Colorado lawmakers urged to exempt propane water heaters from ultra-low NOx rule
An estimated 100,000 households in Colorado use propane water heaters
Plumbing
Champions Group strikes $2.5 billion Blackstone deal
The deal marks the first major platform-level residential HVAC transaction since May 2025
Rheem aims to hold 1 million plumber trainings by 2035
A Rheem spokesperson told Homepros that trainings will take place at the company’s Innovation Learning Centers, of which there are over a dozen worldwide
Residential water heater shipments spike in December, flat in 2025
Roughly 4.25 million gas water heaters were shipped in 2025, up 1.8 percent from 2024, while electric water heater shipments fell 0.6 percent to just over 5 million
Gen Z survey: 60% want into the trades
Gen Z has been increasingly drawn to the trades, a trend that could help fill the roughly 40,000 job openings for HVAC techs and installers projected each year until 2032
Federal bill could cut contractor training costs by up to 50%
The Employer-Directed Skills Act would ultimately establish employer-directed skills accounts through which the federal government would reimburse employers’ training costs
Senate hearing warns of cyberattacks on U.S. water systems
There are approximately 170,000 water and wastewater utilities across the U.S., whose systems are increasingly utilizing digital tools
From drain pipe to halfpipe: Olympic snowboarder Maddy Schaffrick is a former plumber
“She wanted to learn. She was curious about everything, and she would go after things the way she always attacks her snowboarding”
Ferguson Ventures bets on HVAC, plumbing technology
In 2018, Ferguson launched an in-house investment arm to back tech startups serving builders and HVAC and plumbing contractors
Energy Star secures mandatory funding, a program first
January legislation earmarked $33 million for the program and included a directive that the administration not take actions to reduce the amount