ATLANTA – Energy efficiency along with first cost and product costs are top concerns of attendees and exhibitors at next week’s Air Conditioning, Heating, Refrigerating (AHR) Exposition taking place in New York City.
The 2008 Expo takes place Jan. 22-24 at Javits Convention Center. The show is sponsored by ASHRAE, the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) and the International Exposition Co. Held in conjunction with the Expo is ASHRAE’s 2008 Winter Meeting, Jan. 19-23, New York Hilton.
The Expo is slated to feature more than 1,800 exhibiting companies in 363,205 square feet of space. There will be 385 non U.S. exhibitors representing 39 countries. 

The ASHRAE Journal recently surveyed 1,300 exhibitors and 10,500 pre-registered attendees about their thoughts on trends in the industry and the future of the marketplace.

“The responses show that both attendees and exhibitors are optimistic about business prospects in the coming year,” Fred Turner, ASHRAE Journal editor, said. “The industry feels good about the U.S. market, about expanded presence outside the U.S. and about growth in most market segments.”
When asked about top concerns to customers, attendees noted that firsts cost ranks most important (68 percent) followed by reliability (65 percent), energy efficiency (64 percent) and comfort (54 percent).
The same question posed to exhibitors showed that product costs ranked first (74 percent), followed by energy efficiency (64 percent), maintainability (60 percent) and sustainability (52 percent).

Looking ahead, health care is expected to be the strong market segment this year for attendees followed by large commercial. Attendees also see retrofit/renovation as their best prospect for business in 2008.
Market growth outside the U.S. continues to grow with as nearly 80 percent of exhibitors having a presence or plans for a presence in Asia/Pacific. This was followed by Europe (72 percent), Mexico (71 percent), Central/South America (57 percent) the Middle East (56 percent) and Africa (23 percent).
For more information on ASHRAE meeting, visit www.ashrae.org/newyork, or the AHR Expo, visit www.ahrexpo.com.

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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