As people spend more time at home due to the lingering effects of the pandemic, the buzzwords that come to mind are comfort and convenience. The influx of smart controls and thermostats can help fulfill these desires.

Smart thermostats offer preventive maintenance options and rebates for customers, but contractors should be sure to get educated — and educate homeowners — on utility rebates like demand-response programs.

When considering the multitude of HVAC thermostat options available on the market, who better to decipher the best from the rest than those responsible for their installation and operation?

Since HVAC contractors are usually the ones installing the systems, not to mention performing maintenance, when necessary, their opinions on comfort controls are not to be taken lightly

While government incentives, savings in utility bills, word-of-mouth, and increasing popularity have led to homeowner’s increased awareness of smart thermostats, there is still a lot of room in the market for growth.

A lot of refrigerant reclaimers aren’t charging for mixed refrigerants anymore, which may in turn, mean an opportunity for HVAC contractors to make more money.

ABC argues the rule could end up hurting legitimate contractors in the building trades, who are already strapped for workers.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church’s community center in the Tempe, Arizona suburb of Guadalupe now has state-of-the-art HVAC thanks to variable refrigerant flow equipment, accessories, and installation labor donations from RectorSeal, Panasonic Air Conditioning Group (a division of Panasonic Corp. of North America), and Woody’s Heating and Air Conditioning.

As HVACR technology advances, contractors often find themselves navigating new learning curves on a regular basis. VRF is no exception.

Over time, dirt, dust, pet dander, debris, and more accumulate in air ducts. And since the HVAC system works basically as a whole-home vacuum, all of that is recirculated through homes when the HVAC system runs, unless the ducts are cleaned out.

HVAC contractors should be prepared to sell geothermal to new customers regardless of any incentives.

Manufacturers and contractors are working to educate end users about the ways heat pumps work differently from traditional heat sources.

The moment for geothermal seemed to have arrived several times since the 1970s. A number of factors are forecasting wider use of this type of heating and cooling solution.

With the geothermal market enjoying an enormous surge in popularity due to financial incentives and its reputation for sustainability, now is the time for contractors to strike while the iron is hot and add geothermal to their offerings.

HVAC contractors could invest in all kinds of technology, ranging from tools to management systems, but often, the question lies with the payoff.

We asked our contractor advisory panel to weigh in on their most useful and effective tools used in the field. Here’s what they had to say.

Summer cooling season is in full gear, which means that both technicians and their tools are being kept extremely busy.

Selling products online is a whole new ball game. So, contractors will want to learn about their consumers buying journeys, and thoughtfully consider how to launch the online store, what products to sell, and how to market it.

Grocers are looking to their refrigeration contractor partners to be the experts and make suggestions about how they can transition smoothly to the new low-GWP refrigeration technologies.

Contractors who are embracing the technological advancements say ignoring a new neighborhood of home automation products could be a big mistake.

BIM technology has proven to be highly expedient for several HVAC plans, especially in terms of cost efficiency, time optimization, and effective planning.

Customer comfort is the top sales driver in the HVAC industry, or at least it should be.

How many of standard HVAC sales include add-ons like a humidifier, air cleaner, HRV/ERV, UV lights, or zoning?

What is the best approach to providing a holistic smart home experience for consumers?

Contractors and HVAC technicians can create a wealth of opportunities by adding residential HVAC zoning to their list of services.

For more HVAC contractors to sell zoning systems, they have to understand the benefits, challenges, know how to approach customers to even be able to sell it, and then comes the install.

His jacket was emblazoned with the logo of a manufacturer of high-performing heat pumps, but when I mentioned that we were thinking of getting one, the tech shot down the idea.

All-electric options have come a long way since their inception, and there’s never been a better time to get on board.

If contractors in colder climates focus on educating their customers on what new higher-efficiency furnaces bring to the table, often times the furnaces will sell themselves.

Due to a lack of training, time constraints, and numerous other reasons, many HVAC contracting companies are not performing combustion testing, potentially compromising customers’ safety.

In this episode, Arno and Michael take a look at Design by Contract, a programming technique formalized by Bertrand Meyer. The idea is that an interface is more than method signatures - it is also about specifying the expected behavior that implementations must provide. While some languages include direct support for this style of programming, it is a useful mindset when desiging interfaces even without such language features.

Kishore Bhatia discussed Ethereum and Smart Contracts with John Crain. Topics include: understanding the motivations for a decentralized computing model, Application architecture on Ethereum, development frameworks and tools. John’s experience developing and launching his own product Pixura on Ethereum mainnet, approaches,

Tim Coulter, the founder of Truffle (Ethereum DApp development framework) discusses the Truffle framework for Ethereum SmartContracts and Decentralized App development. Kishore Bhatia spoke with Tim Coulter about: Ethereum Decentralized Apps (DApps)...

Brendan Callum, engineering manager for the Pinterest developer platform team, discusses the "spec first" approach to API development and how it's different from "API first." Brendan speaks with host Kanchan Shringi about the challenges and advantages...

Video now circulating in Israeli media corroborates allegations from Palestinian detainees that Israeli agents at Sde Teiman detention center rape and torture prisoners.

Have you been interested in taking a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), but don't know where to find one or how to get started?

Class Central is a free MOOC aggregator that provides links to a wide variety of courses from universities like Stanford, MIT, Harvard, etc. (offered via Coursera, Udacity, edX, NovoED, and others).

The site allows you to search for MOOCs according to the course name, instructor, subject, start date, length of course, and course provider. Class Central also offers a "MOOC Tracker" service that will send you email notifications when a MOOC that is of interest to you becomes available.

MOOCs are a great idea for your students if your school doesn't offer advanced courses for a particular subject and they are also great resources for instructors and others. Try one and I think you will find out how they can be a benefit to you. I did!

This technical article provides a collection of the common drawings that are sent by the manufacturer to the client for approval and reference. The goal of these drawings is to verify that the transformers that are going to be manufactured... Read more

The post Contract drawings for a power transformer – The checklist you should always follow appeared first on EEP - Electrical Engineering Portal.

District heating is a system which provides a number of buildings with heat from a central boiler plant through pre-insulated pipes. Pre-insulated pipes are in fact a modern kind of heat culvert or district heating duct, but since these systems... Read more

The post District heating – Heat from a central boiler plant appeared first on EEP - Electrical Engineering Portal.

Passengers will be able to use their mobile phones as tickets from this spring London, 23rd April 2014 – Thames Clippers today announced that they have signed a five year contract with Masabi, the leader in mobile ticketing and payments for transit, to bring smartphone ticketing to its River Bus […]

The post Thames Clippers and Masabi to Launch Mobile Ticketing on Central London River Bus Services appeared first on Masabi.

Just as you do on-boarding for your own employees, you should also be sure your subcontractors understand your policies and philosophies.

How to get free insurance from the vendors that work for you as well as tips on how to avoid becoming an insurance company of last resort.

Company culture is important for any business; we look at the crucial role it plays in the restoration and remediation industry. 

113-24 : Final Contract Adjustment - Granite Real Estate Investment Trust Inc. (GRT) - Unit Reclassification and CUSIP Change

114-24 : Anticipated Contract Adjustment - SilverCrest Metals Inc. (SIL) - Plan of Arrangement

116-24 : List of Deliverable Canadian Government Bond Issues for the LGB, CGB, CGF and CGZ Futures Contracts

118-24 : Final Contract Adjustment - Primo Water Corporation (PRMW) - Special Cash Dividend

119-24 : New Equity Option Class and Share Future Contracts - South Bow Corporation (SOBO & FOJ)

122-24 : Final Contract Adjustment - Osisko Mining Inc. (OSK) - Plan of Arrangement

125-24 : Final Contract Adjustment - Stelco Holdings Inc. (STLC) - Plan of Arrangement

126-24 : Final Contract Adjustment - Stelco Holdings Inc. (STLC - STLC1) Plan of Arrangement (Follow-Up)