YOUR GUIDE TO GREEN PROFITS
WE FIRST GOT THE IDEA for
this publication at the Mechanical Contractors Association of
America Green Opportunities
Conference about a year ago. e
Green Opportunities Conference
was the brainchild of MCAA’s
past president, Dave Kruse of L.J.
Kruse Co. in Berkeley, CA. Dave
was prescient enough to see which
way the market was going and created a rst-class educational opportunity for his members.
It was an amazing conference with rst-class speakers like
David Allen of McKinstry Co. and Professor Tim Wentz of
the University of Nebraska. At a lot of conferences, you’ll see
people talking in the hallway or playing with their BlackBer-ries. Not here. e crowd was riveted. It was also young, a
contrast to what’s usually seen at contractor associations’
annual conventions.
Since then, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and talking
with some great advocates for the green cause, such as Mary
Ann Dickenson of the Alliance for Water E ciency, water
heating expert Gary Klein, and engineer and green book
author Jerry Yudelson. I’ve also had the opportunity to further my relationship with people such as John Koeller, P.E.,
who was the co-creator of the de nitive lab test for low-con-sumption and high-e ciency toilets. And with Tom Meyer,
P.E., the executive director and a co-founder of the Green
Mechanical Council, and Dan Chiles, vice president at Watts
Radiant and another co-founder of GreenMech.
In addition to the enthusiasm of Dave Kruse about the
green marketplace, GreenMech was another impetus behind
our starting Green Mechanical Contractor. And one of the
reasons for the formation of GreenMech, oddly enough,
was a bike rack. It seems that the U.S. Green Building Council gave LEED® points for bike racks while giving too little
respect to mechanical systems. GreenMech was formed as
both an advocate and as a training mechanism for contractors and service technicians through their association with
HVAC Excellence.
We envision Green Mechanical Contractor as a guidebook
to making money in the green market by presenting a selection of case histories, columns, resources and new products.
In this issue we’re presenting a road map to green, suggestions for some of the things you should do to jump into
the green contracting market, such as getting up to speed on
LEED and working to get a LEED-Accredited Professional
on your sta .
We have a primer on solar thermal systems that covers
some of the basic design elements and what solar systems
look like. We cover simple applications such as pool heating
or domestic water heating and then touch on more-complex
systems for combined water and space heating using a tank-type water heater or a tankless heater or boiler.
We have a terri c column from Steven H. Allen from the
training department of the United Association of Plumbers
and Pipe tters. Somebody has to install and service green
mechanical systems, and the UA has partnered with GreenMech and HVAC Excellence to provide such training to all
of its members. Steve talks about the Green Training Trailer,
developed by UA and the Mechanical Service Contractors
Association. e training equipment on board represents an
overview of the basic components of the emerging (and in
some instances re-emerging) sustainable techniques used in
both residential and commercial applications.
We have a column from Tom Meyer on contractor success
in a green world that’s packed with references that you can
use to get more information on sustainable building. O er-
ing products and services that solve people’s real problems
of energy costs is the key to success, Tom says. How does a
contractor do that? Drive the market.
Dan Chiles points out in his column that almost all of
America’s 130 million homes and buildings are energy, water
and resource hogs. Every building needs modern and coordinated green mechanical systems to make them e cient,
safe and comfortable.
We have two case histories that talk about how a residence
and an inn/restaurant underwent retro ts that slashed their
energy costs. e Griswold Inn in Connecticut installed a 98
percent e cient water heater that will save the owner money
now that his LP gas is costing $3.50 a gallon. A home in Massachusetts was the recipient of a sophisticated geothermal
heat pump system that will cut heating and cooling costs by
50 percent.
We explore water re-use systems, including using a
siphonic roof drain system on commercial/industrial buildings as an aid to capturing and reusing rainwater.
Finally, we have a product section with about 18 green
new products.
We’re planning issues of Green Mechanical Contractor for
2009. If you have suggestions or story ideas, don’t hesitate to
contact me.
