ASHRAE officials said its annual conference June 22-26 in Denver included several milestones, including new opportunities for members. The conference also saw the installation of a new president. 

William P. “Bill” Bahnfleth, Ph.D., P.E., took office as the society’s 2013-2014 president. His theme for the year will be “Shaping the Next,” which will focus on embracing responsibility to “our world.” To do this, he believes we must develop  what we do, how we do it, and who we do it with, by becoming more global in outlook, broader in scope, and more collaborative in approach.

During the opening plenary, ASHRAE kicked off the conference by launching the ASHRAExCHANGE, an online discussion platform that allows users to post and generate discussion on either a general or specific topic. With thousands of ASHRAE members and non-members, the hope is the online discussions will generate plenty of thoughts and comments from many knowledgeable people. More information can be found at www.ASHRAExCHANGE.org.

ASHRAE also announced that the half million mark was recently reached in AEDG downloads. The guides are a series of publications designed to provide recommendations for achieving energy savings when compared with the minimum code requirements of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1. The guides can be downloaded at www.ashrae.org/freeaedg.

Additionally, the society offered a free download of “Indoor Air Quality Guide: Best Practices for Design, Construction, and Commissioning.” The guide is designed for architects, design engineers, contractors, commissioning agents, and all other professionals concerned with indoor air quality. The guide supports the theme of ASHRAE’s newly appointed president, which focuses on making buildings safe and healthy for occupants. Free downloads are available at www.ashrae.org/FreeIAQGuidance.