India: The Indian Society for Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ISHRAE) has started implementing the plan to attract international memberships by reaching out to the Indian diaspora of engineers in the GCC region, United States and other places. “Our specific target is to promote ISHRAE in Dubai, considering the Indian diaspora there,” said Sayani Haribabu, All India Membership Chair for ISHRAE. “We will be establishing a Dubai chapter once we have 100-plus members. We are optimistic, considering we have a large number of Indian companies operating out of Dubai.

Haribabu revealed that the activities planned for Dubai include conducting technical seminars by ISHRAE’s panel of distinguished lecturers, and also the distribution of technical journals, the production of which is one of the areas of expertise of ISHRAE.

ISHRAE in 2016-2017 acquired 3,000-plus new members, of which approximately 1,500 are new members and 1,500 are renewals, Haribabu said. The current target is to acquire 5,000 members, with 2,000 new members and 3,000 renewals.

ISHRAE has technical committees addressing various issues, Haribabu said. The VRF committee, he added, is one such example: It is not only coming up with a manual but is also benchmarking the technology in terms of the length of piping, COP and the refrigerant used. “Each manufacturer has his own standard and is testing the equipment according to their testing facilities,” Haribabu said. “We can offer a level playing ground.”