NEWS July 19, 2010 : Page 4

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RONAN Corporate Audience Audit Manager However, other sources of construction data reported declines in both the residential and commercial markets. According to the Air Conditioning Contrac-A tors of America (ACCA), its Contractor Comfort Index (CCI) for June 2010 was up one point over May. The CCI is a measure of contractor attitudes toward short-term economic growth. Industry Indicators Remain Stable, Construction Struggles ccording to recent reports from industry associations, the economic outlook remains stable and con-tinues to show signs of recovery. The June index was 69, up from 68 in May. Since the CCI was first calculated in February 2010, the index has gone up 25 percent. The CCI is calculated based on a survey of the association’s contractor members, who are asked how positive they feel about new busi-ness prospects, existing business activity, and expected staffing decisions in the short-term future. According to ACCA, when weighted and averaged into one number, a CCI of 50 or above reflects anticipated growth. In addition to the positive contractor report, comfort zone distributor sales were up in May. The Heating, Airconditioning, and Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) reported that North Amer-ican sales for the month of May were up nearly 8 percent from last year. This marked the third consecutive month in which overall distributor sales were up from the previous year. HARDI’s economic report stated, “While sales for the average HARDI member are still 5.4 percent below their year-ago level, the upward trend suggests ongoing improvement in the sales climate as we move through the newsline ASSOCIATION NAMES FIRST FEMALE PRESIDENT ■ BPI TO DRAFT FOUR HOME ENERGY STANDARDS ■ ©2010 JAKE ROHDY CORPORATE DIRECTORS TIMOTHY A. FAUSCH Publishing JOHN R. SCHREI Publishing RITA M. FOUMIA Corporate Strategy SCOTT KESLER Information Technology VINCENT M. MICONI Production LISA L. PAULUS Finance MICHAEL T. POWELL Creative HOLLY BANKS Marketing NIKKI SMITH Directories MARLENE J. WITTHOFT Human Resources EMILY PATTEN Conferences & Events BETH A. SUROWIEC Clear Seas Research BNP Media Helps People Succeed in Business with Superior Information 4 AIR CONDITIONING, HEATING & REFRIGERATION NEWS ■ July 19, 2010

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Industry Indicators Remain Stable, Construction Struggles According to recent reports from industry associations, the economic outlook remains stable and continues to show signs of recovery. However, other sources of construction data reported declines in both the residential and commercial markets. According to the Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA), its Contractor Comfort Index (CCI) for June 2010 was up one point over May. The CCI is a measure of contractor attitudes toward short-term economic growth. The June index was 69, up from 68 in May. Since the CCI was first calculated in February 2010, the index has gone up 25 percent. The CCI is calculated based on a survey of the association’s contractor members, who are asked how positive they feel about new business prospects, existing business activity, and expected staffing decisions in the short-term future. According to ACCA, when weighted and averaged into one number, a CCI of 50 or above reflects anticipated growth. In addition to the positive contractor report, distributor sales were up in May. The Heating, Airconditioning, and Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) reported that North American sales for the month of May were up nearly 8 percent from last year. This marked the third consecutive month in which overall distributor sales were up from the previous year. HARDI’s economic report stated, “While sales for the average HARDI member are still 5. 4 percent below their year-ago level, the upward trend suggests ongoing improvement in the sales climate as we move through the Summer months.” Additionally, the majority of HARDI members reported higher inventory levels in May, which was the first such occurrence since December 2008. When broken out by region, distributor sales were up everywhere except for the West. Noting that the data for the Western region has been erratic so far in 2010, HARDI’s chief economist, Alan Beaulieu of the Institute for Trend Research, commented, “Oregon and Washington had a horrible month for housing permits in May, with April to May declines of 16.9 percent and 11 percent, respectively.” Yet overall, according to HARDI, most distributors are seeing continued signs of recovery. Other general reports for May were not as positive. Residential data revealed that sales of new homes were down nationwide. According to estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, sales of new single-family houses fell 33 percent in May. In addition to the lackluster report from the residential market, the U.S. Census Bureau also reported that nonresidential construction spending decreased slightly in May. According to Anirban Basu, chief economist for the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), “The level of construction spending in May hardly changed from the prior month, and April represented an improvement over March. However, for the most part, [this] report should be viewed as further indication that the U.S. economic recovery continues to stall.” Basu noted that construction spending growth is still dominated by publicly financed projects, and private financing for construction has not returned. First Female President Named ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) installed new officers and directors at its 2010 annual meeting held June 26-30. The new president is Lynn G. Bellenger, PE, Fellow ASHRAE, partner, Pathfinder Engineers & Architects, Rochester, N.Y. Bellenger is ASHRAE certified as a Building Energy Modeling Professional and a High Performance Building Design Professional. She is the first female president in the society’s 116-year history. Bellenger’s presidential theme is “Modeling a Sustainable World,” and she noted that in energy simulation, daylight analysis, CFD and BIM software, there are powerful resources that can be used effectively in an integrated design process for new buildings and in analyzing retrofit opportunities in existing buildings. “Our biggest challenge is implementing integrated design in daily practice,” she said. “The traditional approach where the architect designs the building shape, orientation, and envelope and then transmits the drawings to the mechanical and electrical engineers for their design is a silo approach that misses the rich opportunities for optimizing building performance through a collaborative approach from the beginning. It is going to require a real cultural shift in our industry to transform the design process, and it’s a shift that has to occur if we are going to reach our goal of net-zero-energy buildings.” BPI to Draft Standards MALTA, N.Y. — The Building Performance Institute Inc. (BPI) launched four new standards initiatives for home energy performance and personnel certification credentialing. The new technical standards are intended to improve residential performance for air distribution, conventional insulation, air leakage control, and quality assurance inspection. Parties interested in helping to draft the standards are encouraged to contact BPI at standards@bpi.org with their contact information and background, indicating the working group in which they want to participate. Most of the meetings will be by teleconference; working groups plan to commence drafting standards Documents by July 30. “To be most effective, standards must undergo continuous improvement to incorporate methodologies and materials that enhance the end result in the field — namely the comfort, safety, health, durability, and energy efficiency of the home,” said Larry Zarker, CEO of BPI. “The newly formed working groups will allow for greater participation from stakeholders with a fair, open, consensus-based approach, while also allowing us to work faster and more effectively to bring new standards to fruition at the pace demanded by the rapid growth of the home performance industry.” John Manz, chairman of BPI’s Standards Technical Committee, added, “We have built strong teams to lead the way on these initiatives. Full participation and input from stakeholders across the home performance industry will add breadth and depth to our work and help ensure all the best practices are identified and incorporated into these standards. It will also allow us to identify challenges faced in the field so that certified personnel using these standards have the confidence, skills, and knowledge they need to overcome those challenges and install measures they know will work for the homeowner.” For more information, visit www. Bpi.org. ACCA Releases e-Book Manuals ARLINGTON, Va. — The Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) Educational Institute announced it will be releasing its technical manuals and standards in electronic format for e-readers. “Our technical publications are large, complex documents, and reconstructing them for electronic distribution is not a simple process, to say the least,” said Kevin Holland, ACCA vice president for business operations and membership. “And given the large size and reference quality of many of our publications, we don’t see print going away any time soon. But we have been talking with schools and training programs, as well as contractors, and there’s no doubt that we must continue to expand our publications and make them available through a diversity of distribution methods.” In June, ACCA made the first two of its publications available in electronic format. “Residential Duct Diagnostics & Repair” is a manual explaining how to diagnose problems with duct systems and the benefits of repairing them. “LEED, Follow or Get Out of the Way!” by Ellis Guiles is the story of how a commercial contractor discovers the profit to be made from green contracting. These manuals can be purchased and read on a computer, an iPad, an iPhone, a Kindle, an Android phone, or a BlackBerry. “Because we don’t want to require people to purchase a specific device in order to benefit from our publications, we are using the Kindle format, at least initially,” Holland said. “The Kindle platform allows for viewing and searching of books on just about every device possible, including a desktop computer, using free Kindle reader software available from Amazon.” Information on ACCA’s e-books (the first two of which are available for a limited time at more than 70 percent below the regular print price), including purchase and software information, is available online at www.acca.org/ebooks. According to the association, ACCA hopes to release all of its core manuals in e-reader format by the first quarter of 2011, and will continue to update www.acca.org/ ebooks as they are released. ASHRAE Revises Handbook ATLANTA — The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) revised its refrigeration handbook for 2010. “The 2010 ASHRAE Handbook – Refrigeration” covers the refrigeration equipment and systems for applications other than human comfort. It includes information on cooling, freezing, and storing food; industrial applications of refrigeration; and low-temperature refrigeration. “The handbook gives the industry a primer in a wide variety of refrigeration topics, such as storing and transporting fruit, cryosurgery, ice-skating rinks, slaughterhouses, and concrete dams,” said William McCartney, chair of the committee that oversaw writing of the volume. “While the handbook is primarily a reference for the practicing engineer, the volume is also useful for anyone involved in cooling and storage of food products.” While the entire volume has been reviewed and revised, the most notable change is the addition of two new chapters. Chapter 3, “Carbon Dioxide Refrigeration Systems,” describes the history of this “natural refrigerant” and why it is the subject of renewed interest today. Chapter 50, “Terminology of Refrigeration,” lists common terms used in industrial refrigeration systems. For more information, visit www. Ashrae.org/bookstore.

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