Guidance to help ensure that homes are energy efficient and have good indoor environmental quality will be featured in several Technical Program sessions at the 2015 ASHRAE Winter Conference, Jan. 24-28, Chicago.

“More time and energy is spent in residential environments than any other environment,” Max Sherman, who chaired a Presidential Ad Hoc Committee on the Residential Construction Market that developed a report on “ASHRAE and the Residential Construction Market,” said. “The ASHRAE Board of Directors recently acknowledged that by creating a Residential Committee and by making residential an initiative in the Society’s newly adopted Strategic Plan. Similarly ASHRAE’s mission of providing technical information cannot be achieved without consideration of residential information and guidance.  Starting in Chicago, we will see an increase in the number of residential programs available for the professional. This residential guidance is not just for the consulting engineer but is intended for broader residential stakeholders as well.”

Sherman noted that in the past, ASHRAE used to be heavily focused on residential.  In 1895, President Edward Bates, first president of the American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers, an ASHRAE predecessor society, spent much of his Presidential address talking about the living conditions of the poor and the Society’s duty to improve it.  For the last several generations ASHRAE’s emphasis has shifted more to commercial and institutional occupancies and away from where people spend most of their time.

In the last year, given the amount of energy used in residential buildings and issues related to the indoor environmental quality, ASHRAE took a look at how it can contribute most effectively to the improvement of the performance of residential buildings. The Society released a report, “ASHRAE and the Residential Construction Market,” which contains a series of recommendations to the Board of Directors.

The ASHRAE 2015 Winter Conference takes place at the Palmer House Hilton, while the ASHRAE co-sponsored AHR Expo is held Jan. 26-28, McCormick Place. Complete Conference information and registration can be found at www.ashrae.org/chicago, and Expo information at www.ahrexpo.com.

The Technical Program begins Sunday, Jan. 25, and offers over 200 Professional Development Hours, as well as Continuing Education Units, which can be applied toward a Professional Engineering license. The Conference features papers and programs for eight tracks, which address trends in the industry and also are relevant to the design community in the area.

Sessions related to residential include:

  • Modeling and Simulation of Occupant Behavior in Buildings, Sunday, Jan. 25
  • Variable System Field Results and Why Load Based Testing Is Needed for Residential Equipment Applications, Sunday, Jan. 25
  • Alternative Refrigerants for Residential Refrigerator-Freezers, Sunday, Jan. 25
  • ASHRAE and the Residential Construction Market: Status and Strategic Opportunities, Monday, Jan. 26
  • Analysis of Variable Capacity Heat Pumps, Ground Source Heat Pumps Hydronics and Rainwater, Gray Water and AC Condensate Collection, Monday, Jan. 26
  • New 2015 Regional Standards and the Effects on Different Areas of the HVAC Industry, Monday, Jan. 27
  • A Paradigm Shift for HVAC Design, Tuesday, Jan. 27
  • Building Energy Prediction and Measurement: Avoiding Fantasy and Heading toward Fact, Tuesday, Jan. 27
  • Using Solar to Improve Efficiency, Tuesday, Jan. 27
  • Who Needs a Residential IAQ Guide? Tuesday, Jan. 27
  • International Codes and Standards Issues Impacting Use of A2L Refrigerants in Unitary Heat Pump and Air-Conditioning Equipment, Tuesday, Jan. 27
  • Advances in Cooling Heat Exchangers and Refrigerants, Wednesday, Jan. 28
  • Modeling Radiant Heating and Cooling Systems: Tools and Analysis, Wednesday, Jan. 28
  • The Future is Now: Small, Simple, Efficient and Comfortable Residential HVAC Systems, Wednesday, Jan. 28
  • Data Center Cooling for Increased Performance, Wednesday, Jan. 28
  • Efficiency of Residential Domestic Water Heating, Wednesday, Jan. 28
  • Lies, Damn Lies, and…EUIs? Wednesday, Jan. 28

More information can be found at www.ashrae.org/news.