President's Corner

Dear Members and Friends,

Thank you to everyone who attended our holiday happy hour this December!  It was a great opportunity for some of our local professionals to ease into the holiday season.  Our next meeting will be at MadTree on January 21st, from 11:30AM-1:00PM.

ASHRAE’s annual Winter Conference will be in Orlando on Feb 8th-12th.  Myself and several other board members will be in attendance, and it’s not too late to register on ASHRAE’s website here!  I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and has an even better New Year!

New Year's resolutions play an important role in helping individuals set goals and make positive changes in their lives. They offer an opportunity for self-reflection, encouraging people to evaluate the past year and identify areas for personal growth. By setting resolutions, individuals create a sense of purpose and direction, which can motivate them to take proactive steps toward improvement.

January Chapter Meeting Details

• Date/Time: Tuesday, 01/21 – 11:30am-1:00pm

• Speaker:  Steve Kujak

• Topic:  The Future of Refrigerants

• Location: 3301 Madison Road, Cincinnati, OH 45209

New societal environmental demands to control climate change are driving the development of new regulatory policies to restrict and lower the direct GWP (global warming potential) impact of F-gases. The HVAC&R industry is currently being challenged to invest significant resources to understand the best refrigerants that meet the above requirements. However, there are many uncertainties and challenges given the ever-changing global regulatory environment, within regions, country, state, and sometimes locally by city.

Safe non-flammable low toxicity F-gases allowed for an exponential increase in the standard of living of society through increased food productivity, reduction in heat related deaths, increased worker productivity and migration of people to cities and to hotter climates. The orderly transition from CFCs to HCFCs and HFCs achieved a balance between the societal environmental demands for reduced ozone depletion while continuing to improve the standard of living in developing countries and minimize the societal safety (nonflammable refrigerants) impacts for everyone.

Today designers are being asked to consider new lower direct GWP unsaturated hydrofluorocarbons (HFOs) refrigerants, some of which are slightly flammable under certain conditions, as well as revisiting the application of natural refrigerants, like carbon dioxide, ammonia, hydrocarbons, and water.

This presentation will provide an update on new lower GWP alternatives introduced into the marketplace and it will highlight some important considerations, particularly flammability, that engineers, designers, and building owners should keep in mind regarding next-generation refrigerants.

Steve Kujak is the director of Next Generation Refrigerants Research for Trane Technologies (divisions include Trane and Thermo King). Over the past 30+ years, he has been involved in technology development of new refrigerants, absorption chillers and IAQ cleaning technologies. Steve has been an author or co-author on 60+ publications related to refrigerants and has 40+ patents related to HVAC products. Steve is an ASHRAE distinguish and exceptional service member. He is involved in numerous refrigerant safety and use standards used globally by the HVACR industry. He is the past chair of ASHRAE Standard 34 “Designation & Safety Classification of Refrigerants” and the past chair of the Refrigeration Committee Technology Committee for Comfort, Process, and the Cold Chain (REF-CPCC).  

New Officer

Justin Hahn: Research Promotion Committee Chair

Justin is a greater Cincinnati native, and new member to ASHRAE. He has served as HVAC/R Division Manager for Building Management Partners since 2016, overseeing a commercial contractor group. He is excited to join the Cincinnati ASHRAE board as Research Promotion chair, and to support the local chapter & its members.