ASHRAE has opened registration for its 2018 Winter Conference, Jan. 20-24, Palmer House, Chicago, as well as the AHR Expo, Jan. 22-24, McCormick Place, Chicago, co-sponsored by ASHRAE and the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute.

The ASHRAE Winter Conference features eight conference tracks, tours, social events and a keynote message from Debbie Sterling, founder and CEO of GoldieBlox.

Attendees will examine the latest topics in the building industry, through a technical program featuring more than 200 presentations and 300 speakers.

“Engineers and designers continue to adopt design principles to reduce the ecological impact of our built environment on the world around us. It has practically become second nature,” said Michael Collarin, technical program chair of the ASHRAE Winter Conference. “This conference provides professionals with an unparalleled opportunity to focus on the design, build, control, commission, operating facilities and infrastructure resources that they need, not only to be efficient, but resilient.”

The conference includes tracks on what ASHRAE is most known for – standards, fundamentals and applications, systems and equipment. Tracks on industry trends in resiliency and modeling throughout a building’s life cycle, as well as tracks addressing specific disciplines, such as tall buildings and heat exchange equipment are also on the agenda.

Technical Program tracks include Systems and Equipment; Fundamentals and Applications; Standards, Guidelines and Codes; Earth, Wind & Fire; Tall Buildings; Modeling Throughout the Building Life Cycle; and Heat Exchange Equipment.

The ASHRAE Learning Institute will offer two full-day, and five half-day seminars during the conference. Courses include: The Commissioning Process in New & Existing Buildings; High-Performance Building Design: Applications & Future Trends; Variable Refrigerant Flow Systems: Design & Application; and 78 Designing Toward Net-Zero Energy Commercial Buildings.

New and updated courses include:

• Optimizing Indoor Environment: Increasing Building Value
• Understanding and Designing Chilled Beam Systems
• Designing High-Performance Healthcare HVAC Systems
• Complying with Standard 90.1-2016: HVAC/Mechanical
• Humidity Control I and II: Principles & Applications

Visit ASHRAE Learning Institute (ALI) Courses for a full list of conference course offerings.

Those interested in sitting for one of six ASHRAE certification exams must apply by Dec. 20. The exams include: Energy Assessment, Energy Modeling, Commissioning, Healthcare Facility Design, High-Performance Building Design and Building Operations. Learn more and apply at https://www.ashrae.org/education-certification/certification.

The AHR Expo hosts more than 2,000 exhibitors and attracts crowds of 65,000 industry professionals from every state in America and 165 countries worldwide during the three day exhibit.

There are three distinct product sections within the expo show floor:

The Building Automation and Control Showcase: This area is designated for building automation, energy and facility management systems; climate controls; monitoring systems; wireless and cloud-based options; and other networked building systems including lighting, security, fire alarms, and more.

The Software Center: This area is designated for HVACR related software, both off-the-shelf and customized solutions, for the following: project and field service management including estimating, inventory control, GPS tracking; system design, specification and analysis; remote-based and cloud-based software; and more.

The Indoor Air Quality Association Pavilion: This area is designated for member companies of the Indoor Air Quality Association. These exhibitors will be showing products related to indoor air quality, such as air quality monitors, exhaust fans, environmental testing systems, dehumidifiers and more.

In addition to exhibitor presentations, demonstrations and seminars, the AHR Expo Innovation Awards will honor the most inventive and original products, systems and technologies showcased at the Expo. A Refrigerant mini-track and a Residential mini-track will also be presented on Monday, Jan. 22 at McCormick Place. ASHRAE Winter Conference registrants will have full access to the AHR Expo with a conference badge.

Take advantage of early bird registration savings. For complete conference and expo information, visit the 2018 ASHRAE Winter Conference and the AHR Expo websites.