ASHRAE concluded a successful 2020 Winter Conference and AHR Expo, held February 1-5 in Orlando, Fla. This year’s conference attracted nearly 2,800 buildings-related engineers, architects, contractors, students, and other industry professionals.
ASHRAE celebrated its 125th anniversary with paper sessions chronicling the progress of key industries and the evolution of energy modeling. An updated edition of the Society book, Proclaiming the Truth, was released at the conference in addition to a composite video highlighting ASHRAE’s history which debuted at the plenary session.
The Winter Conference technical program featured more than 300 presentations, with interest surrounding this year’s new track, Big Data and Smart Controls, where session topics included smart sensor technologies, occupant behavior in buildings and cost-based control of supply air temperature.
The AHR Expo offered more than 1,900 exhibitors, with 300 companies exhibiting for the first time. The three-day show occupying 506,000 net square feet of exhibit space, attracted attendees from more than 160 counties.
2019-20 ASHRAE President Darryl K. Boyce, P.Eng., provided Society updates and initiatives related to his presidential theme, “Building for People and Performance. Achieving Operational Excellence.” He focused on how building professionals can ensure operational performance for the people that live, work, and interact in buildings.
During the conference, ASHRAE recognized major donors of its building campaign to support its Global Headquarters Renovation Project.
“With the opportunity to create a new ASHRAE Global Headquarters building, we are living the real-world challenge of designing and building a great environment for our staff, volunteers and industry visitors from around the world, that will operate effectively and not waste energy,” said Boyce.
The plenary session drew more than 1,000 people and provided a forum for the presentation of awards to experienced and emerging leaders in the industry. Keynote speaker Ed Hochuli, retired Head Referee in the National Football League, closed the session with an empowering presentation on being successful at any job.
ASHRAE Learning Institute (ALI) offered four full-day seminars and 17 half-day courses. New courses included: Guideline 36: Best in Class HVAC Control Sequences, Save 40% by Complying with Standard 90.1-2019, Best Practices for Installing DDC Systems, IgCC and ASHRAE Standard 189.1 Technical Provisions, Principles of Building Commissioning: ASHRAE Guideline 0 and Standard 202, Designing for Cold Climates and V in HVAC – What, Why, Where, How, and How Much. The new Certified HVAC Designer (CHD) certification exam was also administered during the conference.
The 2020 ASHRAE Annual Conference will take place June 27- July 1 in Austin, Texas. The 2021 Winter Conference will take place Jan. 23-27, and the AHR Expo, Jan. 25-27, in Chicago.