said, from Northern Europe to the tropics. Typically, once a good building envelope and efficient HVAC system have been put in place, half the remaining energy use comes from plug and process loads, along with lighting, which tend to be geographically similar in most office buildings, leaving about 15-20 percent for heating and cooling loads to account for regional differences.

4. The best green buildings are just as beautiful as buildings with ordinary energy and water performance. One of the core tenets of the book, he stated, is that there is no inherent conflict between buildings with great architectural value and those with high-performance green characteristics.

5. Finally, the research indicated that there are no standard definitions of building energy use, and no good ways to “tease out” core energy use from special operations such as onsite data centers. In fact, in Australia, the authors were surprised to find that building energy use is typically reported only for the base building, leaving out tenant loads in commercial offices, a practice that dramatically understates actual energy use and one for which the book was able to account.

New refrigerator technology uses magnets, boosts energy efficiency

GE Appliances is developing magnetic refrigeration for residential use, a technology that needs no refrigerants or compressors and promises to increase the energy efficiency of refrigerators by 20 percent.

Magnetic refrigeration - technically called magnetocaloric refrigeration - is not a new concept, but it hasn't yet been used in residential refrigeration. That should happen within five years, the company said in a news release.

Here's how GE describes the technology:

"The system uses a water-based fluid rather than a chemical refrigerant such as Freon to transfer heat from inside the refrigerator and achieve the cooling process. Instead of a compressor, magnets are used to create a magnetic field that agitates particles in the fluid causing it to cool. The strength of the magnetic fields determines how cold the fluid becomes, and in turn, how quickly it cools the refrigerator."

The lack of refrigerant also will make recycling used refrigerators easier and cheaper, noted Venkat Venkatakrishnan, GE Appliances' director of advanced technologies.

When to replace a furnace

I hope your furnace is getting a well-deserved rest after this freakishly frigid winter. But you ask a great question: How can you be sure an older-but-operable unit can handle another heating season?

Highly rated HVAC experts tell our team that you should consider three factors before deciding if it's time to invest $2,500 to $5,500 in a new furnace:

- Age: A furnace has an average life span of 12 to 18 years, so if yours has been warming you for at least a dozen years, it may be time to consider replacement.

- Energy efficiency: Outdated furnaces generally use more energy than new models. Also, an older unit may be oversized, which can cause it to "short cycle," or turn on and off more often than needed. Upgrading to a newer, smaller furnace may reduce your energy bills and increase your comfort level.

- Problem signs: Signals that your furnace may need either a pro's attention or replacement include unusually high utility bills, rooms heating unevenly or a screeching or squealing noise, which may indicate a blower motor problem.

When considering if it's worth it to invest in a repair, remember this rule of thumb: If a repair will cost more than half the price of a new appliance and the unit is more than 6 or 7 years old, it's probably best to buy new.

If you decide to shop for a new unit, consider its AFUE number. AFUE stands for "annual fuel utilization efficiency" and is a measure of how efficiently a furnace converts fuel energy to heat over a typical year. A unit with an AFUE of 95 percent means that 95 percent of the fuel it burns becomes heat, while the other 5 percent is lost. The higher the AFUE, the more efficient the furnace.

Intelligent Mobile Support Customer Presents Axon at ACCA Conference Noted HVACR Contractor Cites Profitability Impact of Mobile Solution

SOLON, Ohio, March 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Within weeks of its launch, Intelligent Mobile Support's (www.imobilesupport.com) mobile solution, Axon, is receiving praise from users. One of the nation's most respected distributors, Gustave A. Larson Company (www.galarson.com), recently adopted the new technology, citing Axon's positive influence on new-customer recruitment and building loyalty with established contractors such as Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning (www.shavitz.com).

"Axon helps us differentiate ourselves from our competitors," says Gustave A. Larson Marketing Specialist David Blau. "It makes our customers' technicians more efficient in the field and gives them immediate access to our service advisors. Axon is a great marketing solution, too. We can send marketing messages via text or display banner advertisements while the service technicians are troubleshooting the equipment. IMS has developed an amazing product; we're very excited to share it with our dealer base as well as prospective business partners."

Axon, a smartphone/tablet application developed by Solon, Ohio-based Intelligent Mobile Support, is designed to streamline and strengthen the technical support process. It includes Hot Pages from OEM manuals to help technicians find installment and repair solutions quickly; Live Connect, a direct line to service experts, typically at the distributor level; and Dialog, which improves communications within a contractor's organization as well as between the contractor and distributor.

Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning's Service Manager, Brad Hunley, also saw immediate value in the new solution, and purchased Axon for every one of its service techs. The technology further impressed the company's CEO, Bronson Shavitz, who is presenting Axon as part of a seminar on Mobile Tech on March 18, 2014 at 2:30pm in the Washington B Room at the ACCA Conference in Nashville, Tennessee (www.acca.org/education/conference).

"Axon will help us eliminate service delays and prevent profit-eroding customer callbacks," says CEO Bronson Shavitz. "With Axon, we can tap into the service expertise of our entire company and instantly reach all of our distributor's service advisors. Axon literally delivers all of this service expertise to the doorsteps of every one of our valued customers. Yet as important as it is to our bottom line to eliminate service delays and call-backs in the short term, the real benefit is keeping our valued customers for the long term. At the end of the day, happy customers give us the word-of-mouth referrals that help us grow."

IMS offers free Axon webinars to contractors, distributors and OEMs interested in learning more about its capabilities.

Intelligent Mobile Support Intelligent Mobile Support (IMS) is a forward-thinking mobile cloud computing company dedicated to developing state-of-the-art solutions for improving profitability and productivity for business partners in the HVACR industry as well as other industry verticals. IMS is the only company that aggregates OEM content for the distributor and provides dealers with real-time access to distributor experts – all on a distributor-branded solution with a full suite of business analytics. For more information, visit www.imobilesupport.com.

Gustave A. Larson Company Gustave A. Larson Company is the Midwest, Plains and Mountain States' leading wholesale distributor of HVACR equipment, parts and supplies. Representing products from more than 440 leading industry manufacturers in commercial refrigeration, residential and commercial HVAC, food service and pressure/temperature controls, Gustave A. Larson has 350 team members serving customers in 17 states through 46 locations.

Bronson Shavitz, CEO of Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning Bronson Shavitz is part of the fourth generation of a 109-year-old family business that began delivering ice and coal from a horse-drawn carriage and has spent many family dinners talking way too much about HVAC. Starting as a parts gofer and install helper 16 years ago, Bronson has moved through the ranks delivering installation and maintenance services to both residential and commercial clients. Bronson returned to the family business after a brief stint as an Exxon engineer and found that this business was his true calling. Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning has shown steady growth for 10 of the past 11 years and relies on consistent technical training and customer service training of all staff members to continually improve the company.

Survey: 74 Percent of Contractors Unprepared for Efficiency Standards

As manufacturers help prepare the industry with new products to support upcoming regulatory changes, there is evidence that many contractors are not prepared to address these changes with their customers. A survey by Emerson Climate Technologies Inc., a business of Emerson, found that 74 percent of contractors are unaware of the upcoming 2015 standards for residential unitary air conditioning and heat pump systems. Nearly 80 percent of contractors are unaware of 2015 part-load efficiency requirements for light commercial split, package, and rooftop systems, and 84 percent are unaware of the 2015 chiller standards for air- and water-cooled chillers. Unlike the 2005 regulation changes, the 2015 changes will affect both residential and commercial efficiency standards.

The survey of 472 contractors, conducted via email by Emerson Climate Technologies in late 2013, found the majority of contractors were either unaware of the standards or had little idea how the standards would affect their businesses. Only 12 percent had started training their technicians or thinking about an inventory plan.

“This isn’t the first time the industry has gone through a SEER change or updates to residential and commercial efficiency standards, and Emerson Climate Technologies is ready with technology to meet and exceed minimum efficiency requirements. We want to help the industry get prepared for these changes, and we will be providing additional information on our new website, AC & Heating Connect,” said Frank Landwehr, vice president, air conditioning marketing, Emerson Climate Technologies. “We will continue to support the industry’s readiness with educational materials, technology updates, and insights from additional surveys.”

Emerson’s survey also found that for the residential changes, 18 percent of contractors had read about the transition and 16 percent had talked about the regulations with an OEM or distributor. Only 3 percent had started developing a marketing plan for the new standards.

On the commercial side, Emerson’s survey found only 8 percent of contractors had trained their service teams on the new rooftop or chiller standards. Very few, only 3 percent, had talked to an OEM about the changes. Four percent started developing a marketing plan to address these regulatory changes with their customers.

“Contractors cannot afford to be unprepared for these regulatory updates. They need to be researching the changes that are coming to their region; talking to OEMs, wholesalers, and manufacturers; and identifying opportunities for their businesses,” Landwehr said. “Now is the time for contractors to be actively seeking information from trustworthy sources.”