Business Bits

A. O. Smith Water Products Company has donated a 120-gallon solar storage tank to the Hurston family of Cocoa Beach, FL, project of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. http://bit.ly/aosmithmakeover

Arzel Zoning has developed a contractor locator tool designed for homeowners to use on the company’s consumer website. The searchable database will be compiled of Arzel contractors who submit their company information and the zip codes for which they provide service. The contractor locator will be part of Arzel’s redesigned consumer website, arzel.com, that will be launched in early April. http://bit.ly/arzellocator

Eastern Mennonite University (EMU), Harrisonburg, VA, has installed a sustainable education display by QA Graphics’® to show students and visitors the campus' real-time energy use and to describe its green initiatives.

EMU officials have a number of sustainability initiatives in place throughout the campus. Cedarwood, a 35,000 sq.ft. residence hall, was built following the U.S. Green Building Council's® Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED®) green building rating system's guidelines. EMU is anticipating LEED Silver certification for the hall. http://bit.ly/emuenergy

Commercial building owners who want to be more competitive, earn green building certification, and be prepared for higher government efficiency mandates are turning their attention to the central plant. How can they and their contractors work together to "optimize" central plant performance? Johnson Controls provides some answers. In a recent white paper, Dave Klee, Johnson Controls' director of channel marketing and strategy, HVAC, and Gary Gigot, vice president, business development, Optimum Energy, LLC, explain the rationale behind Central Plant Optimization, and the seven steps it involves. The white paper is available as a free, downloadable PDF. http://bit.ly/jciwhitepaper