Decisions to be made a year from now, two years from now.

In the next two years, many homeowners will have to make some decision concerning their televisions and their air conditioning systems.

Less than a year from now (February 17, 2009), television stations will be mandated by the federal government to broadcast in digital. What this means for most people who own TVs made before May 25 of last year will need to get and adaptor or a new TV.

One word of advice if you are planning to use the adaptor and your TV antenna doesn't get UHF channels in clearly:

A special antenna generally is not needed to receive digital signals. You may have antenna issues, however, if your current antenna does not receive UHF signals (channels 14 and above) well, because most DTV stations are on UHF channels. In such a case, you may need a new antenna or to add a UHF section to your existing antenna system. This equipment should be available at most bricks-and-mortar and Internet consumer electronics retailers.

Less than two years from now (January 1, 2010) The refrigerant used in most central air systems (R-22) will only be available for maintenance of existing systems. As of the above date all new air conditioning systems will have a new, more environmentally-friendly refrigerant called R-410a.

This will concern the homeowner who has an R-22 system when only the outdoor unit or indoor unit fails. Under normal circumstances, replacing the damaged unit would be standard procedure. However, this will leave you with a situation where one half of your system is young and the other half old, and in less than two years the replacement for an R-22 condenser or airhandler will not be available.

The homeowner who owns a relatively new R-22 system has anothe concern. The making of new R-22 will be reduced until January 1, 202o, when only recycled R-22 will be available. What this means is that, as we get closer to 2020, repares that require R-22 will become more expensive as the refrigerant becomes scarce.