American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE Region XII)

ASHRAE, Energy and Sustainability

Spotlight Sponsored by: C&W Engineering, Inc.

By John Contstantinide, PE ASHRAE Region XII Director and Regional Chair

ASHRAE has a long history of moving the built environment towards higher performance and increased energy efficiency, leading to more savings for owners.

Whether developing standards like ASHRAE Standard 90.1, which has developed to become the Energy Standard for Sites and Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, conducting ASHRAE-funded research projects, or making technical resources through its education and publications available to industry, our technical society is on the leading edge of shaping tomorrow’s built environment today. Best of all, these resources are developed by volunteer engineers, many of them from Florida providing input to standards, overseeing research projects, developing publications, and teaching courses for professionals globally.

In our 2023-2024 Society Year, ASHRAE is taking the next step towards a more sustainable built environment by accepting the challenge to tackle the climate crisis through decarbonization. Under the leadership of 2023-2024 ASHRAE President Ginger Scoggins, P.E., Fellow ASHRAE, our Society is taking concrete steps towards empowering the built environment industry to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings.

Why? In President Scoggins’ words, “We are living in a climate emergency. Our desire to be more comfortable has brought us to a place where we need to make uncomfortable decisions. We can accept the challenge of our day regarding the impact of our buildings on the climate crises by equipping our members with the knowledge they need to design and renovate buildings to address the greenhouse gas emissions of our industry.” You can view her full presentation at www.ashrae.org/president.

Taking Action

ASHRAE’s concrete steps are wide-ranging with a common thread of decarbonization through better use of energy and more sustainable designs and approaches with our buildings.

ASHRAE, along with the American Institute of Architects, the International Facility Management Association, APPA, and the Building Owners and Managers Association, hosted the 2023 Decarbonization Conference, the first of its kind in the U.S. The conference was sold out with over 450 attendees from 10 countries. This conference initiated the dialogue amongst designers and building owners about how to reduce the carbon footprint of our building stock.

ASHRAE participated in numerous conferences to present on how buildings contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, including Greenbuild 2023 in Washington, D.C., the Detroit Energy Forum, the Eighth International Conference on Energy Research and Development in Kuwait, the Galway Energy Summit in Ireland, and the India Decarbonization Conference hosted by the ASHRAE India Chapter.

ASHRAE also contributed to the dialogue on government policy at the United Nations’ COP (Conference of Parties) 28 Conference on Climate Change in Dubai.

Every conference had participants discuss and explore answers to decarbonization and sustainability, including better use of the energy produced and reducing carbon footprint over the building’s life cycle. As President Scoggins noted from participating in COP 28, “The outcome of this Conference of the Parties fell short of expectations, unfortunately, as the hoped-for phase-out plan of fossil fuels did not materialize,” said President Scoggins of COP 28. “However, a compelling call for action echoed throughout many events to ‘Triple Renewables and Double Energy Efficiency.’

“To limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the world requires three times more renewable energy capacity by 2030, or at least 11,000 gigawatts, and must double the global average annual rate of energy efficiency improvements every year.”

Our Society is hard at work to help the built environment “triple renewables and double energy efficiency” with the leadership of the ASHRAE Task Force for Building Decarbonization. The task force is on target by January of 2025 to release six guides on ways to decarbonize building stock. The task force’s inaugural publication, “Building Performance Standards, A Technical Resource Guide,” is available for free. Its most recent guide, “Understanding Grid-Interactive Buildings for Decarbonization,” is available for purchase and addresses how buildings interact with power distribution systems and can contribute to the decarbonization of the power grid.

The task force is also participating in the review and development of ASHRAE standards to address energy efficiency, operational and embodied carbon, refrigerant emissions and renewables. They are continually publishing free educational videos about decarbonization. All of these resources are available online at www.ashrae.org/decarb.

ASHRAE Florida Members Stepping Up

ASHRAE Florida Chapters and Members are taking action locally and internationally to reduce carbon emissions from current and future buildings. Last February, Government Activities Chairs from our Florida Chapters joined our Regional leadership and introduced ASHRAE and discussed the importance of updating energy codes with members of the Florida Legislature.

One of our ASHRAE Central Florida Chapter Members, Society Vice President Wade Conlan, was very involved in developing the 2023 Decarbonization Conference. In our communities, our ASHRAE Members participate in Technical Committees and Standard Project Committees, publish articles in the ASHRAE Journal, and organize local sustainability projects to contribute to their industry and communities.

“Through human ingenuity and determination, we can find solutions to the global climate crisis. As ASHRAE volunteers, this is what we do – we accept challenges and we solve problems!” President Scoggins said in July 2023, and ASHRAE Florida members reflect this ingenuity, determination and volunteer spirit every day.

I welcome you to join us in this spirit as we pursue ASHRAE’s vision of a healthy and sustainable built environment for all.

To learn more about joining ASHRAE, visit www.ashrae.org/join.