Given the current upward trend and volatility of fossil fuel pricing, there’s renewed interest in heating using wood pellets. Federal incentives that currently cover 26% of some qualified equipment adds enticement toward purchasing pellet-burning stoves.

Democrat or Republican, we can all agree that lead in drinking water is bad. That was the takeaway from President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address last month, where he discussed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and how it has funded 20,000 projects since the legislation passed in 2021.

The first time I ever bid and landed a commercial plumbing contractor, it was for a huge retail store on the upper floor of a local shopping mall. Every bidder was required to provide submittals for virtually everything being installed.

In my January column, I began a series focused on chemical and non-chemical additives or technologies that I treat as “must consider” for plumbing engineers in their design practices to reduce the risk of legionella bacteria developing in the domestic water system.

In terms of civic engagement, younger generations have been voting and volunteering at higher rates than previous generations. Regardless of one’s political beliefs, I think we can all agree that politics has become a much bigger portion of daily life. Whether on social media or at our local coffee shop, we all are spending more energy talking about the bigger picture.

Building and safety codes are near and dear to my heart as they, undoubtedly, have a significant impact on public health, safety and welfare. Buildings in every jurisdiction in the United States use some version of building and safety codes. In addition, building and safety codes cover most products manufactured for the building and construction industries.

When designing hydronic circuits, most engineers focus on what’s necessary for that circuit to absorb thermal energy at a heat source, carry it along like a conveyor belt and drop it off at one or more heat emitters.

Water is a finite resource. Read that again, I’ll wait.

Most hydronic systems have the boiler running up to 180° F with water returning from the system at 160°. This rarely happens in real life, but it’s the traditional way we do things.

In larger domestic hot water applications, we often see centralized water heating lineups with or without storage tank equipment to produce and distribute domestic hot water inside buildings and facilities. I often see these more robust systems in healthcare projects, numerous hospitality (hotel) projects as well as some multifamily installations when energy metering is not required for hot water serving the units (apartments).