It is always a great pleasure to attend the ASHRAE Winter Conference and meet in person with the various technical committees, and the ASHRAE members and management.
This year, in Orlando, CIBSE organised a seminar on the true value of building performance. Supported by the CIBSE ASHRAE Liaison Committee and the ASHRAE Technical Committee 7.6 Building Energy Performance, the seminar explored the critical intersection of building performance and investing for sustainability.
The speakers – Parag Cameron-Rastogi, Edith Blennerhassett, Mark Walker, Thomas H Phoenix and myself – delved into key topics, including: the importance of building performance data in sustainable investing; delivering environmental, social and governance goals through building performance optimisation; strategies for improving health via building performance; holistic approaches to enhance overall building performance; and reimagining high-performance buildings for a positive societal impact.
I was invited to join the discussions of the International Decarbonisation Panel, as well as the meetings of the climate change and weather data technical committees. It was pleasing to hear that the UK and CIBSE are regarded as global leaders in climate adaptation and decarbonisation – CIBSE’s TM65 and the future weather files, and the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard, were consistently mentioned as examples of best-practice standards.
At national level, efforts in the US are focusing on reducing operational energy
A survey by the International Decarbonisation Panel, on the technical priority areas for the ASHRAE international members, revealed the focus to be energy efficiency, electrification, facilities management, and passive design with decarbonisation and climate resilience as overarching themes.
The European members’ priorities were the changes to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive; for Australia it was Nabers; and for India it was the introduction of carbon credits. The chair of the panel, Clay Nesler, called for close collaboration to understand and tackle the complexity and variety of the approaches, policies and standards of the various international regions.
Conversations with delegates revealed the challenges that the US is facing under the current administration in promoting environmental policies, further hindered by policy variations between cities, counties and the state.
At national level, current efforts in America are focusing on reducing operational energy, with local government working with utilities companies to provide financial incentives or penalties to reduce energy demand and peaks.
Embodied carbon of building services is not high on the national or local agendas, but the recent publication of the TM65 North America addendum has been received as a positive step towards increasing awareness and understanding of embodied carbon in the market.
I have been closely following the activities of the ASHRAE climate change and weather data technical committees, which are looking to update the weather information for the sizing of systems. They are also discussing the creation of future weather data for climate adaptation, which, in my opinion, is long overdue.
Their challenges lie in the variation of climate zones and heating/cooling demand between the different US states, and access to reliable climate information. CIBSE has been asked to support these activities and to participate in a research project that will look at using future Test Reference Years (TRYs) and Design Summer Years (DSYs) in the performance analysis of buildings in selected areas.
The CIBSE ASHRAE Liaison Committee meeting revealed common areas for collaboration, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity. CIBSE is forming an AI working group to establish a policy on its use in building design and operation. It will also look at the implications of the Internet of Things for cybersecurity. Members of the ASHRAE AI Multidisciplinary Task Group will be invited to join this initiative.
We also had the chance to celebrate the institutions’ ongoing relationship and our volunteers. CIBSE CEO Ruth Carter, President Elect Vince Arnold and I hosted a drinks reception, strengthening ties between our institutions and acknowledging the volunteers’ commitment to sharing knowledge.
As a token of appreciation for the ever-growing relationship between CIBSE and ASHRAE, Vince Arnold presented a glass Tree of Life to ASHRAE President M. Dennis Knight. We also celebrated Helen Meutermans, CIBSE ASHRAE Graduate of the Year 2024, as she received her YEN award.
