Here is a gist of activities and events of the Qatar Oryx Chapter

Technical Seminar
ASHRAE’s Qatar Oryx Chapter conducted a technical seminar on December 10. Presented by Adonis Layyous, the topic of the seminar was: Understanding pumps – sizing, selection and applications. The event was sponsored by Engineering Fluid Solutions (EFS)

Value engineering process
Value Engineering (VE) is “a creative, organised approach, whose objective is to optimise the life cycle cost and/or performance of a facility”. In the light of this, the Oryx Chapter has decided to present a clear description of its assessment of the project in terms of cost and energy usage, and has outlined the procedure to be followed for the study. According to the Chapter, multi-discipline teams will be formed to analyse the project documents utilising applicable value engineering techniques. Each team will, then, analyse its project area, assess high cost areas, recommend alternatives and estimate initial and life cycle costs, whenever significant, for the original system and for each proposed alternative. The Chapter added that, subsequently, the VE study will be organised into seven distinct phases comprising the VE Job Plan: Information phase; Function analysis phase; Creative phase; Evaluation phase; Development phase; Presentation phase; and Implementation & follow up and reporting phase.

National Day celebrations
The Chapter celebrated Qatar National Day in cooperation with the Qatar Society of Engineers on December, 20, 2011 at the Millennium Hotel, to express its sense of solidarity and belonging as a responsible part of the country. The National Day falls on December 18, and commemorates Qatar’s unification and prosperity. The Chapter’s message on the occasion was that it looked forward to seeing Qatar reach high levels of achievements, especially in the area of green buildings, energy-efficient projects and the Qatar Energy Law.

Just days to go
The 2012 AHR Expo is just days away. The mega-event, co-hosted by ASHRAE, AHRI and HRAI, will take place from January 21 to 25, in Chicago.