Movember Wrap-Up

Movember 2009 has come and gone and there are definitely less moustaches walking around campus. I just wanted to say thank you to all who participated this year, and to everyone who made a donation. The UBC ASHRAE team was able to raise $595 for Prostate Cancer Research, exceeding the goal of $500.

Although the moustaches are gone, it is important not to forget the importance of this cause. 1 in 6 men will get prostate cancer in their lifetime, and the symptoms are often unnoticeable until it has spread beyond the prostate. Sadly, 4,400 men will die from prostate cancer in Canada this year. Let's continually try to raise awareness, and not let it happen to someone you know. For more information, visit www.movember.com.

Thanks again to everyone involved, I will see you and your Mo's next year!

Jeff

Movember Update

Thanks to everyone's participation in this year's Movember, just a couple of updates to keep you informed.

To date we have raised $380, but hopefully we can make our $500 goal by the end of the month. Keep spreading the word, we're almost there.

I've also updated the latest batch of Moustache photos, see the slideshow to the right to view our progress.

If you'd like to donate, just go to www.movember.com/ca and click on the Donate tab. Our team is listed under UBC ASHRAE and donations are made online via credit card.

Thanks again,

Jeff

BC Chapter November Meeting

The BC ASHRAE Chapter held their November meeting on Nov. 18 at the Croatian Cultural Centre. Several UBC Chapter Members were able to make it out this time, and we were treated to a delicious turkey dinner.

I'd also like to say thank you to Chris Collett for making a special announcement on our behalf regarding our participation in this year's Movember. We're well on our way to reaching our goal of $500 and Chris has been a huge help in spreading the word for us.

We were also privileged to have a presentation by an ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer as Paul Pieper spoke about Air to Air Energy Recovery Systems. He discussed the constantly updating ASHRAE Standards and how they relate to these recovery systems, as well as how our regional climate is incorporated into the standards.

Since there will not be a meeting in December, the next BC Chapter Meeting will be held on January 13, 2010.

Jeff

UBC ASHRAE November Meeting

The November meeting took place on Nov. 17 and a here's a quick recap of what we covered:

As the Fall semester is quickly coming to an end, it's unlikely there will be any tours or events prior to the Christmas break. There are tentative plans to tour some UBC buildings this spring, including the CK Choi Building and the Life Sciences Centre. We are also in the process of gathering funds so we can take a trip to a local area LEED certified building.

The Emerging Green Builders seminar series will continue into the Spring Semester so stay tuned for updates on the next event.

We were also privileged to have Kyle Reese, P. Eng come and give a presentation on HVAC systems. He covered the basics of Heat Pump Loops and provided lots of information and practical knowledge on how these systems operate. Thanks again to Kyle for taking the time to come out to UBC and present.

As a reminder, there will not be a UBC ASHRAE meeting in December. The next one will be sometime in January.

See you then,

Jeff

First Week of Movember

The first week of Movember is well underway, and many upper lips are sporting a nice growth. You can check out the slideshow for our individual photos which were taken on Movember 4th.







So far we have raised $115 for Prostate Cancer Canada, and hopefully the donations will keep coming in. If you would like to donate to our team, please go to www.movember.com/ca, and click on the Donate tab. You can find our team by searching for UBC ASHRAE, and all denominations are welcome. Our goal is to raise $500 by the end of the month, so please spread the word and keep checking back for our progress.


Jeff

Movember

As you might already know, each November, men around the world participate in a month long celebration of the moustache and help to highlight men's issues - specifically prostate cancer. The event, which has come to be known as Movember, is an opportunity to raise awareness for men's health and to raise funds by collecting donations. The UBC ASHRAE Student Chapter will be participating this year, and we will be posting our updates throughout the month.

All of the money raised will go directly to Prostate Cancer Canada, and I encourage all chapter members to join in the upper lip celebration (there's even a chance for females - known as Mo Sistas - to participate). If you would like to join, just go to ca.movember.com and click on Get Involved. Our team can be found under UBC ASHRAE.

If you have any questions about Movember, or if you would like to make a donation, you can contact us at ubcashrae@gmail.com.

Jeff

October ASHRAE BC Chapter Meeting

On October 14, the ASHRAE BC Chapter held their monthly meeting at the Croatian Cultural Centre. A few members of the UBC Chapter were able to attend, and were given a behind the scenes tour of the upgraded HVAC systems for the building, including 2 new boilers and a new heat exchanger. The new equipment will provide a more efficient and sustainable heating and cooling system for the building.

We were also able to meet with Doug LeCran, who is the Regional Vice Chair for Student Activities. Doug came all the way from Alaska to be there, and we were able to discuss with him some issues that are relevant to students, including scholarships and the ASHRAE Design Project.

The next BC Chapter meeting will be Wednesday November 18, and will again take place at the Croatian Cultural Centre. There will be a buffet dinner and a presentation on air-to-air energy recovery systems and equipment. The cost for students is $10, hope to see you there.

Jeff

ASHRAE Scholarships

For those of you who are interested, ASHRAE offers a number of undergraduate scholarships to students. In order to qualify, students must be enrolled full time and have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. All of the scholarship information, including the application package, can be found at www.ashrae.org/scholarships.

Applications are due December 1, and they require a personal letter of recommendation from 3 references. Please note that one of these references needs to be our chapter sponsor, Dr. Nima Atabaki.

Jeff

Sustainable Buildings 101 Seminar Series

The UBC Emerging Green Builders are a network of students, scholars, professors, practitioners, and administrators who are concerned with the future of the built environment. They have set up a 5 part seminar series called Sustainable Buildings 101 which will occur throughout the Fall semester. It is primarily meant to be an introduction to sustainable buildings for people who are unaware or have little knowledge about them but are interested in learning more. Each talk will have a different industry professional speaking on a different aspect of green buildings.

The first seminar, Introduction to the Series: Sustainable Buildings 101 by Michael Driedger, B.A. Dip T LEED AP, Sustainability Research Advisor, Busby Perkins & Will will be Thursday October 8 at 5:30 in C.K. Choi room 120.

If you have the time, I definitely recommend you check out this or any of the upcoming seminars.

You can also get some more information from the Emerging Green Builders website at http://tinyurl.com/ubcegb

- Jeff

Club Mech BBQ

Club MECH hosted a BBQ on September 30th and the UBC ASHRAE Student Chapter was there recruiting for new members. We spoke to a lot of students and were pleased with the amount of interest in the club. Thanks to everyone who came out for a burger and thanks again to Club MECH for allowing us to participate.

ASHRAE BC September 2009 Meeting

On September 16, the ASHRAE BC Chapter hosted a tour of the new Vancouver Convention Centre. Ross Alger, Jacob Allen, Dr. Nima Atabaki, and myself were priveliged to take part in this tour as representatives of the UBC Student Chapter.

The evening began with a social mixer, followed by presentations on the building architecture and mechanical systems, and finally a behind the scenes tour. The mechanical systems were designed to improve building efficiency by only heating and cooling the areas that are being used. For example, when we moved from the hallway where the social mixer was being held into the conference room, the system closed the damper in the hallway and opened the damper in the conference room. Although this is a simple concept, the controls behind this operation are relatively complex.

Another key feature of the Convention Centre was the green roof, which was irrigated by treated black water. This green roof is the largest non-industrial living roof in North America, and it helps to reduce the thermal load on the building. Other features we were impressed with were the open loop sea water heating and cooling, and the fish habitat that was built into the foundations. All in all, we were very impressed with the whole event, and I strongly encourage everyone to take part in the next ASHRAE BC meeting which will be held on October 14 at the Croatian Cultural Centre.

Best Regards,

Jeff Snow

President's Welcome

As the new president of the UBC ASHRAE Student Chapter I'd first like to welcome everyone to the new ASHRAE year. I'm very excited to be involved in this year's executive since the Student Chapter provides a great opportunity to learn about sustainable HVAC design, and network with industry. There have been a few changes since we last met, as some of our members have graduated and left university life. The new executive consists of myself as President, Ross Alger as Vice President, and Kelly Ng as secretary. We have set out a few goals for this year, including increasing the chapter membership, organizing tours of LEED certified buildings, and bringing in engineers from industry to discuss interesting HVAC topics. We are hoping to hold meetings approximately once per month, and we are currently evaluating the availability of our existing members to find a time that works best for everyone's schedules. Our first chapter meeting of the year should occur sometime in early October where we will try to identify which topics are of interest to students, as well as further discuss the goals for the new year.
I would also like to invite everyone to come to the barbeque on Wednesday September 30, which is being put on by Club Mech. It will be held outside of CEME, and the ASHRAE Student Chapter executives will be there to speak with anyone interested in joining. If you have an interest in HVAC or in sustainable design, or if you would like to learn more about the Student Chapter I encourage you to come out and visit us. I hope to see you there.

Best Regards,

Jeff Snow

UBC MECH 457 Student Team Places 3rd in the Annual ASHRAE Student Design Competition

This past year, a group of UBC students entered their MECH 457 project into the ‘System Design Category’ of the annual ASHRAE Student Design Competition. The team secured third place, tied with the University of Central Florida. For their great achievement, ASHRAE will provide a trip for one team representative to attend the winter meeting in Orlando in 2010.

Please join me in congratulating the team members and in thanking Mr. Geoff McDonell, P. Eng., from Omicron for acting as the industrial mentor for the project. The project was supervised by Dr. Nima Atabaki, P. Eng. (UBC Department of Mechanical Engineering). Above is a photo of the team members (from L-R: Brent Kavelaars, Chu Lin, Ara Beittoei (not present), Tapio Pikkarainen (not present), Jensen Metchie (not present)).

The President's Message

It is definitely hard to say goodbye. I cannot believe that four months can pass by so quickly. It just seems like it was yesterday when we had our first meeting with only 10 members in an empty classroom in the CEME building. Since that time, we have seen significant interest and growth in our chapter.

Today, we have a total of 23 members and are officially recognized as an active student branch by ASHRAE. With the support of the local chapter and members from industry, I expect the coming year to be extraordinary.

Now at the end of my time as the chapter president, I just wanted to say thank you to all the members and to our branch advisor. Without you, the presentations and field trip would not have been as successful. Best of luck to all the members who have graduated and my regards to the incoming executive committee. Be optimistic and persistent and good things will follow.

Sincerely,
Minh Nguyen

Tour of C.K. Choi Building

On March 20th the student chapter was fortunate to attend a tour of a green building on UBC Campus, the C.K. Choi building. The tour was hosted by UBC Sustainability office and included things like composting toilets, passive ventilation, natural light, reused and reduced use of materials and zero effluent. Pictures from the event can be seen on the blog.

ASHRAE Student Connection Newsletter!

Greetings!

Please check out the latest edition of the Student Activities Newsletter online at:

http://www.ashrae.org/doclib/20090316_Spring2009SA.pdf

Please direct any questions you may have regarding the newsletter and other student activities to: students@ashrae.org. Expect the next edition of the newsletter in August 2009.

Feel free to email newsletter articles regarding student related events at your chapter or branch.

Regards,

ASHRAE Student Activities

March 13 Meeting

We will start the meeting at 2:30 pm. Below, is the meeting outline:

2:30-2:45: Review meeting minutes and discuss upcoming events
3:00-4:00: Ms. Ashley Stowkowy will give her presentation
4:00-4:30: Time to chat/break
4:30-5:30: Mr. Ali Nazari will conduct his presentation

Board of Governors

We need two or three people to be on the board of governors as part of the constitution. Email Minh if you are interested!

May 8-10, EPIC 2009: Sustainable Living Expo

EPIC Expo is coming soon to Canada Place. It showcases local and international companies targeting the sustainability market for both consumers and developers. Worth having a look for $10, see keynote speakers, green building technologies etc. Info below:

EPIC: The Vancouver Sun Sustainable Living Expo
May 8-10, 2008
Vancouver, Canada
www.epicvancouver.com

View the online pamphlet

Grad Studies at Ryerson University

Hi all,

Have a look at the website below. A neat program for anyone interested in doing grad studies in the HVAC field. Note that this is for the lower years members since the deadline for the application has passed already.

http://www.ryerson.ca/graduate/buildingscience/

Cheers,
Minh

Chapter meeting, Tuesday, Feb 24/09

Hi everyone,

Linked here you will find the meeting minutes. Things to note include:

1. The contact from the Sustainability Office said she will email to confirm the tour date and time
2. Mr. Ali Nazari, one of our guest speakers, will start his presentation at 4:30 pm on March 13, 2009. If you just can’t wait to learn about energy modeling, read his thesis
3. Ms. Ashley Stowkowy from Cobalt Engineering will be coming on March 13, 2009 to talk about the Net-ZERO approach to building design. Her start time will be confirmed in the coming weeks
4. A few students have emailed me about the chapter so it looks like we may be getting a few more new members
5. Please have a look at the current contact list. Make sure the information that I have for you is correct. If you don’t have an ASHRAE number, you can get one by registering as a student member - see the guide: (step by step "how to")
6. The presentations from the meeting are also uploaded. Let me know if you want to keep receiving the presentations via email
7. I am looking for student presenters for our meeting on March 24, 2009. Let me know if you would like to contribute to the group! I have Chu and Dan signed up already

As always, please feel free to send me your comments and suggestions (Sherlene’s responsible for complaints!).

Cheers,
Minh

Official ASHRAE Disclaimer

This web site is maintained by the UBC Student Chapter of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE). It does not present official positions of the Society nor reflect Society policy. ASHRAE chapters may not act for the Society and the information presented here has not had Society review. To learn more about ASHRAE activities on an international level, contact the ASHRAE home page at http://www.ashrae.org.

Follow the link to download Student Presentations from Feb 13 Meeting:
HVAC Companies

Unnoficial summary of meeting, Feb 13/09

Hi everyone,

Below is a summary of the meeting:

1. Reviewed minutes of previous meeting
2. Webmaster/blogger position available - Wojtek to confirm acceptance of the position
3. Student recruitment is still ongoing for the chapter - thanks to all the new members for attending
4. Three presentations were conducted - slides can be downloaded (ask me for password)
5. Key thing to remember about the job search process is to apply!
6. Update your resume and work on cover letters during the break
7. Have a look at some of the companies on my list – please keep the information private as I spent a lot of time putting it together for the group
8. Upcoming events include: Tour of the C.K. Choi Building, Guest Lectures, Student Presentations
9. Photographer needed - Jacob has accepted the position

Things to note:
1. The next meeting is on February 24 – I will email closer to the meeting date
2. Sherlene will put together a poll to establish a tour date and time
3. I will work on bringing in a guest speaker for our meeting scheduled on March 13, 2009
4. Student presenters needed for next meeting – topic can be anything HVAC related (email me if you are interested)
5. BC ASHRAE quarterly magazine - see page 8: http://www.ashrae.bc.ca/bc/totem/Feb_2009_Totem.pdf
6. If you want to register as a student member of ASHRAE, see the guide I put together
7. The next BC ASHRAE Chapter meeting is on March 11 – more information at: http://www.ashrae.bc.ca/bc/
8. I am sure I probably forgot something so expect to hear from me often

As this is a new student group, I am always looking for ways of making your membership worthwhile. Feel free to send me your comments or questions.

Enjoy your reading break,
Minh