Rants
OUTRAGE of the Month from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Taken from the March 2012 Issue of Free Enterprise Magazine produced by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Visit www.FreeEnterprise.com
Right to Work for Indiana
We need to turn Indiana Red!
Right to Work legislation seems to be successfully working its way through the legislature this year. A much better showing for our State than last year when the Democrat Caucus vacationed in Illinois rather than addressing the issue.
This is important legislation for all Hoosiers. From my position on the the MCEDC board I have heard that this issue is one of the few deterrents to business location or relocation in Indiana. This has been promoted by IDEC. This was also listed as a problem by one of our site selector consultants. There are many case histories such as the story of Oklahoma here which tell of how a state’s economic fortunes have improved after passage of Right to Work legislation.
With Speaker Bosma supporting it (you can sign a petition here) and Governor Daniels promising to sign it, there is a lot of muscle behind the current push. It would be a boon to Indiana’s economic development position.
Aside from that, I believe that it is a freedom issue. I worked in a closed shop factory for 30 days one summer. It was an eye-opening experience. I had no interest in joining the union. In fact I was generally in trouble with the union steward. The floor manager, who was not union, learned that if he needed some task completed quickly (if it was in my skill set) I would do it. That was unacceptable to the union members. I was taking someone else’s job! I had worked several summers at Easterday Construction before taking that job. I was taught there that I should do something even if it was wrong. Easterday Superintendents always told the labor that if you finish a task and don’t know what else to do, pick up a broom and sweep the floor. Boy, did that ever start a flap when I did that during one of the union’s unscheduled breaks! That basically got me “blackballed” and I was told that I would not be accepted after my 30 day probation period. Why would I want to join the union when I didn’t agree with their policies and they didn’t agree with my work ethic? Why did they have the right to keep me from that job? If they would have allowed me to remain, why would I want to contribute to their causes with which I didn’t agree? I should have had the freedom to work there, but I didn’t.
If you want to express your opinion on this, use the link above to vote on Brian Bosma’s page. This week there is a poll on the Pilot News website. Currently it is running more than 60% in favor. There is also information at Halt the Assault website here. And there is also information on the Indiana Chamber of Commerce website here. Join me in contacting our legislators to make this Law in Indiana! I’ve already contacted mine. If you don’t know who yours is, I’ll help you find them!
Happy Halloween!
I’m often accused of being a Bah-Humbug about Christmas because I get tired of it starting so early. Well this morning I kind of felt like my pumpkin friend here when I drove through town and saw the Christmas lights up on the streets and several of the stores that had already “Decked the Halls”. It’s Halloween today for Heaven’s Sake! Ooooooo… Scary red and white twinkling Christmas Bells on all the street lights! Isn’t that going to be nice for this evening’s Trick or Treating.
I was reminded that the Chamber is sponsoring “Christmas in Culver” next weekend, November 4th & 5th. Of course they are… I guess Thanksgiving went right out the window. Okay, I know how important Christmas sales are to retail merchants, but really??? What’s next? Maybe we should do “Christmas in Culver” over Labor Day weekend. You know we want to catch those Lake People before they leave for the winter…
I guess this saves time. We’ve been so busy this Fall that we didn’t get any Halloween decorations up. Now that I know we can just skip to Christmas I don’t feel so bad. Pretty soon we’ll all be like the people that we used to make fun of. You know, the ones that left their Christmas decorations up all year around? Ha! They were just ahead of the curve!
Germaphobia
I am surrounded by sickness here lately. Becky has been sick this week and is hacking and coughing and snotty when I go home. Will and Kathy are both hacking and coughing here at the office. Kathy has been making fun of me for wiping down my phone after she uses it!
For years I’ve been one of those people that wash my hands in the public restroom and then use the paper towel to open the door when I leave. Touchless is great, where everything is on sensors and my preference is for bathrooms without doors or with doors that open out, but that doesn’t always work. I’m not a big fan of the blower dryers for this reason.
Well, I’ve noticed that I’m apparently not the only one. More and more public restrooms have trash cans near the exit. (Keeps me from having to practice my basketball shot across the room!) I got a little vindication from Commercial Building Products magazine this month when I saw the picture here to the right. It came with the caption, “Mounting paper-towel dispensers near an exit door provides users the chance to protect themselves from any germs left behind by others. The conveniently located waste container makes it easy to keep used towels off the floor.” Good plan!
Indiana Energy Code
Last Wednesday I attended a presentation/seminar on the Indiana Energy Code presented by Associated Builders and Contractors of Indiana (ABC) and Newport Ventures. Newport Ventures is supporting the State of Indiana in the adoption of the new Indiana Energy Code by conducting stakeholder meetings, developing a compliance roadmap and conducting training on the new code.
The presentation was informative and will no doubt be useful. Though Easterday Construction would not normally be involved in designing the systems discussed, it is still good for us to have a working knowledge of these things. It helps us understand them when we find them on plans, it gives us the ability to discuss them with clients before the design phase begins, and it also allows us to take the best practices found here and apply them to situations where it is not necessarily required by code.
Some of the things presented were already prevalent in the industry as “‘Best Practices”. These mainly related to insulation standards, optimized framing and building envelope tightness. Others such as changes in electrical systems and HVAC systems for reduced energy consumption have been available, but it has been left to the Owner or Developer’s choice as to whether to pursue them. Many have been promoted by the U.S. Green Building Council and tracked in their LEED Rating System and Certifications in recent years. The Indiana Energy Code is based on standards developed by ASHRAE (The American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers). While LEED and ASHRAE share some goals, their standards vary, but suffice to say that following ASHRAE standards are usually the minimum requirements for a project path toward LEED certification.
I have no doubt that all of the standards presented to me on Wednesday will save energy, as defined by the energy necessary to heat, cool, light and generally operate the facility. I was dismayed that when I asked who was researching the Return On Investment (ROI) for these systems, I was told no one. Isn’t it a bit premature to put these practices into law without assessing the final cost? Apparently not, as this was part of a Federal program where Indiana received funds to implement this.
As part of the discussion, the changes to a building HVAC system were discussed. Additional zone divisions will be required. Additional duct sensors, motorized dampers, thermostats (7 day programmable thermostats with off-hour setbacks and controlled overrides only), ducted returns (no return plenums), economizers and heat recovery systems for fresh air intakes including CO2 sensors to determine optimum fresh air requirements and low pressure fan systems will also be required. Again, nothing here struck me as ineffectual for reducing operational energy consumption… But what does it mean if you look at it holistically including construction and maintenance?
- Additional electrical control sensors – additional things to break and things that the average maintenance man won’t be able to service. Optimizing the various control system will require a complicated set-up.
- Ducted returns will require additional sheet metal and associated installation labor.
- The low volume fan systems will require larger ducts and larger heating and cooling units. This could mean additional building height due to dead space between floors for duct work, larger mechanical rooms stealing usable floor space, etc. What about the costs of these additional materials, i.e. the bricks & mortar necessary to raise a building’s height to provide additional system space?
These are just a few of the things that came to my mind during the discussion. Things which could be project killers.
There is no question that Easterday Construction will comply with the new standards. It’s the law now. It currently applies to commercial and industrial projects in Indiana, but we will take what we consider the best of these things and discuss them with residential clients as well. Some of them make sense. Some of them that may not make sense to me today, may do so in the future. I sincerely hope that someone is doing the research to prove that the front end expense (in dollars and energy consumption) of complying with these regulations will pay for itself.
Our Customers Say…
MacKenzie Ledley - Executive Director, Pulaski County Public Library