ASHRAE Seeks to Engineer Tomorrow . . . Today

I just received a press release from ASHRAE concerning the Winter Meeting this January. Remember, if you want to attend the Winter Meeting and this is your first time attending, you can receive a free one day pass or discounted five day pass. Contact me by clicking the pass link on the right. This meeting is in Chicago, so there should be no reason for our members in the area not to attend!

I also want to mention that our October meetings are approaching. The lunch and dinner meetings are scheduled for the 16th. The topic will be chilled beam technology. This will also be a membership promotion meeting. Please bring a non-member friend to the meeting. We'll have forms for signing up and upgrading memberships.

For Release:
Sept. 30, 2008

Contact: Jodi Dunlop
Public Relations
678-539-1140
jdunlop@ashrae.org

ASHRAE ’09
ASHRAE Seeks to Engineer Tomorrow….Today in Windy City
ATLANTA – Chicago, with one of the most recognizable skylines in the world, has long-standing status as a livable urban center. That the city has stood the test of time makes it the perfect backdrop for ASHRAE’s 2009 Winter Conference theme, Sustainable Urban Design: Engineering Tomorrow….Today.

With a focus that resources must be conserved and environments respected even in urban settings, the ASHRAE Conference takes place Jan. 24-28 at the Palmer House Hilton. Held in conjunction with the meeting is the ASHRAE co-sponsored AHR Expo, Jan. 26-28, McCormick Place.

For complete meeting information and to register, visit www.ashrae.org/chicago. Take advantage of the “Early Bird” rate and register by Oct. 31.

Meeting highlights include availability of more than 200 Professional Development Hour credits available through the technical program, with its theme of Sustainable Urban Design, and ASHRAE Learning Institute courses.

Seeking to create additional value for Expo and Conference attendees, ASHRAE is launching “Wednesday Welcome,” at which all ASHRAE program sessions on Jan. 28 will take place at McCormick Place. Hands-on, applications-type programs are offered in the morning, leaving the afternoon open to tour the Expo.

ASHRAE’s free public session also focuses on Sustainability in the Urban Development, sharing how the industry is building on its efforts to increase energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality of buildings by furthering the sustainability of entire communities. It is held at 3 p.m. Jan. 26 at McCormick Place.

Also featured in the technical program is the technical plenary speaker, Adrian Bejan, Ph.D., J.A. Jones Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke University. Bejan developed the constructal theory, which he says can predict how everything flows through time and space. The session takes place from 9:45-10:45 a.m. Jan. 25, Palmer House. Overall, the tech program features more than 100 sessions with presentations of 68 papers.

Opening the meeting on Jan. 24 at the plenary session is keynote speaker, Chris Luebkeman, who runs the Global Foresight and Innovation initiative at Arup, a global design and engineering firm. His presentation echoes the meeting theme with a focus on sustainable urbanization, looking at some of the current global efforts to both design new cities and adapt existing cities to the new era of dwindling resources.

Sustainability is highlighted in the technical tours of facilities, including the ASHRAE Technology Award winning-Chicago Center for Green Technology, the Modern Wing of the Art Institute, the Intercontinental Chicago, which is the first Energy Star-rated hotel in the city, and the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, designed on the concepts of tikkun olan (meaning repairing the world) and bal tashchit (do not waste).

The ASHRAE Learning Institute offers five Professional Development Seminars and 12 short courses at the Palmer House and McCormick. New sessions include Low Temperature Radiant Heating and High Temperature Radiant Cooling Systems, Chilled Beam Technology for Excellent Indoor Climate in an Energy-Efficient Manner, Installation of Residential Ventilation Systems (Standard 62.2), and Business Management and Operations for Engineers.

ASHRAE also will launch its latest certification program, Operations and Maintenance Management Professional Certification, during the meeting. For more information, visit www.ashrae.org/certification.

ASHRAE, founded in 1894, is an international organization of some 50,000 persons. ASHRAE fulfills its mission of advancing heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration to serve humanity and promote a sustainable world through research, standards writing, publishing and continuing education.

May Meeting: Daylighting

We had a great meeting last month. Jeff Moe of Trane gave a very good presentation covering the future of refrigerants. To sum up what Mr. Moe presented: the Montreal Protocol has done a very good job of reducing ozone depleting gasses and will continue to do so. However, due to rise of global warming concerns, the refrigerant game may completely change. The fight against ozone depleting gasses has been done as painlessly has possible. The fight against global warming gasses will probably take a different tenor.

This month, to round out our bevy of LEED related programs, Keith Mitchell of Leviton will be presenting on daylighting. This is the practice of using natural, available light to provide effective internal lighting. Two aspects of this are then harvesting the light and controlling any artificial lighting to react to the amount of natural light available. Mr. Mitchell will be covering some of the techniques and technologies behind this important stride to reducing energy use in buildings.

Mr. Mitchell joined Leviton in 2000 and 2 years ago was promoted to the position of Technical Sales Specialist for Leviton’s Lighting Management System Division. Leviton's offering consists of commercial occupancy sensors, lighting control relays, commercial dimming controls, lighting energy management systems and theatrical and architectural lighting systems. Keith has more than 23 years experience in the electrical industry, including sales, marketing and training expertise. He has been a member of the IENSA (Illuminating Engineering Society of North America) since 1990 and received his LC (Lighting Certificated for Qualified Professionals) from the NCQLP (National Council on Qualifications for the Lighting Professions).

Daylighting is not something directly related to HVAC. However, it is an important piece in the puzzle of energy reduction. And, providing natural light has also been shown to improve worker productivity. These are very important to architects, developers, and building owners. Please invite anyone you may know in these related professions. Our meetings are always open to guests.

There will be meetings in both South Bend and the Calumet area this month.

Lunch Meeting
Cost: $15 (includes lunch & drinks)
Check-in: 11:30 am - Noon EDT
Lunch/Program: Noon - 1:00 pm EDT

Tippecanoe Place
620 W. Washington St.
South Bend, IN
574-234-9077
Google Maps

Dinner Meeting
Cost: $20 (includes dinner & drinks)
Check-in: 5:30 pm - 6:00 CDT
Lunch/Program: 6:00 - 8:00 pm CDT

Margaritas
19606 S. Burnham
Lynwood, IL
708-412-2650
Google Maps

Please RSVP by Tuesday, May 12
Send an e-mail using the links on the right.
Or, phone Tom Schneider at 574-232-6908 ext. 13 for the lunch meeting.
Or, phone Louis van Belle at 219-924-8400 for the dinner meeting.

April Meeting: Refrigerants (Phaseouts, Future, and LEED)

Thank you for all of those that came to our program last month at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 20 training facility. Thank you to the Local 20 for providing great food and hospitality. Finally, a special thanks to John Hamilton, the chief operating officer of TABB. Mr. Hamilton gave a great presentation on the importance of spelling out what the commissioning agent is to do and what powers he has.

This month Jeff Moe of Trane will be presenting on refrigerants. As mundane as this sounds, there are several very important issues coming up with refrigerants. The first and foremost being the phaseout of R-22 in the next couple of years. R-22 based equipment is certainly cheaper right now, but what will they cost in the long run? What should a contractor do? Using the right refrigerants can also garner LEED points.

Jeff Moe is Vice President & Chairman for Trane’s global environmental policy council. He has more than 20 years of experience in various marketing and product management positions in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) industry. His current responsibilities also include leading Trane’s R-22 transition strategy.

Until recently, Jeff served as the program director for Trane’s environmental policy council. Prior to that role, he served as marketing director for Trane’s Commercial Unitary and Packaged Terminal products for North and South America with responsibility for delivering volume and margin goals to the business. Beginning in 1998, he spent three years as the global product manager for Commercial Unitary products, based in Epinal, France. In this role, he was responsible for the development of the business’ global product management and planning processes, which included monitoring and understanding the global regulatory environment.

He began his Trane career as a marketing engineer. Jeff’s product responsibilities during his career have included chillers, air handling units, packaged and split system unitary equipment and packaged and chilled water terminal products. During his tenure, Jeff has also served on several Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI) committees, and currently serves on the boards of the Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy, the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, and the Green Building Initiative. In addition, Jeff is actively involved as a business advisor at the Montreal Protocol and Kyoto Protocol meetings.

Jeff earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Iowa State University. So, please join us for dinner and invite anyone (wife, brother, mother, client, building owner, contractor, engineer, etc.). We are not an exclusive chapter.

We hope that you can join us to contribute to the discussion. Drinks will also be covered by the chapter.

Dinner Meeting
Cost: $20
Check-in: 5:30 pm - 6:00 pm CDT
Dinner / Program: 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm CDT

Margaritas
19606 S. Burnham
Lynwood, IL
708-418-2650
Google Maps

ASHRAE SSPC 90.1 Chicago Meeting

If you are interested, Standing Standard Project Committee (SSPC) 90.1 will be meeting in Chicago later this month. The meetings are open to the public. As I've mentioned before, this is a very important part of ASHRAE's process of developing standards. This is an incredibly important standard as well. So, it may be well worth your time to sit in on some of the meetings. This is a great way to start getting involved.

I've posted the main committee agenda here.
There is also a list of meeting times for the sub-committees here.
The meetings will take place from April 10 to April 12 at the O’Hare Hilton Garden Inn.

Follow the link to the ASHRAE website if you want more information about the committee.

High-Performance Building Design Professional Certification

For Release:
February 26, 2008

Contact: Jodi Dunlop
Public Relations
678-539-1140
jdunlop@ashrae.org
1791 Tullie Circle NE
Atlanta, GA 30329


ASHRAE High-Performance Building Design Professional Certification Now Available

ATLANTA – ASHRAE’s new certification program provides the necessary training and tools for the design of high-performance buildings that live up to their performance capability.
Registration is now open for ASHRAE’s high-performance building design professional certification. The first exam will take place June 25 at ASHRAE’s 2008 Annual Meeting, June 21-25, Salt Lake City. Exams at testing centers around the world will become available in the fall. For more information or to register, visit www.ashrae.org/certification.
“This new certification program will allow practioners to demonstrate a well-rounded understanding and knowledge of how HVAC&R design is integrated into high-performing buildings to achieve the overall goal of sustainable practice used in green buildings,” Kent Peterson, P.E., ASHRAE president, said. “The program combines the criteria of ASHRAE Standards 90.1 (energy efficiency), 62.1 (ventilation) and 55 (thermal comfort) with the innovative approaches included in the Advanced Energy Design Guide series in an integrated design approach that strives to achieve practical, cost-effective high-performance building designs.”
The content of the exam includes sustainability concepts, HVAC and sustainable processes and environmental improvement programs and rating systems; energy analysis; indoor environment; controls and monitoring; benchmarking with performance metrics; water conservation, commissioning in sustainable construction; and operation and maintenance of high-performance buildings.
The high performance design professional certification is renewable every three years, and those certified must earn 45 professional development hours during that time.
“This program has been designed so that it is inclusive of global design approaches and tools,” Peterson said.

Greenbuild in Chicago!

Don't forget USGBC's Greenbuild is coming up on November 7 through 9! You can visit www.greenbuildexpo.org for more information. Former President Bill Clinton will be doing the opening plenary.