By Fabio M. Clavijo, P.E., Fellow Life Member ASHRAE
In 2017, discussions held at the Presidential Ad Hoc Committee of Globalization Standards identified several barriers that were limiting the Society's global impact objectives. This challenge for ASHRAE to support, in an effective way, global efforts to meet decarbonization and energy efficiency goals had been the case for years. Since that Ad Hoc meeting, specific action recommendations were suggested.
From that initial period through 2021, the Standards Committee and Technical Council requested that the Board of the Executive Committee (ExCom) advance the creation of a new Standing Committee to lead such efforts. The International Standards Interactions (ISI) Task Force followed such discussions, and the start of such a Committee was finally proposed in 2023 and created to harness ASHRAE's global influence by maximizing the use and sharing of technical standards across regions and countries.
Such efforts came to a successful end in May 2023 when ASHRAE's Board of Directors (BOD) approved the creation of a Global Technical Interaction Committee (GTIC) to initiate activities by July 1st, 2023.
GTIC Vital Purpose and Scope
Along with these future perspective goals, further efforts led to fine-tuning a consistent purpose for the committee. It was approved for GTIC to:
Be responsible for harnessing the technical resources of ASHRAE to influence International Standards and maximize global impacts of such Standards and other technical work products on the practice of HVAC&R and the built environment.
Needless to say, the global impact of this newly formed committee necessitates consistent feedback of efforts from nations across the world to support their specific initiatives and needs through mutual understanding of characteristics, climates, and challenges particular to their situations.
To fulfill these advancements, it is now clear that a combined effort through ASHRAE chapters and regions with the GTIC committee is critical to attain a consistent global interaction, and in such a task, efforts require a sustained conversation with government agencies taking advantage of the existing Government Affairs Committees (GACs) in chapter activities. Understanding that time is precious, it is mission-critical that group efforts are aligned to succeed.
Based on these ideas, the ASHRAE BOD approved the GTIC's scope to include:
- Developing, implementing and managing processes globally
- Enable information flow and coordination between:
- Chapters, Regions
- Technical Committees (TCs)
- Project Committees
- International Technical Advisory Groups (TAGs)
Here it becomes relevant that engaging and sharing technical and project committees' advancements will allow GTIC members to identify opportunities toward improved global support as well as better service to chapters and regions.
Moving the Wheel
In mid-2023, appointment requests were shared through ASHRAE Regions and Chapters in order to meet the target by bringing active members with appropriate knowledge and experience from every region while being willing to support this initiative. Contacts through regions and members' references were rapidly included in the allotted committee members list in order to meet the work plan and start activities on schedule.
During the first GTIC virtual meeting, members' presentations were followed by the introduction of an organic plan to meet objectives for the upcoming years. Three subcommittees were appointed:
- Regions and Chapters Interaction Subcommittee (RCIS)
- Technical Committees Interaction Subcommittee (TCIS)
- Project Committees Interaction Subcommittee (PCIS)
Figure 1. GTIC Interaction Flow Diagram.
Regions and Chapters Interaction Subcommittee (RCIS)
Understanding today's Standards and Codes status through every country and region has been identified as the first step to recognize the actual baseline and from there, proposing the most relevant tasks to support them in reaching harmonized documents in the future.
With these objectives of engaging chapters and members around present country trends, a survey has been distributed during June and July 2024 through chapters and industry associations to understand today's HVAC&R Standards and Codes developments through every country. Results and feedback from this survey will provide valuable information to align efforts in the upcoming years.
At this point, it becomes critical to plan GTIC work based on bi-directional information flow between ASHRAE and engaged parties, as this will be the highway to sustain country Standards advancements as well as reaching consistent and relevant technical documents for every country, while engaging global trends and objectives on sustainability and decarbonization.
Technical Committees Interaction Subcommittee (TCIS): This group has been assigned with the objective to rise TC's awareness on the global implications of the tasks involved in understanding and developing global interconnected technical documents. With this purpose in mind, this subcommittee shall identify experts at both ends to assist through jointly approved activities.
Project Committees Interaction Subcommittee (PCIS): The objective to follow global implications while following Project Committees around multiple worldwide organizations i.e.: ISO, DIN, ANSI among others, will allow the committee to engage and reach harmonized global Standards and Codes that will drive consistent efforts through every region and chapter.
GTIC Team: Let us introduce the initial team members to engage above reference objectives and tasks.
ASHRAE invites regions, chapters and members to take advantage of GTIC to support your needs and efforts as we build the future of our common global society.
Top row, from left to right: Vikram Murthy, Kai Nguyen (ASHRAE staff), Cheng Wee Leong, Eleazar Rivera, George Pantelidis, Jyotirmay Mathur, Drake Erbe and Ryan Shanley (ASHRAE staff). Bottom row: Steve Bushby, Doug Fick, Olu Soluade, Ashish Rakheja and Kevin Mercer.
Please contact the below individuals for more information on the GTIC:
Fabio Clavijo: presidencia@tecnaire.com
Jyotirmay Mathur: jmathur.mech@mnit.ac.in
Kai Nguyen: knguyen@ashrae.org
Ashish Rakheja: ashish.rakheja@aeonconsultants.in