OK, so some are arguably urban myths, but many of these examples - eccentric creations of the European Commission - are classic illustrations of Brussels bureaucracy gone mad.
They do, however, contain an important lesson for the UK hvac industry - namely, the compelling business case for greater standardisation, and nowhere more than in the back office.
On average, it costs a staggering £75 to raise a single invoice. This is a shocking waste of money - the Government estimates that the cost of processing business transactions should be closer to £5.
For some, standardisation equates to boring. They see any form of harmonisation as a constraint on creativity. In the case of order processing, however, they are wrong. Doing away with duplication can slash your costs, boost your productivity, and turbo-charge your speed of response. The inevitable results will be bigger profits, and a healthier industry.
The same standardisation principles, of course, apply to the construction process itself. Why do we insist on reinventing the wheel for every project we start?
Surely, there is a case for applying the same successfully employed design and construction criteria to projects that are similar?