ASHRAE Ireland Chapter: Connecting students and professionals with this international community.

 

In September 1894, 75 heating and ventilation engineers met in New York City and founded the American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers. Ten years later, in 1904, another group of engineers formed the American Society of Refrigerating Engineers. For many years the two societies worked separately, one focused on keeping buildings warm

and well ventilated and the other on refrigeration and cooling. As heating systems moved from steam and hot water to warm air systems that could also cool, the two fields began to overlap. In 1954, the heating society changed its name to the American Society of Heating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, and in 1959 the two finally merged to create ASHRAE. More than 130 years after that first meeting, ASHRAE is one of the world’s leading technical societies for the built environment, with over 50,000 members in more than 130 countries. 

One of the most interesting figures in this story is Willis Carrier, widely known as the father of modern air conditioning. In 1911 he published a paper on psychrometrics, the science of how air and moisture behave, which laid the foundations for air conditioning. He also led both societies, serving as president of the refrigerating engineers in 1927 and of the heating and ventilating engineers in 1931. Carrier was an early supporter of bringing the two societies together. However, a plan to merge them was voted down in 1937, mainly because each group wanted to protect its own specialist interests. It took another 22 years for the merger to happen, in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1959.

Today, ASHRAE’s work shapes the buildings we live and work in every day. Its members develop standards and guidelines on energy efficiency, indoor air quality, ventilation and refrigeration, and many building codes around the world refer to them. The Society also funds research and publishes the ASHRAE Handbook, a four-volume reference used by engineers worldwide, with one volume updated each year. As the industry moves towards net-zero buildings, heat pumps, district energy and healthier indoor environments, this work is more relevant than ever.

Here in Ireland, the ASHRAE Ireland Chapter connects students and professionals with this international community. Over the past year, students from eight universities across Dublin, Galway, Maynooth and Cork joined the Chapter, and students now make up a quarter of our membership. Student members took part in the Fundamentals of HVAC webinar series delivered by an ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer. They also attended Young Engineers in ASHRAE (YEA) panel and networking events, technical seminars with international speakers, and the IBPSA-Ireland National Student Symposium, which the Chapter sponsored.

Joining ASHRAE as a student gives you access to the monthly ASHRAE Journal, Society and chapter scholarships, grants for undergraduate projects and graduate research, and international competitions such as the ASHRAE Student Design Competition. Just as importantly, it gives you the chance to meet practising engineers, researchers and industry leaders. These connections can help with mentoring, internships and the first steps of your career. After graduation, the Smart Start programme lets student members move to Associate membership at reduced rates.

To support students across Ireland, the ASHRAE Ireland Chapter covers the student membership fee, so membership is free of charge. We welcome students from mechanical, energy, civil, building services and electrical engineering, architecture, and other disciplines related to the built environment.

To register your interest, please use the following link: Student Application – ASHRAE , or contact the Chapter directly.

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