As members of Congress debate the very science behind “climate change,” there are a slew of cities — and now one state — taking matters into their own hands and enacting natural gas bans for new construction buildings.

Dr. Saum Nour (Khosrow Nourmohammadi), PE, Ph.D., CPD, LEED AP, CFPE, AIA Allied, is a very well-educated man. Just a quick glance at all the acronyms after his name may have some people feeling a bit intimidated. His deep knowledge of the industry, constant pursuit of education and willingness to help others learn has nabbed him the award for PM Engineer’s 2022 Plumbing Engineer of the Year.

A little-known fact about solar electric panels is that the hotter the panel itself, the less efficient it becomes. Studies have found a 0.05% efficiency loss for every degree of temperature that is increased. The reverse is true in that efficiency increases by 0.05% for every degree temperature decreases.

We have all heard the axiom — “those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” That is so far from the truth when it comes to the trades. In fact, in order to teach the trades, most instructors need to have at least a few years of actual work experience.

In this weekly feature, Plumbing Group Chief Editors Nicole Krawcke and Natalie Forster highlight the industry’s latest news stories.

The students in the dormitory started complaining of headaches and nausea. When the number of students with the same symptoms kept rising, the administration knew something was wrong. The maintenance department dispatched a service technician to investigate.

Most plumbers are missing a golden opportunity for add-ons with point-of-use or whole-house water purification systems and/or water softeners. Consumer awareness of the benefit of water purification has been raised by the pandemic and well-publicized municipal failures. Many, if not most consumers are highly sensitive to contamination today, whether air- or water-borne.

Recently, the question was asked on ASPE’s Open Forum “Foundation drain pipe — plumbing responsible? Or only between civil and structural?” As originally posted, the designer did not have a Geotech report. But the structural consultant did show the piping around the top of the elevator footing and the perimeter footing for the foundation in their details.

Like all of you, we never took on debt when borrowing money without first projecting the financial burden those obligations presented, and we certainly did not borrow beyond our ability to pay back the loan(s).

It hasn’t taken long for some of the most obvious unintended consequences to appear: More people are complaining that their shower experience is deteriorating due to lower flow rates, and shower times are increasing as people have to shower longer to wash the shampoo out of their hair.