ASHRAE Journal - August 2013 - 23

Presidential address

shaping the next...

Our WOrld

Ourselves

present so we are always moving intentionally toward
making them real.
A goal without a plan is just a wish. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The will to win is nothing without the will to prepare. ~Juma Ikangaa
Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but
no plans. ~Peter Drucker

Visions become reality where there are goals, planning, and commitment. Successful people in all walks of
life understand and live by this formula—artists, athletes, and management gurus alike. I learned it as a
consulting engineer working on chilled water master
plans. The purpose was to give the client a workable
roadmap from the present to the system they would
need in 15 or 20 years. Setting goals was the easiest
part of the process. Constructing the plan to achieve
them, phase by phase, cost-effectively, was more challenging. The hardest part was commitment—getting
the owner’s buy-in to do things now that were more
costly and difficult because they were essential to the
longer term goal.

Our WOrk

Let’s consider how these ideas apply to ASHRAE, this
year and afterward.
Our goals should address, first of all, our world—using
our talents and resources for the benefit of the general
public, as our governing documents charge us with
doing. This is primary. In order to achieve these goals,
we must also set goals for ourselves—developing a workforce that is capable of meeting the challenges of the
future, and for our work—what we do, how we do it, and
with whom.

Our World: Basic Needs and Quality of Life, Environmental Stewardship,
Serving All Communities
Goals for our world reflect our mission to serve the
public good. To do that, we must address three key
areas: providing for basic needs and quality of life, environmental stewardship, and, because ASHRAE is a global
organization, serving all communities.
In the realm of indoor environmental control systems for buildings and transportation systems where
we work, we provide for basic needs and quality of life

ABOut thE prESidENt William p. “Bill” Bahnfleth, ph.d., p.e., Fellow ashrae, asMe Fellow, is a professor of architectural engineering and director of the indoor environment
Center at the pennsylvania state university, university park, pa. as ashrae’s president, Bahnfleth chairs the society’s Board of directors and executive Committee.
Bahnfleth is the son of ashrae presidential Member donald r. Bahnfleth, Fellow ashrae, life Member, who served as president in 1985-86. this marks the first father/son presidency in ashrae’s history. in his ashrae service, Bahnfleth is faculty advisor to the pennsylvania state university, university park student Branch, and is an ashrae distinguished
lecturer. he has chaired ashrae’s technology Council, Members Council, technical activities Committee and technical Committee 6.9, thermal storage, among others. he has
served as a member of numerous committees, including recent appointments to the CliMa 2013 advisory Committee, the Building performance alliance ad hoc Committee, and the
Building safety and security position document Committee.
Au g ust 2013

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ASHRAE Journal - August 2013

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