Chapter Technology Transfer (CTTC) Report October 2018

Our proposed two distinguished lecturers and our afternoon course have been submitted to our Regional Vice-Chair. Please mark your calenders for:

Wed Nov 21st – Greg Scirivener, as he presents at our lunch meeting and we are also offering an afternoon course on “Heat Pumps and CO2 as a refrigerant” at the U of A Faculty Club.

Greg Scrivener started in the refrigeration industry as an apprentice refrigeration mechanic in 1997 and completed his journeyperson certification in 2003 with an award for “Most outstanding new Journeyperson”. Continuing to work in the refrigeration industry, Greg completed a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering with distinction from the University of Saskatchewan in 2011.

The use of CO2 as a refrigerant has grown in the residential, commercial and industrial refrigeration and heat pumping industries. This presentation will explore the different applications that have used CO2 and will examine its efficiency as a refrigerant in different conditions. While reviewing subcritical and transcritical operation of a CO2 refrigeration cycle we will dispel myths about the efficiency of CO2 and understand which applications are best suited for its use as a refrigerant. The presentation will also explain the peculiar operation of systems operating with refrigerant above the critical point including the unique ability to increase compression ratio and efficiency at the same time.

Wed April 17th 2019 – Heather Platt, P.E., MBA from North Carolina as she presents at our dinner meeting on “Design vs. Facilities Maintenance” at the U of A Faculty Club.

Heather Platt has spent the past 25 years helping buildings operate (and perform) better, improving energy efficiency, and enhancing ease of use for the facility staff. She has spent the majority of her career in the healthcare sector

Design firms are being pushed by clients to save time and money, but in doing so we run the risk of providing the code minimum design or not spending the right amount of time investigating current conditions. This leaves projects that end up costing a lot more time and money for both the engineer and owner. The presentation digs into some of these issues based on actual project results.

Women in ASHRAE Report October 2018

First WIA (Women In ASHRAE) event:

Following the lead of Calgary and Regina’s chapters, our chapter’s first WIA event will be held in the Spring! We are thinking of a wine tasting event.

To encourage diversity in our ASHRAE chapter, and give more women members an opportunity to socialize with each other, we have decided to hold a wine tasting event at a local tasting room. This will not be an event exclusive to women, but if you have women at your company who are reluctant to come to monthly meetings, this might be the ticket for them. Look for more details to come out in the next newsletter.

If you would like to be a sponsor, please contact Christina Herbers. christina.herbers@aldes.com

Mike Buzak - Membership Promotion Chair - 2018-2019

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Born in Edson Alberta my family moved to Edmonton when I was 6 years old. Growing up in the city afforded great opportunities and I managed to get a hockey scholarship to Michigan State University in 1991. After Graduating with a degree in Business in 1995 I was fortunate to have an 8 year professional career in the sport that I love.

Over the next 7 years I was involved with the construction industry as well as the manufacturing industry while also assisting with the business side of a family enterprise. In 2010 I moved back to Edmonton after almost 20 years in the United States and gained employment in the controls side of HVAC where I remained for 8 years.

Just recently I started as Business development Manager at an equipment rep company, and I am very excited about the new opportunity on the equipment supply side of HVAC!

As your Membership Promotion Chair for the Northern Alberta Chapter of ASHRAE 2018/2019, I look forward to helping increase membership and exposing ASHRAE to many who may not be aware. My other mandate is to retain existing members which includes making sure dues are paid and the correct status of membership is reflective of each member.

I am looking forward to another exciting year of events and fellowship to help drive our industry forward!

Student Activities & Young Engineers in ASHRAE Report October 2018

We are excited to have the newsletter back in use, a thank you goes out to Kent for making it happen! The goal of SA and YEA is to introduce students into the industry and get the young professionals to see the value of the ASHRAE chapter. We think this newsletter will be great for communication and updating the community.

This year started off great with class presentations at NAIT and the U of A. We were able to speak to three classes of students and will be sending out the details for the annual scholarship later this month. We have been discussing the idea of entering the annual ASHRAE design competition as a U of A Mechanical Engineering Capstone Project, and will be aiming for the winter 2019 semester if it goes through.

As briefly mentioned during the September meeting, YEA has joined the YP Merge community, a group meant to bridge the gap between all young professionals in the construction industry. This is a group effort involving the existing associations of owners, developers, architects, engineers, & contractors and was formed with the belief that collaboration throughout the industry would benefit everyone. It has come to life as a shared calendar and is gaining traction throughout the Edmonton community. We are excited to be part of such a forward thinking group and can’t wait to see what kind of benefits this holds for our future.

Riyaz Khair, Cody Byar, Jonathan Garvey

History Report October 2018

Past President’s Night was held at our last meeting. We were pleased to have 11 Past Presidents in attendance.

A couple of goals I have this year as Historian is to update our President’s photo board and add a lot of content to our website, including our archive of photo albums we recently had scanned.

If you have any ASHRAE related events coming up that would have historical value, please contact me and I’ll ensure it gets documented.

Mark Henry - Chapter Historian

GAC Report October 2018

The ASHRAE Northern Alberta Chapter will be planning a Day on the Hill at the Provincial Legislature this year. What is a “Day on the Hill” you ask. It is intended to be an educational day for any government officials. Any and all ASHRAE members will be invited to spend some time at parliament and speak to interested government officials on whatever topic they may have concerns with. It also gives our members the opportunity to bring up code, by-law, or bill issues direct to the government.

I will be reaching out for volunteers to join me, so feel free to contact me if you have something you would like addressed or are willing to help out. I have asked for materials from the ASHRAE Government Affairs office so that we will be able to distribute information about ASHRAE as well as standards that ASHRAE creates.

In addition to a Day on the Hill our chapter is actively working on a new communication initiative where we will be accepting inquiries regarding code application, technical details and general procedural items as they pertain to local governing bodies. Our intent is to allow our membership to share their own interpretations and experience with the goal of helping other members and government officials in the future. As this is a “work in progress” we will be reaching out to our members for their thoughts, ideas and participation as we continue to shape this new idea.

As always, feel free to reach out to us at any time with your ideas and feedback so we can all do our best in making a difference.

(Also a note for anyone curious, what was once the Government Grassroots Advocacy Committee or GGAC has now been renamed to Government Affairs Committee or GAC.)

Devin Sikorski - GAC Chair 2018-2019

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I was born and raised in a small farming community in northern Alberta and moved into Edmonton in 1995. I currently live in Stony Plain with my wife and 3 children. When I am not coaching or chauffeuring my kids to their endless sports activities I enjoy playing hockey, golf and am an avid bow hunter.

I am proud to be the GAC Chair for the ASHRAE Northern Alberta council for the 2018/2019 year. This is my fourth year on the board with my previous years being the Membership Promotion chair. My industry experience started as a Refrigeration/HVAC mechanic and eventually transitioned into the Building Automation field where I have spent the last 12 years.

The role of the Government Affairs Chair is to influence, inform and educate government officials, at any and all levels regarding topics that are ASHRAE members specialties. Standards, regulations, codes and laws are often passed by government with little knowledge on how it could affect the industry. I believe with a little help from the ASHRAE community our chapter will be able put the right knowledge and information into the hands of those who can actually make meaningful changes.

If you have suggestions, ideas or thoughts regarding how ASHRAE can influence our local government please reach out to me at anytime!

RP Report October 2018

Research Promotion Report - October, 2018

Hello everyone, and thank you for joining us for another rewarding year of ASHRAE.

Our chapter goal for this year is $12,250.00, and we need your support in order to achieve this!

Our November Dinner meeting will be our “RP Night”, where we thank our past Research Promotion donors.

If you are interested in learning more about ASHRAE Research Promotion, please visit: https://www.ashrae.org/technical-resources/research/ashrae-rp

If you have any questions, comments, or feedback I encourage you to contact me directly as well.

See you all next months, and thanks for your continued support.

Wes Bruce - Research Promotion Chair