When it comes to clean energy, a few sexy technologies — solar panels, electric cars — get all the headlines. I blame you for reading public. That’s what you click on!

But the workers of the clean energy transition, especially in the early years, are apt to be boring old technologies nobody writes about, some of which may already be in your home. For example, the rising need for energy storage may be partly answered by … the water heater, that unlovely white cylinder thing in your basement.

The other day, I came across another unlikely hero: the heat pump. (Try to contain your enthusiasm.) It requires a little setup, though.

A close look at what’s required to lower San Francisco’s emissions

Siemens — a big player on both the hardware and software side of the “smart cities” space — has developed a tool for modeling carbon emissions in cities. It allows the company to run scenarios showing how various technologies and practices could reduce emissions. It’s called the City Performance Tool, or CyPT.

Siemens recently approached San Francisco about using CyPT to assess the city’s ambitious sustainability goals. Long term, the city’s carbon emissions are meant to decline 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. (They are already 14.5 percent below 1990 levels.)

Siemens used CyPT to analyze how a bunch of different technologies could contribute to San Francisco’s goals. It ran three scenarios. In the first, it modeled the aggressive but achievable deployment of a whole range of technologies, centered mostly on sustainable transport and buildings. Here they are:

(Siemens)

As you can see, electric cars, car sharing, and congestion charging are the biggies on the transport side. On buildings, home automation and “performance optimization” do the most work.

But this scenario only got Siemens to a 63.4 percent drop in emissions by 2050 — short of what San Francisco needs.

For the second scenario, it modeled carpeting the city with solar panels, to provide a source of electricity cleaner than what the grid provides. With panels on just about every suitable roof, the city could get an additional 776,600,000 kWh/year of carbon-free power. Whatever its other benefits, however, this strategy only secured another 3.6 percent in emission reductions, bringing the total to 67 percent by 2050.

How to get from 67 to 80 percent?

You got it: heat pumps.

A heat pump is a “mechanical-compression cycle refrigeration system” that can serve as both a furnace and an air conditioner (indeed, many air conditioners are just one-way heat pumps). From manufacturer Trane:

Even in the air that seems too cold, heat energy is present. When it’s cold outside a heat pump extracts this outside heat and transfers it inside. When it’s warm outside, it reverses directions and acts like an air conditioner, removing heat from your home.

Because it merely moves, rather than generates heat, it is far more efficient than combustion furnaces.

They key feature for our purposes is that heat pumps run on electricity. When Siemens modeled shifting 80 percent of citywide heat consumption over from natural gas to electric heat pumps, emissions declined another 14 percent, bringing the 2050 total up to just above SF’s goal.

(Siemens)

In fact, “market adoption of electric heat pumps for 80 percent of citywide heat consumption is the single most impactful lever considered in this analysis,” it concluded.

I find this perversely pleasing. In the already boring category of appliances, electric heat pumps may be the most boring. Be honest — every time I write “electric heat pump,” your eyelids droop a bit. But they matter!

(Note: heat pumps work so well for decarbonization in San Francisco because of its clean electricity and mild climate—they won’t have the same effect in areas with dirty and more expensive electricity.)

What heat pumps can teach us

So as not to just have a laugh about heat pumps, let me extract a couple of lessons here.

1) First, this helps illustrate that the bulk of the decarbonization over the next few decades is not going to be accomplished by sexy new technologies with, y’know, carbon nanotubes or whatever. It’s not, fundamentally, going to be tech development work.

Instead, it’s going to involve the more quotidian work of slogging through and reforming the rules, regulations, and incentives offered by various levels of government, so that they align around the deployment of existing clean energy technologies, including the boring ones.

A case study from my own experience: Recently, my wife and I did a bunch of internal work on our house — new plumbing, new insulation, new electrical box, new water heater, and new furnace (and a new kitchen faucet, the one part of the work I actually see day to day).

We still had the old oil furnace installed in the house when it was built in 1957. It was that sickly peach color popular with appliances back then — a real monster. Check it out:

Look at this beauty. DR

I wanted to switch it out for a heat pump. That would have made my house almost fossil fuel-free, since Seattle enjoys very hydro-heavy, low-carbon electricity.

But my utility, Seattle City Light (generally a pretty progressive utility), offers no rebates for air-source heat pumps (only the fancier and more expensive ductless kind). By contrast, it offers substantial rebates for the purchase of an efficient natural gas furnace. [Correction, 10/5/2016: Oops, got that a bit wrong. It’s true that SCL doesn’t offer rebates for air-source heat pumps, but it’s not true that they offer rebates for natgas furnaces — those rebates came through Puget Sound Energy, my gas utility.]

In the end, choosing a heat pump over a natural gas furnace would have cost us $8,000 more, and given that we were already spending into ourselves penury, we just couldn’t do it. It would have paid itself back eventually, but over something like 20 years. Who knows if we’ll be in the house that long?

So I had to pipe another fossil fuel into my house. It was galling. Especially since I live in a temperate climate, perfect for a heat pump.

Making sure that rules and incentives are aligned to promote boring-but-important technologies — that’s the real meat and potatoes of decarbonization in the next decade or two.

2) Without rehashing this all over again, I will say that Siemens’ results line up perfectly with the decarbonization strategy I laid out in a post the other day, namely: Clean up electricity and electrify everything.

That’s what the humble heat pump represents: a way to shift heating and air conditioning from fuel combustion to electricity. It ain’t exciting — you won’t see it on any tech blogs — but it’s important.

(Thanks to @MackayMiller for the tip.)

The post This humble residence equipment could possibly be San Francisco’s secret local weather weapon appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

When it comes to clean energy, a few sexy technologies — solar panels, electric cars — get all the headlines. I blame you for reading public. That’s what you click on!

But the workers of the clean energy transition, especially in the early years, are apt to be boring old technologies nobody writes about, some of which may already be in your home. For example, the rising need for energy storage may be partly answered by … the water heater, that unlovely white cylinder thing in your basement.

The other day, I came across another unlikely hero: the heat pump. (Try to contain your enthusiasm.) It requires a little setup, though.

A close look at what’s required to lower San Francisco’s emissions

Siemens — a big player on both the hardware and software side of the “smart cities” space — has developed a tool for modeling carbon emissions in cities. It allows the company to run scenarios showing how various technologies and practices could reduce emissions. It’s called the City Performance Tool, or CyPT.

Siemens recently approached San Francisco about using CyPT to assess the city’s ambitious sustainability goals. Long term, the city’s carbon emissions are meant to decline 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. (They are already 14.5 percent below 1990 levels.)

Siemens used CyPT to analyze how a bunch of different technologies could contribute to San Francisco’s goals. It ran three scenarios. In the first, it modeled the aggressive but achievable deployment of a whole range of technologies, centered mostly on sustainable transport and buildings. Here they are:

(Siemens)

As you can see, electric cars, car sharing, and congestion charging are the biggies on the transport side. On buildings, home automation and “performance optimization” do the most work.

But this scenario only got Siemens to a 63.4 percent drop in emissions by 2050 — short of what San Francisco needs.

For the second scenario, it modeled carpeting the city with solar panels, to provide a source of electricity cleaner than what the grid provides. With panels on just about every suitable roof, the city could get an additional 776,600,000 kWh/year of carbon-free power. Whatever its other benefits, however, this strategy only secured another 3.6 percent in emission reductions, bringing the total to 67 percent by 2050.

How to get from 67 to 80 percent?

You got it: heat pumps.

A heat pump is a “mechanical-compression cycle refrigeration system” that can serve as both a furnace and an air conditioner (indeed, many air conditioners are just one-way heat pumps). From manufacturer Trane:

Even in the air that seems too cold, heat energy is present. When it’s cold outside a heat pump extracts this outside heat and transfers it inside. When it’s warm outside, it reverses directions and acts like an air conditioner, removing heat from your home.

Because it merely moves, rather than generates heat, it is far more efficient than combustion furnaces.

They key feature for our purposes is that heat pumps run on electricity. When Siemens modeled shifting 80 percent of citywide heat consumption over from natural gas to electric heat pumps, emissions declined another 14 percent, bringing the 2050 total up to just above SF’s goal.

(Siemens)

In fact, “market adoption of electric heat pumps for 80 percent of citywide heat consumption is the single most impactful lever considered in this analysis,” it concluded.

I find this perversely pleasing. In the already boring category of appliances, electric heat pumps may be the most boring. Be honest — every time I write “electric heat pump,” your eyelids droop a bit. But they matter!

(Note: heat pumps work so well for decarbonization in San Francisco because of its clean electricity and mild climate—they won’t have the same effect in areas with dirty and more expensive electricity.)

What heat pumps can teach us

So as not to just have a laugh about heat pumps, let me extract a couple of lessons here.

1) First, this helps illustrate that the bulk of the decarbonization over the next few decades is not going to be accomplished by sexy new technologies with, y’know, carbon nanotubes or whatever. It’s not, fundamentally, going to be tech development work.

Instead, it’s going to involve the more quotidian work of slogging through and reforming the rules, regulations, and incentives offered by various levels of government, so that they align around the deployment of existing clean energy technologies, including the boring ones.

A case study from my own experience: Recently, my wife and I did a bunch of internal work on our house — new plumbing, new insulation, new electrical box, new water heater, and new furnace (and a new kitchen faucet, the one part of the work I actually see day to day).

We still had the old oil furnace installed in the house when it was built in 1957. It was that sickly peach color popular with appliances back then — a real monster. Check it out:

Look at this beauty. DR

I wanted to switch it out for a heat pump. That would have made my house almost fossil fuel-free, since Seattle enjoys very hydro-heavy, low-carbon electricity.

But my utility, Seattle City Light (generally a pretty progressive utility), offers no rebates for air-source heat pumps (only the fancier and more expensive ductless kind). By contrast, it offers substantial rebates for the purchase of an efficient natural gas furnace. [Correction, 10/5/2016: Oops, got that a bit wrong. It’s true that SCL doesn’t offer rebates for air-source heat pumps, but it’s not true that they offer rebates for natgas furnaces — those rebates came through Puget Sound Energy, my gas utility.]

In the end, choosing a heat pump over a natural gas furnace would have cost us $8,000 more, and given that we were already spending into ourselves penury, we just couldn’t do it. It would have paid itself back eventually, but over something like 20 years. Who knows if we’ll be in the house that long?

So I had to pipe another fossil fuel into my house. It was galling. Especially since I live in a temperate climate, perfect for a heat pump.

Making sure that rules and incentives are aligned to promote boring-but-important technologies — that’s the real meat and potatoes of decarbonization in the next decade or two.

2) Without rehashing this all over again, I will say that Siemens’ results line up perfectly with the decarbonization strategy I laid out in a post the other day, namely: Clean up electricity and electrify everything.

That’s what the humble heat pump represents: a way to shift heating and air conditioning from fuel combustion to electricity. It ain’t exciting — you won’t see it on any tech blogs — but it’s important.

(Thanks to @MackayMiller for the tip.)

The post This humble house equipment could possibly be San Francisco’s secret local weather weapon appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

By DianaBarr


–
Associate Editor, St Louis Business Journal

01/12/2022

Marcone, a Creve Coeur-based distributor of home appliance parts, has acquired suburban Chicago-based Munch’s Supply. The terms were not disclosed.

Munch’s Supply, a distributor of HVAC equipment, parts and accessories, has 65 locations in northern Illinois, Indiana and Michigan, including its headquarters in Hillsdale, Illinois, and employs more than 1,000 people. The company distributes for brands such as American Standard, Trane, Mitsubishi, Rheem, IPEX, AO Smith, Kohler, Tempstar, Keeprite and Frigidaire.

Munch’s, 65, was acquired in 2019 by members of management and Ridgemont Equity Partners, based in Charlotte, North Carolina. With the sale of Munch to Marcone, Ridgemont and Munch’s management team will retain a “significant” minority interest in the combined company, according to a press release.

Marcone, a San Francisco-based portfolio company of Genstar Capital, sells appliance, HVAC and plumbing replacement parts and equipment. Marcone is an authorized distributor for brands such as Whirlpool, Electrolux, General Electric, Maytag, Bosch, Samsung and LG. It operates 113 facilities and has about 2,000 employees and 43,000 customers, officials said.

The acquisition of Munch’s “immediately makes Marcone a leader in the HVAC sector,” officials said in a press release. The deal, coupled with Marcone’s acquisition in December of Professional Plumbing Group, a Concord, Pennsylvania-based distributor of plumbing products, “dramatically expands its home-related services.”

“Munch’s has established a strategic partnership with the industry’s leading OEMs [original equipment manufacturers]who offer the highest quality and most trusted brands on the market,” Marcone CEO Jim Souers said in a statement. “Customers value their partnership with Munch’s and we hope to build on the relationships they have built to… to offer additional products and services.”

Baird and Houlihan Lokey acted as financial advisors to Munch’s and Alston & Bird as legal advisors. BMO Capital Markets acted as financial advisor to Genstar and Marcone with Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP acting as legal advisor.

Marcone, which claims to have the largest inventory of genuine spare parts for home appliances in the country, also exports worldwide, operates a training institute and offers services such as payroll, insurance, inventory management and field service management. The company was acquired by Genstar Capital in June 2021.

The post St. Louis-based equipment components distributor Marcone acquires Chicago-area HVAC distributor Munch’s Provide appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

When it comes to clean energy, some sexy technologies – solar panels, electric cars – are making the headlines. I blame you, the reading audience. Click on it!

But the clean energy transition workhorses, especially in the early years, tend to be boring old technologies that no one writes about, some of which may already be in your home. For example, the increasing demand for energy storage can be partially answered by … the water heater, that unsightly white cylinder thing in your basement.

I recently ran into another unlikely hero: the heat pump. (Try to contain your excitement.) It does take a little setup, however.

A closer look at what it takes to cut emissions in San Francisco

Siemens – a major player on both the hardware and software side of the “Smart Cities” division – has developed a tool for modeling CO2 emissions in cities. It enables the company to run scenarios that show how different technologies and practices can reduce emissions. It’s called the City Performance Tool or CyPT.

Siemens recently reached out to San Francisco to use CyPT to evaluate the city’s ambitious sustainability goals. In the long term, the city’s CO2 emissions are to be reduced by 80 percent by 2050 compared to 1990 levels. (They are already 14.5 percent below the 1990 level.)

Siemens used CyPT to analyze how a number of different technologies can contribute to the San Francisco goals. Three scenarios were run. The first part modeled the aggressive but achievable use of a whole range of technologies, mainly focused on sustainable modes of transport and buildings. Here you are:

(Siemens)

As you can see, electric cars, car sharing, and congestion charges are the biggies on the transportation side. In buildings, home automation and “performance optimization” do most of the work.

However, this scenario only brought Siemens a 63.4 percent decrease in emissions by 2050 – just before what San Francisco needs.

For the second scenario, a carpeted city floor was modeled with solar panels to provide a source of electricity that is cleaner than what the electrical grid can provide. With panels on almost any suitable roof, the city could get an additional 776,600,000 kWh / year of carbon-free electricity. Regardless of the other benefits, this strategy only secured a further 3.6 percent in emissions reductions, so that it rose to 67 percent by 2050.

How do I get from 67 to 80 percent?

You got it: heat pumps.

A heat pump is a “mechanical compression cycle refrigeration system” that can function as both an oven and an air conditioner (in fact, many air conditioners are just one-way heat pumps). From manufacturer Trane:

There is heat energy even in air that is too cold. When it is cold outside, a heat pump extracts this external heat and transfers it inside. When it’s warm outside, it reverses direction and acts like an air conditioner that removes heat from your home.

Since it only moves heat, not generating it, it is far more efficient than incinerators.

The main feature for our purposes is that heat pumps run on electricity. When Siemens modeled the shift of 80 percent of citywide heat consumption from natural gas to electric heat pumps, emissions decreased another 14 percent, bringing the total by 2050 to just above the SF target.

(Siemens)

Indeed, “the market introduction of electric heat pumps for 80 percent of urban heat consumption is the most powerful lever considered in this analysis,” he concluded.

I find that perversely pleasing. In the already boring category of appliances, electric heat pumps are possibly the most boring. Be honest – every time I write “electric heat pump” your eyelids droop a little. But they are important!

(Note: heat pumps are so good for decarbonizing San Francisco because of their clean electricity and mild climate. They don’t do the same in areas with dirtier and more expensive electricity.)

What heat pumps can teach us

In order not to just laugh at heat pumps, let me extract a few lessons here.

1) First, it shows that most of the decarbonization in the next few decades cannot be achieved through sexy new technologies with carbon nanotubes or whatever. Basically, it will not be a technical development work.

Instead, it will be the more mundane job of working through and reforming the rules, regulations and incentives offered by different levels of government to align with the adoption of existing clean energy technologies, including the boring ones.

A personal case study: Recently, my wife and I did some internal work on our house – new plumbing, new insulation, new electrical boxes, new water heaters, and new stoves (and a new kitchen faucet, which is part of the job that I actually do See day by day).

We still had the old oil stove installed in the house when it was built in 1957. It was that sickly peach color that was popular with appliances at the time – a real monster. Listen:

Look at this beauty. DR

I wanted to exchange it for a heat pump. That would have made my house almost fossil fuel free since Seattle has very water-heavy, low-carbon electricity.

But my utility, Seattle City Light (a pretty advanced utility in general) doesn’t offer discounts on air source heat pumps (just the fancier and more expensive ductless kind). In contrast, it offers significant discounts for purchasing an efficient natural gas stove. [Correction, 10/5/2016: Oops, got that a bit wrong. It’s true that SCL doesn’t offer rebates for air-source heat pumps, but it’s not true that they offer rebates for natgas furnaces — those rebates came through Puget Sound Energy, my gas utility.]

In the end, choosing a heat pump would have cost us $ 8,000 more than a natural gas stove, and since we were already in dire straits, we just couldn’t do it. It would have paid off at some point, but over about 20 years. Who knows if we’ll be in the house that long?

So I had to add another fossil fuel to my house. It was annoying. Especially since I live in a temperate climate, perfect for a heat pump.

Making sure rules and incentives are aligned to promote boring but important technology – this is the real meat and potatoes of decarbonization for the next decade or two.

2) Without rehashing this again, I’ll say that Siemens’ results fit perfectly with the decarbonization strategy I outlined in a post the other day: clean up electricity and electrify everything.

This is what the humble heat pump is: a way of converting heating and air conditioning from burning fuel to electricity. It’s not exciting – you won’t see it on any tech blog – but it matters.

(Thanks to @MackayMiller for the tip.)

Millions turn to Vox to understand what is happening on the news. Our mission has never been more important than it is now: empowering through understanding. Financial contributions from our readers are an integral part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for everyone. Please consider contributing to Vox starting at $ 3 today.

The post This humble residence equipment could possibly be San Francisco’s secret local weather weapon appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Below is a list of the leading and leading device repair services in San Francisco. To help you find the best equipment repair services near you in San Francisco, we’ve compiled our own list based on this list of rating points.

San Francisco’s Best Device Repair Service:

The top rated Appliance Repair Services in San Francisco are:

• Atech Appliance Technician – offers unparalleled quality of repair work on all major household appliances
• A Plus Appliance Repair – Provides high quality appliance repairs with an immediate, same day response
• AAA Appliance Repair – Refurbishes most brands and all types of equipment with highly trained technical staff
• Best Appliance Repair – a reliable and trustworthy device repair company
• The Appliance Repair Doctor – available 7 days a week, including evenings and weekends

Atech Appliance Technician

Atech Appliance Technician provides unparalleled quality of repair work in all major home appliances. You employ certified and factory-trained technicians. These technicians efficiently restore the devices to their original performance. In addition, they have extensive knowledge of repairing equipment. They use the most modern tools to provide their services. Their services include refrigerators, ovens, washing machines, and ovens. In addition, they offer same day services with a courtesy visit within 30 minutes. There are also free service calls with repairs. They also offer a one year service guarantee on all of their services.

Products:

Equipment repair, refrigerator repair, microwave repair

Place:

Address: 1419 25th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94122
Telephone: (415) -728-7664
Website: atechappliancetechnician.com

Reviews:

Jesus was just great. Called to confirm appt and arrived wearing a mask. Diagnosed the problem, ordered the part, and returned to installation a few days later. Clean, efficient and nice. Nice job. “- Lyla Kim

A plus device repair

A Plus Device Repair provides a high quality device repair with an immediate, same-day response. Their services are offered with preliminary estimates and competitive prices. There is also convenient online planning for their customers. In addition, they have licensed and insured technicians to do the job. You present yourself fully equipped at the workplace. Your technicians have received extensive training for all makes and models. They follow high standards in providing the required services. In addition, their services include repairs to refrigerators, dishwashers and dryers. They also take care of repairs to hoods and ovens.

Products:

Appliance repair, refrigerator repair, washing machine repair, hood repair

Place:

Address: 912 Cole St, Ste. 203 San Francisco, CA 94117
Telephone: (415) -513-8624
Website: aplusappliancesrepair.com

Reviews:

“We were very pleased with the work that our technician Vlad did on our stove / oven. He was on time, friendly, and got the job done on time. I would definitely call her again if we have a problem in the future. “- April Anderson

Repair of AAA devices

AAA Appliance Repair overhauls most brands and all types of equipment with highly skilled technical personnel. They guarantee quick solutions for all household appliances. Branded and unbranded devices are repaired with excellent workmanship. They also have on-call technicians who can assess and repair defective equipment. Your technicians are fully equipped and are familiar with Restung devices. In addition, they are quick to respond to calls and offer same-day repairs. Your services are charged at transparent and reasonable prices.

Products:

Device repair, same day repair,

Place:

Address: 53 Columbus Ave Suite 101, San Francisco, CA 94111
Telephone: (415) -990-7138
Website: aaa-appliance-repair.com

Reviews:

Shortly before protection, my dryer started making terrible noises. It is 12 years old. Finally I called AAA. He showed up with the part at the scheduled time and had it fixed for 40 minutes. And the dryer is like new. I didn’t know it could be that quiet – so much better. Thank you very much !!! “- Julia Hu

Best device repair

Best Appliance Repair is a reliable and trustworthy device repair company. They have expert repair services for freezers, ovens, hobs and dishwashers. Your technicians also maintain product ranges, washing machines and refrigerators. In addition, they offer safe and competent services for all devices. They serve customers from San Francisco, San Matero and Marina. Their services are available 7 days a week. In addition, they operate around the clock as emergencies occur at any time. They offer upfront and flat rate pricing. The products and parts used are of the highest quality. They also offer warranties for all of their parts and services.

Products:

Appliance repair, dishwasher repair, refrigerator repair

Place:

Address: 4104 24th St # 942, San Francisco, CA 94114
Telephone: (415) -535-2325
Website: bestappliancerepairsf.com

Reviews:

Steven is very knowledgeable and professional. He’s one of those who can fix anything. He responds instantly to requests for information, arrives on time, keeps you updated while he works, and tidies up after himself. The technician even let me patiently clean parts of the oven that were exposed for the first time. He’s a real find. “- Loretta Wood

The Appliance Repair Doctor

The Appliance Repair Doctor is available 7 days a week, including evenings and weekends. The technicians adapt to their customers’ schedules. They are also in strategic locations. They also employ Filly-insured and licensed technicians. They explain the problems encountered. The devices will also be repaired as soon as possible. In addition, they offer the services directly. They offer hassle-free repair services for all major brands. A full service guarantee is also offered for all services. Some of the brands they carry are Barker’s Pride, Electrolux, and Samsung.

Products:

Appliance repair, oven repair, oven repair, dishwasher repair

Place:

Address: 177 Townsend St, San Francisco, CA 94107
Phone: ((415) -360-9435
Website: theappliancerepairdoctor.com

Reviews:

Very competent. Not only did it fix the problem, but it also gave me a lot of valuable advice on how to maintain that appliance as well as other appliances in the kitchen. I will definitely be using them again. “- Tyler Page

Jeanie Burford is a reporter for Kev’s Best. After graduating from UCLA, Amy did an internship at a local radio station and worked as a beat reporter and producer. Jeanie has also worked as a columnist for The Brookings Register. Amy covers business and community events for Kev’s Best.

The post 5 Greatest Equipment Restore Companies in San Francisco 🥇 appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.