north america hvac news april 2010 previe · north america hvac news april 2010 30 march 2010 --...

World BRG 2010 HVAC Product Summaries & New Database Now Available!North America TOSHIBA-CARRIER Brand Launched In North AmericaCanada Canada Fourth-Quarter Growth Is Fastest Since 2000USA January A/C & Heat-Pump Shipments Up 38%USA OECD Indicators Show Global Expansion ContinuingUSA Foreclosures Sour Home Builders' OutlookUSA Housing Starts Drop 5.9% to 575,000 RateUSA ICC, ASHRAE, USGBC and IES Announce Nation's First Set of ModelUSA In U.S., Many Environmental Issues at 20-Year-Low ConcernUSA Public Reviews Open for Standard 90.1 AddendaUSA ‘Made in America’ Rules Are Complex, ConfusingUSA Yes, We Do Still Make Things in AmericaUSA & China China Shows Little Patience for US Currency Pressure

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International strategic market research and consultancy on building product and related markets

North America HVAC News April 2010

30 March 2010 -- The following preliminary product summaries are being published by BRGCONSULT this week, both in pdf format and in our new ENTERPRISE database system:

- 2010 Boiler Market Reports (countries currently available: USA, Canada, China, France, Germany,UK, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Czech Republic, Turkey) -Boiler types covered in the reports include:

• Wall-Hung Gas Condensing• Wall-Hung Gas Non-Condensing• Floor-Standing Gas Condensing• Floor-Standing Gas Non-Condensing• Oil Condensing• Oil Non-Condensing• Electric• Solid Fuel

- 2010 Water Heater Market Reports (countries currently available: USA, Canada, China, France,Germany, UK, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Czech Republic,Turkey) - Water heaters covered in the North American reports include:

• Tankless Gas Condensing• Tankless Gas Non-Condensing• Tank/Storage Residential Gas Condensing• Tank/Storage Residential Gas Non-Condensing• Tank/Storage Commercial Gas Condensing• Tank/Storage Commercial Gas Non-Condensing• Tankless Electric• Tank/Storage Residential Electric• Tank/Storage Commercial Electric• Oil• Indirect Cylinders Separate• Solar Storage Tanks

- 2010 Solar Thermal Market Reports (countries currently available: USA, France, Germany, UK,Italy, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Czech Republic, Turkey) -Products covered in the reports include:

• Flat Plate Collectors• Vacuum Collectors• Unglazed Collectors• Solar Storage Tanks

- 2010 Heat Pump Market Reports (countries currently available: France, Germany, UK, Italy, Spain,Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Czech Republic, Turkey) - Products coveredin the reports include:

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• Ground Source• Exhaust Air-Water• Outside Air-Water• Heat Pump Water Heaters

- 2010 Furnace Market Reports (countries currently available: USA, Canada) - Products covered inthe reports include:

• Gas Condensing• Gas Non Condensing• Electric• Oil

- 2010 Air Conditioner Market Reports (countries currently available: USA, Canada) - Productscovered in the reports include:

• Condensing Units• Air Handlers• Air-Air Heat Pumps• Residential Package Units• PTACs• Mini-Splits• Window/Wall Units• Portable Air Conditioners

- 2010 Radiator Market Reports (countries currently available: China, France, Germany, UK, Italy,Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Czech Republic, Turkey) - Productscovered in the reports include:

• Steel Panel• Towel Warmers• Aluminium• Cast Iron• Heat Pump Water Heaters• Decorative• Other Steel• Fixed Electric Heat Emitters

- 2010 Biomass Boiler Market Reports (countries currently available: USA, France, Germany, UK,Italy, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Czech Republic, Turkey) -Boilers covered in the reports include:

• Fossil Fuel/Universal• Logwood/Bifuel• Pellet• Woochip• Other

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To obtain these product summaries and forecasts, a table of contents, or for more details about thereport contents or our new Database, please email: [email protected]

Source: BRG CONSULT NORTH AMERICA

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INDIANAPOLIS, March 8 -- CARRIER CORP., a unit of UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORP., todayannounced the launch of the TOSHIBA-CARRIER brand in North America. Under the TOSHIBA-CARRIER brand, CARRIER will offer high-efficiency duct-free split heat pumps with efficiency ratingsup to 23 SEER, including a robust line of ENERGY STAR-compliant and tax credit-eligible units.

The TOSHIBA-CARRIER brand will feature two high-efficiency duct-free inverter heat pump productfamilies: (1) Residential tax-credit eligible and ENERGY STAR-compliant inverter high-wall systems,ranging from 0.75 ton to 2 tons with efficiency ratings up to 23 SEER and 10 HSPF; and (2) SuperDigital Inverter light commercial underceiling, cassette and high-wall systems, ranging from 1.5 to 3tons with efficiency ratings up to 21 SEER and 11.9 HSPF, many of which are both tax credit-eligibleand ENERGY STAR-compliant.

"With the addition of the TOSHIBA-CARRIER duct-free inverter heat pumps to CARRIER's currentinverter and fixed-speed duct-free line, we now have the broadest capacity range of duct-free splitproducts in North America. We offer products up to 23 SEER and with HSPF ratings up to 11.9 in avariety of fan coil types and compressor technologies, which allows our customers the flexibility topick the right product for the right application," said Bob McDonough, president of CARRIERResidential and Light Commercial Systems. "We now have the broadest capacity range of tax crediteligible duct-free product."

TOSHIBA CORP. and CARRIER CORP. formed a joint venture in 1999 to capitalize on TOSHIBA'sstrength in innovation and CARRIER's strength in global distribution. Products manufactured byTOSHIBA CARRIER CORP. have been sold in Japan and the rest of the world for more than 10years, but this is the first time a TOSHIBA-CARRIER branded line will be sold in North America.TOSHIBA CARRIER products have been recognized annually with the prestigious EnergyConservation Grand Prize in Japan.

"With our unmatched duct-free product offering, we expect TOSHIBA-CARRIER products to receive awarm welcome in North America," said Akira Inoue, executive vice president of Toshiba CARRIERCORP. "The North American launch is an important part of our growth plan."

TOSHIBA-CARRIER products will be managed through CARRIER's Residential and LightCommercial Systems division and distributed through CARRIER's exclusive channel. TOSHIBA-CARRIER duct-free inverter heat pumps are manufactured in Japan and Thailand.

About TOSHIBA CARRIER CORP.

TOSHIBA CARRIER CORP., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan is a joint venture company establishedin 1999 between TOSHIBA CORP. and CARRIER CORP. to deliver premium, energy efficient andenvironmentally sound air conditioning, heating and refrigeration solutions for residential andcommercial applications worldwide.

About CARRIER CORP.

CARRIER CORP., headquartered in Farmington, Conn., is the world's largest provider of heating, air-

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conditioning and refrigeration solutions, with operations in more than 170 countries. CARRIER is partof UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORP., a Hartford, Connecticut-based provider of products andservices to the aerospace and building systems industries worldwide.

About TOSHIBA CORP.

The Tokyo-based TOSHIBA CORP. is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of advancedelectronic and electrical products, spanning information and communications equipment and systems,Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and materials, power systems,industrial and social infrastructure systems, and household appliances. The company is the world's9th largest integrated manufacturer of electric and electronic equipment, with about 199,500employees worldwide and consolidated annual sales of over US$67 billion in 2008.

Source: www.prnewswire.com

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March 1 -- Canada’s economy expanded at a 5% annualized rate in the fourth quarter, faster thanpredicted by the Bank of Canada, raising pressure on policy makers to increase interest rates laterthis year.

Gross domestic product grew at the fastest pace since the third quarter of 2000, Statistics Canadasaid today in Ottawa. The median estimate of 23 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a4.2% expansion, and the Bank of Canada had projected a 3.3% gain.

The figures come a day before Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney will keep his key lending rateat 0.25%, all 21 economists surveyed by Bloomberg predict. Today’s report will lead Carney to raisethe key policy rate after his conditional commitment to keep it unchanged through June expires, saidMark Chandler, a fixed income strategist at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto.

“It’s considerably stronger” than the central bank had expected, Chandler said in a telephoneinterview from Toronto, adding policy makers may “cool the jets in the second half of this year” withrate increases. The bank could start with a half a percentage point increase in the third quarter, hesaid.

Swaps Increase

The Canadian currency strengthened 0.9% to C$1.0421 per US dollar at 4:03 p.m. in Toronto, from C$1.0517 on Feb. 26. One Canadian dollar buys 95.96 US cents. The yield on the six-monthovernight index swap, which trades where investors predict the bank’s key rate will average over thattime, rose to 0.315% from 0.2955% on Feb. 26, the most since Dec. 14.

The economy’s fourth-quarter growth was supported by consumer spending, capital investment andtrade, Statistics Canada said. Government spending also contributed to growth.

Consumer spending increased 0.9% in the quarter, led by durable goods such as furniture and cars.Investment in housing rose 6.5%.

Exports rose 3.7% in the October-through-December period, led by a 13% jump in automotiveproducts, while imports rose 2.2%. Fixed-capital investment rose 1.6%.

On a monthly basis, the economy grew 0.6% in December, the fastest in three years. Economistspredicted output would grow 0.4% on the month, according to the median estimate of 21 economistssurveyed by Bloomberg News.

‘More Aggressive’

“It raises the odds the bank gets a bit more aggressive in the second half” with rate increases, saidDoug Porter, deputy chief economist with BMO Capital Markets in Toronto. He predicts a 25-basis-point rate increase in July.

The report still “doesn’t change the entire landscape” because of revisions to earlier quarters, he said.

Statistics Canada revised its estimate of the third-quarter growth rate to 0.9 percent from the earlier

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reading of a 0.4% pace. The agency also revised its earlier figures to show the country’s firstrecession since 1992 was deeper than thought, with a 7% annualized contraction in the first quarter oflast year.

The economy shrank 2.6% in 2009, the most since 1982 and the third annual contraction in figuresdating back to 1961.

Carney cut the benchmark lending rate in April to the lowest since the bank was founded in 1934 andpledged to keep it there through the first half of this year unless the inflation outlook shifted.

Counting on Consumers

“Monetary policy has worked very well,” said Sebastien Lavoie, an economist at Laurentian BankSecurities in Montreal. The Bank of Canada estimates consumers will account for more than half of a2.9% expansion this year.

When the bank raises rates “it won’t be baby steps; it will be major jumps,” Lavoie said. The firstincrease could be three-quarters of a percentage point, he said, and the rate could reach 3% nextyear, he said.

The return of growth still hasn’t brought unemployment down much from the highest in more than adecade and exporters are still struggling with a strong currency and weak US orders.

The economy “is nowhere near recovery” said Louis Lepine, operations manager at TPG PritchardMetalfab Inc. in Winnipeg, Manitoba, a contract manufacturer to agricultural, mining and transportcompanies.

‘Cautious Expansion’

“We have seen quite a decline in business, but we have been fortunate enough to retain most of ourstaff,” he said. “We will be doing some cautious expansion this year, some capital expenditures.”

Lepine said he’s also struggling with a high Canadian dollar.

Canada’s dollar appreciated 21% against the US dollar over the past 12 months to about 95 UScents. The currency traded at about 63.6 US cents at the end of 2002, and manufacturers have beensqueezed by its gain, along with increased competition from emerging markets such as China.

The strength of the currency and weak US orders will slow economic growth this year, the Bank ofCanada said in January.

Companies tied to consumers are more optimistic. WAL-MART STORES INC., the world’s largestretailer, said Feb. 23 it plans to open 35 to 40 stores in Canada in 2010, adding to the current total of317.

“Even with excess capacity in some industries, there are enough that are going to be ramping up thatthere will be pinched areas in the economy,” said Warren Jestin, chief economist at Bank of NovaScotia. “Those are signs the Bank of Canada will be paying quite close attention to.”

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In a separate report, Statistics Canada said that factory prices rose 0.3% in January from December,and manufacturers’ raw materials costs increased 3.3%. Economists predicted factory prices wouldrise 0.5%, and material costs would gain 2.2%, according to the median estimates of economistssurveyed by Bloomberg News.

Source: www.bloomberg.com

Mar 18, 2010 -- The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) reported that U.S.shipments of residential gas water heaters increased 4% in January 2010, to 311,055 units, up from299,448 units in January 2009. The number of U.S. residential electric water heater shipmentsdecreased half a percent, to 311,618 units, down from 313,177 units in January 2009.

Commercial gas water heater shipments increased 10%, from 6,016 units in January 2009 up to6,598 units in January 2010. Shipments of commercial electric water heaters dropped 14% in January2010, to 4,120 units compared to 4,771 units in January 2009.

Shipments for residential gas warm air furnaces increased 26%, to 169,024 units, up from 134,370units shipped in January 2009. Oil warm air furnaces shipments increased 76%, to 5,609 units, upfrom 3,186 units in January 2009.

U.S. factory shipments of central air-conditioners and air-source heat pumps was 309,892 units,116,910 of which were heat pumps, in January 2010. The combined total of central air conditionersand air-source heat pumps increased 38% from a revised total of 224,447 units in January 2009. Thetotal number of shipments for heat pumps increased 27% from a revised January 2009 total of 92,148units.

Source: www.appliancemagazine.com

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Mar 10, 2010 -- OECD composite leading indicators (CLIs) in January 2010 continued to signal animprovement in economic activity for the G7 countries, although only marginally more so than in theassessment for December.

The CLIs for Brazil and India point to a recovery, which may nevertheless lose momentum. Bycontrast, economic activity is projected to continue to expand in China and Russia.

The CLI for the OECD area increased by 0.8 point in January 2010 and was 11.3 points higher than inJanuary 2009, the increase was spread evenly among CLIs of the United States (increase of 11.0points year-on-year), the Euro area (12.5 points higher) and Japan (10.7 points higher). The CLI forChina increased by a mere 0.1 point in January 2010 compared with the previous month.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines growth cycle phasesof the CLI as follows:• expansion (increase above 100)• downturn (decrease above 100)• slowdown (decrease below 100)• recovery (increase below 100).

OECD-Total includes these 29 countries:

• Australia• Austria• Belgium• Canada• Czech Republic• Denmark• Finland• France• Germany• Greece• Hungary• Ireland• Italy• Japan• Korea• Luxembourg• Mexico• Netherlands• New Zealand• Norway• Poland• Portugal• Slovak Republic• Spain• Sweden• Switzerland

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• Turkey• United Kingdom• United States

G7 area includes:

• Canada• France• Germany• Italy• Japan• United Kingdom• United States

The Euro area (only Euro area countries that are members of OECD) includes:

• Austria• Belgium• Finland• France• Germany• Greece• Italy• Ireland• Luxembourg• Netherlands• Portugal• Slovak Republic• Spain

The Major Five Asia area includes:

• China• India• Indonesia• Japan• Korea

Source: www.appliancemagazine.com

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March 15, 2010, WASHINGTON -- U.S. home builders grew more discouraged in early March bycompetition from cheap foreclosures, according to a monthly sentiment survey released Monday bythe National Association of Home Builders.

The NAHB/Wells Fargo housing market index fell two points to 15 in March, reversing a slight pop inFebruary. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch were expecting the index to rise to 18.

At 15, the index shows that about one-in-six builders thinks the market for new homes is "good."

"The continual flow of distressed properties priced below the cost of production is having an adverseeffect on new-home appraisals and also making it tough for builders' customers to sell their existinghomes," said NAHB Chairman Bob Jones, a home builder from Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

Bad weather in February also cut into buyer traffic through new-home developments, Jones said.

"The lack of available credit for new projects, the large number of distressed properties for sale, andthe continuing hesitancy of potential buyers due to the weak job market are definitely weighing onbuilder confidence at this time," said David Crowe, NAHB chief economist.

In March, all three components of the home builders' index fell. Buyer traffic dropped from 12 to 10,the lowest since March 2009. Current sales fell from 17 to 15. Expected sales fell from 27 to 24, thelowest since April 2009.

A year ago, the index was at 9, just off the record-low 8 hit in January. From that low, the index slowrose to 19 by September and has drifted since then. It has been below 50 for 47 months. It peaked at72 in June 2005, at the height of the housing bubble.

The report comes one day before the Commerce Department reports on housing starts and buildingpermits for February. Over time, the home builders' index is well correlated with housing starts.

Economists surveyed by MarketWatch are looking for starts to fall about 4% to a seasonally adjustedannual rate of 568,000 from 591,000 in January, largely because of extreme snow storms. At onepoint in early February, there was snow on the ground every state except Hawaii.

Regionally, sentiment was mixed in March, with builders in the South and Midwest more pessimisticthan before and builders in the Northeast and West more upbeat.

Source: www.marketwatch.com

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16 March 2010, WASHINGTON -- US housing starts fell about 5.9% to a seasonally adjusted annualrate of 575,000 in February as several massive snow storms hit the East and South and stalled homebuilding, according to data released Tuesday by the Commerce Department.

Starts were down in the Northeast and South, but up in the Midwest and West.

Most of the decline in February was in the hugely volatile multifamily sector. Construction of single-family homes fell 0.6% to a 499,000 pace, while building of large condos and apartment buildingsplunged 43%.

The headline number obscures two separate markets. In the past year, starts of single-family homesare up 39%, while starts of multifamily units are down 41%. However, little has changed in the past sixmonths in either market.

Housing starts were up 0.2% compared with February 2009, the government reported. Starts aredown about 75% from the peak in 2006.

"The underlying pace of home construction remains fairly steady," wrote Omair Sharif, an economistfor RBS Securities.

"Snow storms over the eastern part of the country were a significant factor in reducing starts inFebruary," said Gary Bigg, an economist at Bank of America's Merrill Lynch. "With weather issueslikely not a factor going forward, tight credit conditions and the elevated level of unemployment arefactors that will restrain future housing activity."

Building permits -- which aren't as affected by weather events as starts are -- dropped 1.6% to612,000 in February. Permits for single-family homes fell 0.2% to a 503,000 rate. Many economistsconsider the single-family permits figure to be the most reliable and important number in the release.Over time, permits and starts are highly correlated.

Single-family permits are up 32% compared with February 2009.

The industry has slashed production of new homes to work off a massive inventory of unsold homes.The number of homes under construction fell 2.2% to a seasonally adjusted 492,000, the lowest onrecord dating back to 1970.

Builders remain very pessimistic about a recovery, despite a generous tax subsidy for buyers. InMarch, the home builders' sentiment index dropped back to 15 from 17 in February. Builders facetough competition from foreclosures of existing homes, and buyers remain cautious about the jobmarket.

The government cautions that its monthly housing data are volatile and subject to large sampling andother statistical errors. In most months, the government can't be sure whether starts increased ordecreased. In February, for instance, the standard error for starts was plus or minus 10%. Largerevisions are common.

The standard error for monthly building permits data is much lower at plus or minus 1%.

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It can take four months for a new trend in housing starts to emerge from the data. In the past fourmonths, housing starts have averaged 585,000 annualized, up from 572,000 in the four monthsending in January.

The February estimate of 575,000 total starts was in line with the 568,000 rate expected by themedian forecast of economists surveyed by MarketWatch.

January's starts pace was revised higher to 611,000 from 591,000 previously reported.

Source: www.marketwatch.com

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March 11, 2010, ATLANTA – What do organizations representing building safety professionals,energy and lighting engineers, green building practitioners, architects and technical standardsdevelopers have in common? They have all come together to green the nation’s built environment byestablishing a comprehensive model green building code designed to rapidly advance green buildingpractice across the U.S.

The International Code Council (ICC), the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and AirConditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and the IlluminatingEngineering Society of North America (IES) today announce the launch of the International GreenConstruction Code (IGCC), representing the merger of two national efforts to develop adoptable andenforceable green building codes. The IGCC provides the building industry with language that bothbroadens and strengthens building codes in a way that will accelerate the construction of highperformance green buildings across the U.S.

For decades, ICC and ASHRAE have worked to develop codes and standards that become theindustry standard of care for the design, construction, operations and maintenance of residential andcommercial buildings in the U.S. and internationally. In coordination with the efforts of ICC andASHRAE, USGBC has been leading a nationwide green building movement centered on the LEEDGreen Building Rating System since LEED was launched in 2000. The convergence of these efforts inthe IGCC is perhaps the most significant development in the buildings industry in the past 10 years.

Leveraging ICC’s unrivaled delivery infrastructure to reach all 50 states and more than 22,000 localjurisdictions and ASHRAE, USGBC and IES’s technical strengths, this partnership will accelerate theproliferation of green building codes and standards developed jointly by ICC, ASHRAE and USGBCand IES, across the country and around the globe. The newly launched International GreenConstruction Code (IGCC) establishes a previously unimaginable regulatory framework for theconstruction of high performance commercial buildings that are safe, sustainable and by the book.

A landmark addition to the technical content of the IGCC is the inclusion ofANSI/ASHRAE/USGBC/IES Standard 189.1, Standard for the Design of High Performance, GreenBuildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, as an alternate path of compliance. Standard 189.1is a set of technically rigorous requirements, which like the IGCC, covers criteria including water useefficiency, indoor environmental quality, energy efficiency, materials and resource use, and thebuilding’s impact on its site and its community. Standard 189.1 was written by experts representing allareas of the building industry, who contributed tens of thousands of man hours. Developed in a littleover three years, the standard underwent four public reviews in which some 2,500 comments werereceived.

“The emergence of green building codes and standards is an important next step for the greenbuilding movement, establishing a much-needed set of baseline regulations for green buildings that isadoptable, usable and enforceable by jurisdictions,” said ICC Chief Executive Officer Richard P.Weiland. “The IGCC provides a vehicle for jurisdictions to regulate green for the design andperformance of new and renovated buildings in a manner that is integrated with existing codes as anoverlay, allowing all new buildings to reap the rewards of improved design and constructionpractices.”

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“Bringing together the code expertise of ICC with technical expertise of ASHRAE to create acomprehensive green building code will accelerate our transformation to more sustainable buildingpractices,” Gordon Holness, ASHRAE president, said. “ASHRAE is committed to providing the designguidance building designers and engineers need to reduce the energy consumption of buildings.”

“The U.S. Green Building Council’s mission is market transformation and we’ve long recognized theneed to reach beyond the market leaders served by LEED to accomplish this goal,” said RickFedrizzi, President, CEO and Founding Chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council. “Broadeningthe scope of the codes and establishing a higher floor allows us to continue to raise the ceiling, acritical factor in how the building industry is working to mitigate climate change. We are thrilled to seethis set of complementary green building codes and standards; our organizations workingcollaboratively will advance green building nationwide in a way that was never before possible. ”

"IES is pleased to support the collaborative efforts of the organizations which demonstrate expertisein code and technical standards development in this comprehensive green building code,” said RitaHarrold, IES Director of Technology. “IES looks forward to ongoing guidance for sustainable buildingpractices."

On Monday, March 15, ASHRAE, IES and USGBC will join ICC at its Washington, DC headquartersas they and their co-authors (the American Institute of Architects and the American Society forTesting Materials) launch the IGCC. On Monday, Standard 189 .1 and the IGCC will be available forwide distribution, providing much-needed content, code language, and vision for more safe andsustainable future. The organizations are also working together to advance related education andadvocacy efforts to promote adoption, enforcement and compliance with the IGCC codes that willpave the way for green buildings and neighborhoods, while creating jobs and strengthening theeconomy.

For more information on IGCC: http://www.iccsafe.org/cs/IGCC/Pages/default.aspx and on Standard189.1: www.ashrae.org/greenstandard.

Source: www.ashrae.org

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March 16, 2010, PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans are less worried about each of eight specificenvironmental problems than they were a year ago, and on all but global warming and maintenanceof the nation's fresh water supply, concern is the lowest Gallup has measured. Americans worry mostabout drinking-water pollution and least about global warming.

Over time, Americans' concerns about environmental problems have generally declined. After thisyear's drop, for six of the eight items, the percentage who worry "a great deal" is at the lowest pointGallup has measured, which in some cases dates to 1989. The two exceptions are global warming(low point was 24% in 1997) and maintenance of the nation's fresh water supply for household needs(35% in 2001).

One major reason Americans may be less worried about environmental problems is that they perceiveenvironmental conditions in the United States to be improving.

The decline in worry over time has been rather dramatic for some of these threats. For example, in1989, 72% of Americans said they worried a great deal about pollution of rivers, lakes, and reservoirs.Worry about this environmental issue averaged 62% in the 1990s, 54% in the 2000s, and is 46%today.

Similarly, there has been a 25-point drop since 1989 in the percentage worried a great deal about airpollution, and an equal drop in worry about contamination of soil and water by toxic waste.

Not all environmental problems show the same general downward trend over time. For example,concerns about global warming and loss of tropical rain forests were higher in 2000 than they hadbeen prior to that. Concerns about both issues subsequently eased, before rising again until 2007.Now concerns are declining once again, including a sharp nine-point drop this year in concern aboutrain forests.

Gallup earlier reported declines in concern about global warming on several of its other long-term-trend questions.

Water Pollution Usually of Greatest Concern

Typically, Americans express greater concern about threats to water safety and quality than aboutother environmental issues. This year, the top four concerns all deal with water. Pollution of drinkingwater again is the top concern, and has been each year it has been included in the list ofenvironmental problems. The year it was not (1989), pollution of rivers, lakes, and reservoirs was thetop concern.

Bottom Line

Americans are now less worried about a series of environmental problems than at any time in the past20 years. That could be due in part to Americans' belief that environmental conditions in the U.S. areimproving. It also may reflect greater public concern about economic issues, which is usuallyassociated with a drop in environmental concern. And greater action on environmental issues at thefederal, state, and local levels may also contribute to a decline in Americans' environmental worry.

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Survey Methods

Results are based on telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,014 national adults, aged 18and older, conducted March 4-7, 2010. For results based on the total sample of national adults, onecan say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.

Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones (for respondents with a landlinetelephone) and cellular phones (for respondents who are cell-phone only).

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys canintroduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

Source: www.gallup.com

Worry About Environmental Problems

18 March 2010 - Public input is sought on 21 proposed addenda to ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard90.1-2007, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings. The proposedaddenda, to be incorporated in the 2010 version of the standard, cover topics including daylighting, airleakage, EER and IEER values and requirements for VRF air conditioners and heat pumps. Publicreview periods end April 4 for some addenda, and April 19 for others.

Source: [email protected]

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15 March 2010 -- Long before companies invented something called global supply chainmanagement, most of the products you bought in America were made in America. It was just tooexpensive to manage production in far-flung global factories and ship the goods back home.

Today, an “American” car sold in Chicago may have rolled off an assembly line in Tennessee withparts made in a dozen different countries. Last year, some 60 percent of the value of goods sold inthe U.S. was imported. That's up from 14 percent in 1980 and 8 percent in 1960, based on thegovernment's gross domestic product data.

So what does it mean to be "Made in America"?

A product has to be “all or virtually all” produced in the United States (or one of its territories orprotectorates) to stamp "Made in America" on its packaging or advertising, according to FederalTrade Commission regulations. Among its various mandates, the FTC is charged with policing falseor misleading claims about products sold in the U.S.

It sounds simple enough. But it takes roughly 40 pages to spell out the FTC’s rules of the road forcompanies that want to make the Made in America claim. And those are just one of a half dozenseparate sets of rules that apply to “country of origin” labeling.

Here are some more questions and answers about the "Made in America" label.

When can a company say a product is "Made in America"?

The rules governing "Made in America" claims were overhauled in the late 1990s, as globalizationblurred the lines of exactly where products were made. As manufacturing jobs moved overseas,many consumers who wanted to support American workers demanded assurances they were buyingAmerican-made products.

The basic premise is fairly simple: A product that is "Made in America" has to be assembled, andmost of the cost of making the product incurred, in the United States. But that’s where things start toget a little tricky. (And that’s why it takes 40 pages to explain the rules.)

For example (and the FTC uses lots of examples), a California radio manufacturer can claim itsproduct was made in America even though it has a plastic case made from imported oil. So can acomputer maker in Texas that is building a PC from American-made parts which include a disk drivewith a case made from steel imported from overseas. But if you make a wrench in Ohio with steelimported from Korea, you can’t say that wrench was made in America because the steel represents asignificant cost of production.

What if a product was made in several different countries?

If one of those countries is the United States, and you want to let potential customers know that, youcan only make what the FTC calls a “qualified claim.” There are lots of ways to do this.

For example, you can spell out clearly just how much of your product was made in the U.S. or whatpercentage of the content is American made. The phrase “Made in USA from imported parts” is OK

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with the FTC, for example.

But other phrases can be tricky. “Assembled in the USA” is allowed only if you “substantiallytransformed” the product or if most of the work involved in making it was done in America. If all you’redoing is what the FTC calls a “screwdriver assembly" of parts from around the world, you can’t claimyour product was "Assembled in the USA.”

Are those the only rules governing labels showing where a product was made?

No. The Federal Trade Commission regulates claims that companies choose to make in theirpackaging or advertising, but other federal laws require labels for imported products. For example,there are rules for labeling products made from textiles, wool and fur. The Buy American Act of 1933created yet another set of rules for government procurement; to be “considered American-made” forthose purposes, more than half of the parts have to be made in the U.S.

Then there's the American Automobile Labeling Act, which requires that every car sold domesticallyhave a label showing where it was manufactured, what percentage of the content was made in the U.S. and Canada, and where the engine and transmission were made. Those rules are enforced by theNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (If you want to make an advertising claim aboutwhere the car was made, you have to deal with the FTC again.)

If something is not made in America, do companies have to say so on the label?

Yes, unless your product is on a long list of exemptions.

The folks at Customs and Border Protection require foreign companies that export to the U.S. toclearly label that product’s “country of origin.” If a product started out in one country and was“substantially transformed” somewhere else, the second country has to be listed as the “country oforigin.” That transformation, the law says, happens when a “new article with a different name,character and use is created.”

There are even detailed rules about the markings themselves — down to the size of the letters or theadhesive used for a stick-on label. Some products, like watches and clocks, manhole covers and“hinged hand tools for holding and splicing wire” get their own special marking rules.

Not all products have to be marked, including raw materials, goods that will be used to make otherproducts or those that would be very difficult or costly to mark (like an egg).

Then there’s something called the “J-list,” named for the section of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of1930 that grandfathered exemptions for about 100 products. Feathers are on the list, so you mayhave a hard time figuring out where they came from. Same goes for playing cards and hairnets. Thelist is a just one more example of the complexity of global trade negotiations.

What happens if you don’t follow these "country of origin" marking rules?

If you get caught, Customs will give you three options. You can “re-export” the product, which meansyou just send it somewhere else. You can have the products marked properly (at your expense, ofcourse.) Or you can have the products destroyed. Your call.

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What happens if you break the rules and make a false “Made in America” claim?

Companies have tried all sorts of ways to skirt the law with indirect claims, like proudly displaying anAmerican flag or the Statue of Liberty on the product.

Not allowed, says the FTC. Unless the product meets the “all or virtually all” standard, you can’t try totrick consumers by wrapping your product in the flag.

If you get caught, and the FTC decides you’ve crossed the line, you’ll get an order to stop making theclaim. Most companies who get nabbed agree to stop making false Made in America claims withoutadmitting or denying they did anything wrong. If you break the rules again, you'll probably get hit witha heavy fine for each infraction.

But the FTC doesn’t have a Made in America Police browsing store shelves for violations. Theagency relies on consumers to tip them to infractions. If you think a company is falsely making a"Made in America" claim, you can notify the FTC’s Complaint Assistant Web site.

Source: msnbc.com

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15 March 2010 -- Walk into any big-box store in the country and you’d be forgiven for thinking thatnothing is made in America anymore.

So many of our everyday purchases — the clothes we wear, the toys our children play with and theelectronic devices we rely on for work and entertainment — are manufactured abroad.

Nearly everyone knows someone who lost a job in manufacturing in recent years. The recession thatbegan in December 2007 has been devastating for the sector, leading to a steep drop in productionand eliminating more than 2 million manufacturing jobs, about one out of every seven positions,exacerbating a long-term trend.

Yet even as countless U.S. companies have moved production to other countries, American factoriescontinue to churn out hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods annually — everything from FORDtrucks and BOEING airplanes to GORDON & SMITH surfboards and VIKING appliances. U.S. plantsalso still produce, assemble or manufacture tons of fertilizers, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, computerchip components and specialized industrial machine parts.

“There’s been a loss of manufacturing jobs, but that’s not the same as a loss of manufacturing,” saidKen Mayland, an economist with CLEARVIEW ECONOMICS who works with several manufacturingtrade associations.

The U.S. manufacturing sector gradually has been transformed to focus primarily on sophisticateditems that require fewer skilled workers to produce but create far greater value than the T-shirts,tennis balls and other consumer products that are mainly made overseas. Some U.S. factories alsohave been able to continue producing lower cost items, such as housecleaners or toothpaste, usinghighly automated machinery and few people.

In fact, the dollar value of the manufacturing sector's output generally rose between 1987 and 2007,according the Bureau of Economic Analysis, even as its importance as an employer fell.

As manufacturing employment has declined, the service sector has become the chief engine of U.S.employment growth. While service sector jobs in the financial industry, real estate, law and healthcare provide a middle-class livelihood for many, the manufacturing sector generally has been a morelucrative option for people with lower skills or less education.

“Manufacturing still remains one of the best industries in the country in terms of wages and benefitsfor workers who don’t have a college degree,” said Robert E. Scott, senior international economistwith the Economic Policy Institute.

The manufacturing sector also traditionally has provided a more promising career path for people whostart on the factory floor but aspire to management, said David Wyss, chief economist with Standard& Poor's. That's not necessarily the case in other fields.

"You're not going to start out as an orderly in a hospital and work your way up to chief surgeon," hesaid.

Red flags

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Economists and policy experts also say there is reason to be concerned that the United States isbeginning to rely too much on other countries to manufacture even high-value products.

One major worry is that the United States, by ceding more and more skilled, technical manufacturingwork to other countries, is slowly beginning to lose its traditional edge in research and development.

Such concerns are particularly acute in emerging areas such as cutting-edge solar technology andcompact fluorescent lighting, where foreign companies aren’t just manufacturing products butincreasingly also are doing the design and product development work.

“When you separate the production from the innovation, the innovation leaves. It goes, and it goeswhere the production is,” said Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for AmericanManufacturing, which represents manufacturers and steelworkers.

The U.S. also is at risk of losing the infrastructure and suppliers that would be needed to create vital,high-tech manufacturing sectors in these hot new fields.

“There are still some industries where the U.S. manufacturing (sector) is very present and continuesto have advantages,” said Tim Hanley, a vice chairman at consulting firm DELOITTE & TOUCHE whospecializes in industrial products. But, he adds, “In some other industries, including some of the high-tech ones, other countries candidly have such an advantage.”

The problem has been exacerbated by the fact that emerging economies such as China and Indiahave a growing number of skilled engineers and scientists, while the U.S. has had trouble gettingenough students interested in those fields.

To maintain a robust economy that includes high-value manufacturing, some say the United Statesneeds to invest more in a better education system and scientific research.

“You can’t compete in high-tech industries without an educated work force,” Wyss said.

Wyss and others also say it's worrisome that the United States has for decades been buying morefrom other countries than we sell to them. The U.S. trade deficit, which counts both goods andservices, stood at $378.6 billion in 2009, having reached a peak of $760.4 billion in 2006.

“If you’re buying stuff from overseas, you’ve got to sell stuff overseas. We certainly do, but I don’tthink you can do it entirely with services,” Wyss said.

Some products are made in America because it would be too expensive to make them elsewhere andimport them for U.S. consumers. That includes things household cleaners, shampoo and foodproducts, as well as large, unwieldy items built mainly for the U.S. market, such as recreationalvehicles or heavy construction equipment.

High-value items, such as medical devices and semiconductors, are made here because theircomplexity requires highly skilled workers and close coordination with designers and engineers.

Many defense-related and technical products are still made in America at least in part because of

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security or confidentiality concerns.

Mostly missing from the U.S. manufacturing landscape are familiar consumer products such as toys,apparel and home electronics, which generally are assembled by large numbers of low-skilledworkers. Those products have been moving to developing nations for decades, and economists saythere’s little chance that tide will turn.

“There are places where we aren’t going to be competitive,” said Scott of EPI. “We’re not going tomake clothing, for the most part. … We’re not going to make much in the way of footwear, toys,furniture. Those things aren’t going to come back.”

Foreign companies, domestic production

Manufacturers often move to where the market is, so many made-in-America products are producedby foreign-owned companies. That includes everything from deodorant to cars. The NationalAssociation of Manufacturers estimates that one of every 12 U.S. manufacturing workers is employedby a foreign-owned firm.

On the flip side, U.S. companies making everything from soft drinks to construction equipment havemoved production overseas in part to reach the biggest growth markets.

“Ten-plus years ago, companies sought out low-cost labor markets because it was cheaper tomanufacture and bring these things back to the United States,” said Hanley, of DELOITTE &TOUCHE. “Increasingly now, global manufacturers have to have a presence in the developingmarket … because there’s where their customers are.”

When people think of American manufacturing, they tend to think of behemoth companies such asCATERPILLAR and GENERAL MOTORS. While those companies are certainly key to the health ofU.S. manufacturing, the sector also relies on many small, privately owned businesses that employfewer than 100 workers.

Many of these manufacturers make niche products most Americans have never heard of, such asspecialized screws, and then supply larger companies here and abroad. They offer another reasonfor the continued presence of U.S. manufacturers.

“It’s not like a Fortune 500 company that has this sharp pencil and says, ‘We can save three penniesif we move this to Mexico,’ ” said Mayland, the economist. “These are family businesses. They’re notgoing to move.”

No going back

As the U.S. economy moves forward in a fragile recovery, economists have been heartened to seeslight gains in manufacturing jobs over the past couple months.

Nevertheless, the recovery is expected to be slow and difficult. And few think that the United Stateswill return to an era in which millions more workers with relatively low skills and education can findlong-term manufacturing jobs that fund a middle-class lifestyle.

Thanks to technological gains, such jobs also are disappearing in the United Kingdom, Japan,

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Germany, France and even China, said David Huether, chief economist with the National Associationof Manufacturers.

“This reduction in manufacturing employment is not a U.S. phenomenon, it’s a global phenomenon,’”Huether said.

Mark J. Perry, an economist at the University of Michigan in Flint, thinks a more likely scenario is thatmanufacturing employs a smaller group of workers who are more highly skilled, highly productive andhighly compensated.

Perry likens the situation to America’s switch from a largely agrarian economy, in which most peopleworked on a family farm but farming was generally inefficient and back-breaking.

“I don’t think anybody would want to go back to the early days where everybody worked on the farm,”Perry said.

Still, others say the recession has been a wake-up call to the possibility that the American economyshould make more of an overt investment in manufacturing.

That leaves open the question of what, exactly, the U.S. manufacturing sector of the future shouldlook like.

“I think it’s a mistake to say, ‘Is something that was in existence in 1975 and 1982 coming back?’ ”said Huether, of the National Association of Manufacturers. “It’s just going to be … what can wemake competitively?”

Source: msnbc.com

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4 February 2010 -- A senior Chinese official said on Thursday that China would not bow to pressurefrom the United States to revalue its currency, which President Obama says is kept at an artificiallylow level to give China an unfair advantage in selling its exports.

The official, Ma Zhaoxu, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said at a regular news conference here that“wrongful accusations and pressure will not help solve this issue.”

Mr. Ma was reacting to remarks on trade that Mr. Obama made on Wednesday when he met withDemocratic senators in Washington. Mr. Obama stopped short of saying China manipulates itscurrency, but his words on China’s economic policies were harsh — the United States, he said, has“to make sure our goods are not artificially inflated in price and their goods are not artificially deflatedin price; that puts us at a huge competitive disadvantage.”

Economists agree with that assessment. They say that the Chinese currency, the renminbi, isundervalued by 25 to 40 percent compared to the dollar and other currencies. The gap is wider thanat any time since July 2005, when the Chinese government, under pressure from the Bushadministration, decided to the do away with the renminbi’s peg to the dollar and allow the currency tofloat in a narrow band against the dollar and other currencies.

The renminbi appreciated 21 percent, but since July 2008 it has remained at the same value — today,one dollar equals about 6.83 renminbi, also called the yuan.

“Judging from the international balance of payments and the currency market’s supply and demand,the value of the renminbi is getting to a reasonable and balanced level,” Mr. Ma said on Thursday.

The sharp exchange over China’s currency is only the latest symptom of rising tensions in Americanrelations with China. Internet censorship, hacking attacks directed at American companies, armssales to Taiwan and the pending visit of the Dalai Lama to Washington have all cropped up in the lastmonth as points of conflict. China is exhibiting a brash sense of confidence as its economy continuesto boom while much of the world remains mired in a recession.

On economics, Chinese officials now regularly lecture their American counterparts on the need tomaintain the value of the American dollar. China, which has more than $2.4 trillion in foreignexchange reserves, is the largest holder of American debt. On Wednesday, Xinhua, the official statenews agency, said Chinese economists are concerned that the American government, suffering froma record budget deficit, could print more dollars and issue more bonds, eroding the value of the dollar.

The finger-wagging from the American side is almost certain to intensify too. With mid-term electionsthis fall, Mr. Obama is under pressure to alleviate the high unemployment rate in the United States.Mr. Obama said last week in his State of the Union speech that he hoped to double American exportswithin five years.

In China, the export industry is a large employer in the coastal regions and draws hordes of migrantworkers from interior provinces. Exports have slowed considerably since the global financial crisisbegan, and Chinese leaders and economists have been saying that domestic consumption should

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become a larger part of the economy.

Last year, the Chinese economy grew by 8.7 percent, surpassing the 8 percent benchmark set by thegovernment and indicating that China was managing to push through the global recession with littledamage. A large driver of the growth was domestic spending — the Chinese government announcedin November 2008 a stimulus package worth $585 billion.

But the spending, along with in-flows of foreign currency through private investments and speculation,what some economists call “hot money,” is fueling inflation. The consumer price index in the fourthquarter of 2009 was 1.9 percent. Fears of an overheated economy could lead the Chinesegovernment to revalue the renminbi later this year to help contain inflation.

In late January, Jim O’Neill, the chief economist at GOLDMAN SACHS, told Bloomberg News that heexpected the Chinese government to make a one-off revaluation of the renminbi, letting it appreciateby at least five percent before the end of 2010. He said the revaluation will happen suddenly, withoutany warning from Chinese leaders.

Reopening the battle with Beijing over its currency may pay political dividends for Mr. Obama at atime of double-digit unemployment and growing fears that China is stealing American jobs. Butexperts say the president will have even less leverage over Beijing than President George W. Bushdid. Mr. Bush prodded China for years to adjust its exchange rate with little success.

China, they say, is determined to reignite its export machine after a global recession that sappeddemand for Chinese goods. A cheap currency is vital to that goal. And as indicated by Mr. Ma’sstatement on Thursday, China’s leaders have grown impatient with lectures on economic policy fromtheir chief debtor, the United States.

“It will be like water off a duck’s back,” said Nicholas R. Lardy, a China expert at the Peterson Institutefor International Economics. “They’re puzzled by the criticism. They think they should be praised forkeeping their currency stable at a time of global turmoil.”

Criticizing China’s policy, however, is likely to worsen a relationship already frayed by irritants on bothsides.

In two weeks, Mr. Obama is expected to meet with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, overthe objections of the Chinese, who condemn him as a subversive. The administration forged aheadwith sales of weapons to Taiwan, drawing an angry blast from Beijing, which regards Taiwan as abreakaway province. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized China for censoring theInternet, in the wake of GOOGLE’s allegations about hacking.

For its part, the United States is frustrated that the Chinese will not back tougher sanctions againstIran over its nuclear program. And China has resisted American initiatives on climate change policy,turning the recent climate meeting in Copenhagen into a diplomatic drama.

The administration has struggled to prevent the ill will from any single issue from contaminating thebroader relationship. “We can’t pick the timing of when an issue becomes important,” said a seniorofficial, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the matter.

Exchange rates are an arcane subject, harder to explain than a meeting with the Dalai Lama. But

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they influence easy-to-understand issues like the competitiveness of American exports and jobsecurity.

“The currency issue has the potential to become a very hot political issue,” said Kenneth G.Lieberthal, who worked on China policy in the Clinton White House. “We’re in significant danger ofhitting a very rough patch in trade relations, in the latter part of this year.”

Source: The New York Times

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