National Capital Chapter Members,

Happy New Year to all of our membership! I hope that the holiday season was restful and enjoyable to all. As we wrap up with the month of January we have officially crossed the halfway point of the chapter year!

Reflecting upon on last meeting, it was a joy to engage on such diverse topics. For the virtual PES we had Tony Fuchs present on “Hybrid Ventilation Strategy in Early Design to Achieve Cost/Carbon Savings and Enhanced IAQ.” Coming out of the pandemic, enhanced IAQ is certainly at the forefront of most of our memberships minds, and it was great to hear the strategies on how to engage early, but also shown not only owner cost savings, but carbon reductions compared to other systems. We continued our in person dinner presentations with John Boggs presenting on Liquid Cooling in Data Centers. This topic is of particular interest in the chapter coverage area (especially Northern VA) and it was great to hear about the emerging use of liquid cooling systems and the impact it may have on existing and future data centers!

As a reminder, a major benefit to being a member of the National Capital Chapter this year is that we offer the virtual PES for FREE, meaning no-cost continuing education credits for our licensed professionals!

February’s theme is Young Engineers in ASHRAE (YEA) and Membership Promotion. I have challenged our chairs of these committees to strive to continue to maintain our active memberships this up coming spring. The YEA group in particular is looking at a few fun events this spring – so stay tuned!

Membership Promotion is the backbone of ASHRAE involvement. We are a society steered and directed by our membership. Without members, we would not be able to continue to be on the forefront of all technological advances. Our overall membership has been in a slight decline these past few years, so its more important than ever to reach out to someone in your circle, firm, or project and encourage them to reap the benefits you see in ASHRAE membership!

I’m looking forward to some very entertaining and involved events this spring that our committee chairs are diligently working on for our chapter. One major event upcoming in February is the Winter Social to be held at Convene in Arlington. Not only does it give a great opportunity to network and reset on the new calendar year with your chapter members, but it has a great panoramic view of DC!

Wishing our members all the best!