World Plumbing Council taps Chaney as new chairman

Edinburgh, Scotland — GP Russ Chaney, CEO of The IAPMO Group, was elected chairman of the World Plumbing Council (WPC) for a term covering 2011-13 during the 9th World Plumbing Conference, Sept. 7-11, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Established in 1990 and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the WPC maintains NGO status with the World Health Organization and carries out a mission to unite the world plumbing industry and promote its role in improving public health and safeguarding the environment.

Chaney served two terms on the WPC Executive Board, from 2002-05 as a Director and as Deputy Chairman from 2008 until his election as Chairman this month.

He began his career in the plumbing business as an apprentice in 1974, obtaining his
Master Plumber license in the state of New Jersey in 1982 and his New Jersey Plumbing Inspector license in 1987. He ran his own plumbing business until he laid down the tools in 1990 and joined the National Association of Plumbing, Heating and Cooling Contractors (PHCC) as director of Technical Services in 1992.
Chaney served as the secretariat of the National Standard Plumbing Code and the ANSI A40 Safety Requirements for Plumbing Code until joining IAPMO as CEO in June 1995.

IAPMO joined the WPC in August 1995 and tapped Chaney as its representative. He was elected to his first three-year term on the Executive Board in 2002 and was reelected in 2008 as Deputy Chairman.

ASPE, ARCSA sign agreement

Chicago — The American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE) and the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association have signed an agreement to jointly develop and publish an ARCSA/ASPE consensus standard for rainwater catchment systems. This agreement brings together the premier association representing plumbing engineering and design with the leading organization in the United States promoting rainwater catchment systems. Both organizations have informally worked together in the past to publish standards, and the signing of this agreement at the recent ASPE Central Indiana Chapter meeting formalizes a relationship that will continue to grow and provide significant benefits to other organizations, the plumbing community, and ultimately the consumer.

Zero-Net-Energy Buildings & Homes

Tucson, Ariz. — Yudelson Associates said it was offering a new seminar for building owners, as well as design, construction and facility professionals, on the evolution and design of sustainable buildings and homes that are known as Zero Net Energy or “ZONE.”“We’ve been tracking the development of this exciting new activity in the green building space,” said Yudelson, a leading international sustainability consultant and green building authority, “It has grown dramatically as sustainability concerns continue to mount.” A Zero-Net-Energy building is one that produces as much energy as it consumes on an annual basis, typically using solar or wind resources.

Yudelson presented the definitive exploration of the business case for zero net energy (ZONE) sustainable buildings in a green building White Paper in March of 2011 and has since tracked the evolution of these buildings in the U.S. and other countries.

In August 2011, Yudelson delivered the first of a planned series of seminars on Zero Net Energy Buildings and Homes, for an audience of architects, engineers, builders and developers in Phoenix, AZ. “What we have learned from the first few significant efforts,” said Yudelson, “is that the key to Zero Net Energy projects is to reduce energy demand with an entire suite of sustainability planning measures, before we add the renewable energy component.”

In 2007, Congress created a Zero Net Energy Commercial Buildings Initiative with a market transition goal of Zero Net Energy for all new commercial buildings by 2030. In Golden, CO, the National Renewable Energy’s Research Support Facility, now in operation, plans to demonstrate how to achieve that level of performance in 2011.

Yudelson believes that 2011 and 2012 will see an explosion of major new projects aiming at net zero energy and cites the Bullitt Foundation’s Cascadia Center commercial office building in Seattle, which just began construction as an example of the solid business case for such developments. “The Bullitt Foundation aims to fill this building with commercial tenants paying commercial rents and to still realize a positive return on investment,” he said, “something we would not have seen or imagined only a year or two ago.”