Contracting Business/Kelly Faloon
Contracting Business/Kelly Faloon
Contracting Business/Kelly Faloon
Endeavor Business Media
Contracting Business/Kelly FAloon
Kelly L. Falloon
Kelly Faloon/Contracting Business magazine
Dave Morrow (left), managing partner at Applied Marketing Knowledge, and Aaron Gunzer, AMCA’s senior manager of advocacy, brief AHR Expo 2022 attendees on VRF growth.

AHR 2022: Trends in U.S. Ventilation System Application

Feb. 1, 2022
One of the first round of educational sessions Jan. 31 covered the evolving technologies and methods of ventilating buildings.

As the annual AHR Expo returned to an in-person event this year, attendees were anxious to find out about trends and new products. One of the first round of educational sessions Jan. 31 covered the evolving technologies and methods of ventilating buildings.

The Air Movement and Control Association International (AMCA) partnered with industry consultant Applied Marketing Knowledge on a project data survey to study these trends. Aaron Gunzer, AMCA’s senior manager of advocacy, explained to a nearly full room how the survey was conducted and the parameters used. Project types covered everything except civil and single-unit residences.

Gunzer provided four key observations taken from the data survey results:

  1. The overall market was growing before the COVID-19 pandemic.
  2. For a few years, variable-refrigerant flow (VRF) was growing faster than the overall market.
  3. Mature system types were growing with the market.
  4. Water-source heat pumps were not growing.

Dave Morrow, managing partner at Applied Marketing Knowledge, noted that VRF systems in large volume vertical markets doubled in five years.

Manufacturers, reps, building owners and consulting engineers surveyed agreed that the industry needed to overcome VRF 1.0 problems. In addition, some buildings are not a good fit for VRF applications.

As the industry gears up for VRF 2.0, Morrow noted that it should focus on VRF education, especially to next-gen engineers.

“We need to talk about how it works in the entire HVAC system,” he said. “And the focus should be on the ventilation method before looking at heating and cooling.”

About the Author

Kelly L. Faloon | Freelance Writer/Editor

Kelly L. Faloon is a contributing editor and writer to Contracting Business magazine, Contractor and HPAC Engineering. The former editor of Plumbing & Mechanical magazine, Faloon has more than 20 years experience in the plumbing and heating industry. She started a freelance writing and editing business in 2017, where she has a varied clientele.

Faloon spent 3 1/2 years at Supply House Times before joining the Plumbing & Mechanical staff in 2001. Previously, she spent nearly 10 years at CCH/Wolters Kluwer, a publishing firm specializing in business and tax law, where she wore many hats — proofreader, writer/editor for a daily tax publication, and Internal Revenue Code editor.

A native of Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula, Faloon is a journalism graduate of Michigan State University. You can reach her at [email protected].