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Supping on
optimism
When Barack Obama signalled there would
heads the air conditioning firm Trane Arkansas. “This
is a great time to come into the building business
be huge investment in his nation’s crumbling
because people who are developing solutions, will be
infrastructure, many public-sector officials beat
well paid and get considerable satisfaction from helping
humanity. If you had graduated 10 years ago, you would
a path to another president’s door. Bill Harrison,
have entered a world where there was no political will
head of America’s leading building services body,
to tackle these problems – that will now exists, so this
can definitely become the best of times.”
tells Ewen Rose why he believes his country
He is enthusiastic about the package of measures
is facing both the worst and best of times
announced by President Obama to help stimulate the
economy, because many of the initiatives focus on
improving the performance of existing buildings. A
F
or the president of the American Society of number of high-level public sector officials came to
Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning see Harrison during ASHRAE’s Winter Meeting in
Engineers, or ASHRAE, the glass is very Chicago, looking for expert advice from the society
much half full. The opening line from Charles on how to implement the Obama plan to dramatically
Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities – “It was the best of times; improve the energy efficiency of federal buildings.
it was the worst of times” – sums up the condition of Harrison believes the most important area is how
buildings services in 2009, says Bill Harrison. buildings are managed and operated. With buildings
“All nations have their own problems, but we have accounting for about 40 per cent of all primary energy
three in common: the price and availability of energy; in most countries, it is vital to “keep well-designed
Lobby of Natural History the price and availability of food; the protection of our buildings green”, he says.
Museum, New York environment – and these are all things that ASHRAE His presidential theme, ‘Maintain to Sustain –
ASHRAE members can influence,” insists Harrison, who also delivering ASHRAE’s sustainability promise’, is
Stein/Shutterstock
Brandon
Photo:
36 CIBSE Journal March 2009 www.cibsejournal.com
CIBSEmar09 pp36-37 interview.indd 36 4/3/09 14:39:34
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