I had a blast for my first time at the ASHRAE Conference and the AHR Expo in Las Vegas!
I know, I know, I hear you. You’re saying “You were in Vegas, of course you had fun.” Well believe it or not, I spent most of the time learning and talking with others. It was fun talking with people who speak the same nerdy HVAC language, so to speak, or talking with students who want to be in the industry, or seeing new products, more on that to come! Everyone seemed so enthusiastic. I think most of the excitement came from being home for the past two years due to the pandemic, everyone was eager to hang out, network, and make friends.
That’s not to say I didnt also have some Vegas fun. I’m not a big gambler, but if I have the extra cash it’s fun to take a little risk…like with my husbands $20 bill I won $91 within 10 minutes of sitting down at a slot machine! Don’t worry margarittas were on me after that…or should I say on him? haha. But I’m getting ahead of myself, this wasn’t until Wednesday, the day before we left Vegas. I want to talk about the conference!
I am going to organize this article by first talking about the general topics that ASHRAE prepared. Then I’ll talk about some of the lectures I saw. Finally I will go into what this means for itty bit Better and ultimately YOU!
First ASHRAE’s topics. I wanted to put all of these here because there is an apparent theme to what the industry is focusing on. Don’t feel like you have to read all of them, I just provided more info than you needed. Each year ASHRAE determines the topics and that is how the lecturers are selected to speak. Below is each topic along with ASHRAE’s description.
Building Decarbonization
This topic didn’t have a description but I don’t think it really needs one. All of these talks focused on defining decarbonization, standards that are in place and teams that are adding and improving building requirements, example success projects, and future goals in the country and industry.
Buildings at 360
“Buildings use a large share of a country’s final energy, in particular for heating, cooling and various services. Papers and presentations explaining methods, equipment, systems and solutions to satisfy occupants’ needs, to guarantee buildings’ performances and resilience, and to save resources (energy, water, etc.) will fit this track.” – ASHRAE website
Energy System Integration
“Energy is the omnipresent reality of our daily lives (e.g., electricity for appliances and equipment, heat and cold for industrial processes and commercial purposes). Once used, part of the input the energy is wasted as heat/cold or as exhaust byproducts, thus contributing to the pollution of soil, water and air. The integration of various energy sources/grids with buildings, processes and transportation allows to better exploit the available energy (renewables, in particular) while reducing the said waste through a circular approach to energy usage. Papers on renewables, fossil fuels, grid integration, aggregation, demand-side flexibility, smart devices, IoT, synthetic hydrogen and synthetic fuels, CCUS, electrification would fit this track.” – ASHRAE website
Environmental Health and IEQ in the International Arena
“We spend a large part of our days indoors to live, work, practice gym, etc. Indoor environment is essential for our comfort, well-being, health, productivity, but is often treated and regulated differently in various parts of the world due to local conditions, circumstances, history, traditions. Presentations that explain local norms and trends are welcome to increase the knowledge on such an important topic, with an eye also on energy usage.” – ASHRAE website
Fundamentals and Applications
“Fundamentals are the foundation for understanding applications in engineering. Key components of ASHRAE fundamentals include thermodynamics, psychometrics, fluid and mass flow. This track provides opportunities for papers and presentations of varying levels across a large topic base. Concepts, design elements and shared experiences for theoretical and applied concepts of HVAC&R design are included.” – ASHRAE website
HVAC for Industrial and Commercial Purposes – Challenges and Opportunities
“How to guarantee a set point within the required tolerances in a large industrial facility? How to increase the overall energy efficiency of a commercial facility through HVAC systems? What are the lessons that can be learnt from in terms of equipment, installation, commissioning, etc. and that can be transferred to other types of facilities; and vice versa? This is the track where such topics can find suitable space.” – ASHRAE website
HVAC&R Systems and Equipment
“HVAC&R systems and equipment are constantly evolving to address the changing requirements of the built environment. Papers and programs in this track focus on the development of new systems and equipment, improvements to existing systems and equipment and the proper application and operation of systems and equipment.” – ASHRAE website
Refrigerants and Refrigeration
“Refrigeration systems generate and use cold for a range of processes, from food preparation and conservation, to vaccine preservation, to long-term protection of fragile ancient inks of historic documents and others. Differences in technologies and equipment, performances, refrigerants, etc., may hide synergies from which both industrial and commercial systems might benefit, also, but not only, from the points of view of reducing direct and indirect GHG emissions.” – ASHRAE website
It becomes evident pretty quickly that Energy and Sustainability are a huge priority in the industry today! The ASHRAE board recognizes that the United States is behind compared to some other countries and I got the impression that most are on board to help speed this up! This makes me incredibly happy and excited to see what’s to come in the next few years. I’m glad you are here too because that means you are looking to make a change as well.
As you can imagine, it became difficult very quickly to choose which lecture I should sit in and which I should miss because some over lapped between the topics. Though I am highly interested in Building Decarbonization, there are some advanced topics in Energy System Integration I’d like to learn about as well.
Here are a few titles of lectures I saw:
- Introduction of Building Decarbonization
- In Real Time: Charting the Pathway for Existing Buildings to Get to Carbon Neutrality
- Simulations and Control Algorithms for Reducing Energy Consumption
- Role Models: How to Inspire the Next Generation of Engineers
Through these lectures I learned a whole lot but I will keep it to a few major relevant topics.
First, ASHRAE created a task force! I think this is similar to the Avengers. In Spring 2021 ASHRAE created a team called “ASHRAE Task Force for Building Decarbonization”. This was a highlight of the first lecture. The team was created out of a group of diverse people and backgrounds to help determine what is needed for building decarbonization.
ASHRAE Decarbonization Task Force
This is what ASHRAE says is the purpose of this group:
I. Determining and engaging with other organization with pertinent skills, knowledge and expertise
II. Providing information to policy makers on how they might achieve the goals they have established.
III. Providing recommendations and best practices for industry stakeholder by:
o. Identifying existing portfolio of technical resources
o. Packaging these technical resources in a useful way
o. Providing tools for energy efficiency, embodied carbon, and reducing operational carbon
o. Identifying knowledge gaps and developing resources to address those gaps
We have heard a lot of companies lately set goals, “we will cut emissions by x%”, “we will be carbon neutral by 20XX”, “we will invest in this much renewable energy”. All of this begs the question, “How are they going to achieve their goal?”. This is basis for this ASHRAE group and on a smaller scale, that is what my goal is for you!
Long story short, I am going to keep a close eye on them to try to provide the best information I can for you! Let me know, what do you want to know more about? What questions do you have? In an upcoming post I will go into the difference between Embodied Carbon vs Operational Carbon.
If you haven’t already, check out my previous post talking about the Energy Pyramid.
The next two topics, simulating a building to understand its energy consumption and helping control how its used is another big topic in the industry. I will talk more about this when I go over Energy Efficiency and Demand Management in the Energy Pyramid.
Lastly, who is going to take over these goals when we are too tired to work anymore? Inspiring the next generation, increasing diversity, and staying on path to help our planet is just as important as these plans.
As a walked around the conference and expo, it is still evident that I am in a male dominated field. Picture, 5’0″ female who looks like she just graduated high school walking up to you about her new business. Don’t get me wrong, I can hang wit da boyz, but I definitely raised a few eyebrows when introducing myself as a business owner. I find it fun to get over that initial first impression hump though. I just have to open my mouth to spill out the contents of my brain to get someone to listen and most do listen.
Most of the people I encounter in this industry are better than nice, they are encouraging, smart, and passionate, and everyone just wants to have a good time while they work! A great example, nearing the end of the conference while the crowd was dying down, tired feet and tired from talking, I was offered a beer by a couple of guys at a booth. I laughed it off initially, but they said “no really, we can’t finish them all”. I happily stuck my hand in the ice to grab a cold one and said, “Thank you, I guess I don’t mind hearing the pitch then.” knowing our companies wouldn’t have much to contribute to each other, it was the best currency exchange of the day. They smiled and said “We’ll spare you one.”, I thanked them as I cracked it open, making both of our evenings a little sweeter.
So, what does this mean for you and I? I see a lot of growth in store for both of us! I made some great connections and I am continuing to learn. I had some blogs lined up for what I thought was relevant and still are, but based on what the industry is saying, I am going to adjust a bit to help define this big picture first to make sure we are on the same path together! I hope you’ll join me for the ride!
Before ending this post, I want to mention how I focused on the ASHRAE conference and didn’t talk about the AHR Expo’s cool products. I definitely want to share some cool stuff with you, but work with me here because a girls gotta eat. I am currently setting up a shared marketing opportunity with these companies. I will let you know up front if it is a marketing post, but these will still all be products that I think are worth sharing! It will take some time to review the products and do some research to ensure I 100% back them, as well as set up agreements. But keep a look out for them, I’m excited!
As always, leave a comment below or hit me up on social! I’d love to continue this discussion on industry trends and topics.
Thank you Hannah for the summary! Its fun to read through some of the topics and lectures you were able to attend 🙂 makes me feel like I was there without being there! excited to read the next blog on the cool products which might help with achieving the decarbonization goals!
Thanks Wendy! I’m glad you enjoyed it. I suggest subscribing to my newsletter to not miss a post! I only send it once a week, promise.
http://ittybitbetter.com/email-subscription/