Happy New Year!

I hope you had a great holiday season and you are now looking forward to the second half of the ASHRAE year!

Our November Meeting:

I would like to extend our thanks to Daniel Barber, Ph.D. and Dennis Roberts, P.E., from the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District for presenting “SJUAPCD CEQA & Greenhouse Gas Best Performance Standards.”

Our Next Meeting:

Our next chapter lunch meeting will be Thursday, January 12 at 12:00 noon at the San Joaquin Country Club.  Our speaker will be Andrew Zacharias, Program Manager, Dosing and Disinfection with Grundfos.  He will be speaking on the topic of “Innovative Water Research and Developing Sustainable Solutions”

Please try to register by January 10 to catch the early bird special!

Support the Fresno State Student Chapter of ASHRAE:

The student chapter of ASHRAE at Fresno State is actively raising funds to send a number of their members to the ASHRAE Winter Conference in Chicago in January, 2012.

To help raise money for their trip, the student chapter is asking for local support of sponsors and for people to purchase an ASHRAE Shirt.  All net proceeds from the t-shirts will go to offset the student’s expense at the conference.

How can YOU Support the Students?  Two Ways to Help:

 Be a Sponsor:

3” x 3” squares on the back of the t-shirts are being sold to companies where their company’s logos and/or name will be printed.  The squares are being sold for $100 each.  Due to the size of the squares, there are a limited number of squares available.

Purchase Shirts:

The printed t-shirts can be purchased for $15.00 each and will be sold to students and others to help raise funds. The t-shirt will be available in early January, 2012.

 If you are interested in helping the student chapter by being a sponsor and/or by purchasing shirts, please contact me at (559) 313-9118 or at keith.harris@johnstonesupply.com.  I am helping to coordinate the efforts while the students are on winter break.

Providing More Local Support:

I am pleased to inform the chapter that our chapter’s board voted to donate some proceeds from our annual golf tournament to the following local organizations:

·         The ASHRAE Student Chapter at Fresno State to help students attend the ASHRAE annual winter meeting in Chicago

·         The Girls Summer Engineering Experience to help high school girl students learn more about becoming an engineer

·         The Central California Regional Science, Math and Engineering Fair, to help provide a setting in which outstanding students, grades 6-12, can showcase their research projects in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics

I would like to thank our golf tournament sponsors, the golfers and those who volunteered to help at the golf tournament, so our chapter could have a greater local impact, as well as striving to meet our Research Promotion goal.

GIRLS Summer Engineering Experience (GIRLS SEE) 2012:

The GIRLS Summer Engineering Experience 2012 is seeking sponsors and female high school students, grades 10 through 12 to participate in the 2012 summer camp at the Lyles College of Engineering at California State University, Fresno.  If you interested in supporting this great program or know of a high school girl that would like to participate in the camp, please see our chapter’s web site shortly for more details.

Your Comments Wanted:

Please feel free to contact me with your comments, concerns or feedback at (559) 313-9118 or at keith.harris@johnstonesupply.com or through our new web site at president@sjvashrae.com.

See you on January 12!

ATLANTA—Registration is open for ASHRAE’s 2012 Winter Conference in Chicago where attendees have the chance to discuss and examine the latest topics in the building industry, such as high performing buildings and integrated design, as well as participate in technical tours; attend ASHRAE Learning Institute courses; earn professional credits; and obtain ASHRAE certifications.  

The 2012 Winter Conference takes place Jan. 21-25 at the Palmer House Hilton. The International Air-Conditioning, Heating, Refrigerating Expo®, held in conjunction with the Winter Conference, will run Jan. 23-25. The Expo, www.ahrexpo.com, is held at the McCormick Place.

In keeping with ASHRAE’s goal of continuing education the Conference offers over 200 Professional Development Hours, as well as Continuing Education Units, which can be applied toward a Professional Engineering license.

The technical program features more than 90 programs and 300 speakers addressing energy modeling applications; integrated design; healthcare, laboratories and data center applications, among others; operations and maintenance; high performance buildings; as well as refrigeration and systems and equipment sessions. Additionally, there is a new “mini-conference” on Installation, Operation & Maintenance of HVAC Systems built within the Technical Program.  The O&M mini-conference is scheduled on Jan. 22-23. The full Technical Program, which will be announced later this month, offers the opportunity to earn a year’s worth of PDHs, NY PDHs, AIA LUs and LEED AP credits.

The Chicago Virtual Conference is included with a paid Conference registration—comp and single day registration excluded—and includes on-demand access to all speakers’ audio presentations synced to their presentations.  Attendees and speakers can post comments on the presentations for a two-week period.  Those not attending the Chicago Winter Conference in person may register for the Virtual Conference only. Register at www.ashrae.org/chicagovirtual.

Five Professional Development Seminars and 15 Short Courses are offered to help industry professionals stay current on HVAC technology, including how to apply the newest ASHRAE standards. The ASHRAE Learning Institute (ALI)  is offering a new half-day short course on the basics of combined heating and power systems, as well as updates to the full-day professional development seminars focusing on Standards 62.1, Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality,  and 90.1, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings. ALI courses are approved for renewal of professional engineer and professional architect licenses, as well as for industry certification programs.

Additionally, ASHRAE offers a special administration of all six certification examinations on Jan. 25: Building Energy Assessment Professional (BEAP), Building Energy Modeling Professional (BEMP), Commissioning Process Management Professional (CPMP), High-Performance Building Design Professional (HBDP), Healthcare Facility Design Professional (HFDP) and Operations & Performance Management Professional (OPMP). ASHRAE’s certification program recognizes industry professionals who have mastered knowledge and skills reflecting best practices in certain aspects of building design and operations. More information on each certification can be found at www.ashrae.org/chicagoexams.

ASHRAE Conference technical tours give you a first-hand look at technology developed by members to further the industry. Tours include the North Central College Residential and Recreation Center, Loyola University Information Commons, the University of Chicago Mansueto Library and Rush University Medical Center Central Energy Plant.

The Winter Conference also includes a program designed for students of the Society. Highlights of the program, held on Sunday, Jan. 22, include speakers, a professional development session and presentations by the recipients of the Student Design Competition and a technical tour of the University of Chicago library.

To register and for complete Conference information, visit www.ashrae.org/chicago.

ASHRAE, founded in 1894, is an international organization of some 50,000 persons. ASHRAE fulfills its mission of advancing heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration to serve humanity and promote a sustainable world through research, standards writing, publishing and continuing education.

ATLANTA – Guidance on increasing energy efficiency in existing buildings through measuring and tracking efficiency and implementing an efficiency plan is featured in a new book from leading built environment organizations.

“Energy Efficiency Guide for Existing Commercial Buildings: Technical Implementation” provides clear and easily understood technical guidance for energy upgrades, retrofits and renovations by which building engineers and managers can achieve at least a 30 percent improvement in energy performance relative to a range of benchmark energy utilization indexes. It features practical means and methods for planning, executing and monitoring an effective program, based on widely available techniques and technologies.

"Energy efficiency improvement in buildings is one of the greatest means to increase resource efficiency, improve environmental stewardship and save operating funds,” George Jackins, who chaired the committee overseeing the book, said. “More importantly, energy efficient improvement should happen because it makes good business sense.  Good planning and on-going commitment is essential to maximizing investments in energy efficiency.”

Improving energy in an existing building is an iterative process, but first you have to know where you are starting from, according to Jackins. The book recommends some tips on how to begin the energy savings process:
1. Calculate energy use and cost
2. Set energy performance goals
3. Measure and analyze current energy use
4. Select and implement energy efficiency measures
5. Measure and report improvements
6. Continue to track performance and reassess goals

“Energy Efficiency Guide for Existing Commercial Buildings:  Technical Implementation” is the second energy efficient guide for existing commercial buildings developed by the same group developing at the Advanced Energy Design Guide series for new buildings – ASHRAE, the American Institute of Architects, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America and the U.S. Green Building Council and supported by the U.S. Department of Energy. In addition, the Building Owners and Managers Association and the U.S. General Services Administration were involved in its development. The first, “Energy Efficiency Guide for Existing Commercial Buildings: The Business Case for Building Owners and Managers,” provides the rationale for making economic decisions related to improving and sustaining energy efficiency in existing buildings.

The cost of “Energy Efficiency Guide for Existing Commercial Buildings – Technical Implementation” is $75 ($64, ASHRAE members). To order, contact ASHRAE Customer Contact Center at 1-800-527-4723 (United States and Canada) or 404-636-8400 (worldwide), fax 404-321-5478, or visit www.ashrae.org/bookstore.

ASHRAE, founded in 1894, is an international organization of some 50,000 persons. ASHRAE fulfills its mission of advancing heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigerating to serve humanity and promote a sustainable world through research, standards writing, publishing and continuing education.

ASHRAE San Joaquin Chapter Leadership Team 2011-2012