The weatherman says we are entering another period of warm weather, and after the torrential rainfall last week and the expected dousing from Hurricane Earl this week, the scenario is ripe for another round of humidity-related mold issues.

Mold spores are everywhere, and they can remain dormant for years under the right conditions. When given the proper humidity level and temperature, they’ll spring to life, growing as mildew on damp towels, mold on bathroom ceilings, and other fungus in damp basements. Then the spore cycle starts again. Since more spores require moisture to grow, controlling indoor humidity is the best method of controlling mold.

What’s an acceptable humidity level?  The RH (relative humidity) level inside is best at 45-50%, a good target for summer.  Many  indoor “weather stations” will report temperature, barometric pressure, and humidity. Relative humidity is based on the water level in the air, and also the air temperature. Warm air can hold more moisture, but when that air hits a cooler surface (like the cellar walls) or cools off and condenses in the evening, it loses moisture, and that moisture is available to germinate spores. This is why water forms on the toilet tank and the outside of your beer bottle. The air immediately around the cool tank or icy bottle is condensing and releasing its moisture.

Running an air conditioner or a dehumidifier will help you maintain an interior RH level around 45%. After you’ve made sure there are no leaks from roofs or basement walls,  get the moisture out of the air to keep the mold out of your house.

While it’s still summer, and we’re just leaving the humid Dog Days of August, your air conditioner has another function: filtering the air to remove pollen from the ragweed and other allergen-producing plants now entering full bloom. The next month will see lots of fall allergies flare up. Because of this year’s weather, there’s some expectation that fall allergies will start a week or two sooner.

Clean your air conditioner’s filter if you’ve been using it all summer, because it’s not done yet! And call us if you need assistance.

 Maine homeowners can get up to $5,500 for energy efficiency projects with new state and federal incentives for projects completed by December 31, 2010. Homeowners simply need to sign up by August 31, 2010, and submit their Rebate Reservation Form by September 30, 2010 to be eligible.

You can learn more about the rebate program at Efficiency Maine. If you have questions about biomass heating systems, solar projects, more efficient HVAC units or other energy efficient upgrades to your home or business, please don’t hesitate to call. We’d be happy to discuss your project with you, and see where it fits in the rebate programs available.

Central Maine Power recently announced the purchase of 620,000 smart meters from a California company, enough for every home and business in its customer base. In all, CMP will spend about $200 million on meters (including $96 million from a federal stimulus grant), with installation completed by early 2012.

What’s a smart meter? Electricity is metered into your house or workplace now, and the electric company charges you on the amount you use, with no distinction on the time of day or season. Generally, you get a price break on volume, so businesses that use a lot of electricity pay less per killowatt hour.

A smart meter will actually measure electric consumption in real time. The meter can send information to the power company, but also receive info. You will have access to meter information as well. With education and planning, people might be able to spread their electric usage out over the day (for example, setting the dishwasher to run during the night instead of at the peak time of 4-8 p.m.) In the end, it might help us avoid building more power plants, or buying electricity at expensive peak load times. For Central Maine Power and other utilities, smart meters will give more precise information on matching generation with consumption, and also steer their customer education efforts.

Because Maine has diversified its heating sources, including wood and pellets, natural gas, propane and electricity, we are now getting our peak electric load in cooling season rather than heating season. Smart meters will show you how your usage increases when you switch on the air conditioner, run six loads of beach towels through the dryer, or run the pump for hours watering the lawn.

Electricity is a commodity. There’s only so much of it, and everyone wants it. But it’s a regulated commodity. In other commodity markets (in a free market system), supply and demand naturally stabilize the price. In Maine, the Public Utility Commission (PUC) sets rates based on many factors, including the need of electric companies to plan for the future.  Will smart meters allow electric companies to ask the Public Utility Commission for pricing based on supply and demand and time-of-day usage? No one is saying that yet, but it seems like a reasonable expectation of the technology. What smart meters do is give us a lot more knowledge (and therefore control) of our electric usage. Will people and companies who shift their peak use to off-peak hours reap savings?

There are some states that are much further along than Maine in installation of smart meters and construction of their smart grids. California is one such area, so check out San Diego Gas & Electric’s website for a good Q & A about smart meters.

The Ohio Florist Association Short Course is the biggest greenhouse industry trade show in America, so it was with a fair amount of excitement that we set up the Thayer booth and unveiled our intentions of providing heating solutions to commercial growers and industry partners.

The show gathers businesses that supply commercial greenhouses, as well as retail growers looking for new varieties of plants and academics interested in new technologies being offered. It’s a great cross-section of networking opportunities, and gave us a good chance to develop relationships with commercial growers as well as other suppliers who might become partners.

Thayer Corp has core strength in designing and installing HVAC systems using traditional fuels, so this was a great opportunity to develop leads and make contacts. We’re excited by the prospect of applying our expertise in fossil fuel systems to the commercial greenhouse industry. We create biomass systems as well, which was the biggest surprise of the show: the interest in biomass. In general, the greenhouse industry has not been a big consumer of biomass systems, so we were a little surprised that so many folks were interested in our biomass offerings. We think it’s a reflection of the “greening” of the industry as well as increased efficiency in biomass systems. In the Northeast, biomass systems usually burn wood chips and pellets, but it other parts of the country, the fuel might be hay, switch grass, even barn waste. It makes for very efficient and localized fuel use, which is often a cost savings. We’re glad Thayer Corp can be a resource for biomass information too.

The end result of our long weekend in Ohio has been some great new contacts, several solid sales leads, and a good introduction for Thayer Corp to a new industry.

Heather Blease, Terry Russell and I are heading off today for the OFA Short Course in Columbus, Ohio. (The Ohio Florist Association’s trade show is one of the biggest in the nation.) We’ll be at Booth 1350, ready to show off Thayer Corp.’s heating solutions for commercial greenhouses. We’re also offering  a raffle for a Maine lobster dinner for two, shipped to your door, so stop by and see us if you’re at the OFA Short Course.

It’s the first time we’ve sent a team out to talk about our greenhouse heating options. Of course, there are lots of variables by grower, so solutions are tailored to the fuel needs, environment challenges and growth requirements of each operation.

I’m excited, because Thayer is a leader in biomass boilers, and we have 30 years experience in engineering heating systems. Biofuels, including fuel crops like straw, switch grass, miscanthus, dried corn and agricultural waste, as well as the wood pellets and chips we’re more used to in the Northeast, can be a very cost efficient way to produce heat in a commercial application. With our experience in natural gas/propane and fuel oil installations, we’re very well versed in the criteria and parameters of cost-effective, low-maintenance systems.

In fact, with our experience in biomass at any scale, renewable and traditional fuels, and 24/7 support, we expect to offer a lot of value to an industry that is very tuned in to fuel efficiency and reliability.

Our modular boiler room should also generate a lot of interest at OFA. It’s a containerized solution, a real turn-key product. All you have to do is connect the power and plumbing and you have a heating system ready to operate in your commercial greenhouse. And since we have in-house fabrication, modular units are customized to each application.

Expert engineering, experience in all heating systems, and great customer service—we’re all set to introduce Thayer Corporation’s commercial greenhouse solutions, and have fun doing it.

Like many of you I grew up with the innocent “don’t let the bed bugs bite” mantra before being sent off to bed as a kid. Heck, we all knew there were no more likely “Bed Bugs” than monsters under the bed. Or did we?

Bed bug infestation in the United States is increasing at an alarming rate, especially in the Northeast. Some pest management firms have reported more than a 10-fold increase in bed bug treatments in recent years.

Why? A number of theories exist:

• the rise of international travel
• recycling of furniture
• the ban of some of the more potent insecticides such as organophosphates and carbamates

bed bug bites can cause allergic reactions

Identification of infestation can occur in several ways. Common signs include blood spotting on bedding and a characteristic sickishly sweet odor. Certainly allergic reactions to bug bites are a sign hard to ignore. The insects are very good a flattening their bodies and can be very difficult to find because they can run very quickly. Pest control professionals are usually required to make positive identification and speciation. They use physical inspection which is relatively difficult compared to the use of canines. Yes canines (dogs)! These specially trained dogs are very good at identification, especially useful in larger buildings such as dormitories and hotels, since they can identify infested rooms individually to avoid overtreating the entire building.

Remediation historically used a variety of insecticides but a new method is becoming increasingly popular: thermal remediation.

Thermal remediation consists of warming the interior of the house and/or infested furnishings and contents to approximately 135 deg F for a period of approximately five to six hours. During this heating process the interior temperatures are monitored and logged continuously to assure a thorough kill. Room heaters powered by either a remotely connected electric generator or gas-fired heaters are typically used to generate the heat in various sections of the building and supplemented with high velocity circulating fans to homogenize the temperature. The goal is for all contents that could harbor bugs and/or eggs to reach the desired temperature for the bake out period. Sometimes, especially in hotels or dormitories, the contents of the room are removed and placed in a large box truck outdoors equipped with a high-powered heating system. This is easier than “cooking” the room depending upon the number and size of the infested rooms.

This is where Thayer Corporation comes in. As experts in the field of heating, cooling and ventilation, we were consulted to offer methods of improving this heating process.  We have already identified several improvements to the process and are currently working on even more comprehensive enhancements.

Thermal Remediation has several advantages over traditional methods. While use of chemicals remains the most popular method, it requires a significant quantity of insecticide and it may be necessary to perform multiple applications as well over a period of time. It isn’t unusual for applicators to dismantle furniture in order to get the chemical to all bugs and egg laying places. The chemical approach requires the applicators be licensed and well trained.

Vacuuming and steaming is yet another method of remediation. The affected areas are both steamed to kill the bugs and eggs and removed with HEPA vacuums. This method isn’t as effective as other methods since the critters are very good at hiding in the smallest cracks and crevices. The other concern with the method is the potential damage may have to furnishings and the wetting that can lead to mold and/or microbial growth.

And since we’re a company working with many alternative energy sources, let me add that sometimes clothing and smaller furnishings can be removed to the outdoors, bagged in black plastic bags and allowed to bake in the sun.

Regardless of the method(s) used to remediate an infested space the most important thing to remember is that the process is only as good as the weakest link. The kill must be thorough or the space will soon become reinfested.

So the next time you send the kids off to bed a loving “good night, sleep well” might suffice.

We recently learned that the rig being used to drill the two relief wells is the new Development Driller Three (DDIII) owned by TransOcean. This rig was just brought to the gulf from the shipyard in Asia and represents the absolute latest in drilling capacity and technology. We recently completed projects on the sister rigs DDI and DDII. We currently have a project on DDI that has been delayed not surprisingly. The ductwork has all been fabricated and the equipment received. The project is fully staged and loaded into shipping containers here at our plant. We were ready to deploy our skilled crews until the recent work delay. Those of us who have been out on the rigs all have been through a compulsory three-day safety training program including specific training on the type of disaster that just occured. We are all amazed that this could have happened. I personally have been in hundreds of industrial plants and environments yet never any with the focus and work-safe discipline as these offshore rigs. It will be interesting to wait for the results of the investigation. Meanwhile…drill on DDIII and godspeed.

Can solar be an efficient alternative energy in Maine? Absolutely, when you are using it for the right application and viewing it as a long-term investment.

In Maine, that generally means using solar thermal, a system for heating water. It might be potable water for domestic uses, but you could also be using a hydronic system in your swimming pool or for radiant floor heating. The drain back systems Thayer installs routinely provide 140 degree water year round, as long as the sun shines. On sunny days in the winter, that’s 4 or 5 hours of hot water being stored, and longer in the summer. The drain back system means that any time a solar collector on a rooftop or other southern exposure detects a temperature variant of 8 degrees between the collector and the storage tank, water is pumped into the collector and continues heating and circulating until the storage tank reaches an optimum temperature or the sun goes down. When the collector cools, the water drains back into a storage tank and stays there until the collector is exposed to the sun again. There is no water in the panels or outdoor piping if the system is not running.

There are several different solar tank configurations that can be used, with various secondary systems like electric, gas or oil boilers or a gas water heater. Since water in Maine comes out of the ground at approximately 45 degrees summer and winter, even pre-heating the water to 85 degrees before it enters the water heater can afford huge savings on your electric or gas bill.

All solar thermal domestic water installations should have a very good tempering valve installed on the hot water outlet of the storage tank to protect against scalding.

To make a solar thermal water system feasible, you need ample storage and a good southern exposure. The solar panels are angled toward the sun, eliminating issues with snow cover in the winter. Even on overcast days, the solar thermal system gains some heat, though rainy, dark days and night time often mean that the back-up system will be in force.

Other types of solar panels must use glycol (made for solar installations) instead of water as the heat storage medium. These are called closed loop solar thermal systems. One advantage is that you don’t need pitched piping for the drainback, but glycol solutions can lessen the heat transfer value of the solution as much as 34%. This closed loop system is used for both flat plate and evacuated tube systems. Unlike the drain back system which shuts off when the stored water reaches a set heat point, the closed loop system must operate whenever it can make hot water. In order to avoid damaging the system, closed loop systems need a dump zone to divert the excess heat, such as a baseboard in the cellar. To avoid over heating the house most closed systems are usually undersized for year round use.

Photovoltaic systems are a little trickier in Maine. PV systems produce electricity.  PV panels need to be installed flatter than domestic water panels, which means that there may be trouble with snow in the winter, which can be inconvenient. The electric energy generated is stored in a battery and then converted to household current. It’s difficult and expensive to get a battery array and inverter big enough to power the number of electric appliances most people have in their homes, so some applications use PV to send power back into the electrical grid for a credit. This is called net metering. Since most households in Maine are unoccupied during the best solar hours, net metering is a more practical way to go unless somebody wants to go off the grid. While net metering doesn’t equal a household’s 24 hour usage, it can make a significant difference in the electric bill, especially during the cooling season. 

As PV shingles, films and paints become more widespread in the marketplace, PV as an alternative energy source may increase.

Thayer Corporation engineer Jeff Wingate spends a fair amount of his time scoping out old basements and boiler rooms, trying to figure out the engineering that will save Thayer’s customers big bucks by utilizing alternative energy.

For Wingate, it’s all about the building and the space, because the challenge of retrofits depends on the structure of the envelope—the building. When engineers look at replacing an oil boiler with a biomass unit, they generally figure on doubling the space requirements. It’s not that the boiler unit is that much bigger, but the biomass fuel has to auger in from one side, while the ash augers out from the other. Thayer also installs the silo and feeder systems storing the biomass fuel, usually chips or pellets, which have their own space requirements.  While the chips are significantly cheaper, the storage requirements are greater and capital costs greater, so Thayer helps the customer evaluate this trade off. Thayer is already talking with various interested parties about offering other non-woody pelletized fuels (fuel crops), which is an exciting look into the future.

The biomass boilers weigh about 4 tons each, and are built to order with a lead time of 8-12 weeks Thayer uses several European companies, often OkoFEN, Viessmann/KOB of Austria, and Reka from Denmark. The units ship to a local crane operator who has the experience and equipment to move an 8,000 pound unit into place accurately.

Why Europe?  Europe has a history of innovation dating back to World War II, when a bombed-out Europe found oil expensive. When they rebuilt, they rebuilt using modern technology and biomass. Oil was cheap in the United States for decades, and it wasn’t until the Arab boycott that people started installing wood burning appliances in their houses, although there was still nothing available for the commercial/industrial user. When oil reached $4 a gallon, business owners got serious about alternative heating sources in large existing buildings. Based on the biomass experience of a generation in Europe, we feel the best units come from OkoFEN, Viessmann/KOB, and Rika.

Thayer Corporation engineers the system, installs it and often creates ductwork or other pieces. Biomass boilers need to run hard in order to maintain efficiency. When a building uses a biomass boiler for heating and hot water, engineers often add the services of a back-up unit during the few really cold weeks in the winter, because biomass units are sized little under. Providing a back-up heat source for extreme conditions allows the biomass boiler to work at peak efficiency 90% of the time without venting extra heat.

These boilers are fully automatic and do not need much more attention than a large oil boiler.

The White Mountains National Forest headquarters in Campton, NH produces heat with a biomass boiler engineered and installed by Thayer. There is also a biomass electric generator providing electricity for the whole complex that Thayer helped install. It’s a great example of alternative fuel use in a public space, and it’s open for tours.

Recently, Heather Blease became an advocate for clean energy legislation on behalf of Thayer Corporation and Savi Systems. She traveled with a group of Mainers to Washington to ask our senators to finish what they started, and move forward on comprehensive policies supporting clean energy in America.

Right before they arrived in Washington, the Senate was expected to unveil a comprehensive clean energy and climate proposal. Unfortunately, a partisan dispute has led to a delay in its introduction. The group urged our leaders to move forward now. Every day the Senate fails to act on comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation is another day when millions of American jobs aren’t created, our country becomes less secure due to our overreliance on foreign oil, and our planet becomes more polluted because of harmful fossil fuels — while other countries leap ahead in this race for our clean energy future.

In a time when so many of us are out of work, our economic problems are in plain sight. At the same time, our country is facing an energy crisis — one that threatens our economic recovery if we don’t solve it.

Today, America spends about a billion dollars a day buying oil from abroad. That’s about $42 million every hour, $694,000 every minute and $12,000 every second — and it’s money we could be investing in our communities.

The path forward is to invest in clean, renewable sources of energy that can create millions of new jobs and make our country more secure. Clean energy is our future ― it’s one of America’s fastest growing job sectors. With comprehensive policies to build a clean energy economy, we can create new jobs in all 50 states and up to 1.9 million jobs nationwide.

Maine is an energy rich state poised to take full advantage of federal clean energy and efficiency initiatives. By investing in technologies already in existence, Maine can harness our vast clean energy potential, reinvigorate our manufacturing sector, and create thousands of good paying jobs in Maine. We can build the components required for wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and tidal projects right here, instead of outsourcing those jobs overseas to China, India or Europe.

We know that Maine has the oldest housing stock in the country and that our houses are predominantly heated with oil. Comprehensive efficiency programs can create the jobs in Maine required to retrofit our homes, and save Maine families thousands of dollars per year in heating costs. Overall, the Center for American Progress projects that 10,000 jobs in Maine can be created through the passage of comprehensive federal reforms.

So it’s time to end the delays. Maine needs action from our leaders in Washington on a bold, comprehensive energy policy. This should include a limit on carbon from dirty energy sources, which can help make clean energy profitable. A cap on carbon will level the playing field and signal that clean energy is a safe, long-term investment. Clean energy businesses can expand, entrepreneurs can innovate,  and we can invest that money here at home on clean energy technologies that will make us more secure.

Now it’s time for our leaders to finish what they started, and introduce their comprehensive clean energy and climate proposal.