ASHRAE Houston was represented well at Chapter Regional Conference (CRC) in Tulsa at the end of April.  I am proud to report we had more folks from Houston attend than usual.  We were involved in the typical business meetings, technical seminars, committee workshops, and the annual awards ceremony.  While I am sad we did not win the coveted Golden Gavel, our chapter and leaders were recognized with many honors and awards.  Most of the awards were recognition for last year’s efforts.  Alan Neely brought home the High Five Certificate, Challenge Award, Full Circle Chevron, for his service as our RP last year.  In addition our chapter attained another Gold Treasury Ribbon – Chapter Investor award.  Chad Wiginton was first place receiving a Blue Ribbon Award and Certificate for membership growth.  Ken Shifflett was also awarded a medallion for the best effort in Student Activities.  Keith Reihl received the Star Award -Special Citation and the Presidential Award of Excellence.  As you might know, he continues to serve the society on the regional level as RVC-CTTC.

Our chapter is very fortunate to have a very active membership in all areas of our industry.  Our members serve on related boards such as the Energy Engineers, Mechanical Contractors, USGBC, and the City of Houston to name a few.  ASHRAE is represented throughout our city by our members.  All of our officers and committee chairs are dedicated to serve.

After our January meeting, I began contacting all our Past Presidents to consider participating in a one-time special gift for an Endowed Research Contribution through the ASHRAE Foundation. This group has generously responded and we now have an ASHRAE Houston Presidential Endowment registered at the national foundation which means we are supporting research into perpetuity.  In addition to the past presidents several other members stepped up in support.  One gave a very generous anonymous donation in honor of those past presidents who are no longer with us.

In April we will had our annual Student Night.  Our Student Activities chair and committee evaluated a number of scholarship applications and provided six $1,000 scholarships to individuals.  In addition, we provided a $500 student chapter scholarship to Texas A&M for their cost associated with their travel expenses to the Society’s summer meeting in San Antonio.  They have 21 participating for their student chapter!

Finally, make plans to join us for our May meeting.  Bill Beckmann, Ruskin ERV Sales Engineer, will be leading the technical session and lunch keynote address.  He is responsible for product strategy, marketing, and research and development for new and existing products.  Sean will be presenting information on the latest trends in Air-to-Air energy recovery as well as application do’s and don’ts.  He will also present information about control options and trends that maximize the potential and reliability for all types of energy recovery solutions

Thank you,
Paul J. Alexander
President, ASHRAE Houston 2011-2012

Fun In The Sun and Sand In The Hand!

This year the AIA Sandcastle event will be held Saturday June 2 on East Beach in Galveston, TX. Details are available at www.aiasandcastle.com.

Mat Wolff
AIA Houston
Architecture Center Houston
315 Capitol, Ste 120
Houston, TX 77002

713.520.0155

In Attendance via conference call (Meeting Held at HESS Club , Houston Texas)

• Paul Alexander / President / Straus Systems
• Keith Reihl / Past President / Reihl Engineering
• Alan Neely / President-Elect / Pittsburgh Corning Insulation
• Mike Donovan / Vice President / Heat Transfer Solutions, Inc.
• Elliot Millican / Treasurer / E&C Engineers & Consultants Inc.
• Michael Langton  / Secretary / Redding Linden Burr
• Kimberly Thompson / Product Directory
• Brian Dunne / Sustainability Chairman
• Kenneth Shifflett / Student Activities
• Steve Roche / Refrigeration Chairman
• Neil Silverman / Historian
• Chad Wiginton / Membership Chairman*
•  

Regrets

• Brandon Jackson / Awards Chairman
• John Walik / HAR Editor / Lashley & Associates, Inc.
• Don Nye / Chaplain / E&C Engineers & Consultants Inc.
•  

3 PM BOG   conclude by 4:13 PM

Paul Alexander / President:

• Expecting 50 people - some life members will probably attend
• Looking for suggestions for increasing attendance at evening meeting - student
• Star Chapter annual invoice will be paid.
• ASHRAE Webcast, April 19th.  Announce at meeting.
• ASHRAE Presidential endowment almost have all the funds - $2500 - Donovan made motion to make up $400, 2nd Elliot, passed unanimously.   
• PAOE Points, Michael Langton?? Neil added historical - additional 50 points - Chad really low on points for Membership - investigate why? Deadline by noon on Monday 23rd for Golden Gavel, information to Kimberly by COB on Friday the 20th
• CRC Preparation - Mike and Kimberly doing a great job
• Contact RVCs every month
• Meeting notices for next year need a place to register life members on line
• Reviewed the agenda for this evening. 

Keith Reihl:

• Needs check for CIC - $25 dues
• Update on Energy Summit
• Gulf Coast Green – May 1^st - on the web site and in newsletter
• Suggested voting on another $500 for student travel expenses to the January winter meeting in Dallas.  Agreed to mention the idea, but not vote on funds until next year.  They would need to provide a report of the event to their local chapter.
• Val will be there tonight to take pictures

Alan Neely / President Elect:

• Student night - Jody Henry speaker
• Next month's presentation is on ERVs
• Promote golf tournament
• June meeting is at St. Arnolds - need to be published on the web site
• San Antonio needs volunteers - possibly students

Mike Donovan / Vice President:

• May 7^th Spring golf tournament - have sponsors, need golfers and 8 - 9 hole sponsors.  Need 120 golfers.  Currently around 30 people. 
• RP - payment to bring us up to next goal
• Send as much information as possible to enhance the golden gavel at CRC

Elliot Millican / Treasurer:

• Gave financial report
• Paying HESS

Michael Langton / Secretary:

• Send PAOE to Mike/Kimberly for CRC prep
• Look at verifying PAOE points for CRC - membership looks really short. Send out PAOE for everyone to review their list.

Stan Caplan / Honors and Awards:

• Stan Caplan – look forward to getting started after CRC

Neil Silverman / Historian:

• Chase Williamson – not on call
• Neil passed along his thanks for being able to serve in the past
• Can get more PAOE points if two more HARs
• Posting complete history for 50 points

Kenneth Shifflett / Education-Student Activities:

• PAOE points for up to 8 ASHRAE related books.  Bring your HVAC books to the meeting tonight. 
• What is a Student report???  Nobody was sure, but there are PAOE points
• Hand out $6000 in scholarships this evening
• Possibly a scholarship for local A&M student chapter - next year.
• ASHRAE meeting in San Antonio - if we will pay for gas, etc., they can send a lot of people
• Kenneth motion to spend $500 for A&M for expenses to summer meeting - 2nd by Keith - motion passed - expecting report
• 25 points each - Post high school activities.  Looking at Dr. Culp's activities for points?  Maybe not regular classes, but most other activities seemed to meet the intent.
• Get assistants to hand out scholarships this evening - update on $500 for San Antonio
• Students will have posters set up for individuals

Steve Roche /  Refrigeration Chair (via Paul):

• Has already submitted the Milton Garland award
• Preparing for Refrigeration Comfort Cooling award.
• Arranging tour of St. Arnolds plant tour in June
• November - RETA is having conference in San Antonio in January - they are extended better pricing for ASHRAE member to attend. 

       Brian Dunne / Sustainability:

• Nothing to report

Kimberly Thompson / Directory:

• Almost all of reminders out for directories
• CRC golden gavel - has almost everything - suggestion on how to make it sound better
• Did everyone receive the Word document she sent out several weeks ago - she will try and resend.

Chad Wiginton / Membership:

• 3% loss of membership - typical for USA

Christine Porterfield / YEA Chair (absent):

• YEA - next Thursday at Deck House Bar & Grille - expecting around 20

John Walik / HAR Editor / Webmaster:

• No report

Don Nye  / Chaplan

• No report

New ASHRAE Houston Members for the May HAR Issue:

Submitted by Chad Wiginton – Membership Chairman

Members

Student Members

For ASHE Registration

http://www.tahfm.org/displayconvention.cfm?conventionnbr=11304

For Sponsorships:

http://www.tahfm.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=183

Thanks to Dr. Charles Culp (not pictured) of Texas A&M and his Students and a special thanks to ASHRAE Houston Members Elliot Millican / Kenneth Shifflett / Brian Dunne.

Energy & Building Professional Educational Seminar

Distributed Generation & Strategies for Energy Management

Thursday May 31st

1919 Briar Oaks Lane
(713) 840-7600
Registration
12:30-1:00PM
Session 1
1:00-2:00PM
Session 2
2:00-3:00PM
Session 3
3:00-4:00PM
Cocktail Reception
4:15-5:00PM

This is a comprehensive education seminar covering the fundamentals of Distributed Generation (Solar, Fuel Cells, MicroTurbines, Waste Heat to Power) and the Strategies for Energy Management.

Unlike technical or design specific seminars, this presentation is geared towards a broad range of business-oriented energy professionals that make decisions and are seeking a better understanding of on-site energy systems and management strategies.

Increasingly, Energy Management is becoming a mission critical function in all types of businesses, and any professional making day-to-day and budgetary decisions will benefit from this informative seminar.

If you register early it's free; if you don't it's $280. Follow the link and register now.

http://www.apowersolutions.com/commercial-training.aspx

Keith Reihl Recall-Past President 2010-2011

As Houston ASHRAE Historian since 2008, I have had the pleasure to serve alongside four Presidents.  The ASHRAE Presidents position is a demanding one and should be recognized for the years of endurance, not just for the one  year as president, but the years leading up to this position.  I recently had the opportunity to work with Keith Reihl, the third president I served with, to bring you a little background on this committed ASHRAE member.

Keith grew up in Hutchinson Kansas, a town of about 40,000 with lots of farms around it.  Hutchinson has the State Fair, Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center which is a Smithsonian affiliated space museum and an Underground (600 feet down) Salt Museum.  He worked many jobs from mowing lawns to harvest crews as well as put his self thru school at Kansas State University where he earned his degree in Architectural Engineering in 1991.

When asked about entering into the business world and making his way to Houston Texas, Keith responded “After the winter of 1991 in Kansas and walking across campus with a -56F wind chill I decided to move south and moved down to Houston after a job in Hawaii fell thru.  My first job was with at RH George and Associates designing mechanical systems.  While working there I earned my MBA at the University of Houston in 1995.  I had several jobs as opportunities to grow presented themselves before starting my own firm in 2005 to focus on more energy efficient strategies”.

It is always interesting to hear how the industry has grown and changed during the years and Keith brought up that “In college I learned to draw by both hand and on CAD but hardly touched a mechanical pencil professionally and watched the offices move from drafting boards to workstations and desks.  The amount of information that is available now is astonishing, and we are challenged to keep up with it on a daily basis.  The biggest opportunity I believe is in making our buildings more energy efficient and so far we have seen the Energy Use Intensity of buildings drop by nearly half of those that were designed when I started in 1991”

In regards to the Chapter, I asked what he enjoyed and his favorite memories about being an officer for ASHRAE; “By far the people are the best!  I’ve made some good friends and enjoy networking at meetings with everyone.  We have a great community here where everyone really does try to help out.  There is no way any of the officers could do their job without the support of many people in the chapter.  I am truly grateful to everyone and the awesome work they do for ASHRAE and beyond. These are challenging times we live in and we can all make it together easier than apart, ASHRAE is a great place to make it together and share ideas”. Keith also added: “One of the more challenging things the chapter did was to put on the Chapters Regional Conference under President Kevin Murphy with only a month’s notice; most times it is planned 2 years in advance.  The members of the board and many others came forward to help do this and we had lots of compliments about how well planned everything was……if they only knew it was planned on a napkin just a few days before”.

Keith Reihl served in many capacities over the years; President: 2010-2011; President –Elect: 2009-2010 (also Chapter Technology Transfer/Programs); Vice-President: 2008-2009 (also Research and Promotion); Treasurer: 2007-2008 and Sustainability Chair: 2005-2007.

Keith made the following statement regarding his tenure as President:  “Prior to becoming President I served as programs chair and challenged the status quo by planning a year of programs about green building which was received well by the chapter members, although initially the board wondered about it.  The chapter received the Chapter Star and Dan Mills awards for the work we did that year in programs.  As president the chapter was able to receive the Pinnacle award for the most money contributed to ASHRAE Research by any chapter.  Many folks in the chapter contributed to this success including the RP Chair Alan Neely.   Paul led the challenge of completely overhauling our website as I had many years ago when I started on the board.  Instead of having to email out the newsletter in 4 separate emails, we put together 3 Evites for meetings, update Paypal for online payment  and then update the website like we had been doing and did when I was President.  We now have a totally integrated website that does all of this;  It was not without its challenges as I’m sure Paul will attest to”.

What would our AHSRAE members not know about you that they would be surprised to learn about you?

“Well, several folks know I collect Hotwheels car’s and have quite a few of them.  I’m also the Den 9 leader for my sons Cub Scouts and enjoy taking my telescope out to look at the stars when I can.  I’ve been involved with USGBC (Currently the regional chair and past chapter chair), Construction Industry Council (Currently Treasurer) and I’m the Energy Code chair for the City of Houston.  Although most folks know I’m focused on sustainability efforts my dad was an auto mechanic and I tend not to drive fuel efficient cars, most of which have had V8’s in them including my current one”.

Keith, we all thank you for your commitment and service to the Houston ASHRAE Chapter and thank you for sharing a bit of your history with us.

Submitted by Neil Silverman

It’s Product Directory and Roster renewal time!

Please contact Kimberly Thompson if you would like to list your company in the directory for 2012-2013.Call me at 832-328-1010 or kimberly@htseng.com.

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