As I was preparing this latest missive, I heard on the news that the State of Ohio had just signed a deal with Joby Aviation Inc. to build a $500-million factory in Dayton OH for the manufacture of air taxis.
Wait, what?
Yes, apparently another staple of science fiction is now on the verge of becoming reality.
Small, "electric vertical takeoff and landing" (eVTOL) aircraft could soon be in use, alleviating congested roadways in major metropolitan areas across the U.S. and around the globe. At least that's what the manufacturer promises.
“When you’re talking about air taxis, that’s the future,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine gushed to The Associated Press on Sept. 18. “We find this very, very exciting.”
So exciting, in fact, that the state has committed up to $325 million in incentives to support the project. As designed, the electric planes would hold up to five passengers and a pilot, and basically hop from rooftop to rooftop, landing atop parking garages and other flat surfaces.
I bring this up here not to endorse or scoff at the idea of urban air taxis. But just to acknowledge that innovation is happening all around us every day, in areas most of us are not even thinking about. And that gives me real hope that we may yet solve our planet's most vexing and worrisome problems before it's too late.
Of course, change happens at its own pace. In fact, I remember 50 years ago this fall attending a college football game in Annapolis MD between Navy and the Air Force Academy. To the crowd's amazement, the halftime show included a Harrier jet landing vertically on the field and then taking off. As a youngster, I was in awe. But to my surprise, I never saw that technology again, except in movies. Now, an updated form of it could be around every other downtown corner by 2028, if not sooner.
Despite the delay, that reassures me that we as a species, and as an industry, still have the capacity to right wrongs and to correct course for the next generation, eventually even led by that next generation.
In my last Editor's Notes column, I quoted new ASHRAE President Ginger Scoggins, who later joined us as a guest for a new episode of our 'HPAC On The Air' podcast. "If you want something done, give it to busy person," she mused, acknowledging that her professional plate is extraordinarily full right now.
But toward that end, the theme of her presidential year is "Challenge Accepted: Tackling the Climate Crisis."
With that in mind, this fall in Washington DC, ASHRAE is co-hosting The 2023 Decarbonization Conference for the Built Environment, a significant, multi-stakeholder event co-sponsored by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Association of Physical Plant Administrators (APPA), the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), and the International Facility Managers Association (IFMA). The idea is finally to get all of these organizations on the same page, and to leverage their combined resources, including more than 200,000 combined members, to jointly address the existential crisis of our time.
The conference goal is "to discuss the design, construction, ownership, and operation of facilities targeted for reduced or neutral impact on the environment with respect to carbon footprint. A primary objective is to enhance the knowledge base in North America on decarbonization efforts... (It) will focus on educating attendees on methods to decrease carbon emissions, both embodied and operational, in order to reduce the impact of buildings on the climate crises."
Of course, all of the attendees and presenters are "busy people." But that also means they are aware and motivated. So, I feel confident that if they give each other important tasks to do, they will get done. And that will truly benefit us all.
##########