News Blog

       January was an exciting month for the Atlanta Chapter.  After returning from the holiday break, we had an excellent meeting discussing Variable Refrigerant Flow on January 10^th to a packed house.  John Brantley gave an informative discussion on the efficiency and operation of using a variable refrigerant system.  Thanks to Henry Slack for continuing to bring some great programs to our chapter member.         

The winter meeting and show was a big success. The number of exhibits and visitors at the show were records despite the difficulties in flying into Chicago that Friday.

• ASHRAE Society has a brand new logo and a completely revamped website. Go to ASHRAE.ORG and take a look
• Starting in 2013 the DRC will no longer sit on Members Council.
• Each region will have a separate person to sit on Members Council. This person will be nominated by the CRC caucus and appointed by the Society president, very similar to way ARC’s are now.
• Tom Phoenix, from the North Piedmont Chapter, a past DRC in Region IV was nominated as Treasurer of Society. He will be on the annual ballot this spring and to start his term as society Treasurer this July. That puts him in line to be our society president in 2014‐2015. CONGRATULATIONS Tom!!
• Update to Standard 189
• ASHRAE, IAMPO Sign MOU to Advance Building Environment Codes and Standards

The Atlanta Chapter also sponsored two students to attend the Winter ASHRAE meeting in Chicago.  Sam Birdsong and Ben Sleister both learned about all aspects of all industry and hopefully started to form some building blocks to a long career in the HVAC industry

In February, we have a special Valentine’s Day special with a cast study on the Georgia Tech Clough Building.  This project had an extensive design process and Georgia Tech is using the building as a research center.  The discussion with focus on the concept of the building and what is currently going on in the building.  We will have Adam Bare, the lead mechanical engineer on the project; Gregory Spiro, the senior mechanical engineer for Georgia Tech; and Trevor Wolf, who is a graduate student, will discuss his involvement in some of the research projects in the building.

This month we will focus on refrigeration, which is the reason that ASHRAE exists today.  We will be having a brewery tour on February 25 at 2:30 PM.  We look forward to seeing all the members join us for this event.

I look forward to seeing you at our next chapter event.

Charlie Fischer

charles.h.fischer@jci.com

Atlanta Chapter President 2011-2012

          The Holiday spirit truly resides with the Atlanta Chapter as we joined 5 other organizations at the annual Red & Green Scene.  ASHRAE, USGBC, AIA, CMAA, IIDA, CSI all joined forces to celebrate.  It was a memorable night as we ate and danced the night away at Opera in midtown Atlanta with 760 of our closest friends and colleagues.  He had so many toys donated for the “Toys for Tots” program that the next morning the marines had to return to finish collecting all the gifts.

 December marked another milestone as we hit our goal of raising 30% of our research promotion goal through the support of our generous members.  Thanks to all the members that have contributed so far this year.  We still have a long way to go, so please continue to think of ASHRAE when you are planning your charitable budgets for 2012.

 In January we will have another brilliant speaker to kick off 2012.  Mr. John Brantley will be providing an overview on Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) equipment and application.  The meeting will start at 11:30 AM and is a one hour course.  Lunch will be provided and the cost is $10 for members and $20 for non-members.  To register for the event please go to our events page at http://www.ashraeatlanta.org/Events.

 Our January meeting will have an emphasis on MEMBERSHIP.  Even though we have had some rough economic times in the last few years our membership has remained faithful.  We look forward to growing our membership as new members enter our industry.  If you have any new recruits in your office, please encourage them to get involved in the Atlanta ASHRAE Chapter.  If you would like more information on how to sign up associates, please contact our membership chair Samir Sheth @ ssheth@itsmarta.com or visit the membership webpage on our chapter site at http://www.ashraeatlanta.org/Membership.

 We look forward to having the Atlanta Chapter represented well at the ASHRAE Winter Conference in Chicago from January 21^th through January 25^th.  You can still sign up on the ASHRAE society website at the following address:  http://www.ashrae.org/events/page/Chicago2012Meeting.  Region IV (The region Atlanta is in) will be meeting on January 22^nd for dinner.  Please email me if you are interested in attending.

I look forward to seeing you at our next chapter event.

Best Regards,

Charlie Fischer

charles.h.fischer@jci.com

Atlanta Chapter President 2011-2012

Once again we had another action packed month during October.  We had another great lunch meeting by Mr. Chuck Hammock.  He provided information and insight into Geothermal Heat Pump systems.  We learned about the different type of wells that can be used and the areas where Geothermal works the best.  Thanks again to Mr. Hammock for the informative discussion.

We also had a great turnout for our fall ASHRAE golf tournament.  We had enjoyable time raising money for ASHRAE Research and the weather could not have been better.  Thanks to all that came out to support ASHRAE Research and to all our sponsors. 

Looking ahead to this month’s presentation we will be hosting a dinner meeting in our usual location at ASHRAE Headquarters on Tuesday November 8^th starting at 6:30PM.  This month’s topic is titled “Update on 62.1, Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality”.  Our presenter will be Mr. Hoy Bohannon of Working Buildings who is a member of the ASHRAE Standard 62.1 committee

Before Dinner, Mr. Bohannon will provide a more detailed discussion on “How to Implement Demand Control Ventilation and Comply with ASHRAE Standards”.  For those engineers who are looking for information for finding the balance between energy efficiency and air quality, you do not want to miss this presentation.  This seminar will start at 5:00 PM and is a one hour course.  To register for both of these events please go to our events page at http://www.ashraeatlanta.org/Events.

Our November meeting will have an emphasis on Student Activities and YEA.  We currently have 4 student chapters included in our chapter; Dekalb Technical College, Georgia Institute of Technology, Southern Polytechnic State University, and University of Georgia.  We are also working on ramping up our K-12 efforts.  We are always looking for members to help give back by supporting our future leaders.  If you would like more information, please contact our student activities chair Nick Kassanis @ inkassanis@workingbuildings.com or visit the student activities webpage on our chapter site at http://www.ashraeatlanta.org/SA. 

YEA is our ASHRAE members that are ages 35 and younger.  If you fall in this category then please join our facebook page at http://www.ashraeatlanta.org/YEA to meet other young engineers.  We have monthly meetings for our YEA group and other activities throughout the year.  If you are new to ASHRAE and under 35, this is a great place to start your involvement in the chapter.

 Make sure that you also make plans to attend the Holiday Party on December 8^th at Opera in midtown, the ASHRAE Winter Conference in Chicago at the end of January, our monthly YEA event on November 17^th, and much, much more…Don’t forget to RSVP for all these events by logging onto the Atlanta ASHRAE website at: http://www.ashraeatlanta.org

 I look forward to seeing you at our next chapter event.

 In closing, we lost a dear ASHRAE friend last month as Lynn Bellenger, who served as the first woman president in the society’s 116 year history, passed away on Wednesday, October 19^th.  Her term as presidents ended in June 2011.  ASHRAE has established the Lynn G. Bellenger Memorial Fund for those people who would like to show their love, support, and honor her remarkable legacy.  If you would like to contribute, please go to the following site to Contribute online:
Click here to fill out the online form and make your contribution online.

Charlie Fischer

charles.h.fischer@jci.com

Atlanta Chapter President 2011-2012

We had a great start to this year last month at our first chapter meeting.  Mr. Wayne Kirsner of Kirsner Consulting Engineering Inc. gave a great presentation on a water hammer accident.  We all learned some valuable lessons from a tragic accident and the potential dangers we face in our industry.  He discussed some steam design guidelines that left the audience thirsty for knowledge as the meeting ended. 

            Looking ahead to this month’s presentation we will be hosting a lunch meeting in our usual location at ASHRAE Headquarters on Tuesday October 11^th starting at 11:30AM.  This month’s topic is titled “Geothermal Heat Pump Fundamentals”.  Our presenter will be Mr. Chuck Hammock of Andrews, Hammock, & Powell, Inc. who has worked on both conventional (full) Geothermal and hybrid applications.

             After lunch, Mr. Hammock will provide a more detailed discussion on “Geothermal Heat Pump (GHP) / Heat Exchanger (GHX) Engineering”.  For those engineers looking to go beyond the basics and have a more in depth course this is the place to be.  This seminar will start at 1:30 PM and is a two and a half hour course.

 Our October meeting will have an emphasis on Research Promotion.  Research Promotion is the lifeblood of our organization.  Last year the Atlanta Chapter raised over $44,000, and our goal is to exceed on that mark this year.  We look forward to recognizing all of our supports for the 2010-2011 campaign year and welcome all support for this year’s fundraising efforts.   

 The Chapter will be hosting our semi-annual golf tournament this fall at River Pines Golf Course.  The event will be held on Tuesday October 25^th at 9AM.  I encourage all members to support this event whether you are an avid golfer or a spectator there are plenty of ways to get involved.  We have plenty of hole sponsorship opportunities for members who are just looking to give a contribution to ASHRAE Research or ways to volunteer for the event.  So get you’re A-team together and come out to support ASHRAE research.  Please contact Mr. John Pruitt, the research promotion chair for more information at john.d.pruitt@jci.com.

 We are in the process of finalizing the new 2011 Atlanta ASHRAE product directory.  If your company has not submitted its application, please send it in ASAP as we will be going live with the new searchable on-line directory.  Applications can be sent directly to me and payments can be made at http://www.ashraeatlanta.org/ProductDirectorySignup. 

         Make sure that you also make plans to attend the Holiday Party on December 8^th at Opera in midtown, the ASHRAE Winter Conference in Chicago at the end of January, our monthly YEA event on October 20^th, and much, much more…

Don’t forget to RSVP for all these events by logging onto the Atlanta ASHRAE website at:

http://www.ashraeatlanta.org

 I look forward to seeing you at our next chapter event.

 Charlie Fischer

charles.h.fischer@jci.com

Atlanta Chapter President 2011-2012

The Atlanta Chapter took home an array of awards from this year's Chapter Regional Conference, or CRC, that was held Aug 4-6, 2011 in Myrtle Beach, SC. Atlanta earned the most coveted award: the Rudy Ferguson award of excellence, which is given to the best chapter in Region IV. 

We would appreciate your participation and support in the ASHRAE Atlanta 2011 product directory. Our goal is to have all vendors and service providers included in this directory.

The directory will now be posted in an online format that will be searchable by over 1800 members and non-members that participate in the Atlanta Chapter. The directory will also be available in a downloadable *.PDF format.
Cost to be listed in the directory:

$250 - To submit the first page of data in the application
$350 - To submit both page one and page two of data in the application
$450 - To submit all three pages of data in the application

Please go to our website or use the following link to download the application and to pay on-line using paypal at http://www.ashraeatlanta.org/ProductDirectorySignup

Please send all submissions to charles.h.fischer@jci.com

What a great ASHRAE year. We held our last meeting in May and now it’s time to transition from the old to the new. As we make this transition let me say once again that I have had a great time.

What did we accomplish? Some of the things that were accomplished during the past year were to get more volunteers to come on board and help with task that make your life easier. The Chair/Co-chair concept worked very well. This concept provided first time ASHRAE volunteers the opportunity to learn about ASHRAE responsibilities as they helped the chairperson on the different committees.


We provided guidance and mentorship to a new student chapter being created at DeKalb Technical College. This new chapter will be voted on later this month at the ASHRAE Summer Conference in Montreal, Canada.

We had a net increase in the incoming vs. outgoing membership.

We again participated in the Annual Red and Green Scene Holiday event held at the Mason Muir Art Gallery. This event is a party jointly participated in by members of AIA Atlanta Chapter, USGBC Georgia Chapter, IIDA Georgia, ASHRAE Atlanta Chapter, ASPE Atlanta Chapter, CSI Atlanta
Chapter and GSEA. This event gives all organizations the opportunity to gather socially, and enjoy the company of members of allied organizations.

We sponsored two ASHRAE Golf Tournaments and an ASHRAE Hockey Night. Each event was well received by you, our members. All proceeds from these events were donated to ASHRAE Research. This chapter pledged to raise and donate a whopping $44,000.00 to ASHRAE Research this year. Thanks to you, we exceeded this goal by over $200.00. Way To Go Atlanta!

We implemented the new chapter website in January 2011. The new site is more user friendly with much greater flexibility to track user activities and to update event data. This new site is being managed by our own members for greater and faster response.

We revamped the newsletter to make it more warm and easier to navigate.

I could go on and on but it’s time to stop. Thank you to the committee persons who worked with dedication and commitment to make this year a success. Finally, thank you to our members who we work for. You are the reason that ASHRAE is the leading authority in this industry.


Michael E. Dudley
medudley@workingbuildings.com
Atlanta Chapter President 2010-2011

Well the checkered flag is out and the race is coming to an end. Our last meeting is in a few weeks – then, we break for summer. I don’t know about you, but I have had a great time. It has been a pleasure to serve as your president and to work with the dedicated volunteers who have made this year a success. I hope that you as Atlanta chapter members have enjoyed the programs and events, which were put together by this great staff.

 

Our last program meeting will be a lunch meeting held at ASHRAE Headquarters on Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 11:30 am. The title of this meeting is “Building Energy Quotient Labeling Program”. Our presenter is Dr. William P. Bahnfleth, Professor and Director of the Indoor Environment Center in the Department of Architectural Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) in University Park, PA

 

What is the Building Energy Quotient Labeling Program? The Building Energy Quotient (BEQ) Labeling Program is a tool, which rates a building’s energy performance and helps to characterize specific buildings that are candidates for improvements. This BEQ labeling program is used for both new and existing buildings. The buildings performance is shown on a color-coded scale that is easy to understand. The color-coded scale goes from A+ to F, with A+ indicating a building with a net zero energy use and F indicating a building performing unsatisfactory with respect to energy use.

 

Why do we need another ASHRAE program? The new Building Energy Quotient Labeling Program seeks to answer that question. It is intended to help owners and operators understand the energy use of their building and to recognize the potential for operating at greater energy efficiency levels. I know that you will find this presentation extremely informative. 

 

Will you be attending the ASHRAE Summer Conference? It will be held in Montreal Canada from June 24^th thru June 29^th, 2011. The ASHRAE Technical Committees, Task Groups and Technical Resource Groups usually meet at each winter and Annual Conference. Attendance at these meetings is open to all society members, to all registered guest at scheduled Society Conferences, and to those invited by the chairman at the request of a member. You are encouraged to attend any of these meetings in which you have a technical interest.

 

Photos from the Georgia vs. GA Tech Baseball game can be found on the website under Photos.

Also, plan to participate in the Spring Golf Tournament. The tournament will be held on Thursday, May 19 at 9:00 am. Look inside for details on registration.

Don’t forget to RSVP for the next meeting and the golf tournament by logging onto the Atlanta ASHRAE chapters website http://www.ashraeatlanta.org/

Michael E. Dudley

medudley@workingbuildings.com

Atlanta Chapter President 2010-2011

From: Samir Sheth, ASHRAE Atlanta Chapter Membership Promotion Chair

Thank you for supporting ASHRAE. Last year we were second place for membership enrollment of ASHRAE Region IV, and we want to be at first place in our region this year.  I can’t accomplish the task by myself.  I need your help.  As your Membership Promotion Chair, I request all of you to be messengers for our society and ask your friends, staff, and colleagues to become members of our society.  You can also reach the society thru Internet, just type “ashrae.org” and follow the menu.  Let’s make a joint effort to increase membership for this year. 

Membership Advancement: This year we have received very few membership advancement applications.  I encourage each of you to check your membership status.  You may be an Associate Member, but if you are in the HVAC professional field with multiple years of experience, you may be eligible to be a Member.  It does not cost you any money.  You simply need to visit ashrae.org and update your bio.  Update your bio menu is located on the left had Member Central panel on the web page.

Delinquent: Like most of us, I am sure that you are very busy. If you are delinquent on you society dues or chapter dues please take a moment and visit the ASHRAE web site to update both.  Our Chapter gets demerits for every member who is behind on dues.

Life Members: I have a special request for our highly respected Life Members and Associate Life Members.  If you are a Life Member, please go on line and fill out a membership renewal form.  Without filling out the form, your membership is called delinquent, and our Chapter gets a small demerit.

New Members: Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the following new members who enrolled during the period of March 2011 thru April 2011:  Amandi Rhett, Clay Willoughby, Paul Partner, Carl Garofalo, Machelle Pellegrini, Giles Brown, Jeffery Morgan, Andy Proctor, Harry Engert, Matthew Stone, Jonathan Thomas, Tom Thompson.

Thank you again for supporting our society and our Atlanta chapter. Let’s work together to make our chapter the leader of the region again.

If you have any question/concern about membership, please feel free to call me,

Samir Sheth – 404-848-5691 or email me at ssheth@itsmarta.com.

Thank you again.

I hope you have enjoyed the chapter’s presentations to date. We are winding down the year with just two meetings left. And they are exciting topics, which will benefit us all. You, our members, have been great in participating and providing feedback on chapter activities. In March we had a brewery tour, a hockey night. Those events were well attended a provided fun for all. We were also pleased to host the 3 annual
Past Presidents Luncheon at Vila Christina Restaurant. Thank you to all of the past presidents who participated. We will see you again next year.


Our upcoming meeting will be a lunch meeting held at ASHRAE Headquarters on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 11:30 am. The title of this meeting is “Why Commissioning Is Here To Stay - A Round Table Discussion”. Our presenters are Mr. Jay Enck, CxBGS, Mr. Stephen R. Wiggins, Newcomb & Boyd and Mr. John McFarland, Working Buildings.

After the lunch meeting we will have a 3-hr Educational Seminar entitled “Commissioning The Right Way – A Panel Discussion” Our presenters will be the same as the lunch seminar. This seminar will be held at ASHRAE Headquarters on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 1:30 pm.

What is Commissioning? Well, Wikipedia defines commissioning for several areas. Project Commissioning is defined as the process of assuring that all systems and components of a building or industrial plant are designed, installed, tested, operated, and maintained according to the operational requirements of the owner or final client. This is the area that we as engineers, architects, designers and building operators are concerned with.

Is it worth the time and cost to commission a project? Does commissioning actually assure that the systems are functioning properly? These questions and more will be addressed at the upcoming meeting. I know that you will find this presentation and educational seminar extremely informative.

Have you signed up for the ASHRAE webcast on Thursday, April 21? You can go to ASHRAE.org and sign up now. The topic of the webcast is “Ground Source Heat Pump System – Putting The Earth To Work For You”.

Also, plan to bring your family and attend the Georgia vs. Georgia Tech Baseball Game. The game will be held on Tuesday, April 26 at 5:00 pm. The game will include barbecue dinner, in the parking lot.

Finally gear yourself up for the Spring Golf Tournament. Details will be coming soon.

Please plan to attend these events and spread the word. Look inside for details on registration.

Don’t forget to RSVP for the next meeting by logging onto the Atlanta ASHRAE http://www.ashraeatlanta.org/

Michael E. Dudley
medudley@workingbuildings.com