During the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973-74, the publication ran a series of articles criticizing what it viewed as alarmist rhetoric overstating the severity of the situation. 

“Tired of hearing about energy matters? So are we,” the editorial page wrote on November 5, 1973. “At worst, the nation is in for five or six years of inconvenience … perhaps a little localized hardship. But ‘crisis’? Come on.” 

They ran a cartoon with two Pilgrims shivering outside a log cabin, adding the caption “You say you had to wait in line for gasoline?” 

Frank Versagi, editor and vice president, took the view that mass media wasn’t helping matters. 

“One finds oneself wishing for a moratorium on energy reporting,” he wrote in the February 4, 1974 issue. “Certainly, much of the daily deluge of writing and broadcasting does not qualify as information. Nevertheless, concern about energy has become the latest journalistic fad and the ‘energy conservation ethic’ is considered chic.” 

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“Hysterical reporting,” he called it. 

That bold claim was followed up by several pages’ worth of their verdicts on whether frequently-cited energy-saving strategies were effective. 

Some recommendations look remarkably modern: 

4 stars (“unquestioned effectiveness”): thermostat setup, weatherstripping, storm windows, cold showers, driving slower, and scheduling electricity-using activities for off-peak periods. 

3 stars (“usually but not always helpful”): zoning, insulation, mass transit, and reducing lighting levels. 

Others aged ... less gracefully. Centralized control for buildings got 2 stars for “questionable or controversial,” as did heat reclaim and installing window curtains. 

“The data are few and fuzzy, except for mechanical models,” Versagi wrote of controls. “Several users counter that the sophisticated consoles are frequently bypassed or ignored after their first few months of operation and that even the best controls drift out of calibration so that there is no advantage either in cost of operation or in fuel savings.” 

Thank goodness he never had to see a cloud-based BMS. Or maybe he'd have appreciated outsourcing all the complexity to AI. Who knows. 

In the 1-star “forget it” category were a couple of suggestions presented without comment: ban the private car, reduce working hours, open the oven door to warm up the house, and discontinue using electric toothbrushes. 

The ACHR NEWS wasn’t against energy reform. In fact, they published an editorial several years prior declaring the need for a national energy policy. They just thought it should be addressed thoughtfully, in years instead of weeks, and not in response to panic. 

“What is going to happen, after all the hysterical shouting dies down, is that this nation and the world will establish energy priorities which differ from those of the past, taking into consideration pollution, control energy conservation, economic feasibility, fuel reserves, interchangeability of energy forms,” the publication stated.  

Meanwhile, HVAC manufacturers ran ads touting zoning, thermostats, and equipment with headlines like “Made to order for the energy crisis.” 

“Payne’s new Super Summer Tamer Hi-Lo units. Less power and less noise with the same cooling capacity,” ran one 1974 ad splashed across a two-page spread.  

“Help your customers survive the energy crisis in comfort. Sell Skuttle Drumatic Humidifiers!”  

Uncle Sam was pressed into service selling zoning. 

“I want YOU to save fuel & energy by installing Trol-a-temp zone control,” he commanded, pointing from the pages of September 22, 1975. 

Nowadays, the ACHR NEWS is more news and less opinion. Times change, and reporting styles do too. These days, we get our jollies via AI-generated cartoons in our Weekly Chill newsletter. (Are you signed up? It’s just $9.99/year.) 

I feel like Frank Versagi would approve. But this editor sure would have enjoyed ranking pathogen mitigation strategies back when we were covering the COVID-19 pandemic.