Aaron Besseling:
Hello, and welcome to the ASHRAE Journal Podcast. My name is Aaron Besseling, I'm a mechanical contractor and the president of the ASHRAE Hamilton chapter, and I'll be guest hosting today's episode on building commissioning. With me today are two titans in the ASHRAE world and the mechanical industry at large. First, we have Alekhya Kaianathbhatta, commissioning agent at the HIDI Group, and past president of the ASHRAE Toronto chapter. And also we have Sarah Maston, the Director of Commissioning and Energy at Colliers Project Leaders and the current ASHRAE Society President-elect.
So Alekhya, let's start with you. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and how you got into commissioning?
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
Yeah. So my name's, again, like Aaron mentioned, Alekhya Kaianathbhatta. I am an associate on the commissioning team at the HIDI Group. How I got into commissioning? Well, I was working at an energy consulting firm prior to getting into commissioning, and it just didn't really align with what I wanted to do for work. And I keep telling people ASHRAE has played a huge role in my career. So, I was talking to someone at ASHRAE and said, "Hey, I'm looking for something different." And so he had said, "Hey, our commissioning team and our design team," because I was previously in design, "are both looking for team members. Why don't you come have a conversation with them?" And I walked out of that meeting with the commissioning team, just the passion they had for problem solving, the passion they had for just wanting to make buildings better, falling in love with commissioning before even having done any of it. And I think next year will be three years in commissioning, almost 10 years overall in the industry. So yeah, absolutely love commissioning.
Aaron Besseling:
Oh, amazing, awesome. And Sarah, how about yourself?
Sarah Maston:
Perfect. Thank you, Aaron. So as Aaron stated, my name is Sarah Maston. I am the Director for Colliers Project Leaders Commissioning and Energy Services Group. Our team pretty much does commissioning projects all over New England of all building sorts. But you don't just get there, right? And so to your point, how did I get into commissioning? Well, I pretty much screwed up a design project pretty well, and let me give you a little background on that.
So, like Alekhya, I also started out on the design side of things. And in the company that I worked for, we had a separate group that did construction administration. So as a young engineer in the field, maybe a couple of years in, I really wasn't getting the opportunity to get out on job sites to see if what I was putting on paper actually worked. Right? We had our ASHRAE Handbooks, we had all of those books in the office kind of deal, but the real boots on the ground experience really wasn't one that was offered to me.
So one spring, really, I was working on a team and we were putting together a school project, it was a high school project. And they were doing steam unit vents and they were converting this to hot water, chilled water fan coils. So there was a lot going on. We were working under an architect who kept changing the plans and specs. And so we get to the end of design and they're going to put the construction documents out, and I told my superiors that the project, they weren't ready, that the architect had kept making changes. I haven't had time to fix it. And they said, "It doesn't matter. It's due. It has to go out."
So the project went out, hit the streets, if you will, and the RFIs poured in. And so, I got called out onto the carpet and my boss said to me, "Well, you screwed this up and you're going to have to fix it." And I was like, "Okay, well, just tell me what I need to do." And he said, "You're going to shadow our construction admin team this summer and you're going to put all the sketches together and you're going to make this right." It was the best thing that ever happened to me, to be honest. It's one of those things where you think that your life was going to end and it actually became a turning point in my career, because I learned so much that summer. The lead on our construction admin team was such a good mentor and teacher. I learned more in those three months than I had in three years previous to that.
And so, it really secured for me the fact that I enjoyed being out on the site. I enjoyed seeing what was going on and I wanted to make things work. And just sitting in a 10 by 10 cubicle all day really wasn't where it was at for me. So, that's how I got into commissioning, Aaron.
Aaron Besseling:
Oh, that's an amazing story, yeah. On the contracting side, we often, you can really notice the difference. The engineering level from guys who, or people who have that on the site experience. And the guys at our firm, all the old guys, they always say, "If you want some free experience, we'll give it to you. We'll give you some time on the drills, no problem. Come on out and hang out with us." So, but it is interesting how that makes such a difference in just understanding the full picture. So, that's amazing.
So next question I have for you guys. So for the guests who may not be familiar with commissioning as a concept, could you give us a zero to hero on what commissioning is in your own words? Let's start with you, Sarah.
Sarah Maston:
Sure. To be honest, it kind of depends on the day, but from a 10,000 foot level for me, it's really technical QA, QC, and owner advisory, because most owners have no idea what they want. And when commissioning is done well, you're involved early on in the design process. So, you get to understand what they're really looking for and not necessarily through the lens of the architect or the contractor or whoever, but just the owner's words straight up. How do you define success for this project? And then how do we as commissioning providers, as your technical eyes and ears, your boots on the ground, how do we make sure that that happens, that it gets implemented into the drawings, and therefore makes its way to the job site and ultimately the final product?
And so many times, there's just this discord from the very beginning because the owner is saying one thing and the architect is hearing what the architect wants to hear and the contractor is hearing what they want to hear, and nobody's really listening to what the owner is saying because we're all listening through our different filters. And so, I would say it's that technical expertise and quality control out on the site.
Aaron Besseling:
Amazing. And Alekhya, how about for yourself? When do you think commissioning makes the most sense to apply? Is there a size of project or a type of owner that commissioning is the most beneficial?
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
So I might be a little biased here, but I think every project should have it. So, like what Sarah said, we're looking out for what the owner's requirements are, right? What are the owner's project requirements?
So for example, even on a small commercial tenant fit out, like the base building might have energy goals that they're trying to hit. And if you do a tenant fit out that doesn't really align with it, or they come in and do upgrades to the HVAC system, but then no one comes in at the end to ensure that BAS is installed properly or BAS point to points are verified properly, you could be in a situation where your base building energy targets are out the window because of one simple tenant HVAC project. So again, like I said, I might be biased, but I think every project should have some commissioning. And to go back to what Sarah said, I agree, it is, to me, commissioning is like systematic verification process of the requirements.
Aaron Besseling:
Amazing. Yeah, from my aspect, I get that question a lot, mechanical quadrant, like, "You shouldn't need a commissioning agent, you should be able to work it all out in the field and be fine." And I said, "We can, but a commissioning agent definitely helps, especially when you got to— Having a referee when the equipment supplier and the controls contractor are playing the finger pointing game, having an extra referee there is always a huge benefit. So, that's what my go-to saying is on that side of things, but that makes a lot of sense.
Okay, so moving on. So, let's get into some hard lessons you've learned. So Alekhya, we'll stay with you as we're on a roll here. So, hard lessons in the field that have made it into your, every new project has to have this checklist. Some horror stories that you've learned the hard way and should be on everyone's radar. Give me one or two.
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
Yeah. So I've got one, and then I was thinking about it and then there's another one that came up. But I think the biggest takeaway and internally on our team, this became like a, "Hey, why are installation reviews so important?"
So, this was a while back. We were doing a installation review of a unit that was supposed to have a return fan. We showed up on site, the drawings had it, the equipment shop drawings showed a return fan, the BAS showed a return fan. When you look at the BAS, it also showed a return fan, so not just the shop drawings. You open up the equipment and there's no return fan.
Aaron Besseling:
Oh my gosh.
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
And at this point, this building was complaining of pressurization issues and we were like, "Why are they having pressurization issues? Okay, let's start with the most basics of the basics. Let's see what's in the equipment. Is this an issue with the VFD?" And then we open it up, and of course there's no return fan in there.
Aaron Besseling:
Oh my gosh.
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
So what goes on our every project list from after this was, make sure you do a thorough installation review no matter how small the piece of equipment is.
Aaron Besseling:
Oh my goodness. And what stage in the project did it get to by the time you were able to... How many other people looked at this unit before you came and said, "Hey, there's no return fan."
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
BAS graphics were done.
Sarah Maston:
Wow.
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
So, they were getting to point to point verifications.
Aaron Besseling:
Oh, wow. Pretty late in the game then. There we go.
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
Yeah.
Aaron Besseling:
Well, you saved the day, it sounds like. That's awesome.
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
I don't know if we saved the day, but we definitely found a big issue there.
Aaron Besseling:
Oh, amazing.
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
But yeah, so that's one horror story that now every new person that joins our team, we're like, "Yeah, you must do installation reviews." Just don't believe when the contractor says, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's all there."
Aaron Besseling:
Awesome. And you said you had one more?
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
Yes, I had one more. Actually, this is from earlier this week. It's a condo that's partially occupied. It has heat pumps, both of them are supposed to be running. So we show up and we're like, all right, BAS shows both of them are running. Again, let's go do an installation check. Turns out, one of them wasn't even running, there were no alarms. And in order to meet load, they needed both the heat pumps fully operational in peak winter. So, it was lucky that we showed up because the mechanical contractor, the BAS contractor, none of them realized that the equipment wasn't actually operating as it should.
Aaron Besseling:
Wow.
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
So again, like installation reviews, walking through the actual piece of equipment is extremely important.
Aaron Besseling:
Yeah. And in that instance, BAS had it showing it operating?
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
Yeah, it was showing it was running.
Aaron Besseling:
Oh, wow.
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
And there was no alarm that there was a mismatch, so.
Aaron Besseling:
Yeah. You can't put a price on that on presence, that onsite presence for sure.
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
No.
Aaron Besseling:
Oh, amazing.
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
Yeah.
Aaron Besseling:
And Sarah, how about yourself?
Sarah Maston:
Yeah, so I have a couple of stories for you. So one, we're going to start with the new building commissioning, if you will. So ground up project, we were actually involved through design, etc. This is for a clean room, and we get to the site and it's a modular air handler, which we see a lot, right? You don't necessarily get a huge unit anymore because there's significant craning and other things that could be required. But if you can do modular, you know, Aaron, you're on the construction side. I mean, you can save some costs there, you might just be able to truck it in instead of having to crane it onto the roof or whatever.
So, we're looking at this air handler and most manufacturers are really great in the fact that they'll tell you right on the labels on the unit sections, it'll be unit or section one of five, two of five, three of five, that kind of thing. And you're like, okay, this is perfect. So, this was a couple years ago when I was doing a lot more site work than I am currently, but so I'm going through and I'm looking at these sections and I'm reading it off to myself, "One of five, two of five, four of five, three of five, five of five." And I'm like, oh, okay, wait a minute. So I go back to the beginning and I go through it again, and of course, they hadn't moved, so the same thing happened. When I did it again and I walked by it, it was still in the same configuration.
And so I went to the super on the site and I always, you know, I play dumb, that's my thing. Let them show me kind of thing, because it just works better that way. And so I called him over and I said, "Hey, I have a question. I'm looking at this and this doesn't seem that it was assembled correctly." And he goes and he looks and he sees the same thing and he's like, he was all apologetic and he's like, "Okay, well, we'll fix this da, da, da." But what was interesting in this case is that it wasn't the mechanical contractor at fault on the site. It was assembled incorrectly in the plant, because what had happened is instead of shipping those five sections completely separately, they had put one and two together, and then three to five together in the factory, and then had put those on the skids. So the contractor had just put the skids in and they looked at the first component piece and said, "Okay, yeah, sections one and two go before section three." And they popped those two pieces together, not realizing that two of them were switched.
Now, from a capacity standpoint, it didn't matter, but what it did affect was the operations and maintenance piece of it, because in that configuration, the filter compartment was almost completely inaccessible. So again, for our clean room, that was going to be problematic, right? You still might have gotten the same capacity out of the unit, but it was going to be pretty extensive to try to change the filters. And we all know, if you can't access the filters, they're not going to be changed. So, that was really interesting.
And the second story, just real quick from the new construction side, also has to do with a factory screw up. So this past summer, we were doing a VRF system at one of the local elementary schools, and we went through and tested all of the equipment. It was 100% sampling, so we tested all of it. And it was the summer piece, so it was all the cooling. So we got through, everything seemed fine. And then we got into the winter and what happened is the room froze. Okay, so it got really cold and nobody could—and of course, it happens over a weekend, so nobody's there. And they get in and originally they thought that somebody, who knows, they thought that somebody had left a window open and the unit had froze, because it basically froze out the refrigeration circuit and so, it was completely broken. And I feel like it also led to some flooding somewhere, I'm not exactly sure how that turned out.
But what happened, and we troubleshot this multiple ways, and every time it came down to a wiring issue that was factory, and the contractor was like, "No, it's always fine. It always, the QA/QC in the factory is so tight and da, da, da." And finally, they got one of their specialty techs in who like specialized on that kind of stuff, came in and he popped open the wiring and he goes, "Oh yeah, this was switched." And so, we had to go back while he was there he had to stay another two days and check the wiring in all of the units that were in the school, because obviously that wasn't something that they were going to let go. So again, don't assume that it's correct coming from the factory, because everybody messes up.
And then I have an interesting story for you on what we would call the retro commissioning or recommissioning side of things. So we were doing some, it was with the chilled water system at a prestigious university, which will not be named, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And we were onsite and they had some issues with their cooling towers, etc. We were looking at doing some different, actually putting sluice gates in because the cooling towers net positive suction head, so the height between the inlet of the pump and the cooling tower wasn't as high as it should have been for the pumps. And so we were getting a lot of cavitation, it was causing the pumps to fail prematurely and some other things.
But one of the things I always tell everybody on my team when they go out when you're in a mechanical space, and particularly if you're doing waterside work, is to sketch out the pipes that you see. Don't assume that the piping schematic is correct. Even if it's new construction or if it's existing and it's been there forever, because the last time they had done any work in this mechanical space was at least 10 years ago. And so I said, "Don't even look at the schematic on the drawings, just draw what you see, and then compare." Because if you're looking at the piping and you're looking to see if what's on the drawing is real, you can miss things because you're expecting to see something, if you will.
And so in this case, and this was way back in my career, this is a good 10 years ago anyway. And so anyway, I'm looking at this plate and frame heat exchanger, and I had the cut sheets on it and again, it had been there for at least 10 years, but we were really looking at trying to improve the efficiency of the entire plant. And I looked at it and I'm following the pipes and I was convinced it was piped backwards. And my supervisor at the time happened to be on the site in a different area of the building and I called him, I said, "Look, I really need you to come look at this. I've looked at this for a good couple of minutes. I traced out the piping. I really think it's piped backwards." And so of course, he comes down to support and he looks at it, no joke, he looked at it for about a minute and he's like, "Oh yeah." He's like, "This is totally piped backwards."
So in looking at it, and it became part of the scope, because we were scoping out the project at the time, was to re-pipe the plate and frame heat exchanger that had been like that for 10 years because it was piped backwards. So they were never getting the efficiencies. They weren't able to use, it was part of their free cooling mode, and so they really weren't getting the performance there because it was piped backwards. So, always, always, I tell my folks, whenever you're trying to figure out where the pipes are going or don't trust the labels necessarily, because sometimes the labels are wrong. But just draw out what you see, look at it, does it make sense? And then go from there.
Aaron Besseling:
There's some real wisdom there on, especially on the existing projects, we do a lot of work in the existing hospitals and stuff. We just had one situation where we had all this pre-work we had done, getting everything set up nicely, it was months in the waiting to do the final tie-in. And when we go to do the tie-in, we're going to go hot tap it and we did that to go to the hot tap and the line wasn't live at all. It was whatever, another tons down the road, it was capped off somewhere and not connected. So, months and months of scheduling building up to this. And then when we go to do the hot tap, we peel the insulation back and—
Sarah Maston:
And nothing.
Aaron Besseling:
Yeah, so assume nothing, is a really good policy, Sarah.
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
Yes.
Aaron Besseling:
Oh my gosh, that's great. Okay, so now of those stories, I want to know where your involvement made the biggest difference. Where were you the real superhero? It sounds like Sarah, that heat exchanger story, that could have gone another—
Sarah Maston:
Oh, yeah.
Aaron Besseling:
10 years, easy, without anybody knowing if you weren't involved.
Sarah Maston:
Absolutely. So we find, Aaron, it's not the complicated stuff, it's the simple things. It's the simple things that when missed can add up to big dollars.
So, just at a 10,000 foot level, when we're doing functional performance testing and really looking at the building automation systems and what they're doing, it could say in the specs, "Oh, put the schedule in or put that schedule in." I can't tell you how many times we've gone to do final performance testing to find that none of those schedules have been done. And it's not rocket science, number one, and in the end, it doesn't take that long to do. But without that kind of final check, if you have a building that was originally designed and modeled to run on a standard business day and everything's running 24/7, it's not going to take very long to spend way more money than you had anticipated.
And also, the reverse happens, is that sometimes a building is designed with a particular schedule and you get to the end and you're having conversations with the owner and you're saying, "Okay, well, here's the schedule for this area." And they're like, "No, no, that's never going to work. We need to start this two hours before you said, and it's going to go five hours later," or whatever.
We did another university project for a new gym facility and it's a division one school, and it was a big renovation project, so it was an older building that they're making really pretty and shiny. And part of that was, they did a full building model and they were expecting certain BTUs per square foot or whatever. And six months later, they're like, "Why is our energy bill so high? This isn't..." And we went back and said, "Well, because on this day, the athletic director and so and-sos, and the people that have experience and can make these kind of decisions, told us that we changed the schedule. And so when you thought the system was going to be offline for eight hours, it's now only offline for four," or whatever.
So, I would say just definitely checking that and making sure that everybody's on board, because they were going after lead certification and they weren't getting the performance that they had modeled and were expecting. So, I would say that's a big one. It's an easy fix, but it does pay off dividends in a hurry.
Aaron Besseling:
That is so funny how that happens often where the people you're dealing with at the design stage and what you're basing everything off of and then the people who you're dealing with either in the construction or the post-construction, totally different. And I feel there's a meme there of like the Wedding Crasher, just like, "Could have been told to me at design," you know what I mean?
Sarah Maston:
Right, exactly.
Aaron Besseling:
Yeah. Oh my gosh, that's so funny.
So Alekhya, let's change gears from that. Let's talk about when you get involved. We got a little bit of time to go on a little bit. So being involved, what type do you typically get involved and where have you seen where being involved early has made the biggest difference?
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
I would say on some of our larger projects, we get involved very early on. I'm talking before even construction drawings, like while we're still in DD. Because one of the first things that we do as part of the commissioning process is get all of the owner's project requirements. What do they care about? What is key to them? And I think the key to getting commissioning team involved early on is that as we're going through the different design reviews, the shop drawing reviews and everything, we're keeping what the owner's looking for and we're looking to make sure that the systems will actually work together. You will have different equipment, different manufacturers working together. Does the BAS sequence actually make sense? All of these things are, and Sarah, you can jump in, but I think all of these things are what makes commissioning very critical, because sometimes having that 1,000 foot view of, okay, is this going to come together? How are we going to be able to test this? Provides a good insight to the entire construction team.
Sarah Maston:
Yeah, and if I can just add, exactly, you're dead on. And where we're finding some complications on that and just that disconnect happened to be with a lot of VRF systems. They don't always play nice with your standard BAS kind of contractors, the Siemens, the Johnsons, whoever. A lot of the VRF systems have their own controls, and so it's really managing the expectations of the owner as far as what kind of ability to change set points and what they're going to be able to do from that BAS interface, versus having to call in a technician who's going to have to mess with the manufacturer's controls to reset set points or do whatever, because we have that a lot as much as we tout a lot of open systems, they're never as open as you think they are from a control standpoint.
So really, does the owner want to buy the controllers and have them installed as part of the manufacturer's process? So if you have say a VAV box controller, do you take the controllers that match your BAS, ship them to that manufacturer, have them installed, so that they arrive correctly? Or are they just going to be done on site, kind of thing? So we've had real issues with that play nice ability between the controls and the manufacturer's controls, and what the owner can actually change or edit or control from their BAS interface, versus having to go out to the unit and adjustments.
Aaron Besseling:
On the contracting side, I feel that in my soul. If I had a nickel for every additional fancy gateway I needed for some reason that no one told me about until the very last minute, I would have too many nickels. So yeah, so thank you for bringing that up, so.
Sarah Maston:
You'd be a rich man, Aaron.
Aaron Besseling:
Yeah. I don't know about that much, but like at least five nickels or five different projects.
Okay, so that's amazing. So we talked about how you both got into commissioning, I'd love to talk about how ASHRAE played a role in that career path. So Sarah, you've climbed just about as high of the ASHRAE ladder as possible. So, why don't you let us know how that's played a role in commissioning side of your career?
Sarah Maston:
So yeah, like I said before, it was a rough entry, if you will, because from that experience of spending a summer on site, when the summer ended and I was back in the office more, I became just very disenchanted with the whole design part of the process. And it just so happened that within that firm that I worked for, there was a commissioning department. And so, I know I got to talking to the group leader one day at lunch or whatever, and he had mentioned that they had an opening and would I be interested? And so, he's the one who really first introduced me to commissioning.
And throughout my ASHRAE career, anybody who's worked with me, a lot of times I'll say to them, "I'm very process driven." And they're like, "Well, that's because you like commissioning and commissioning is your forte." And so I don't know which came first, it's kind of a chicken or an egg kind of deal. But the commissioning process just made sense to me inherently. I was like, okay, I get this, this makes sense. And I can go from steps A to Z and in this particular order, and this is why it has to be in this particular order. You can't do final checkouts for functional testing if the balancing isn't done or you can't do, like Alekhya said, if you haven't done your install verifications and you go to tests, you're opening yourself up for surprises that you weren't anticipating.
So anyway, that's how I got to that point, but then it was that supervisor for me who was engaged in ASHRAE, who started me on the path of actually Handbook chapter revisions, which led to further involvement for me in ASHRAE, and that's actually how I then got introduced to TC 7.9, which is building commissioning. And I started my path up from there, that's where it all began.
But after I worked for that firm, there was a period of time, for eight years, I ran my own company and it was just me, company of one. And what really made that possible for me was having an entire network of commissioning providers, literally at my beck and call. It would have only taken an email and I sent more than one during that time to say, "Hey, I'm seeing this or I have this system and I'm not really sure," or, "I've found this problem and a resolution isn't exactly clear to me." And those folks stepped up big. So, it was that supervisor, that mentor for me who said at one point during one of my performance reviews one fall, and it was one of those standard, "Where do you see yourself in five years? Where do you see yourself in 10 years?"
And at the time, my kids were little and I literally had tied a knot at the end of my rope and was hanging on. And he turns to me and he goes, "I see you starting your own company someday." I honestly, Aaron, I thought that was the funniest thing I had ever heard. I almost literally fell on the floor laughing, because I barely felt like I had enough of my act together to get through the next day, much less to run my own company, right? But five years from that point, actually I was in business for myself and I knew that through ASHRAE, I had that network of professionals that if there was anything that I was ever uncertain about, that they would have my back in any situation.
Aaron Besseling:
Amazing. And Alekhya, how about yourself? You've had a successful ASHRAE career and run a lot of stuff there. So, tell us about how that's played a role in your commissioning side of things.
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
I talked about how ASHRAE basically brought my commissioning life together, because it was through someone I met at ASHRAE that I am where I am right now. But it's interesting, because ASHRAE's played a critical role in almost every single one of my positions I've ever held.
Aaron Besseling:
Amazing.
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
This is a story I tell students when I talk to them a lot. I actually started out as a student member. I was just volunteering for the ASHRAE Toronto chapter, and at one of the dinner meetings I'd met someone and she's like, "Hey, you're about to graduate. Are you looking for a job?" And I said, "Yeah, but I'm also considering getting my master's." And she's like, "Well, why don't you come chat with me on Wednesday and we'll see, come take a look." And it was working for a sales firm in engineering sales, and I'm like, "All right, we'll see what happens." I went in, had the conversation with them, and then by Friday I had a job offer.
Aaron Besseling:
Amazing, wow.
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
So from there, I think every single career move I've made has been through ASHRAE. So, one thing I always tell students is, "ASHRAE is such a network of people and when they see you do good work, they're more than willing to just help you." Not just in your career, but like Sarah mentioned, anytime you have any questions, anytime something comes up, they're more than happy to just get on a call with you and answer your questions. So I think for me, ASHRAE is very, very critical in both my personal and professional growth. When I first started with ASHRAE, I was a shy presenter. By the time I became ASHRAE Toronto President, I was not having sweats if I went up to talk in front of people, so.
Aaron Besseling:
Amazing. Oh, that's awesome.
Sarah Maston:
Yeah. ASHRAE is really good as you grow, to what Alekhya was saying, is that you get additional opportunities based on your performance in the last activity. Because everybody, although it's a volunteer organization and what we do we do on our own time, you still have to do your job. Right? And I don't mean just your day job, but if you're asked even as a volunteer to do something, it's important that you follow through, because those are the people that are going to be in your network. Those are the people, like Alekhya said, might have another opportunity that they think you'd be great at.
And it's really, on the hardest days where you don't get a lot of sleep or if your dog keeps you up at night or your kids or whatever, it's important to show up. And that is what I've learned a lot through just, we're not always going to be at 100%, but showing up and giving your update, saying, "Hey, this is what we've done." Acknowledging maybe you didn't get as far on something as you wanted to, but these are the issues you encountered and this is how you're going to move it forward.
And just really, the ability to meet people all over the world, because we often talk in ASHRAE about our silos and different TCs operate in silos versus grassroots, and we all just play in our own sandbox, if you will. But recognizing that more often than not, we're more alike than we are different. And if you're having an issue, chances are somebody's already seen it before and they have a solution, right? Or if it's not 100% solution, maybe it's a 90% solution, and you just need to take it one more step. But just having that bigger worldview, if you will, it also helps me keep things in perspective because as you said, I've got a lot going on these days.
But just having conversations with the two of you, getting to know people personally, and being able to make a difference or to help connect other people, because I feel that's one of the big things that I really like about my job being a President-elect is, I will readily acknowledge I am not an expert at everything, but I know somebody who probably is. And so, connecting those folks together and just making it easier for somebody else coming up the line—
Aaron Besseling:
That's amazing.
Sarah Maston:
... is really, really important to me.
Aaron Besseling:
Oh, yeah.
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
That's awesome. Sorry, just wanted to say, I find everyone at ASHRAE basically resonates what Sarah just said. I don't think I've ever met anyone at ASHRAE that wasn't willing to help. I know TCs get a bad rep for being in their own silos, but my first TC, I'm like, "Hey, this is my first time." They were like, "All right, do you want to help us with our website?"
Aaron Besseling:
Amazing.
Alekyha Kaianathbhatta:
Everyone's more than willing to help, and so I think I resonate with what Sarah said.
Aaron Besseling:
Yeah, I find that as well. I always say that getting involved in ASHRAE, especially at the chapter level, even at the TC level like you referenced, it's like a little mini business, like a practice business. I always say, "If I can keep this chapter alive, it doesn't necessarily mean that you can keep business live, but if you can't keep the chapter alive, you're probably not going to have a shot over there." So, I find that as well, and I really like that experience that you get for it as well.
I have a really funny ASHRAE involvement story. So, my brother actually dragged me into this world, into this ASHRAE world. So, he was involved in the student level and he was just involved in the chapter and the previous chapter, the student chapter leadership, they had left, they had graduated, and he was the only one there holding the bag, sort of thing. So they called him and they said, "Okay, we're going to send the president over to the ASHRAE Society meeting in New York." He's like, "Okay, who was elected the president?" Riley looks around and he goes, "I'm the president." So he's like, "All right, we're going to send you. Who's your VP?" And he looks at his roommate and he goes, "Matthew is the VP." So, they're going through on that level and I said, "This is a pretty good group. I'm on board to get involved." So, that was that story there.
So yeah, anyways, that's amazing. Everyone's got a really interesting way they got involved with the ASHRAE Society. So, that concludes our questions. So thanks so much both of you for joining us, it's been a great discussion on commissioning. I think our viewers and myself included, have learned a lot. I really appreciate you both joining us. I appreciate all the viewers joining for the conversation, and we hope to see you at the next ASHRAE Journal Podcast.
ASHRAE Journal:
The ASHRAE Journal Podcast team is editor, Drew Champlin; managing editor, Linda Rathke; producer and associate editor, Allison Hambrick; assistant editor, Mary Sims; associate editor, Tani Palefski; technical editor, Rebecca Norris; and creative designer, Teresa Carboni.
Copyright ASHRAE. The views expressed in this podcast are those of individuals only, and not of ASHRAE, its sponsors or advertisers. Please refer to ashrae.org/podcast for the full disclaimer.