Improved Energy Efficiency In Central
Air
Offcuts
California Comp System Harmful to
Workers, Say Doctors
Big Builders Sell Big-Name Lifestyles
Prices Up for PVC, Asphalt,
Insulation
Ramping Up Cordless-Tool Voltage
New federal
regulations take effect this month
Central air-conditioning systems manufactured after January
23, 2006, must meet a new Department of Energy (DOE) standard
for energy efficiency. While this means lower electric bills
for those using the new systems, the up-front costs of the
units will be higher, at least for the short term. Also, the
new air conditioners are about 40 percent larger than existing
units, which may create installation challenges in replacement
jobs.
Energy efficiency in central-air systems is rated by the
seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER), which is calculated by
dividing the cooling output (in Btu) by the power input (in
watt-hours). The higher the SEER rating, the more
energy-efficient the unit. The new standard of 13 SEER replaces
the 10-SEER minimum in effect since 1992.
Until spring 2004, when air-conditioner manufacturers
essentially gave up the fight over standards and started
retooling their factories, the NAHB supported an unsuccessful
effort to change the SEER standard to 12 rather than 13.
According to the association, the difference in energy savings
generated by a 13-SEER unit compared with a 12-SEER unit
wouldn't be large enough to offset the price increase for the
homeowner. Today, of course, rising energy prices have changed
the terms of that argument, making any energy savings
proportionately more significant.
Individual energy savings will vary with geographical area and
local electricity costs, but in general a 13-SEER unit uses 8
percent less energy than a similarly sized 12-SEER unit —
and 23 percent less energy than a 10-SEER unit — to
provide the same amount of cooling. Households that replace
aging units in the next several years will see even greater
energy savings, since most old units were purchased before 1992
and are rated 8 SEER and lower, says Glenn Hourahan, vice
president of research and technology at the Air Conditioner
Contractors Association.
In light of the impact air conditioning has on energy usage,
potential energy savings for the country as a whole under the
new plan are significant. Researchers at the American Council
for an Energy-Efficient Economy calculate that enacting the new
standard should shrink peak demand for electric power enough to
reduce the number of new 300MW power plants needed between now
and 2020 by 138 facilities. In addition, the council estimates
that air pollution will decrease by 7.2 million metric tons of
carbon in 2020 — an amount equal to the emissions from 3
million automobiles. — Laurie Elden
Offcuts
In compliance with a NAFTA panel ruling, the U.S.
Commerce Department has recalculated the countervailing
duty (CVD) on imports of lumber from Canada. Under
NAFTA methodology, the penalty drops from approximately 16
percent to 0.8 percent, which effectively eliminates the CVD.
However, the department will continue to collect the duty
according to its own calculations — and won't return the
$5 billion already collected — until all legal issues are
resolved, which could take months. A separate anti-dumping duty
on Canadian lumber that currently averages about 2 percent is
not affected by this action.
Think the recent wave of immigrant workers into the
building trades is driving down wages for U.S.-born
workers? A study published in the fall by the
nonprofit National Bureau of Economic Research suggests this
might be so — but only for the 9 percent of workers
without a high school diploma. Wages for these workers dropped
by 2.4 percent in the 1990s because of immigration. For the 91
percent of U.S.-born workers with at least a high school
education, though, immigration pushed wages up by 2.5 percent,
say the study's authors.
Rhode Island building permits hit a 15-year low in the
first three quarters of 2005, reports the Rhode Island
Builders Association (RIBA). Compared with the same period in
2004, single-family home permits were down 8.8 percent. Hailing
back to 2000, the change was even more dramatic — a 32
percent drop. In a recent RIBA newsletter, association
executive director Roger Warren expressed concerns that the
housing market is becoming unbalanced; whereas 49,000 new jobs
were created statewide in the last 10 years, he noted, only
27,000 new homes were built.
An Alabama circuit court judge ruled that illegal immigrants
are eligible for workers' comp benefits. The October
decision followed on the heels of a similar ruling in
California (In the News, 12/05). According to the
Associated Press, the Alabama case involved Omar
Santos-Cruz, who was 17 years old when he suffered a 10-feet
fall from a house he was working on for Lambert Construction.
Judge G. William Noble ordered the company to pay the
permanently disabled teenager $240 per week in workers' comp
and to pay all of his medical costs. Noble commented that he
believed his decision might set precedent for subsequent cases
in Alabama.
Mortgage investor Freddie Mac will fund $1 billion of
below-market-rate mortgages for the purchase or repair
of homes in federally designated Hurricane Katrina disaster
areas. Qualified borrowers may also use the loans to buy a home
elsewhere in the same state if they had a mortgage on a
principal residence in a storm disaster area as of August 28,
2005. According to Freddie Mac, as many as 10,000 low-income
families could benefit from the program.
How many houses does a big builder build? D.R.
Horton announced that it sold more than 50,000 homes for a
profit of $1.5 billion in the past fiscal year, setting new
records in the residential building industry.
Lots of companies give away pencils printed with the
company's name — some even give away coffee
mugs. But Home Depot wasn't giving anything away in November
when Lawrence, Mass., carpenter Michael Panorelli accidentally
left the giant chain's Methuen store with a used pencil he had
picked up to write some lumber calculations. Panorelli told the
local Eagle-Tribune that one of the store's employees
tracked him out to the parking lot and, citing the ill-gotten
pencil, handed him a letter banning him from Home Depot stores
nationwide. Home Depot ended up sending Panorelli an apology,
but the carpenter was unmoved. He told the Associated
Press, "I have no intention of going back in there."
Armed with a video camera, Washington, Mo., police
staked out a parking lot at Lowe's Home Improvement
Center after receiving several reports of tool theft,
The Missourian reported recently. In the resulting
video, one person in particular stood out; he never went into
the store, preferring instead to check out the beds of
construction vehicles. Subsequently, the police got themselves
a truck, put a bunch of tools in the back, and parked it in the
Lowe's lot. The suspected thief, Michael Crane, along with his
companion, Lisa Webb, literally took the bait out of the back
of the truck; the couple were arrested on their way out of the
parking lot.
Ohio has temporarily put the kibosh on any use of
eminent domain for the purpose of economic
development. On November 16, Governor Bob Taft
endorsed the measure, which also sets up a task force to study
the issue. The moratorium runs out on December 31, 2006.
The walls had ears — and four paws and a tail
— in Emily Vano's new Louisburg, Kan., home.
After Vano and some workers heard noises near the bathtub, the
workers opened up a wall and found a cat, frightened but alive.
The builder guessed that the animal had been hiding under the
tub when the drywall was installed some three weeks earlier,
says the
Associated Press.California Comp System Harmful to Workers,
Say Doctors
Since 2003, when California enacted a series of reforms as part
of an effort to overhaul its workers' comp system, the state's
premiums have decreased by 26 percent. At the same time, says
state insurance commissioner John Garamendi, insurers are
paying out just 38.5 cents for every premium dollar they earn.
Even as he continues to push for cumulative rate decreases of
closer to 50 percent, Garamendi calls the progress to date
"great news for our state's economic health."
But what about the health of the state's labor force? The
California Medical Association released a report in November
concluding that the current workers' comp system is "hostile to
physicians and often harmful to the patients." Dissatisfaction
with workers' comp is so high that 63 percent of the 250
physicians surveyed want to decrease or end their involvement
with comp cases. The CMA study claims that workers are not
getting "timely and necessary medical care" because
nonqualified persons are making medical treatment decisions
— which are often overturned on appeal. In short, the
report asserts, an overriding focus on saving money is
increasing administrative delays and extending the amount of
time a worker is out of the labor force.
Responding to these charges, Susan Gard, public information
officer at the California Division of Workers' Compensation
(DWC), emphasizes that the reforms are a work in progress: "The
reforms have been a big change for doctors and insurers, and
there have been some growing pains around that for both." She
adds that one of the CMA's major concerns is being addressed by
new DWC regulations that impose penalties of up to $400,000
against insurers who delay a "utilization review" of the
injured worker's treatment plan.
To determine whether the new rules have made it more difficult
for injured workers to get medical care, the DWC has contracted
with UCLA to conduct a survey of 1,200 physicians and 1,000
injured workers; the results will be available at the end of
the summer. — Laurie Elden
Big Builders
Sell Big-Name Lifestyles
Sony. Levi Strauss. General Electric. Gap. You'd have to live
in a cave on an island in the middle of the sea not to be
familiar with those brands. Instantly recognizable, they've
become part of our everyday speech, along with the names of
countless other mass producers of consumer goods.
Unfortunately, that kind of name recognition — for a
variety of reasons — just doesn't extend to home
builders. Nevertheless, at least three companies are determined
to cash in on the cachet of high-profile brand names —
not their own, but someone else's.
KB Home, for instance, is counting on big-name curb appeal to
sell its "New Homes Created With Martha Stewart" (top), located
in the company's Cary, N.C., Twin Lakes development. Inspired
by Stewart's personal residences, the designs feature large
laundry rooms and closets and a selection of fixtures billed as
"Martha Stewart's favorites." The houses range in size from
1,500 to 4,100 square feet and in price from $200,000 to
$450,000.
For home buyers more inclined to drive a tractor than embroider
a place mat, St. Lawrence Homes has begun building "Trenton
— A John Deere Signature Community" (bottom) in Durham,
N.C. Prices start at around $375,000 for a 2,500- to
3,800-square-foot home that includes John Deere landscaping
equipment and services. The lots run about half an acre to an
acre, big enough to accommodate a small lawn tractor. And, yes,
the houses come in colors other than yellow and green.
Orvis may not spark the same level of recognition as Martha
Stewart and John Deere, but the company's upscale outdoor-sport
message ties right in with Rocky Mountain Log Homes' customer
base. The builder's co-branded homes will range in price from
$550,000 to $1.2 million, with the Orvis logo stamped into some
interior trim. The homes will come premilled but not
prefabricated; plans include a workbench for fly-tying.
— Laurie Elden
Prices
Up for PVC, Asphalt, Insulation
The prices of many construction materials experienced
double-digit inflation in 2004 and 2005, concludes a recent
report from the Associated General Contractors of America. In
the association's "Construction Inflation Alert," AGC chief
economist Ken Simonson notes that even though the Consumer
Price Index has shown only moderate inflation in the last two
years, the construction industry has seen a steep increase in
overall costs, especially for raw materials such as diesel
fuel, asphalt, gypsum, copper, and brass. One exception was
prices for the wood-products category; they actually fell in
the 12 months ending September 30, tempering the 16.5-percent
price increases of the previous year.
The data used in the report predates Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita, but Simonson predicts that prices for materials requiring
oil or natural gas as feedstock — PVC, asphalt, roofing
materials, insulation — will be "much higher priced, at
least through the winter heating season, than if the storms had
not occurred." — Laurie Elden
Ramping Up Cordless-Tool Voltage
Though it's better known in the cellular phone and laptop
worlds, lithium-ion technology is opening up new possibilities
for cordless power tools.
About a year ago, Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp. introduced a
line of 28-volt cordless tools (see Toolbox, page 105) powered
by lithium-ion batteries from E-One Moli Energy Corp. Makita
USA followed in the autumn of 2005 with its own lithium-ion
line, but opted to capitalize on the smaller size of the
lithium-ion battery and offer a lighter-weight 18-volt cordless
tool.
This month, at the International Builders' Show, the voltage is
going to surge yet again when Black & Decker releases a
line of DeWalt 36-volt lithium-ion battery-powered tools,
including a hammer drill, reciprocating saw, circular saw,
impact wrench, rotary hammer, jigsaw, flashlight, and various
combo kits.
Black & Decker's 36-volt battery, which was developed by
A123Systems in Watertown, Mass., is different from the other
lithium-ion batteries in that it uses nanotechnology to
overcome the weight and safety barriers that typically limit
high-voltage batteries, says Ric Fulop, A123Systems' co-founder
and vice president of business development. Nanoscale battery
materials are highly compact and allow for lower impedance and
more efficient power transmission.
"Traditional lithium-ion batteries are not safe when you draw
high currents," Fulop explains. "Our battery chemistry is
thermally stable, and as a result can deliver several times as
many cycles. But the exciting thing about this technology is
the innovation in tools that it will make possible. With this
technology, you can beat the cord; that is, you can get more
power from a battery than from the outlet in the wall."
— Laurie Elden