Explore trends and issues impacting our industry
It is inevitable that the growth of HFC (hydrofluorocarbon) use in industrial countries will soon level off and take a downward turn. Global climate predictions — and indeed, even current climate events — are growing ever more dire, which will increase pressure to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gasses of all types. In a sign
How utility demand response works In recent years, many utilities have started offering demand response programs designed to cut electric consumption during peak times of the day when electricity is in high demand. Each program is influenced by many factors, including the transmission system, the individual utilities involved, and the technology used to trigger a
In our last post, we looked at the potential for resilient infrastructure and began to consider how stakeholders of high-performance buildings have a strong hand in shaping such a future. The effort to generate support for investment in energy efficiency on the scale required for genuine resilience is, at best, a work in progress. And
In a 2015 article, the Center for American Progress (CAP) noted that resilience today is tied to new causes and consequences: “In 2013, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave America’s infrastructure a D+ rating and recommended increasing investment in infrastructure designed to ‘withstand both natural and man-made hazards.’” Simultaneously, the CAP reported that “the
Revolutions in the science, strategies, and prospects for building performance are happening faster than transformation of the American building stock. Within a decade the frontier moved from more energy-efficient building components to integrated buildings systems, opening dramatically new opportunities. Today the focus for strategic leaders is looking toward holistic buildings within systems-integrated communities that cut
If the United States is to maintain its dominance in technology innovation, we will need to continue to successfully compete in global markets. It’s as true for HVACR as for any high-tech industry; it means that we must be prepared to play by the same set of rules so that our products meet international norms.
Over the next 30 years or so, the world’s population is expected to skyrocket from about 7.6 billion today to more than 9 billion — and a resounding 70% of people, the UN estimates, will live in cities. This begs the questions: How will we prepare our infrastructure to accommodate such a shift? And, how
When we consider strategies for bettering our energy productivity — or increasing GDP while reducing energy use, we cannot overlook the importance of improving industrial competitiveness and building energy footprint throughout the United States. And it’s a goal we should not ignore; energy productivity is inextricably linked to our economic growth and energy security, and
As countries develop, their buildings improve in life quality performance and decline in carbon performance. Even if we ignore life quality issues that emerge in developed countries as buildings age but remain operational, the dominant conception of “high performance” is at best ambiguous. The defining trajectory of the past century or more is toward a
Accepting and implementing rapid change has become the norm across America. The growing depth of change in the building sector suggests that traditional resistance to change is not irreversible. Indeed, historical building industry practices are more likely the result of an information deficit than of things inherent to the market. Even knowledgeable building professionals remain