At the AHR Expo in Orlando at the end of January, nearly 30,000 visitors were on a shared mission: To operate their buildings more efficiently, save money, and walk the green walk for clients and employees.
And the air-conditioning, heating, and refrigeration exhibitors were prepared with the answers. What was hot for green? Among the interesting products I viewed that supported sustainable buildings were: REHAU’s Ecoair Ground-Air Heat Exchangers; Movin’ Cool’s Spot Air-Conditioners; Iconics’ FacilityWorX, the open-standards platform for integrating building automation systems; LG ‘s Environmental Control Manager; NTS Solar Collectors; Baltimore Aircoil’s Ice Thermal Storage; Eagle Mountain’s Intelligent Climate Control System; Cleaver-Brooks’ Boiler Operation Optimization Savings Test (BOOST); and Daikin’s heat pump technology VRV III-C.
Among the AHR Show’s highlights were a solar air-conditioning and refrigeration workshop; LEED workshops on how to be part of the LEED team and how to manage a LEED project; ENERGY STAR: Your Customer’s Path to Green, Sustainable Buildings, where exhibitors could learn how to help facilities managers implement ENERGY STAR-generated savings; and a session on hydronic design for solar and geothermal heat pump systems. There was quite a buzz around “geothermal” throughout the show as attendees and exhibitors alike recognized its wider applications.
The AHR show management indicates a nearly eight percent increase from the 2005 AHR Expo in Orlando with attendees from from 120 different countries to see 1,823 exhibiting companies from around the world.
Next year, AHR Expo is in Las Vegas, January 31-February 2.
