In the days since AHR Expo ended last week, we’ve been reflecting on our time at the trade show—the acres of exhibits, our aching feet, the 10 inches of snow, the technical sessions and, of course, the people we met. Several themes resonated throughout the show—things we heard on the expo floor, in session rooms and in discussions with customers and the media. Those include energy efficiency, big data, technology and training. Let’s take a closer look at each theme and the relationship between them.
Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency was a hot topic, as always, and Paul Ehrlich of Building Intelligence Group summed up why in the Wednesday afternoon session “Critical Facilities Energy Efficient Cooling,” organized by Mission Critical magazine and moderated by Engineered Systems’ Robert Beverly. Ehrlich reported that buildings account for the largest percentage of U.S. energy use at 39%. Whereas most believe the transportation sector is responsible for the majority of energy consumption, it actually ranks third at 28%, behind industry at 33%. Usage within the buildings sector splits almost evenly between commercial and residential, and HVAC accounts for about 40% of energy consumption.
Given those numbers, it’s no wonder that energy, energy costs and efficiency are major concerns. In ASHRAE Journal’s annual attendee survey—as reported in the Wednesday Show Daily—95% of respondents reported that customers are always or often willing to pay more for efficiency, and a recent ASHRAE/AHR Expo survey of HVAC&R manufacturers revealed that energy efficiency and sustainability are the most important trends/issues in the industry.
Multiple factors drive efficiency targets; key among them are energy costs, the green movement and government regulation. In BSRIA’s Wednesday morning session, “Trends in World HVAC Markets,” Alfonso Oliva in commenting on the air conditioning market said that we can expect additional legislation on energy efficiency, a projection echoed by his colleague Andrew Giles, who mentioned that Europe, in particular, is pushing for energy efficient products and systems.
Renovations and retrofits are often called for to minimize energy consumption, demand and expense, yet getting owner buy-in is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to efficiency, Paul Ehrlich stated. Ehrlich offered several tips for securing approval and procuring the resources to proceed with recommended actions:
Make it simple and believable
Put results in both engineering and financial terms
Work high level with owners and operators
Bring utility incentives, tax credits, grants and other financial tools to the table
Big Data
Ehrlich’s presentation touched on data logging and analysis, but Jeff Seewald of Sebesta Blomberg took the concept to the next level. Big data has been an increasingly popular topic of discussion (and search engine queries) over the past few years, as this chart from Google Trends shows:
What is big data in HVAC? Seewald shared the perfect example as he reviewed the case history of a 25,000T campus cooling plant with data center, lab, office and process loads. The industrial controls offered comprehensive data collection: 500+ points, 70,000+ samples each, and 2 years worth of data. In optimizing the cooling plant performance, Seewald found that mapping the data—as opposed to plotting it—allowed for greater insight into operational trends and relationships. Although not intended to replace conventional analysis methods, mapping offers more value as the project complexity increases. He stated that visualization of data and performance is an emerging theme in the industry.
Technology
Big data has been the driving force behind many technological innovations and even new entrants into the industry, as Google’s acquisition of Nest proved. Whereas Google’s motivations and the merits of the acquisition can be debated, what’s certain is a global trend toward smart buildings and homes. In fact, BSRIA predicts a move from connected buildings that you control to buildings that learn about and anticipate your needs. Smart technology is a fragmented market with different leaders on the commercial and residential side and different levels of activity driven and led by a different group of organizations. As smart technologies converge, companies will collaborate and consolidate, and new leaders will emerge, BSRIA’s Jeremy Towler speculated.
Google’s acquisition of Nest raised awareness of and interest in smart technology for HVAC systems. Of course, as consumers become interested in such technologies, contractors must be conversant in and capable of offering installation and service. If they don’t, customers will find a contractor who does—a maxim applicable to any new technology on both the residential and commercial side of the business. Diversification was a big theme during Tuesday afternoon’s “Mechanical Town Hall” session, organized by Contractor magazine and moderated by John Mesenbrink. As Eric Aune, owner of Aune Plumbing put it, “If you want to be the least busy plumber in town, only do plumbing. … If you don’t offer more than what you’ve always offered, you’ll never get more than you’ve always gotten.”
Training
Expanding into new services and technologies requires training—another ubiquitous theme at the show, and one of the hot topics discussed during the Mechanical Town Hall. So how do you get started in a new area? Check out manufacturers’ and associations’ training sessions and online classes. Contractors don’t have time to spare, so the training must be application-based, not product-based. It’s the manufacturer’s responsibility to provide the right kind of training: practical information that is applicable regardless of product choice. At the same time, the contractor has a responsibility to ensure the right person attends training. Brian Nelson, owner of Nelson Mechanical Design, elaborated: “Look at their skill set. What do they know? What could they learn? What could they pass on?” The attendee should take control of his or her learning: Have an outline for what you want to learn, arrive early, sit in the front, engage and take notes. Also, stay ahead of the curve. Once you’ve trained and been certified in a new area, set goals for yourself to attend continuing education events.
We always leave AHR Expo filled with ideas and inspiration. In sharing these themes, we hope we’ve passed a bit of that along to you. Thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth. We enjoyed speaking with you and gleaning your insights as well as sharing ours. If you didn’t drop in or didn’t attend the show this year, stay tuned for another post featuring a tour of our booth. If AHR Expo is a harbinger for the year to come, 2014 is looking to be a good one.