Atlanta, Georgia: ASHRAE has issued a press release providing an overview of the recently concluded ASHRAE 2016 Annual Conference that was held from June 25 to 29, 2016 at St. Louis, Missouri. During the conference, Timothy G Wentz, P.E., Fellow ASHRAE, HBDP, Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, was installed as ASHRAE President, said the press release.

According to the press release, Wentz will chair the Society’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee. His theme ‘Adapt Today to Shape Tomorrow’, is based on the goal of the Society’s Strategic Plan to adapt, said the release. “When it comes to change,” Wentz said, “we tend to ‘hang on’ to what feels safe as long as possible. When we can’t see the future, we don’t know how far we will fall. That can be frightening. We must work to shape tomorrow so we feel empowered to ‘let go’.”

At the Conference, it was reportedly announced that ASHRAE’s 2015-16 RP campaign had reached a new high of USD 2.57 million donated by members, chapters and companies. ASHRAE RP Campaign funds, the release added, are used to support ongoing research projects, ASHRAE Learning Institute, Young Engineers in ASHRAE (YEA) Leadership activities and scholarships.

The press release highlighted that around 100 sessions, with 400 speakers were offered as part of the Conference Technical Programme, during which, sessions examined how buildings are created by “constructive confrontation”, i.e., teams of building industry professionals with different education, training, method of working, communication skills and membership of professional bodies drawn together.

Furthermore, the press release said that two seminars titled ‘ASHRAE Fellows Debate: Productivity is the Measure of Indoor Air Quality’, in which two teams debated whether productivity can be measured, and another seminar on ‘Energy Management for Multi-Building Portfolios from the Owner-Operator and the Consultant Perspectives’ provided insights into successful energy management through the experiences of both consultants and owner-operators.

The Conference, the press release revealed, featured two full-day professional development seminars and eight half-day short courses from the ASHRAE Learning Institute. Popular courses, the press release added, focused on variable refrigerant flow (VRF), troubleshooting humidity control and 90.1-2013 HVAC/Mechanical.

The press release informed that the ASHRAE 2017 Winter Conference will take place from January 28 to February 1, 2017, in Las Vegas, Nevada. ASHRAE added that the International Air-Conditioning, Heating, Refrigerating Exposition, for which it is the co-sponsor, will be held in conjunction with the Winter Conference from January 30 to February 1, 2017, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.