Heard From the Show…

Editor's note: The following items are a brief collection of tidbits gathered by CSE staff at the various ASHRAE Winter Conference functions and seminars, as well as forays onto the AHR show floor.

By Staff February 1, 2002
  • During an ASHRAE session on green buildings, Blair McCarry, P. E., stressed how important it is for engineers and building professionals to push for emissions reductions, noting that the United States and Canada have yet to provide leadership in this area.

  • Spurred by the growing need for quality cleanrooms in the semiconductor, pharmaceutical and bio-technology industries, technical committees on clean spaces and integrated design focused on incorporating engineering, architectural and construction requirements into cleanroom design.

  • ASHRAE has entered into working agreements with the National Society of Professional Engineers, the Army Corps of Engineers and the General Services Administration to exchange information and resources for ongoing research and development projects.

  • At the annual show press breakfast, ASHRAE President William Coad, P.E., explained how his mission to promote sustainability and energy efficiency during his term in office was affected by the events of Sept. 11. Even while still pushing ahead with energy efficiency initiatives—such as the creation of a handbook on sustainable design and the publication of ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2001, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings —Coad says the Society has needed to quickly shift much of its focus to dispersing helpful, accurate information about safe and healthy building environments.

  • Literally on the books for ASHRAE is a rewrite of the society’s technical handbooks to make them more user friendly.

  • William Lloyd, P.E., principal at KJWW Engineering Consultants in Rock Island, Ill. and a Consulting-Specifying Engineer contributing writer, received an ASHRAE Technology Award for his work on the Great River Medical Center in West Burlington, Iowa ( CSE , June 2001, pg. 32), which boasts the largest lake-coupled geothermal system in the United States.

  • Geothermal technology was highlighted on an ASHRAE technical tour of Stockton College, a Pomona, N.J., liberal arts college that currently boasts the world’s largest geothermal well field—400 boreholes connected to 118 heat pumps with 1,600 tons of capacity. However, American Hebrew Academy, a 100-acre private high school in Greensboro, N.C., will soon hold that distinction upon the completion of a 600-borehole geothermal field designed by Howard Alderson, P.E., Alderson Engineering, Inc., Southampton, Pa.

  • Responding to electricity-market instability, a number of AHR Expo exhibitors showed gas-fired HVAC equipment, such as a new gas-engine heat-pump air conditioner from Sanyo.

  • Other popular products on the AHR show floor—most likely due to recent concerns about air quality and toxic airborne agents such as anthrax—were duct-installed UVC emitters and air filters.

  • For the third year, the AHR Expo featured a Building Automation and Control Showcase, with more than 100 vendors exhibiting in the special section.

  • A number of vendors in the BAS field also are exploring more web-based control solutions with simpler user interfaces.

  • More products appeared to be BACnet compatible, although many manufacturers are developing both BACnet and LonWorks compatibility.

  • At the AHR Expo—and other industry trade shows—Keith Cockerham, P.E., Ewing Cole Cherry Brott, Philadelphia, says he finds trade shows valuable for new product information to update his specifications, chats with manufacturers about recent installations or industry trends and touches base with people he’s worked with in the past.

  • Ralph L. Lewis, Jr., a retired vice president of Gulf Oil and a senior consultant to the Chevron Corp., offered the ASHRAE Keynote Address on the “Global Struggle—Energy, Food, Minerals and Water.”