These days, you can hardly pick up a newspaper or watch television without seeing something about the “green movement.” It’s as if the country is just starting to realize how much the concepts of sustainability and conservation affect our daily lives — and how important it is that we start doing something about it. It’s a fact that 50 percent of the world’s people have no access to safe drinking water. That’s a statistic we need to do something about now.
From the day I was elected president of this great organization, I felt a strong need to respond accordingly. Water conservation and energy efficiency have been a part of the Uniform Codes for decades. The Uniform Solar Energy Code was authored long ago to ensure safety of solar technology used in construction and design. We’ve got to remind the industry of the energy efficient provisions of our codes so that they understand how they may already be considered green.
The Committee for the Awareness and Understanding of a Sustainable Environment (C.A.U.S.E.) and the Green Technical Committee were formed. Both committees have discussed the need to examine the codes and see if new language could be proposed to include additional green technologies.
I can tell you the meetings have produced what I’ll call healthy dialogue. There is no doubting these people are very passionate about this subject and want to do the best we can with it. Everybody wants to show we are the true leaders of the green movement in the plumbing, mechanical and solar code arena.
To that end, it’s also time to get serious about attending our annual conference. Who’s ready to experience a little Southern hospitality? For the first time in 79 years, the IAPMO Education and Business Conference will be held in the deep South, the home of NASCAR and finger-lickin’ good cuisine. Our host city, Atlanta, promises sights and sounds like no other IAPMO conference has ever seen. It’s a tremendous backdrop not only for its history, diversity and lively nature, but because Atlanta has also reached a pivotal moment, as its citizens and elected leaders work together to find solutions to a potentially crippling water shortage (See page 34). Conservation will surely be a frequent topic in the local press as it will also be during our conference.
Once again, we’ve scheduled some incredibly relevant and informative educational seminars on both the plumbing and mechanical codes. IAPMO instructors are hands down the best in the business and we’ll all learn something new and vital by attending the educational sessions.
As an added bonus, our conference will again run in conjunction with the ISH North America Trade Show, the world’s leading expo for bathroom, building, energy and HVAC technology. Reflecting recent trends promoting cleaner building and environmentally conscious construction, the 2008 ISH NA show will highlight renewable energies. Please examine the conference preview closely and I’m sure you’ll reach this conclusion: the 2008 IAPMO conference in Atlanta is something you really need — and want — to attend. All registration forms and materials are included inside for your convenience.
In addition to our conference preview materials, this issue of Official also offers more articles about the green movement, including a fascinating preview of what is shaping up as the next international competition: a “Green Race” between the United States and China (Page 58). But unlike the space race, for instance, an olive branch of cooperation is being extended this time around. Another green offering is our look at retrofitting. We wondered what it might cost to voluntarily retrofit an older home with all of the latest, most efficient products and how much money and water one could save by doing so. The results, on page 54, might surprise you.
Other noteworthy articles involve plumbing in primitive rural settings (Page 38) and recent disconcerting news about trace amounts of pharmaceuticals detected in tap water (Page 41).
I welcome your comments and questions via e-mail at ron.rice@iapmo.org. Can’t wait to see y’all in Atlanta!