Engineered Systems - January 2009 - (Page 9) Editor’sNote BY ROBERT BEVERLY GREEN STANDARD Revisited Meanwhile, Obama puts HVAC in the spotlight. In our last episode, I mentioned that ASHRAE was reconstituting the committee working on Standard 189.1, the new sustainable building standard. The stated intent was to expand the group’s breadth of knowledge moving forward with this important task. I mentioned that in such a case, this could strike an outsider as a slightly odd method — scrapping the committee and composing new membership from scratch — instead of just inviting people to join the existing committee to round out the collective expertise. As promised, I inquired with ASHRAE and received their explanation in time for this month’s column. The Society’s executive vice president, Jeff Littleton, was kind enough to send a prompt reply: “Reconstituting the committee, rather than simply adding members to the existing committee, allowed ASHRAE, and partners USGBC and IESNA, to issue a new open call for members. In keeping with ASHRAE’s commitment to excellence in ANSI consensus standards development, a new open call for members gives all materially affected parties the opportunity to apply for membership on the new committee. In other words, the open call for members casts a wider net of invitations. Had ASHRAE simply added individuals who had expressed an interest in the standard without an open call for members, we might have missed individuals or groups who were not aware that an opportunity to be added to the committee was available and who wished to be considered. “The open call for members was open for three weeks and is now closed. Fully 139 applications to join the new committee were received. A proposed draft roster of the reconstituted committee is now being circulated among the sponsoring partners (ASHRAE, USGBC, IESNA) for approval, which we expect to have very soon. The reconstituted committee is expected to have 35-40 voting/ non-voting members. All 22 original committee members were encouraged to reapply for membership, and 17 chose to do so. It would be inappropriate to comment further on the committee membership until the roster has been approved by the sponsoring partners.” Not to get too inside baseball about it, but it would be interesting to know which original members reapplied and were not carried over. And obviously, 139 is a whopping number of applicants, so it’ll be equally interesting to see the overall makeup of the new committee. I know diverging opinions exist in the engineering community about how much codified or standardized prescription should go on in terms of green buildings. Regardless of your opinion that matter, the writing of this standard is obviously a critical task that will have no small impact on how our industry operates in the years ahead. It does indeed deserve the most thoughtful (and least political) process possible. DOWNTURN UPSIDE? It’s been quite a while — probably around 30 years — since the White House gave HVAC any real public attention. And yet, Presidentelect Obama put HVAC efficiency front and center in his December 6 remarks regarding proposed infrastructure projects with an eye toward boosting the economy. Two excerpts: “We will launch a massive effort to make public buildings more energy-efficient. Our government now pays the highest energy bill in the world. We need to change that. We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs. That won’t just save you, the American taxpayer, billions of dollars each year. It will put people back to work.” Also, another sector targeted: “My economic recovery plan will launch the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen. We will repair broken schools, make them energy-efficient, and put new computers in our classrooms. Because to help our children compete in a 21st-century economy, we need to send them to 21st-century schools.” As we all know, it’s a long road from a President-elect’s comments to an increase in business for your company. Anything could happen. But the intent to boost retrofit work in the government and K-12 sectors is clearly at the top, and that counts for something, especially when economic crisis and a first-term honeymoon coincide. Whether you’re a consulting firm, owner, facility engineer, or manufacturer, it’s worth considering the millions of sq ft that could be affected, along with how you might participate and benefit if this comes to fruition. ES ES Webinars All webinars are free. Registration and archives at http://webinars.esmagazine.com FEBRUARY 12 “Applying Chilled Beams: The What, Why, and How” Presented by Semco. FEBRUARY 25 “Green Schools” Presented by Trane. Industry Calendar For a larger roundup of courses and sessions surrounding AHR/ASHRAE, see our “Issues & Events” section, starting on page 85. JANUARY 24-28 ASHRAE 2009 Winter Meeting Chicago. For info, visit www.ashrae. org/Chicago. JANUARY 26-28 2009 AHR Expo Chicago. For info, visit www.ahrexpo.com. JANUARY 27 “Advanced Integrated Lighting Controls” Building Intelligence Tour and CABA Chicago. For info, visit www.buildingintelligencetour.com. w w w. esmag a zi n e . c o m 9 http://webinars.esmagazine.com http://www.ashrae.org/Chicago http://www.ashrae.org/Chicago http://www.ahrexpo.com http://www.buildingintelligencetour.com http://www.esmagazine.com
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