Welcome to the future technologies and innovations that sculpt our industry.
This episode brought to you by North Park Innovations, providing high tech products
and curriculum for vocational training around the world.
Learn more at npinnovations.com.
Okay everybody.
Thank you for joining us on Did You Know the ESCO HVAC Podcast.
We are at the National HVACR Education Conference and like many of our other podcasts, we've
been talking about these changes in technologies and new innovations for refrigerant and equipment.
And one of the things we should be thinking about, and I've actually talked to some of
our educational programs that are implementing solar technologies, renewable technologies
into the schools, but haven't really integrated into the HVAC and refrigeration programs yet.
So I'm being joined today by Bill Northrup from North Park innovations.
How are you, sir?
Great.
Thank you.
How are you?
I'm doing well.
We were having an interesting conversation about renewable energies and the utilization
of solar technologies.
And I myself am a big advocate of using solar technologies as much as possible.
Now there are many cases where we can't rely solely on solar, but we can utilize it to
enhance things that we already have.
So let's talk a little bit about both of your, you and myself, we both have this passion
for forward thinking and let's think forward a little bit about ways we can introduce new
opportunities into our programs and into our equipment lineups.
Sure.
I've always thought that, you know, the HVAC market and the people that do the work in
the market of the, you know, the technicians, the companies, they have a bandwidth to adopt
the green technologies and the renewable energies to do the install, to do the work because
they have the capabilities to do it.
So with the electrification at HVAC, with the electrification at HVACR, it's a huge
new world that is opening up to everyone and these people have the bandwidth to adopt it
and to learn it and to be the leaders of it.
Yeah.
When you think about what we are, we hear this all the time, we really are kind of the
root of STEM education.
We are science, we are technology, we are electrical energy, we are so many math, we
are so many components and we kind of sometimes forget that we're pretty good at electrical.
Well, it was so funny, I was in line at dinner last night with a guy and he was an electrician
and he wasn't here for this convention.
I ran into one myself.
I don't know the same guy, but I ran into one.
Yeah, and I said, well, we're here for HVACR and he said, yeah, you know, we do a lot of
that because we're electrician.
Unless you really have a handle on electrical, you can't really be an HVAC technician.
Absolutely.
We think about what we do.
We always talk about the refrigeration cycle.
Yep, absolutely.
But the electrical cycle is the other half of what we do.
We know how to use meters more than any electricians because we're working on pieces that use other
settings and devices that aren't typically in that environment.
Yes, yes, and you're always reading, you know, is this the right amperage?
Is this the right voltage?
What's the drop in the milliamp?
Everything is dependent on the electric.
Yeah, absolutely.
For a long time, I have required that my meter would read DC voltage at least above 24 volts
DC because there are some companies that will do DC voltage on a meter, but it's low.
It's like 5 volt DC and lower.
And for a couple of decades, I've always required it because I like to tinker on vehicles and
boats and motorcycles and I got to have a DC application.
You do.
And the cars are going to go, my God, they're going up to 800 volts.
I know.
Yeah.
And not AC in all applications.
It's amazing.
Yeah.
So we're at the forefront of understanding technology and innovation as well as looking
at electrical applications.
So the renewable energy market really fits right into what we can do.
It's perfect, especially with the electrification of HVAC.
You know, I was just sitting in the Dyken cold climate heat pump session.
The guy's great.
And you know, we are seeing it.
It's not a it's not an if.
It is going to come.
It is.
And it's exactly like the electrification of automobiles.
All of it, because once you experience it and you understand what it brings to us, it's
fantastic.
It truly is.
Yes.
No, one of the technologies that I've seen emerge into the market is a hybrid heat pump
where we're utilizing an existing heat pump and then we'll use solar energy to not convert
over to AC to be stored, but actually drive DC voltage directly to the outdoor unit.
So like hotspot energy, they have 12,000, 18,000 BTU heat pumps that's using that style
of technology.
And as we start thinking about it, can we use that in all in other products that are
all inverters or DC driven?
Yes.
Yeah, they got AC supply in them, but they actually are converting to DC and we're utilizing
DC in that function.
So if we start thinking forward, we start looking at our products going, you know, every
inverter actually has the potential of having a DC solar panel utilized to supplement its
wattage.
Exactly.
That's a brilliant idea.
You know, and so we've got to start thinking out of the box going, all right, yes, we're
HVAC, but are we really just HVAC or are we just mechanics?
We're technicians.
We're everything.
That's why HVAC touches on every discipline.
It does.
I mean, you're a mechanic.
You're an electrician.
Plumber.
You're a plumber.
You're a thermodynamicist.
Yeah, absolutely.
You know, I mean, you have to think about, okay, let's size this stuff.
It's fantastic.
For those that follow Eugene Silverstein out here, you're a psychrometrist too.
We study air as well.
That's so true.
Yeah.
We are in physics.
I was sitting here and having a conversation yesterday with Rachel Kaiser, and we were
digesting the, she's a chemist, right?
Married to an HVAC, and so she's digesting the chemistry of combustion.
And she's looking at me, she's going, you realize that you live in the world of chemistry
too, don't you?
That you're chemists.
You're adjusting the mixtures of fuel oxygen ignition ratios.
And I'm going, oh my gosh, we're in chemistry as well?
Very unique.
It's fantastic.
And you see, you know, here at the convention, you see the light in a lot of these people.
Yes, you do.
And they want to learn.
And here is a fantastic environment for them to do it.
Yeah, I believe so.
Yeah, it's fantastic.
And a lot of people are now rethinking, you know, their perspective of our industry.
I had one school come to me after our general session and said, we want to be forward thinking
in our program.
We don't want to teach what's out now.
We want to teach what's coming out next year.
Yes.
And I just got so excited.
Here is something that you will be interested in.
We have a little school, Ellicottville, New York is where North Park is.
Here's a little school and it's the 1887 building.
It was made in 1887.
I went to kindergarten through fourth grade there.
Awesome.
Now it's empty, but it's on the main corner of our village.
I went to St. Bonaventure University because I have a vision that the combination of liberal
arts and skilled trades is coming together.
You see it every time you go to an expo or a conference.
So, hopefully we'll be able to put in a program and St. Bonaventure would start, hopefully
this could be, they're just thinking where a student would go and learn liberal arts
and a skilled trade.
Yeah, combine them.
Yes.
Absolutely.
They need to be combined.
Yeah, that's very intriguing.
And so, hopefully we'll get them to do that.
You know, so there will be all the different trades could be there.
And if you want to start a business or you want to be an executive in a business, you
would go there.
You can pick up those skills.
Yeah, absolutely.
Because you need marketing.
You can't know how to run a business.
You got to have accounting.
Yeah.
And you got to have finance.
Absolutely, you do.
So, you must learn it and HR.
Yeah.
And so, you must have that.
But these people that learn that rarely do they learn how to do something.
That's true too.
And so, combining that is exciting.
Yeah, you're setting up a business ownership development program, really.
Right.
Or even if they want to be an executive.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
Wow.
So, hopefully we can make that happen.
It would be one of the first.
Yeah, I could see that.
So, that would be fun because the four-year world, the four-year school degree is very
important.
But the skilled trades are as important, if not more important.
Absolutely.
And we've gone away from that.
When I grew up.
I'm sitting there.
They steered me to a four-year when I went to school for a year and a half.
And I said, man, I got to grow.
Isn't there something better for me than this?
So, that's exciting to see the turn.
To see that you're not on the short bus if you're learning the skilled trade.
No, not at all.
And when you look at these innovations that's coming to our industry and we go, wow, we
provide a very important service, not just for the consumers and comfort.
And now we're providing critical services.
People alive.
We absolutely do.
Yeah.
And so, changes are coming.
We just have to be prepared for them and be willing to look forward and go, okay, my vehicle
is not the same vehicle that it was five years, 10 years ago.
My computer is not the same as it was five years, 10 years ago.
The phone that is in my hand and in my pocket is not the same that it was five years ago.
Isn't that true?
And it's all from the technological advancements.
And it's moving.
Oh my gosh, it's crazy.
Take a look at the server farm.
The chips that they're coming out with now are going to consume 40% more power for AI
chip.
So you know what that means?
That server firm's got to cool.
Yeah.
Something has to cool it and it's not going to be just recirculating of air.
No way.
It's going to be conditioning of air.
No, it'll be conditioning of air in the environment.
And when you're putting condition into a server farm, into, I mean, you're talking about in
a rack, that's tricky because it's all about moisture.
Absolutely.
And it's very cool.
So you're sucking out those BTUs and putting them outside.
Absolutely.
You are.
So I actually did a design.
One time I did a design on a computer server for a local REMC electrical co-op structure.
And at that time I was doing commercial refrigeration and I was doing commercial HVAC, but I hadn't
ever really thought about doing a design on an application like that where moisture now
is going to be more significant than my actual condition.
So I really had to think about equipment and design equipment that would, it was intriguing.
But it was just showing that our industry has so many new opportunities and new challenges.
And as long as we embrace those challenges and we go, you know what, there's so much
opportunity in this.
Oh, it never ends.
And that's why in our lifetime, there will be always a beautiful job and a career, a
true career for somebody who wants to do it.
They'll never, it's like water.
The continuum I say is there's water, there's food, there's lodging, there's HVAC.
And the food part is refrigeration.
So I mean, you touch everything.
So it's exciting.
It's an exciting time to be in this.
It is.
Absolutely.
I keep saying that I think this is the most enjoyable time of my career, not just because
of where I am in my career, just because of where my industry is while I'm here in my
career.
It's like all of this is around me.
And you can hear, I mean, you can hear the energy behind us.
The conference is almost over and the excitement is just, they're rolling, everyone's smiling
and hugging and people are embracing these new challenges and opportunities and going,
you know what, by golly, we can do this.
Oh, very much.
We're going to have fun.
And as long as we're forward thinking and we're early adopters, we're actually going
to be very profitable and very solid going forward.
Oh yeah.
That's the beauty of it.
You see these younger people here.
Amazing amount of them.
Yeah, they're on it and it's so nice to see.
It is.
You know, because the instructors, you know, they're gray hair typically.
Yeah.
But you see the young, the younger people coming and they're enjoying and it's a great
future for them.
Oh, my.
Yeah.
I'm ready to embrace it.
Well, you're a young man.
I'm 48 though.
You're nothing.
There's instructors out here that I'm going, these kids are, that's instructors.
And they go, I'm 25 years old.
I've been in the field.
I'm teaching.
Oh my goodness.
And we're blessed to have this.
We truly are.
You know, you learn by teaching, right?
Absolutely do.
And so why, if you're a younger person and you know something, then you must really understand
it to teach it.
These cats have got to be pretty dang good to be where they're at.
They do.
We had, so we had some of our certified subject matter educators and then we also had certified
master HVACR educators to recognize them.
And some of our master HVAC educators were nearly half my age and I'm struggling to get
through all of my CSDM to get to that point.
So they're good.
They are good.
And they're embracing this and they're coming up afterwards going, we're going to be ahead
of all of this.
We are going to be the school that teaches this stuff before it gets here.
And I go, give me five.
You are our future.
You're the future of this industry.
Oh, they are.
Yeah.
Oh, they are.
And you can see the change and it's exciting.
So you know, in our world, we build trainers and curriculum and we're excited to have anybody
come with their ideas.
Yeah.
To talk about what can we do to help?
What can we do?
What do you know, build something that's of significance.
So that's what we enjoy.
How can people connect with you if they want to learn more about North Park innovations
and the entire?
Well, the ICONNECT.com, ICONNECTtraining.com actually is our website or North Park innovations,
MPinnovations.com, either one of them.
And then Marcraft is our green energy line.
And so it's marcraft.com.
Excellent.
So we have that.
Thanks for joining me, sir.
Hey, thank you.
That was great.