GreenBits was a blog written by past ASHRAE President Kent Peterson during his term as President from 2007-2008. Further information on how ASHRAE continues along the road to Sustainability may be found on ASHRAE’s Web site at ashrae.org.

June 23, 2008 First, I would like to thank all of you who have taken the time to read my blog this year.  I have tried to share my experiences as President of this truly wonderful technical society. It has been a true honor to serve as ASRAE President during this past year.  I will never forget [...]

June 2, 2008 This year, I have challenged our members to be more innovative in our thinking and more elegant with our solutions to improve actual building performance.  I had the opportunity to visit several innovative K-12 school projects in Wausau, Wisconsin, last week.  The Wausau School District has worked with one of our ASHRAE members, Mark [...]

May 15, 2008 Yesterday I had the pleasure of testifying before U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming in a hearing on Building Green, Saving Green: Constructing Sustainable and Energy-Efficient Buildings. I spoke about ASHRAE’s work in advancing its energy efficiency guidance, including our Advanced Energy Design Guide series (available for free [...]

April 25, 2008 As my term as ASHRAE president comes to a close, it seems as if my schedule is picking up. So far this month, I’ve visited with members in Houston, Shanghai, Arizona and Doha, Qatar.  I’d like to share a few highlights of ASHRAE’s outreach since we last chatted. I was able to attend and [...]

February 26, 2008 There is no question that we can improve building energy efficiency through the use of both mandatory building energy codes and voluntary building rating systems. While in Hong Kong, I had an opportunity to meet with the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (http://www.hkie.org.hk), the Electrical Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) with the Government of Hong [...]

February 25, 2008 I had the pleasure to spend some time with our ASHRAE student members and young ASHRAE members in Hong Kong a couple of weeks ago.  This is a very professional group of current and future engineers.  The young ASHRAE members mentor the five student branches in Hong Kong and provide a valuable connection [...]

Jan. 23, 2008 As I look out the window of my hotel room tonight, I am reminded of a quote from Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. She wrote “I would give the greatest sunset in the world for one sight of New York’s skyline. The shapes and the thought that made them. The sky over New York [...]

January 22, 2008 This morning I had the opportunity to meet with editors and reporters of leading HVAC&R trade magazines to share my message about ASHRAE’s work related to net-zero-energy building. Rising energy costs, climate concerns, and a greater emphasis on sustainable buildings have awakened the interest of nearly everyone looking for ways to simultaneously create more [...]

January 21, 2008 If you’ve ever been to New York City, you know how busy the streets are. With the people coming and going at all hours, it’s truly an exciting place. This week’s ASHRAE meeting is rivaling New York City in its buzz and excitement. We have more than 2,600 people here. The hallways are filled [...]