It is called the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) but its
membership outside the United States has topped 9,000.
Attending the ARBS exhibition in Melbourne as part of a regional tour, ASHRAE president Bill Bahnfleth, said there
are now seven chapters in the Asia Pacific region with a total of 3,200 members.
Bahnfleth, whose father was also a president of ASHRAE, is keen to see the organisation grow in Asia.
“The Hong Kong chapter has 800 members and when we staged a conference in Manila recently we had 200
attendees,” he said.
While in Australia, Bahnfleth met with AIRAH to discuss ways to strengthen ties and work more closely together.
“The plan is to share more resources such as educational programs,” Bahnfleth said.
“We need to partner more around the world especially in developing economies.”
In Australia, ASHRAE membership is just over 400.
On the international stage, Bahnfleth said perceptions of Australia are undergoing rapid change.
“Australia has gone from being a proactive country in the area of clean energy to not being very active at all.
It all happened in the blink of an eye,” he said.
“Australia was progressive compared to the United States, now that is changing.”
Bahnfleth has a long-standing relationship with Australia and was involved in a number of thermal storage projects in
Western Australia more than a decade ago.
In addition to meeting AIRAH, Bahnfleth delivered a presentation at ARBS on Indoor Air Quality (IAQ).