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ASHRAE Concludes 2016 Annual Conference

July 12, 2016
St. Louis served as the gateway to the future of HVACR, playing host to ASHRAE’s 2016 Annual Conference June 25-29. Nearly 1,800 people were in attendance.

St. Louis served as the gateway to the future of HVACR, playing host to ASHRAE’s 2016 Annual Conference June 25-29. Nearly 1,800 people were in attendance.

Installed as president for 2016-17 was Timothy G. Wentz, PE, FASHRAE, HBDP, associate professor, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

“When it comes to change, we tend to ‘hang on’ to what feels safe as long as possible,” Wentz said. “When we can’t see the future, we don’t know how far we will fall. That can be frightening. We must work to shape tomorrow so we feel empowered to ‘let go.’”

Wentz’s speech can be read at www.ashrae.org/wentz.

In other news, it was announced that ASHRAE’s 2015-16 RP campaign reached a new high of $2.57 million donated by members, chapters, and companies. ASHRAE RP funds are used to support ongoing research projects, the ASHRAE Learning Institute, Young Engineers in ASHRAE leadership activities, and scholarships.

Some 100 sessions with 400 speakers were offered as part of the conference’s technical program. Sessions related to the philosophy and ethics of different building-industry professionals examined how buildings are created by “constructive confrontation” via teams of people with different education, training, methods of working, communication skills, and more.

As part of ASHRAE Fellows Debate: Productivity Is the Measure of Indoor Air Quality, two teams debated whether productivity can be measured. Also part of the program was a seminar on energy management for multibuilding portfolios from the owner-operator and consultant perspectives.

The conference featured two full-day professional-development seminars and eight half-day short courses from the ASHRAE Learning Institute. Popular courses were focused on variable refrigerant flow, humidity-control troubleshooting, and ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2013, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings.