March 18, 2026 ~ rothchild’s, 12:00 ~ 1:00
East Tennessee ASHRAE Members,
We will be having our March chapter meeting on Wednesday, March February 18st, 2026 at Rothchild’s Catering on Kingston Pike from 12:00 – 1:00 pm. Please come as early as 11:45 to socialize with other members and friends in our industry. Lunch cost will be $25 per person and will be payable by credit card, check, or cash at the door. 1 PDH will be available for attendance.
We are excited to announce that our speaker for March is Mark Fly.
Our March Topic will be: "The Future of HVAC Energy Efficiency - Pushing the Boundaries of HVAC Efficiency - Current Technology, What’s Next"
Regulations and their associated compliance metrics are developed to drive the desired results. However, as it is only practical to simplify these metrics, they often result in manifesting unintended consequences. As we raise the bar on energy efficiency, in order to lower building energy and carbon consumption, the means of measurement and regulation must necessarily become more complex.
As the end goal is to reduce the Whole Building Energy and Carbon Use, more sophisticated modeling of equipment energy consumption will be required. This also necessarily includes the modeling both equipment and building sequence of controls and operations. Future metrics will have to rely more on whole building energy modeling combined with continuous commissioning to ensure continued efficient building operation. This requires the future development of performance maps all types of equipment as well as better incorporation of control and operation sequences into modeling software. This presentation will discuss where we are and what needs to be done to change how we evaluate system efficiency by:
Understanding the difference between equipment and system efficacy
Reviewing where we have been and what happened when we reach “Max Tech” in equipment efficiency
Evaluating where equipment is rated vs. where it operates
Discovering what tools need to be developed to change how we evaluate building energy performance
Mr. Fly has 40+ years of experience as a Researcher, Consulting Engineer, Contractor, and Manufacturer in the HVAC Industry. He was formerly the Executive Director of Research and Development at AAON, Inc. in Tulsa, Oklahoma prior to his retirement after almost 18 years of engineering leadership at AAON. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics from Missouri State University and is a Licensed Professional Engineer.
In ASHRAE, Mr. Fly holds the grade of Fellow and is a Life Member having been honored with both the Distinguished Service and Exceptional Service Awards. He has been and is currently active on numerous Technical Committees, Standing Committees and Councils, and is currently serving as a Trustee on the ASHRAE Foundation Board and as a Member-at-Large on Technology Council. He served as a Director at Large on the ASHRAE Board of Directors from 2014-2017.
Mr. Fly has also been active in the HVAC Industry Trade Association, AHRI, where he served on their Board of Directors from 2012-2016 and as Section Chair for Unitary Large Equipment, and Air-to-Air Energy Recovery. He has also participated in the Technical on Sound, Unitary Sector Leadership Council and is currently serving on the Systems Steering Committee and Applied Sector Leadership Council.
Register Here for the ETN ASHRAE March Meeting
Jared Murrell
Chapter President 2025-27