Special Report: 9.14.2009

DAY 2:  THE NECA SEATTLE SHOW

If you've not already done so, take a look at the blog entry from Sunday.

Some quick hitters first:

1. Attendance figures are not yet available (the show has one more day to run). However, show-floor scuttle is that there are 40% more "full" pre-registrations than the one in 2000 (the last time the NECA Show was in Seattle).  This is impressive if you think about how good 2000 AND 2001 were in construction, and how difficult 2009 is.

2. From NECA's convention blog: "Buy a picture, help send a child to school."

3. Day 2 attendance was steady.

DISTRIBUTORS IN ACTION
Locally-based Platt used this show to make a big splash at its booth.

Pictures taken on Sunday 9/13 show Platt's booth has been very popular. It was very busy every time I passed by that day

Non-Seattle distributor personnel, found off the show floor at a Milwaukee Electric Tool meeting: Jeff Frost, executive VP at Frost of Missouri (left) and Mike Strombock, assistant VP of branch sales at Dominion Electric Supply of Virginia.

At the WESCO booth, NECA show-goers learn about Solar in on-going daily presentations.

Distributor footnote:  Yesterday's blog included two photos and one long item on Graybar, but neglected to mention that it is one of three platinum sponsors of the association (NECA as a whole, not just the convention/show). The other two are Milwaukee Electric Tool and Westex. Release

GREEN PRESENTATIONS: A LOT
 
Nine topics, no details.

In picking workshops and seminars to attend, I chose those in which distributors were speaking first, then green sessions. There was a lot from which to pick on the second score. In addition to events covered here yesterday and below (and tomorrow), there were.

Energy Auditing -- full-day Friday session.

LED Technology -- half-day Friday session.

Entering the Green Intelligent Building Market -- half-day Saturday session.

Fundamentals of LEED -- half-day Saturday session.

Key to Business Success in the Solar PV Industry -- half-day Saturday session.

Green Contracting: Federal Methods for Green Building -- Monday seminar

Great Tools for Your Business: NAED's Green Guides & TED's Green Room -- presented by NAED's Ed Orlet (Tuesday seminar).

Emerging PV Market Guide -- Tuesday seminar

Go Green By Achieving Energy Efficiency in the Data Center -- Tuesday workshop.

I apologize for not getting to these. Even with 35 years of experience as a reporter, I've not yet mastered the trick of being in two places (or three) at the same moment. Work responsibilities also prevented me from listening in on Peter Vrame, of S-P Products, speaking Monday at a technical workshop. I'm sorry for that, because he's always worth watching in action at a trade show -- even if it's just Peter being Peter in his booth. In fact, eight years ago, I wrote about just that, in this extra-long piece  about trade shows.

What follows next is a recap of a few of the green education sessions I did get to. Has the electrical construction industry gone green? It has, for certain, done just that in 2009.

Although not much was directly explained about the organization, what I picked up was that it has been in existence 10 years and is "nearing" 10,000 people who have taken the GA exam and are, in some way, certified. 

Is this good? For perspective: The National Association of Home Builders began offering the Certified Green Professional designation in 2/08, and by 8/09 there were 4,000 of them. Of course, GA is not as well known as NAHB; and it offers certs in commercial and residential.

The best part of the presentation came from the Q&A from contractors in the room, from which I learned this:  

a. There is an exam.
b. There are various organizations that offer education (apparently to help you pass the exam).
c. GA is aimed at a wide variety of people, but thus far it's primarily "about" construction trades people.
d. It's a certification of the building professional, NOT the building.
e. Having GA people involved in a project could earn LEED credits of some sort under old versions of LEED (V2.0 to V2.2), but that's gone now (i.e., it disappeared in new V3).
f. The GA people have imposed a requirement that those earning GA certification have to be recertified every three years. They are thinking about requiring a specific number (perhaps 15, our presenter said, but it's not yet final) of CEUs to be taken annually. A requirement of 15 would mean someone earning a GA certification would have to earn 45 CEUs in a requalification cycle.  

ENERGY ROADMAP FOR CONTRACTORS
Dr. Tom Glavinich holds forth

Tom Glavinich is a professor in Kansas who is intimately acquainted with several subcontractor groups, including ECs. I sat through the 2nd half of his 110-minute session and, of course, looked through the slides I missed in the first hour's worth.

To sum it up:

Doctor Tom is a very savvy guy. He's been asked to do many studies for Electri 21 (NECA's Foundation ). Further, he's interesting to listen to; he has a good presentation style, and knows about the concerns, worries, and hopes of an audience of contractors.

If you listened carefully to this presentation, you'd become an optimist. The whole economy may well be crashing down upon our ears (well, maybe not yet.....) but electrical contractors are going to come out of it very well. There are so many opportunities in the EE and renewable energy and other areas. The government is pouring money in (rebates, stimulus dollars, Smart Grid money). The utility biz is focused on both encouraging efficiency and building out EHV (extra-high voltage) transmission lines, the Smart Grid itself (which could take 20 years), and so forth. Private businesses are increasingly motivated (by high electricity prices) to take measures to save energy. And it doesn't look like power prices are going down.

For example, he made an interesting case that ESCOs aren't that big a threat to electrical contractors. You might laugh that off, but after listening to the details he presented, you'd end up agreeing with him. The facts are inescapable. ECs are going to kick some ESCO butt! The argument was made as the result of research, not from a political point-of-view. I had never heard anyone, anywhere say the things that Tom was putting out there.

Glavinich presents info in a way that you can understand it AND will remember it -- especially if you happen to be a contractor.

a. The energy business "should be an outgrowth of your existing service and design-build capabilities."

b. "It is more economical for private sector commercial and industrial customers to pay for or finance their energy efficiency projects directly and take advantage of available incentives, rebates, and energysavings directly, than to enter into a performance contract."

SOLAR SESSION FOCUSES ON TRAINING
AEE Solar speaker obsesses

AEE Solar, an exhibitor at the show, sells solar products. In a way, if this catalog seller succeeds, you (the electrical distributor) might loose. A speaker from AEE that I believe was Jeff Spies (I arrived after he started speaking) made point after point in his presentation, and they all were about training.

Here's what's in my notebook, written furiously so I ask forgiveness its not precisely accurate:  

a. There are only 710 NABCEP -certified solar installers in North America. Spies said it as if it's a paltry number, and it sure seems so to me. Also: "There is no such thing as 'NABCEP Entry-Level Certification'." Apparently, some people in the training biz claim to offer this.

b. People offering solar training classes are doing better than people selling solar products (interesting, eh? Perhaps the thanks go to all of that "green jobs" stuff that's out there). However, many of the alleged trainers know very little about solar, Spies said. Some might know the subject, but know very little about training. Others might know electrical work, but not solar. And so on. Spies disparaged any training organization that wasn't among his company's four favorites; he even presented some ways to pre-qualify a training organization.

c. NOTE: AEE doesn't "do" training. It hires one specific vendor (the all-time favorite) to offer training on its behalf, sometimes. Yes, this does seem to grant some kind of legit status to the minutes (and slides) -- and sense of urgency -- devoted to training by AEE's speaker.

d. Just because you are a great electrician doesn't mean you are going to be a great solar installer. However, lots of non-electrical people taking solar training classes who later move on to attempt installations in the real world are shocked by the issues involved in dealing with the National Electrical Code and in working with inspectors. "People who have dealt with [these two issues -- like electrical contractors] have a tremendous advantage."

e. However, when ECs get into the business of doing rooftop installations, they make lousy roofers. They drill holes in the wrong places.

f. Then there's the safey issue. Spies indicated putting together high-voltage DC power (HVDC) with doing electrical work on rooftops was a bad combo. The electrical current exposure doesn't necessarily kill the solar guy, but the ensuing fall from the roof does some serious damage."