Trois-Rivieres warehouse project wins top ASHRAE award

As usual, Canadians have figured prominently in the awards and honours at the ASHRAE Winter Conference. This year’s event of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ event is being held in Orlando, Florida, January 23-27.

Winner of the first place Technology Award in the industrial facilities or processes category was Martin Roy, P.Eng., of Martin Roy et Associes for his work on the Sobey’s Warehouse in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec. The warehouse has an ammonia central chiller and glycol secondary distribution fluid system to keep the space at 4 C.  It can operate in free cooling mode by using the thermosiphon principle. Heat rejection from the warehouse chiller occurs simultaneously with space heating the office and common spaces. Ammonia is a highly efficient refrigerant that has zero potential for depleting the ozone layer or contributing to global warming.

Two Canadians from Ottawa have been made Fellows of ASHRAE. They are Darryl K. Boyce, P.Eng., assistant vice president of facilities management and planning at Carleton University, and Abdel Hakim Elmahdy, P.Eng., principal research officer with the Institute for Research in Construction at the National Research Council.

In the ASHRAE Student Design Project Competition, a team from Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto won first place in the integrated sustainable building design category. The team is Troy White, Edward Wood, Jaime Gonsalves and Ivan Fernandes.

Another Canadian won the Lou Flagg Historical Award. It recognizes someone for compiling information on outstanding historical projects or persons related to the HVAC and refrigeration industry. The winner was Roderic S. Potter, principal of Rodders CAS in Carp, Ontario.

See www.ashrae.org