Darryl K Boyce

DUBAI, UAE, 11 November 2019: “We are a grassroots organisation, so our members that are in the front lines are very important to us,” said 2019-20 ASHRAE President Darryl K Boyce, during a members-only chapter meeting in Dubai, on November 7. Inaugurating the dinner was Hassan Younes, ASHRAE Falcon Chapter President, who welcomed the ASHRAE president to the stage to elaborate on the theme for the year, which is performance, and provide an update on recent initiatives.

During his keynote address, Boyce said, “We own the buildings we design, build, commission or operate – it’s part of each of us.” He said that caring about operational performance aligns with the ASHRAE mission of advancing human well-being. “I bet most of you think that the “HR” in ASHRAE stands for Heating and Refrigeration,” he said. “It really stands for people, the human resources – the “HR” is at the center of ASHRAE.” Boyce said that building operators require support

Hassan Younes

from stakeholders and that enhancing operational performance can help the planet by reducing the environmental impact of building operations. He also encouraged ASHRAE members to learn, get engaged and act differently, as he discussed opportunities for further collaboration.

Boyce said that in the past year, ASHRAE formed a Multidisciplinary Task Group on Effective Building Operations, which will coordinate the activities of technical committees, task groups technical resource group and various other stakeholders in the area of training and tools to support the operation of buildings to enhance the indoor environment and use energy effectively. “Responsibility will include suggestions for research as well as the development of technical programs and special publications on effective building operation to achieve quality Indoor Air Quality while not wasting energy,” he said. “It has also been my pleasure to serve on the Building Ad Hoc committee for the last 18 months. We plan to learn from the renovation and upgrades of a real-world building owner dealing with the balance between energy use and indoor environment.”

Dr Ahmed Ala’a Eldin Mohamed

Dr Ahmed Ala’a Eldin Mohamed, Director and Regional Chair, Region At Large, ASHRAE, also welcomed the ASHRAE President along with members and distinguished guests, including Ahmad bin Shafar, CEO, Empower, commending the District Cooling company’s continuous support for ASHRAE.

Ahmad bin Shafar

Speaking later, Bin Shafar discussed the strong collaboration between the company and ASHRAE in developing the initial and updated design guidelines for District Cooling. The guidelines, he said, are especially important when it comes to promoting best practices, as District Cooling continues to grow and expand in the UAE and across the region. “We are looking to take the guideline to be a standard for District Cooling with ASHRAE,” he said. Responding to Bin Shafar’s words, Farooq Mehboob, Vice President, ASHRAE, said, “We really, as ASHRAE, value our relationship and cooperation with you [Empower], and we look forward to many more initiatives that will provide opportunities for our members, both in the UAE and internationally.”

Farooq Mehboob

Dr Mohamed, as Director, also highlighted the expansion of ASHRAE Region At Large, which includes Africa, Middle East, South Asia and Turkey, and is now at 28 chapters and fast approaching 30, making it the largest to date. “We are improving, enhancing and growing,” he said. Mehboob added: “ASHRAE is on a tremendous upward trajectory. We are coming up with lots of new things, the world which we are living in is changing, and we are going to be faced with challenges, but ours is not a Society that is afraid of challenges. We turn challenges into opportunities.”

Boyce also highlighted the importance of these meetings in addressing needs of the built-environment. He said, “Our chapter meetings are where we really get out on the sort of the grassroots level, connect with the users of the technology that we work on and also actually get to know our members who are really the people that contribute so greatly to our society in creating the technical documents, the standards, the guidelines and educational materials, and then actually getting them into the industry at the local level.”

Tim Wentz

Also in attendance was 2016-2017 ASHRAE President Tim Wentz, who said the importance of the contribution of engineers not only in the Society but to the world, as a whole, has never been greater. “It is estimated by the year 2050, we will have over 10 billion people on this planet,” Wentz said. “Because of that population growth, they estimated we need to design and build 3,600 buildings a day to accommodate that population.” With buildings the primary driver of climate change and global warming, and responsible for emitting approximately 33% of carbon in the atmosphere, Wentz said the role of engineers to protect the environment for the benefit of future generations cannot be over-emphasised.