Keys to keeping air compressor systems from putting downward pressure on the bottom line.

Compressed air is used throughout the manufacturing industry in a multitude of applications. When compressed air systems aren’t operating at peak efficiency, they become a huge drain on the bottom line. Air systems are vulnerable to energy waste, leaks, contaminants, pressure variability and artificial demand. Problems might be attributable to incorrect piping, high operating temperature, poor condensate control or other detrimental conditions.

Installation and maintenance performed in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications should alleviate many of these issues. When problems occur, seemingly minor adjustments often can save a plant thousands of dollars.

Ed Bishop
If you have a heating or cooling systems that uses air ducts, you could have a problem.

There are many duct systems that are poorly designed and installed that have the ability to bring pollutants into your home.

Some are ducts are located in wet or damp crawl spaces and basements.

I've seen some of these areas and some look like an open sewer.

Having ducts that are not properly sealed or insulated in these locations can draw moisture, mold, bacteria and even carbon monoxide into the building.

Unsealed ducts have the same effect as opening a hatch to these ares, the only difference is that you don't see it and the fan from the heating or cooling appliance will force more of the pollutants into the living space at a much higher rate.

This year's surge in gasoline prices was a reminder that America's energy policies have failed to promote the development of alternative fuels with the urgency needed.
Wisconsin has an opportunity to start correcting that failure by jump-starting the use and production of ethanol, an alcohol fuel that in the United States is made chiefly from corn, a home- grown crop.

The state Legislature should take advantage of that opportunity by requiring that most gasoline in Wisconsin be blended with ethanol to produce E10, a fuel that is 10 percent ethanol.

By increasing the demand for ethanol, the E10 proposal has the potential to expand ethanol production in Wisconsin, creating jobs and income. E10 also shows promise for reducing the pump price for consumers, and it can enhance energy security by developing renewable energy to cut our dependence on imported oil.

By now everybody knows climate change is with us. The scientists are saying so. Government departments are saying so. Even big business is saying so. Most nation states are saying so. Even countries like Australia, the world's biggest coal exporter and the US, the world's biggest global warmer, who both refused to be party to the Kyoto Protocol, acknowledge climate change is upon us. Everybody's also acutely aware of the likely scenarios that climate change will bring if it goes unchecked _ more frequent hurricanes, landslides, flooding, drought, glacial retreat, rising sea levels, community displacement, starvation, environmental degradation. So when the 149 signatories to the Kyoto pact sit down in Montreal for the first time on Nov 28 it's to be hoped that they realise the magnitude of the responsibility they have to lead the planet towards some semblance of a solution.

As soaring prices for oil and natural gas drive more Americans toward alternative fuels to stay warm this winter, environmental watchdogs are awakening to the unhealthy effects of the pollution from burning wood in the home.
Scientists have long known that wood smoke contains carbon monoxide and cancer-causing chemicals. But research shows that wood smoke's major ingredient — tiny particles of soot and liquid pollution — worsens heart disease and triggers asthma attacks.
This "particle pollution," also emitted by diesel engines, kills thousands of Americans a year. Alarmed by such findings, and required by federal law to cut particle pollution, officials across the USA are trying to reduce the smoke from the nation's 37 million home chimneys and 10 million wood stoves.

Jonathan Chase
Those who are plagued by allergies are always struggling to diminish those irritants that cause watery eyes, runny noses and rashes that sometimes translate into full-blown hives. These and other symptoms can be brought about by a number of contaminants that infiltrate the very air that people breathe within their own homes. If you're among those who are constantly being attacked by airborne allergens, there are some positive steps that you can take in order to reduce or eliminate the elements that are the catalysts to allergy attacks.

Dust mites are the cause of many allergic reactions, and must be eliminated from their most common breeding areas in order to find relief. Since they tend to live in warm and humid places, items such as beds, carpets and upholstered furniture are prime breeding grounds for those miniscule insects. Living on the skin cells that people and their pets shed, they deposit their waste in all of the areas that they gather, wreaking havoc with allergies.

from Ledger-Enquirer.com

• Look for drafty places on your house. Seal up cracks around doors, windows and electrical outlets on outside walls. Use draft dodgers to block incoming cold air.

• Add insulation as needed in walls, ceiling, attic and crawl space.

• Layer windows using shades, blinds or curtains. Add thermal liners to curtains. Close shades and curtains at night and open them during the day.

• Install storm windows or use plastic window insulating kits. Replace old windows with low-e (or low emissivity windows).

By Christopher Solomon

The unrelenting rise in oil and natural gas prices is about to run headlong into the steady approach of winter. Oil prices have roared to fresh record highs each time the U.S. government reported another fall in heating fuel stocks ahead of winter. World prices have surged on fears that the United States is running out of time to build winter fuel supplies.

The Energy Information Administration forecasts that households in the Midwest could spend 71% more this winter for natural gas and 40% more for propane than last winter; those in the Northeast that use heating oil could spend 33% more; and Southern households could see a 17% rise in their electricity bills. Nationwide, we’ll see an overall increase of 24% in winter heat bills, the EIA forecasts.

Source Yahho! Finance

Event Sponsor Also Releases Study Citing Energy Reducing Solutions for California Builders

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., In a keynote address given last night, the former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, called for the U.S. to decrease its dependence on foreign energy and to pursue the development of new technologies to curb the country's appetite for foreign energy.

Gingrich spoke at The Beverly Hills Hotel to a gathering of approximately 200 California civic, business and political leaders as well as celebrities at an industry event hosted by Rinnai Corporation, the leader in tankless water heating technology.

Source
McGraw-Hill Construction

By Charlie Popeck

Many of the points available within the LEED Green Building Rating System are contractor driven, but none is more important to the overall health of the building occupants as the "Construction IAQ Management Plan". .
The intent of the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Plan is to prevent indoor air quality problems resulting from the construction / renovation process in order to help sustain the comfort and well-being of construction workers during the construction process, and also to protect the building's occupants after construction is complete and people move into the building.