Establishing a basis for measuring performance of buildings is the focus of the technical program at ASHRAE’s 2008 Annual Meeting. The meeting, with a theme of Building Performance, takes place June 21-25, Salt Lake City. For more information or to register, visit www.ashrae.org/saltlake. 

“The program addresses the many aspects of current HVAC&R systems and ideas for improving them,” Mo Hosni, chair of the Program Committee, said. “The challenge in trying to improve systems is to move from theoretical approaches to practical applications and identify efficient systems and their characteristics that truly work today. To meet this challenge, the program focuses on benchmarking, that is, establishing a basis for measuring performance.”

The program features more than 100 sessions on a wide range of HVAC&R related topics. These include failed moisture management, water conservation in systems, and the recently published Advanced Energy Design Guide for K-12 Schools. 
Sessions specific to benchmarking include:

Seminar 3 – Benchmarking Performance of Ground-Source Heat Pumps in Schools 
Seminar 9 – Benchmarking O&M Costs Using the ASHRAE Interactive Database 
Transactions Session 4 – Why Don’t We Achieve the Desired Energy Results in Our Service Water Heating Systems – Toward Benchmarking 
Seminar 16 – Benchmarking TAB for Commissioning 
Forum 5 – How Do You Benchmark Operations and Maintenance 
Seminar 26 – Benchmarking CKV System Performance 
Seminar 28 – Heat Exchanger Benchmark and Performance Analysis Using CFD Methods – Part 1 and 2 
Forum 9 – Benchmarking Energy Use in Hospitals 
Seminar 37 – Climate Optimized Cooling: Improved Energy Efficiency and Better Rating Standards 
Seminar 45 – Issues Update II: Performance-Based Energy Labels for Buildings 
Seminar 46 – Panel of Existing Benchmarking and Metrics Affecting the Data Center 
Seminar 49 – Benchmarking the Sustainability of Mechanical Insulations: Materials Largely Ignored from a Carbon Reduction Standpoint 
Seminar 56 – Benchmarking for Carbon Analysis: Here’s What’s Coming 
Seminar 61 – New Rules and Tools for Benchmarking California’s Commercial Buildings 
Forum 16 – Defining Benchmarking for Energy 
Seminar 67 – Actual Building Energy Performance: Measurement, Benchmarking and Labeling 
Seminar 69 – Benchmarking: New Environmental and Economic Metrics for Evaluating Thermal Energy Storage 

Building on ASHRAE’s work in green and net-zero buildings, the program’s sustainability track addresses using direct digital controls as a tool to commission sustainable buildings, water reuse opportunities and quantifying the environmental impact of buildings with a life-cycle assessment.
The most important part of a building is its occupants. Keeping building occupants comfortable and productive is the goal of programs in the indoor environmental modeling track. These programs include air and contaminant flow, adding simulation of the outdoor, near building zone and indoor contaminant transport modeling. In all, the technical program includes 74 seminars, 17 forums, 13 transactions sessions and 63 papers.

ASHRAE, founded in 1894, is an international organization of some 50,000 persons. ASHRAE fulfills its mission of advancing heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration to serve humanity and promote a sustainable world through research, standards writing, publishing and continuing education.

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