In this month's RSES Journal Elements e-Newsletter, one of the stories discusses the serious flooding that has affected the middle-Tennessee area, especially Nashville, TN. The Cumberland River inundated portions of the city, and the devastation that has occured is going to take years of recovery - and a price tag that is expected to easily exceed $1 billion.
Unfortunately, to add insult to injury, many of those affected by the flooding will find it harder than ever to get their HVACR systems back up and running. That's because on April 22, 2010, the EPA passed a new requirement mandating that any contractor (and YES, that means all you HVACR folks out there) conducting a renovation or repair project that disturbs lead-based paint in a home, child-care facility or school that was built before 1978 MUST be certified and proceed according to specific rules to prevent lead contamination (the rule does specify that the area disturbed must be greater than 6 sq ft in a room, or 20 sq ft on the exterior).
Parts of the Opryland Hotel were literally under 10 feet of water, so I think it's safe to say that many buildings and homes are going to meet the criteria that requires certified professionals to perform repairs. The problem? There simply aren't enough certified individuals and companies available to do the work. In fact, by estimates in Tennessee, the state only has roughly 2,700 lead-certified contractors. That has led legislators to reach out to the Federal Government and seek extensions on a 35-day "grace" period - which the EPA just approved on May 25 - that allows non-certified individuals to perform work on pre-1978-construction homes and businesses affected by the flooding.
I have been talking via e-mail with one RSES Member who lives in the Nashville area, and he has shared that he spoke with a friend who retired from the Nashville Water Department. Apparently, what is happening right now is that they are fast-tracking residential inspections - just taking pictures - and showing the inspector. They (the contractor) is allowed to cover it up (fix the flood damage), but with the understanding that if the inspector comes back and wants it ripped out, they (the contractors) have to comply.
This is a sticky situation for all parties. If I'm a homeowner and my residence is flooded, I have no air conditioning and I need a new system installed, am I going to be happy about having that pulled out after the fact because the installation wasn't done by a lead-certified professional? If I'm the contractor who IS certified and does a good job, and I lose out on work to non-qualified "low-ball" bids as people rush to get their homes and businesses cool as summer approaches, what is the incentive for me to get certified in the first place?
I don't have an easy answer, or even a suggestion on it. But I welcome your thoughts. E-mail me at jiwanski@rses.org and let me know what you think. And if you are an individual down in that area, and have something to share, I'd love to hear it.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Never a "Down Time" for Learning
I attended an RSES state association event over the weekend, the RSES Michigan State Assn.'s semi-annual meeting. The program, which was held at the Bavarian Inn hotel in Frankenmuth, MI, saw nearly 50 HVACR service professionals gather to hear four-hour presentations on refrigerant alternatives (presented by Garth Dennison, CMS) and ECMs (in a presentation given by Nick Reggi, CMS).
Michigan, perhaps even more than other manufacturing-dependent states, has been hit very hard by the economic downturn of the past two years. I spoke with several individuals who talked about the cutbacks going on, and even scarier, the fact that the eroding tax base (as a result of population migration out of the state in search for work elsewhere) is starting to mean a cut in services for schools, municipalities, etc. "Do more with less" is becoming a way of life for many in the public sector there.
But despite these difficulties, it was encouraging to see so many people still attend this event. They wanted to find out about the latest energy-efficient technologies. People were encouraged by the fact that some new projects, at least in the light-commercial sector, were starting to help buoy the economic instability. There is a long way to go, but the optimism was palatable.
In that light, I found it even more interesting when Judy Zehnder, who is the fourth generation of her family to run the Bavarian Inn, addressed our group personally at our lunch. She shared some intersting information about the history of the hotel, and her family's philosophy for "doing it the right way, the first time, all the time."
Perhaps most interesting in light of her discussion with us was the disclosure she made regarding the hotel's HVACR system. Unlike most all chain hotels, the Bavarian Inn has moved all of its heat pump units, which supply comfort to some four floors of hotel rooms spread over a huge space, to a fifth floor addition. The hotel, in essence, created a whole floor WITHOUT rooms just to provide the proper mechanical ventilation, space, etc. for the equipment. I was justifiably impressed (and I'm working on the RSES Journal having a chance to cover that story in an upcoming issue.
After she spoke, I talked with Judy for a bit about the hotel, the decision to add the separate floor and what that has done for the facility. As she stated simply, "If you are in this business to sell quickly, that (adding the mechanical room floor) was the worst thing you could do. But we believe in the long-term, and this will provide us benefits and payback for decades."
There are customers out there like that, and there are technicians and contractors who can service those individuals. By promoting education and training, even in slow economic times, those parties still can find ways to meet. And I even learned something in the process.
Michigan, perhaps even more than other manufacturing-dependent states, has been hit very hard by the economic downturn of the past two years. I spoke with several individuals who talked about the cutbacks going on, and even scarier, the fact that the eroding tax base (as a result of population migration out of the state in search for work elsewhere) is starting to mean a cut in services for schools, municipalities, etc. "Do more with less" is becoming a way of life for many in the public sector there.
But despite these difficulties, it was encouraging to see so many people still attend this event. They wanted to find out about the latest energy-efficient technologies. People were encouraged by the fact that some new projects, at least in the light-commercial sector, were starting to help buoy the economic instability. There is a long way to go, but the optimism was palatable.
In that light, I found it even more interesting when Judy Zehnder, who is the fourth generation of her family to run the Bavarian Inn, addressed our group personally at our lunch. She shared some intersting information about the history of the hotel, and her family's philosophy for "doing it the right way, the first time, all the time."
Perhaps most interesting in light of her discussion with us was the disclosure she made regarding the hotel's HVACR system. Unlike most all chain hotels, the Bavarian Inn has moved all of its heat pump units, which supply comfort to some four floors of hotel rooms spread over a huge space, to a fifth floor addition. The hotel, in essence, created a whole floor WITHOUT rooms just to provide the proper mechanical ventilation, space, etc. for the equipment. I was justifiably impressed (and I'm working on the RSES Journal having a chance to cover that story in an upcoming issue.
After she spoke, I talked with Judy for a bit about the hotel, the decision to add the separate floor and what that has done for the facility. As she stated simply, "If you are in this business to sell quickly, that (adding the mechanical room floor) was the worst thing you could do. But we believe in the long-term, and this will provide us benefits and payback for decades."
There are customers out there like that, and there are technicians and contractors who can service those individuals. By promoting education and training, even in slow economic times, those parties still can find ways to meet. And I even learned something in the process.
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