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By Jason D'Aprile

Freelance contributor, TechHive | Jul 11, 2017 3:00 AM PT

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A smart thermostat will have an outsize impact not only how comfortable you are in your home, but also on your household budget. Heating and cooling your home accounts for nearly half of the average homes utility bills, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

A programmable thermostat can help reduce those costs by turning your HVAC system on when you anticipate being home, and off when you dont think youll need indoor climate control. A smart thermostat goes far beyond relying on a simple schedule. It will not only enable you to create more sophisticated schedules for every day of the week, and give you complete control over your HVAC system, even when youre away from home. Weve spent several months testing and evaluating a wide variety of smart thermostats, and now were ready to help you find the right one for your home.

The Ecobee3s unique use of remote sensors means it can monitor the temperature well beyond the actual thermostat, which makes it an excellent choice. Read TechHive's full review

Nest usually gets all the attentionand the company deserves credit for shaking up a once sleepy marketplacebut we think the Ecobee3 is the best choice when it comes to smart thermostats. Where the competition relies on measuring a homes temperature in just one spot: Where the thermostat is located, which is almost never in a room that you spend any time in. The Ecobee3 lets you place sensors in multiple rooms in your home, so youll always be comfortable where you do spend most of your time. The Ecobee3 is also compatible with just about every other smart home device you can imagine, including Apples HomeKit ecosystem and Amazons Echo. Could Google Home compatibility be in the works?

Dont count Nest out of the thermostat game. The Google division has worked harder than anyone to build out a comprehensive smart home ecosystem with its own productsthe Nest Cam security camera series and the Nest Protect smoke and carbon-monoxide detectorsas well as a wide array of third-party products: Everything from ceiling fans to lighting controls and even smart appliances. So why does it garner runner-up status here? Nest counts on your buying other Nest products to help determine when youre home and away, for starters. And anyone investingor planning to investin Apples up-and-coming HomeKit ecosystem should steer clear of Nest products.

C-wire requirement Most smart thermostats require more electrical power than a set of batteries can provide. Fortunately, they dont require so much power than they need to be plugged into the wall. They rely instead on low-voltage power provided by your HVAC system. Many smart thermostats require the presence of a dedicated C (common) wire for this purpose, while others can siphon electricity from another source, typically the R (power) wire. But the latter practice is known to cause problems with some HVAC systems, including permanent damage. If you pull out your existing thermostat to install a smart model and find no C wire connected to it, look inside the wall to see if theres one that hasnt been connected. If theres no C wire, our advice is to have one installed. Only a couple of the thermostats reviewed here require a C wire, but all the manufacturers highly recommend using one.

Ease of installation A thermostat shouldnt be difficult to install, even if youre only moderately handy. The manufacturer should provide comprehensive, yet easy-to-understand instructions with plenty of photographs or illustrations to guide you through the process. The thermostat itself should be clearly indicate which wires go where, and most companies provide labels that you can attach to the wires coming out of the wall as you disconnect and remove your old model. The wires themselves should be color coded, but a good practice is to photograph your old thermostat for reference before you take it down.

Geofencing This feature uses the thermostats app and your smartphones GPS chip to establish a perimeter around your home. When you leave the perimeter, you presumably no longer need to heat and cool your home, or you can at least have the thermostat adjust the temperature so that its not running unnecessarily. When you cross the perimeter again as you come home, your HVAC system can kick into action so your house is comfortable when you walk in the door.

Remote Access Remote access enables you to control your thermostat from afar, so that you can check in and adjust the temperature from wherever you have a connection to the internet.

System complexity Each of the thermostats we tested support multi-stage heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, as well as heat pump systems. If your home is divided into zones that are heated and cooled independently of each other, youll probably need one thermostat for each zone. A single app should be able to control multiple zones.

Sensors Geofencing is greatprovided everyone who lives in the home has a smartphone. Motion and proximity sensors offer an alternative means of determining if your home is occupied and therefor in need of climate control. The original Nest thermostat was often criticized for relying too much on its motion sensor. If no one walked past it often enough, it would decide that the house was empty and it would stop heating or cooling. Some smart thermostats can also tap into door and window sensors as well as the motion sensors for your home security system. And proximity sensors on the thermostat itself can trigger a thermostats display to turn on when you walk past it, making the screens a handy feature in their own right, even if for no other reason than providing a nighttime pathway light.

Smart-home system integration Every smart thermostat comes with an app so you can control it with your smartphone or tablet, but the best models can also be integrated with other smart-home devices and broader smart-home systems. This can range from being able to adjust the temperature with a voice command via an Amazon Echo or Google Home digital assistant to linking to you smoke detector so that your fan automatically turns off when fire is detected, preventing smoke from being circulated throughout your home. Other options to consider include IFTTT and Stringify support, Apple HomeKit compatibility, smart-vent connectivity, and tie-ins with home security systems.

User interface Long gone are the days when a thermostats user interface consisted of numbers on a dial. The more sophisticated a device becomes, the more difficult it can be to learn to use. The last thing you want to be doing is staring at inscrutable hieroglyphics on the wall when all you really want is to be warmer or cooler. A smart thermostat should convey important information at a glance and should easily adapt to your specific needs.

We installed these thermostats in a single-family home with a conventional HVAC system and used each one for a week or more to determine how effective it was at maintaining a comfortable environment. The homes existing thermostat was wired with G, R, W, and Y wires. There was also a C wire in the wall that was connected to the furnace, but that had not been previously used.

While there is no regulated standard for color-coding HVAC wires, industry practice has the G wire connecting the thermostat to the fan. This wire is typically green. The R wire, typically red, is for power. Some systems have separate power wires for heating and cooling and are labeled RH and RC respectively. The typically white W wire is for auxiliary heat; i.e., a second source of heat. The Y wire, which is typically yellow, connects the thermostat to your air conditioner. Finally, the C or common wire is used to carry power and is typically blue (think cerulean if you need a mnemonic).

Well update this story with new product reviews as they come in.

The Ecobee3s unique use of remote sensors means it can monitor the temperature well beyond the actual thermostat, which makes it an excellent choice. Read the full review

The Nest is still the best for users who dont want to think about their thermostat, but it's no longer our top pick. Read the full review

Although not perfect, the Lyric Round is a commendably smart and functional thermostat.

Not technically smart, but a very solid middle ground between dumb and smart thermostats. Read the full review

MSRP $114.01

on Amazon

The Sensi is like your old thermostat with the addition of some excellent Wi-Fi features. Read the full review

Jason D'Aprile has been writing about technology and entertainment since the early 90s from his secluded home in West Virginia.

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Best smart thermostats of 2017 - TechHive - TechHive

Dive Brief: Dive Insight:

Heating and cooling buildings accounts for almost 40% of carbon emissions in the United States, and so Alphabet's engineers have spent years developing ways to make geothermal systems more affordable and less intrusive to install.

Dandelion CEO Kathy Hannun said the project was started "because we realized millions of homeowners are using expensive, truck-delivered fuels because they dont have access to better options today." But the key to signing on customers, particularly residential, would be in reducing cost and time to install.

Along with Hannun, Dandelion will be run by James Quazi, who will lead the company's technology development.

Over at the Google X blog, Hannun gives some background on developing the new geothermal installation process, including modifying drills and and considering liquid nitrogen to install a system of underground pipes.

"After months of testing, we hit upon a design for a fast, slender drill that hit our objectives," the new CEO writes. "It could drill just one or two deep holes just a few inches wide, and compared to typical installation rigs, it produced less waste and took up much less space as it operated."

While installing the tubes typically takes up to four days, the new process could be done in one day and "left a typical suburban backyard relatively undisturbed."

Dandelion is now operating in the New York Hudson Valley and Capital Region, and the company says its systems can provide renewable heating, cooling, and hot water and include monitoring and a smart thermostat.

Original post:
Alphabet lab turns out new geothermal company for residential heating and cooling - Utility Dive

Replace your heating and AC energy bills with a $20,000 geothermal system buried in your yard.

Part of the Alphabet (formerly Google) empire is the moonshot factory simply called X. X focuses on inventing and launching "moonshot" technologies to make the world a better place. The latest of those technologies just became an independent company called Dandelion.

Dandelion was an internal project at X for several years with a focus on using geothermal energy to cut down on carbon emissions in the home. This isn't a new idea, but it is an expensive one, which Dandelion aimed to solve. And solve it they have if Kathy Hannun, CEO of Dandelion is to be believed.

Rather than using fuel oil, propane, and lots of electricity to heat and cool your home during the different seasons, it's possible to do the same thing using geothermal systems. For home owners, that means taking advantage of the ground under their yard.

That ground stays at about 50 degrees Fahrenheit all year round. A geothermal system for heating/cooling works by drilling and installing U-shaped plastic pipes and running water through them. In the winter the water takes up the heat in the ground and a geothermal heat pump turns that into warm air pumped into your home. In the summer, the system works in reverse and pumps the warm air out of your home to cool it and deposits the extracted heat in the ground.

The expensive part of such a system is the installation and in particular the drilling, which is what Dandelion focused on solving. What they created was a brand new drill capable of drilling very deep holes with very little waste and completing the required ground loop piping in less than a day. Existing systems requires large machines, create a lot of mess, and take up to four days to complete the work.

According to CNN, existing geothermal system installations cost $60,000 to install. Dandelion cut that price down to just $20,000, which is still a lot of money until you factor in the energy cost savings each year.

Dandelion is now open for business and will initially be offering its system in New York. It wants to partner with local heating and cooling installers to help roll out the service and there will be a financing program through Collaborative Fund in the near future to help with the cost.

Matthew is PCMag's UK-based editor and news reporter. Prior to joining the team, he spent 14 years writing and editing content on our sister site Geek.com and has covered most areas of technology, but is especially passionate about games tech. Alongside PCMag, he's a freelance video game designer. Matthew holds a BSc degree in Computer Science from Birmingham University and a Masters in Computer Games Development from Abertay University. More

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Alphabet's Dandelion Wants to Water Cool/Heat Your Home - PCMag

July 11, 2017 by Julie Chao Thermal imaging was used to measure surface temperatures near the window, which in turn was used to evaluate the occupants level of thermal comfort. Credit: Berkeley Lab

By using advanced lighting and automated shades, scientists from the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) found that occupants on one floor of a high-rise office building in New York City were able to reduce lighting energy usage by nearly 80 percent in some areas.

The dramatic results emerged at a "living laboratory" set up to test four sets of technologies on one 40,000 square-foot floor of a building.

Berkeley Lab partnered with the Building Energy Exchange (BEEx), an independent nonprofit, to demonstrate that even in relatively modern office buildings, installing the latest generation of smart, actively controlled energy efficient lighting and shading can dramatically lower energy costs and enhance the quality of the work environment. These results will be important in speeding market adoption of emerging energy-saving technologies, according to Berkeley Lab scientist Eleanor Lee, who led the project.

"Context matters when it comes to figuring out where the market barriers are with respect to contractors, facility managers, and office workers isolated tests in a laboratory environment are often not enough," she said. "Reducing stakeholders' uncertainty about performance and occupant response in a real-world setting can be critical to accelerating market adoption."

On the living lab floor, T5 fluorescent lights were swapped out for dimmable LEDs with new sensors, which were adjusted throughout the day using advanced controls depending on daylight levels and occupancy of the space. Automated shades were raised or lowered to open up views to the outside, admit daylight, or reduce glare as needed. Researchers monitored the effects of the retrofit for six months, following a year-long baseline monitoring period before the upgrades were installed.

Compared to the baseline condition, energy use for lighting in the 40-foot deep perimeter zone on the living lab floor declined 79 percent, while the associated peak lighting electric demand went down 74 percent. Much of the savings came from the switch from fluorescent lamps to LEDs and being able to dim lights across the floor, not just next to the windows. The advanced controls enabled more granular fixture-by-fixture control with wireless sensors and communications, enabling zone control to be customized at the work-group level.

Many of the decisions related to configuring the controls were driven by the desire to maintain bright interiors and access to outdoor views. Despite the huge reduction in energy use, people surveyed on the living lab floor were generally content with the lighting levels and indoor temperatures.

Though heating and cooling use weren't monitored during the study, researchers estimated that a building-wide retrofit would have provided total electricity cost savings of $730,000 a year, assuming an average rate of $0.20 per kilowatt hour. Using industry estimates of typical installed system costs ranging from $3 to $10 per square foot, the retrofits would pay for themselves in three to 12 years. The researchers also emphasized the importance of installer and operator training, along with systems that have strong diagnostics and troubleshooting tools, in boosting the adoption of these technologies.

BEEx acted as local managers for the Living Lab and documented lessons learned across the entire process of technology selection, procurement, and installation. These lessons have formed the backbone of multiple educational resources, from exhibits to professional training sessions and toolkits, aimed at professionals who make decisions about lighting systems in commercial spaces.

"Using everything we learned on this project, we've developed a series of tools that will really help the engaged design professional or building owner make better decisions about lighting system upgrades, and avoid the common pitfalls on the road to a high performance office space," said Yetsuh Frank, BEEx managing director of strategy and programs."

The market for efficient lighting and shading controls continues to evolve. When the study began in late 2013, the researchers said, even basic features like wire color weren't yet standardized among technologies, causing confusion during installation.

But "manufacturers have really thought about how to reduce the complexity of their systems" over the past decade, Lee said, making them easier to install and more turnkey, while costs continue to come down. She added: "In the next 10 years, as components integrate with coordinated, optimized systems, we anticipate these technologies will deliver even better performance at even lower costs."

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Shading and lighting retrofits slash energy use in New York 'Living Lab' office demonstration - Phys.Org

Geothermal energy is one of the lesser-known types of renewable energy, but a new Alphabet company called Dandelion wants to change that by harnessing the heat underneath your yard to heat and cool your home. For the time being, the service is only available in certain areas of upstate New York. The signup website allows you to check if your home is within the serviceable area by zip code, and boasts immediate savings over your current energy payments thanks to zero down financing for qualified customers. Since the system simply either draws heat into your home from the earth below, or wicks heat from your home down into the earth, there are no service charges to pay, so youre only paying for your installation over time. The payments are touted as being fairly low. Your installation also comes with a smart thermostat.

If your home is within the service area, the process of signing up starts with a chat aboutyour home to assess it for installation with Dandelions experts. If that checks out, theyll come out to your house and plan the installation. If all goes well, the installation itself should take 2 or 3 days, and is done by contracted professionals. The installation can be done alongside a traditional heating and cooling system based on gas or electricity. Nodes are installed under the floor and in the walls of your home, and are hooked up to pipes that go down into the ground. From there, the system is able to pull heat up from the ground, or push it down into the ground from your home. Thanks to the simple setup, a Dandelion hookup can not only heat and cool your home, but can even be used in place of an electric or gas-powered water heater.

The newest spinoff from Alphabet to become an independent company was born within X, and in its current form, consists of X product manager Kathy Hannun serving as CEO, X technical program manager James Quazi as CTO, and former Conergy exec Katie Ullman in charge of marketing. The operation brings together experience from both inside and outside Alphabets wheelhouse, includingSolarCity and Mosaic. The company is still in its infancy, and there is so far no word on when or if the program may expand.

See more here:
Alphabet's Dandelion Offers Geothermal Heating & Cooling - Android Headlines

Bruce Dachis will install seven apartment units on top of his existing building at 29th & Bryant.

Prefabricated apartment units are coming to the Wedge.

Developer Bruce Dachis is planning to install seven apartment pods atop his three-story commercial building at 29th & Bryant, just south of the Midtown Greenway. The units will be built off site and placed atop the building via crane.

The project will include one studio apartment, five two-bedroom, two-story apartments and a seventh unit in which Dachis will live. It wont displace any of the building tenants, which include Soo Visual Arts Center, Awaken Pilates Studio and R&M Diamonds, among others.

Im basically building this because I want a place to live, Dachis said.

Dachis estimated that the two-bedroom units would cost $2,500 a month. The studio would cost about half of that, he said.

We think were really competitive in that price range, he said.

Dachis will extend the staircases and elevators up to accommodate the addition. The project also will include a two-car parking garage and closing the curb along Bryant Avenue. Residents will park in an outdoor lot already on the property.

The units could be placed on the building as soon as this fall, Dachis said.

Features will include decks that run the length of the units and high-efficiency furnaces and glass, which will contribute to a small energy footprint, Dachis said. His unit will have a aluminum skin, while the remaining unit will have a charcoal color.

Were using industrial material but in a contemporary design, Dachis said. We think this will be a cool art piece.

Dachis is working with St. Paul architecture firm Alchemy, which has built about 50 prefabricated projects since 2002. The weeHouses, as Alchemy calls them, are built in factories and delivered by flatbed truck to the sites. It takes the firm about nine months to complete projects from start to finish.

weeHouses consist of individual pods that are either 14 or 16 feet long and up to 60 feet wide. The pods can function as stand-alone units or can be combined to create large dwellings. Dachis project will include about 15 pods, for example.

Its really a small, efficient, sort of tool box of a structure, Alchemy founder Geoffrey Warner said.

A one-pod unit can include up to three bedrooms and two bathrooms, according to Warner. Two- and three-pod units are typically between 1,200 and 1,600 square feet, while four-pod units run between 1,8000 and 2,400 square feet.

The pods arrive on site between 80 and 90 percent complete and come standard with small porches and all interior plumbing, electrical, cabinetry, hardwood flooring, windows and doors. Heating and cooling systems and garages can be added.

Modular work starts at $80,000 and runs up to $300,000, according to the Alchemy website. Other costs include site work, delivery, unit placement and land. Alchemy charges a 15 percent fee on top of that.

Alchemys website touts the weeHouses as consuming less energy and having fewer greenhouse gas than a standard home. The firm can incorporate sustainability features such as rainwater collection, passive solar heating and solar panels into the projects.

Mary Bujold, president of Golden Valley-based Maxfield Research & Consulting, said there have been several groups trying to encourage more builders to build prefabricated units. She predicted that more developers are going to consider it, in order to save costs.

I think that theyve really improved the whole prefabrication thing, she said.

The Minneapolis Planning Commission on June 26 approved a conditional-use permit for the Dachis project, allowing him to increase the height of the building from four to five stories. It also approved a variance to reduce the setback on the south side of the building.

The Wedge Neighborhood Association board has supported the project, according to Vice President Katie Jones Schmitt.

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Developer to install seven prefabricated apartment units at 29th & Bryant - Southwest Journal

STEUBENVILLE After receiving an estimate for a new heating, air conditioning and ventilation system for the Ohio Valley Towers building, the Jefferson County commissioners are expected to take a loan for the project.

The commissioners on Thursday received an estimate of more than $2 million to replace the buildings current system. The estimate came from McKinley and Associates of Wheeling, the commissions architectural consultant, which found controls and ductwork must be redesigned and reconfigured to meet the buildings heating and cooling needs.

Commissioner David Maple told his fellow commissioners, Were going to have to go after a loan and probably soon.

Following the meeting, Maple said the buildings existing HVAC system is aging and the commissioners had to bring in an exterior air conditioning unit to cool it. He acknowledged they also face extensive repairs or replacement of the buildings roof.

Maple said the commissioners also might draw on $500,000 remaining from a loan taken for earlier improvements to the building and the demolition of the courthouse annex.

Mark Morelli of Optional Utility Consultants, an energy broker for the county, noted a reduction in energy use since more energy-efficient boilers and lighting were installed at the building. In the near future Morelli is expected to propose the renewal of a three-year contract for the buildings electrical supply.

The Towers building also has helped to save the county money by bringing many of its departments and agencies under one roof.

Commissioner Thomas Graham said the Ohio State University Extension Service and the countys port authority will be moving into the building soon.

The commissioners also granted a request from Mingo Junction for $10,000 from the countys recreation fund to offset the cost for the villages amphitheater project, installation of a non-slip surface for the swimming pools dressing areas and repairs to a shelter house at the park.

Village Administrator Bob Smith said the project had to be redesigned because it would have disturbed a drainage system along the adjacent hillside, but is back on track and expected to be completed this summer.

Money in the recreation fund comes from the countys piggyback tax.

In related business, Island Creek Township trustees advised they used about $2,560 of $4,046 allocated from the fund for the Pleasant Hill ballfield for an emergency measure replacing a collapsing well house supplying water to the park with a submersible pump. The trustees said the remainder of the money was used to reimburse the Pleasant Hill Baseball Association for field mix.

In other business, the commissioners:

Agreed to advertise for a contractor to pave a parking lot at the annexs former site. The commissioners said the lot will include about 37 spaces, most of them for residents visiting the courthouse.

Accepted a $14,236 drug law enforcement grant from the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services for the countys drug task force, with the task force to provide the 25 percent match from its budget. Its the fifth consecutive year the task force has received the grant.

Received three bids for a bridge replacement project on county Road 75: $829,000 from A.P. OHoro of Youngstown; $816,180 from Shelly and Sands of Rayland; and $747,463 from BOG Construction of Berlin Center. The bids were referred to the county engineer for review.

Approved a proclamation declaring Thursday as Betty Ferron Day in recognition of her 50 years of service as a county employee and volunteer. They noted that in addition to her role as director of the countys director of job and family services, Ferron has volunteered for the Jefferson County Fourth Street Health Center and other causes.

Appointed Todd Phillipson, Dave Lucas, Karla Martin and Rich Gualtire to the Jefferson County Youth Council and Kyle Brown, Karen DAnnibale, Nicholas Cacciacarro, Randy Stillings and Martin to the work force investment board. All will serve three-year terms.

All of the appointments are renewals except for Martin, who is the new coordinator of the Aspire GED program at Eastern Gateway Community College, and Cacciacarro, who is PNC Banks new representative to the work force investment board.

(Scott can be contacted at wscott@heraldstaronline.com.)

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Commissioners mull loan for HVAC project at the Towers - The Steubenville Herald-Star

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) The business that provides heating and cooling for most of the buildings in downtown Youngstown is in such bad financial shape, a state agency has stepped in to help.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio voted Friday to provide some help to the Youngstown Thermal Company. The meeting in Columbus lasted a short two and half minutes but created the process for a long-term plan to fix its finances.

In very short order, the PUCO staff conducted a review of Youngstown Thermals finances and determined that the utility is insolvent or in the imminent danger of insolvency, said PUCO Chairman Asim Haque.

The commission voted to ask Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine to seek the appointment of a receiver to solve the companys financial problems.

A PUCO investigation showed cash flow problems, utility disconnect notices, missed payroll, and a failure to pay debts.

Youngstown Thermal provides the steam that heats and cools most of downtown Youngstown, including city hall.

I would imagine with this receivership in place, at some point in time, it could be sold, it could be run by somebody else, Haque said.

But even with the PUCO using words like insolvency, Youngstown Thermal CEO Carl Avers said theres no immediate threat of the company closing.

The Public Utility Commissions responsibility is to continue service so there is no concern about the discontinuing of service of any kind, Haque said.

Late Friday afternoon, Avers emailed WKBN a statement, saying Youngstown Thermal has saved businesses $5 million a year in fuel costs for most of the last 35 years:

Some of our managers reactivated coal use with a clean coal technology burning operation at Youngstown Thermal in 1980 when Youngstown Thermal acquired the then fuel oil burning North Avenue Steam Plant from Ohio Edison. From 1979 to 2007 Youngstown Thermal saved the Central Business District approximately $140,000,000 in fuel savings. This reactivation was made possible with the installation of the then state-of-the-art pollution control systems which turned out to be the fore runner of todays most modern coal burning systems. Youngstown State University, City Buildings, County Buildings, YMCA and most of downtowns CBD have been the benefactor of low cost fuels not technically possible without a district steam network. Youngstown Thermal steam rates historically have been among the lowest steam rates in the country and provided an economic incentive for Youngstowns Central Business District. In 2006 it would have cost $5,000,000 more each year if the CBD buildings used natural gas for their fuel source for heating instead of clean coal.Incidentally in about 2008 the combustion/control technology at Youngstown Thermal was adopted as best available technology for theState of Pennsylvania.

Avers said he asked the PUCO to put Youngstown Thermal in receivership, in part because he said four companies which he would not identify owe him a million dollars and he hopes receivership will help him collect the money.

Youngstown Mayor John McNally said the Attorney General will likely begin legal proceedings in a week or so in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

I actually think this is a good thing to happen. I think its something that us here in city hall have quietly been waiting to see happen over the past two years, McNally said.

It isnt yet known if the receivership will be a single person or more than one person. Thats up to the judge.

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Company heating, cooling downtown Youngstown in financial trouble - WKBN.com

Democrats on a U.S. congressional committee have asked the president of a company that oversaw the maintenance of FEMA trailers issued to victims of Louisiana's historic floods in August whether he wants to change or withdraw testimony he made that absolved his company of knowledge that some of the manufactured homes had malfunctioning thermostats.

One of those malfunctioning thermostats is being blamed in the death of a blind military vet, a flood victim who was found dead inside one of the trailers in Baton Rouge.

The Democratic members of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform asserted they have obtained documents that contradict statements David Boone made under oath when he claimed that he wasn't aware of any issues with the thermostats until after the death of Everett Wilson.

+8

Congress has ordered a review of FEMA's manufactured housing unit program after a Baton Roug

Boone is the president of Capital Services, formerly called Chicago Bridge & Iron Federal Services. The company was sold Friday to private equity firm Veritas Capital.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency contracted with Capital Services to haul, install and maintain the manufactured housing units issued to residents displaced after the devastating floods.

Liza Kelso, the company's spokeswoman, acknowledged receipt of the letter and said they are reviewing the matter and will provide an appropriate response to committee members.

"However, we strongly disagree with any suggestion that false testimony was proffered by Mr. Boone during that hearing," Kelso said in an email Friday. "Various FEMA officials continue to pay compliments to the Capital Services team for the outstanding work in helping the Baton Rouge community recovery from this disaster."

Wilson, an 84-year-old blind U.S. Air Force veteran, was found on Oct. 25 unresponsive in a bed inside the trailer provided to him by FEMA after the August floods. He died from accidental hyperthermia, or overheating.

The temperature inside the mobile home at the time of his death registered at 124.4 degrees fahrenheit, and air coming out of the vents of the trailer's heating and air unit measured as high as 137.9 degrees, officials said previously.

Wilson's caretaker had made calls to authorities to fix the unit's heating and cooling system.

Boone claimed his company fully complied with all its contracted responsibilities from FEMA during an Oversight Committee hearing April 5.

The letter to Boone rehashes a portion of his testimony in which Boone claimed the company had only received "positive comments and glowing accolades" from FEMA about their performance under the contract.

"These claims are overwhelmingly contradicted by numerous documents obtained by the Committee," the letter states. "These documents leave no doubt that your company received significant criticism from FEMA for failing to meet its contractual maintenance obligations and to properly staff and run the maintenance hotline the lifeline that victims relied on to report problems with their housing units."

The committee's Democrats also claims they obtained documents showing that Capital Services knew from August 2016 that multiple thermostats were malfunctioning in the same manner as Wilson's was in his housing unit.

The letter says members of the committee gave Boone multiple opportunities to revise or retract his statements during the April hearing since some of the documents were obtained prior to his testimony.

"Should you decline to take advantage of this opportunity, we may consider alternative measures," the letter states. "Testifying before Congress is a serious endeavor, and the Committee relies on witnesses to be truthful at all times to assist our oversight efforts and ensure that the American people are well-served."

Follow Terry Jones on Twitter, @tjonesreporter.

Originally posted here:
Democrats on US House committee: How much did company know about thermostat problems in FEMA trailers - The Advocate

Smart windows equipped with controllable glazing can augment lighting, cooling and heating systems by varying their tint, saving up to 40 percent in an average building's energy costs.

These smart windows require power for operation, so they are relatively complicated to install in existing buildings. But by applying a new solar cell technology, researchers at Princeton University have developed a different type of smart window: a self-powered version that promises to be inexpensive and easy to apply to existing windows. This system features solar cells that selectively absorb near-ultraviolet (near-UV) light, so the new windows are completely self-powered.

"Sunlight is a mixture of electromagnetic radiation made up of near-UV rays, visible light, and infrared energy, or heat," said Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo, director of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, and the Theodora D. '78 and William H. Walton III '74 Professor in Engineering. "We wanted the smart window to dynamically control the amount of natural light and heat that can come inside, saving on energy cost and making the space more comfortable."

Graduate student Nicholas Davy holds a sample of the special window glass, whichharvests one portion of the light spectrum to control other parts of the spectrum. Specifically, it uses near-ultraviolet light to generate electricity, which powers chemical reactions that lighten or darken the glass as needed. When darkened, the window can block more than 80 percent of light.

The smart window controls the transmission of visible light and infrared heat into the building, while the new type of solar cell uses near-UV light to power the system.

"This new technology is actually smart management of the entire spectrum of sunlight," said Loo, who is a professor of chemical and biological engineering. Loo is one of the authors of a paper, published June 30, that describes this technology, which was developed in her lab.

Because near-UV light is invisible to the human eye, the researchers set out to harness it for the electrical energy needed to activate the tinting technology.

"Using near-UV light to power these windows means that the solar cells can be transparent and occupy the same footprint of the window without competing for the same spectral range or imposing aesthetic and design constraints," Loo added. "Typical solar cells made of silicon are black because they absorb all visible light and some infrared heat so those would be unsuitable for this application."

In the paper published today in Nature Energy, the researchers described how they used organic semiconductors contorted hexabenzocoronene (cHBC) derivatives for constructing the solar cells. The researchers chose the material because its chemical structure could be modified to absorb a narrow range of wavelengths in this case, near-UV light. To construct the solar cell, the semiconductor molecules are deposited as thin films on glass with the same production methods used by organic light-emitting diode manufacturers. When the solar cell is operational, sunlight excites the cHBC semiconductors to produce electricity.

At the same time, the researchers constructed a smart window consisting of electrochromic polymers, which control the tint, and can be operated solely using power produced by the solar cell. When near-UV light from the sun generates an electrical charge in the solar cell, the charge triggers a reaction in the electrochromic window, causing it to change from clear to dark blue. When darkened, the window can block more than 80 percent of light.

Nicholas Davy, a doctoral student in the chemical and biological engineering department and the paper's lead author, said other researchers have already developed transparent solar cells, but those target infrared energy. However, infrared energy carries heat, so using it to generate electricity can conflict with a smart windows function of controlling the flow of heat in or out of a building. Transparent near-UV solar cells, on the other hand, don't generate as much power as the infrared version, but dont impede the transmission of infrared radiation, so they complement the smart windows task.

Davy said that the Princeton teams aim is to create a flexible version of the solar-powered smart window system that can be applied to existing windows via lamination.

"Someone in their house or apartment could take these wireless smart window laminates which could have a sticky backing that is peeled off and install them on the interior of their windows," said Davy. "Then you could control the sunlight passing into your home using an app on your phone, thereby instantly improving energy efficiency, comfort and privacy.

Joseph Berry, senior research scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, who studies solar cells but was not involved in the research, said the project is interesting because the device scales well and targets a specific part of the solar spectrum.

"Integrating the solar cells into the smart windows makes them more attractive for retrofits and you don't have to deal with wiring power," said Berry. "And the voltage performance is quite good. The voltage they have been able to produce can drive electronic devices directly, which is technologically quite interesting."

Davy and Loo have started a new company, called Andluca Technologies, based on the technology described in the paper, and are already exploring other applications for the transparent solar cells. They explained that the near-UV solar cell technology can also power internet-of-things sensors and other low-power consumer products.

"It does not generate enough power for a car, but it can provide auxiliary power for smaller devices, for example, a fan to cool the car while its parked in the hot sun," Loo said.

Besides Loo and Davy, Melda Sezen-Edmonds, a graduate student in chemical and biological engineering, is the co-author responsible for the electrochromic portion of the paper. Other authors are Jia Gao, a postdoctoral researcher in Loos group then, now with Enablence Technologies in California; Xin Lin, a graduate student in electrical engineering; Amy Liu, an undergraduate in computer science; Nan Yao, director of Princeton's Imaging and Analysis Center; and Antoine Kahn, the Stephen C. Macaleer '63 Professor in Engineering and Applied Science and vice dean of Princeton's School of Engineering and Applied Science. Support for the project was provided in part by the National Science Foundation as well as the Wilke Family Fund administered by the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton.

The rest is here:
Self-powered system makes smart windows smarter - Princeton University