AECP MEMBERS RECEIVE NATIONAL AWARD
AECP members John and Joanne Langford, co-owners of J&J Weatherization, received a National Recognition award on December 12, 2007 from the Department of Energy at the National Weatherization Conference held in Orlando, Florida. John and Joanne have been weatherizing homes since 1980. J&J Weatherization – www.jjweatherization.com – is also a full service insulation contractor, energy audit specialist, and expert in home rehab and remodeling. They developed and operate a Mobile Home Weatherization training center at their offices in Lynchburg, VA. John Langford is a nationally recognized trainer and has been instrumental in providing training to several southeastern state weatherization programs. John and Joanne are charter members of AECP and Joanne currently serves as treasurer of the organization. Congratulations to John and Joanne Langford for their many years of hard work and dedication to making homes safer, healthier, more affordable, and more energy efficient.
Several other AECP members participated in the National Weatherization Conference as presenters or session leaders or both. These include John Bodtmann, Melissa Commins, Chris Heslep, Anthony Cox, Colin Arnold, John and Joanne Langford, Lisa Kesecker, Bob Adams and Billy Weitzenfeld.
CONGRESS PASSES NEW ENERGY LEGISLATION
On December 19, 2007, President Bush signed a new Energy Bill that emphasized energy efficiency. Highlights of the bill include the following:
- The legislation calls for a 40% increase in the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards (CAFÉ) by the year 2020. Cars and light trucks will be required to average 35 MPG and new standards for fuel economy for heavy trucks has also been set. It is estimated that when these standards go into effect we will save 1.1 million barrels of oil daily, billions of $$ in savings on gasoline and an annual reduction of 192 million metric tons of greenhouse gas.
- The new law contains many provisions setting new minimum efficiency standards for several appliances and equipment. Products for which standards are set include: dishwashers, dehumidifiers, clothes washers, residential refrigerators, residential boilers, electric motors, external power supplies, walk-in coolers and freezers, and many types of incandescent and halide lamp fixtures.
- There will be new standards for light bulbs, requiring that all bulbs use 25-30 percent less energy by 2014 and 60-70 percent less energy by 2020.
- Also included are new energy efficiency standards for federal buildings, new green building standards for new buildings, and a new initiative requiring the federal government to purchase more green and energy efficient products and to use alternative fuels with low carbon emissions.
There are several other provisions and the full legislation can be viewed at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h6
AECP CONTINUES TO PROVIDE HVAC TRAININGS
Since April 2007 AECP has worked with Central Virginia Community College (CVCC) to provide a series of trainings specific to heating and cooling systems and applications. The trainings are held at CVCC’s HVAC training facility and are open to all AECP members. To date we have had three trainings on heat pumps, single trainings on EPA certification for refrigerant handling, circuits and controls, oil furnaces, gas furnaces, electric furnaces and a two-day training in March on Manual J and Manual D. The trainings emphasize heating and cooling safety, efficiency, diagnostics and repair, installations, and code requirements. Mike Alderman, HVAC Associate Professor, has been the instructor for all of the trainings.
CLIMATE SECURITY ACT NEEDS SUPPORT
In late 2007 Senator Lieberman (I-CT) and Senator Warner (R-VA) introduced the Climate Security Act, which would require the gradual reduction of global warming pollution from transportation, industry, and power plants. The bill would also create funding for clean energy technology and for low-income communities who will be impacted by rising energy costs. Please go to the Natural Resources Defense Council website: http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/nrdcaction_121707
And follow the instructions to contact your Senators to request their support for this important bill.
ENERGY TIP
Replace five incandescent light bulbs with five compact fluorescent bulbs. If every home in the U.S. did this we would prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those produced by 10 million cars.