GG ASHRAE - FOG February 2026 
President's Report
Dear Golden Gate Chapter Members,
I am thrilled to share the incredible momentum our ASHRAE Golden Gate Chapter has built so far this year!
Our January meeting was a huge success, with over 100 attendees joining us. Attendance has continued to be strong, and it’s amazing to see so many of you actively participating. One of my main goals this year was to involve more owners, contractors, and engineers, and I’m excited to say we are seeing great progress. The diversity of participation is making our discussions richer and our community even stronger.
So far, we have hosted four fantastic technical tours, giving members hands-on exposure to innovative systems and real-world applications. We also have more exciting tours coming up, including a visit to a mechanical contractor’s shop to learn about fabrication and field coordination, as well as a refrigeration-focused tour. These experiences are a great way to connect design and practice while having fun learning from experts.
It was also wonderful to see so many of you at the AHR Expo. Connecting with members at major industry events is always inspiring and energizing.
You’ll also be hearing from us soon about our upcoming Product Show and our annual Golf Tournament, two can’t-miss events that promise networking, learning, and a lot of fun.
Thank you all for your energy, involvement, and support. I can’t wait to see you at our upcoming events and continue building this amazing community together!
Sincerely,
Sanjil Karki
President, ASHRAE Golden Gate Chapter
Upcoming Events
Please join us at our next Monthly Meeting happening on Thursday February 26 at the Sheet Metal Training Center in Livermore. The meeting will present on the past, present and future of Ground Source Heat Pumps.
Chapter Technology Transfer Committee (CTTC)
Have you recently worked on a project that was designed and/or conceived innovative technological concepts that were proven through actual operating data? Consider submitting it for an ASHRAE Technology Award! The ASHRAE Technology Awards recognize outstanding achievements by members who have successfully applied innovative building design in the areas of occupant comfort, indoor air quality and energy conservation. Winners are recognized by peers as being innovative and capable of achieving a high level of competence.
Each year the Society may present awards in six categories: Commercial Buildings (New, Existing, Existing Building Commissioning); Institutional Buildings (New, Existing, Existing Building Commissioning) Health Care Facilities (New, Existing, Existing Building Commissioning); Industrial Facilities or Processes (New, Existing, Existing Building Commissioning); Public Assembly (New, Existing, Existing Building Commissioning); Residential
The deadline for chapter applications is Monday, March 30th, 2026. All current members of ASHRAE are eligible to submit. Entrants must have had a significant role in the design or development of the project. Performance must be verifiable through at least one year of operating data. The short form application that is required can be found here. If you have questions, feel free to contact Alfred Uzokwe Jr. ([email protected]) or Sean Blaevoet ([email protected]).
Travel Grant Recipients Experiences at the ASHRAE Winter Conference
UC Berkely student branch members (from left to right) Angela Kou, Quinn Graessle (Travel Grant Recipient), Jiwon Park (Travel Grant Recipient), Urwa Irfan, and Tao Sun.
Thanks to the ASHRAE Golden Gate Chapter Travel Grant, I had the opportunity to attend the 2026 Winter Conference in Las Vegas Nevada. My goal was to experience as many aspects of the conference as possible, and attend committee meetings, to understand and become involved with the work they are doing. I chose to attend two subcommittee meetings for Standard 100, which is the Energy and Emissions Building Performance Standard for Existing Buildings. Existing building energy and carbon reduction is a passion of mine, and Standard 100 seeks to address this with a code-enforceable standard. It also relates to some research I am actively working on with the Center for the Built Environment and the City of Berkeley. I found it fascinating to sit in on the discussions about ongoing improvements for the next version of the standard. The 2024 version of this standard was a complete overhaul from previous editions, and it’s very clear that a lot of work is going into making the next version even better. I even volunteered to assist in a small way with using multifamily building energy use data to update performance targets in the standard. I also attended Technical Committee 7.6’s main meeting, where I learned about ongoing work in their field, building energy performance. I volunteered to assist with updating their ASHRAE handbook chapters, which will be an exciting opportunity to contribute to an important part of ASHRAE in a small way. The student program itself also provided valuable opportunities to get more deeply involved in the conference. I attended a student tour at the AHR Expo organized by ASHRAE. We heard from a panel of professionals with booths at the show about their career path and work. I found it interesting that although many of them were in leadership or sales positions, several had come from a design engineering background that they felt was invaluable to their current work. I look forward to continuing to learn and grow with ASHRAE, and am grateful for the opportunity to attend this year’s conference through the Golden Gate Chapter.
-Quinn Graessle (Travel Grant Recipient)
When I arrived at the Las Vegas airport, I saw a notification that the rideshare pickup was on the "V" level. Naturally, I assumed they were using Roman numerals, because of course Las Vegas would do that, and headed to the 5th floor. After spending quite some time unable to find my driver, I realized "V" stood for Valet. When I went back to the elevator, the "V" button was suddenly so obvious. I had been too excited about getting to Caesars Palace to notice.
Upon arriving at the conference, I had a hard time deciding which sessions to attend, as there were so many presentations on fascinating topics. Since I have a strong interest in decarbonization and heat recovery, I focused on attending technical sessions related to these topics. The most exciting presentation I came across was about a system designed to decarbonize heating in cold climates by operating ice storage tanks and utilizing condenser side waste heat as a heating source. The building system they presented was also connected to a ground-source heat pump, resulting in a highly complex HVAC configuration. It left me curious about how the controls for such a system would be managed.
This conference was also my first time attending a TC meeting. Since I am currently conducting research on condensation in radiant cooling systems, I attended the TC 6.5 meeting. There, I learned how the committee is organized, what gets discussed at meetings, and what roles members take on. I ended up joining TC 6.5, and I'm really looking forward to contributing to the committee and learning from its members.
I also had the chance to network with so many people. It was wonderful to run into several members of the Golden Gate Chapter during networking events. There was a reunion for my master's program lab, where I reconnected with old friends. I also attended a social event hosted by the ASHRAE Korea Chapter, where I had the opportunity to meet professionals from Korea. At the AHR Expo, I visited many booths, and it was a great experience to learn which products each company was pushing as their flagship offerings.
Lastly, I presented a case study on the UCSF Bayfront Medical Building located in Mission Bay. Some of you may recall this building from the Golden Gate Chapter tour. My paper is titled "Real-world Performance of Heat Recovery Chillers with Exhaust Air Coils in an All-Electric Medical Building," and you can find it by searching the title. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me or Paul Raftery by email. Thank you once again to the ASHRAE Golden Gate Chapter for supporting me and making this wonderful experience possible.
-Jiwon Park (Travel Grant Recipient)
Stars of our Community
Over the past few months we have recognized the following Stars of our Community. Click Here to read the full features.
Megan Hardman, Principal at AEI / Affiliated Engineers, Inc.
Cory Palmer, Vice President of Engineering at DMG North
Stephen Roth, President and Chief Technology Officer at Carmelsoft
Job Opportunities
Check out this exciting new job opportunity with the Judicial Councial of California!
JOB TITLE: Engineer (Mechanical)
LOCATION: San Francisco or Sacramento, CA
JOB OPENING #: 6540
OVERVIEW
The Judicial Council of California is accepting applications for the position of Engineer for the Facilities Services office.
The Engineer will perform engineering design review, and options analysis in the areas of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems for judicial branch facilities. Incumbent will assist facility management staff in the more complex facility maintenance engineering activities including1) development and control of operating and maintenance procedures, 2) analysis of design maintainability and operability, and 3) other related technical support.
Incumbent will work directly with regulatory agencies such as Division of the State Architect (DSA), Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC), Division of Occupational Health and Safety (Cal/OSHA), and local city and county Departments of Public Works (DPW) to explain the Judicial Council’s approach to code compliance in designs for new capital projects, facility modification projects, and correction of code violations in existing court facilities. The mechanical professional engineer (PE) license in the state of California is required to provide credible authority as the incumbent negotiates with the regulatory agencies and to validate incumbent’s decisions that may affect the safety of court facility occupants.
May oversee contractors and subcontractors during design and construction and may perform evaluations of “as built” conditions to assure compliance with plans, specifications, regulations, and applicable standards.
The Judicial Council
The Judicial Council of California is the policy setting body for the state court system and has constitutionally conferred statewide rule-making authority. This authority includes developing, advocating for, and allocating the judicial branch budget. A majority of Council members are California state justices and judges; however, the Council also includes lawyers, legislators, and court administrators.
By enhancing its role as a leadership, knowledge, and service resource for the judicial branch, the Judicial Council’s staff organization seeks to continue to evolve as one of California’s most dynamic public service entities, focused on improving access to justice for all Californians by innovating and responding to the changing needs of the courts and the public. As a government body charged with improving the statewide administration of justice, the Judicial Council has multiple offices with diverse
responsibilities relating to court policy and operations. As employees of the council, every member of staff should view and approach their work as one Judicial Council with a public service mission that is greater than the sum of its parts.
The Judicial Council strives for work life balance and includes substantial vacation and holiday time. In addition, we offer an excellent benefits package including pension, medical, dental and vision coverage, flexible spending, up to $130 per month reimbursement for qualifying mass transit costs, and retirement savings plans. In Sacramento, the office is located minutes from downtown, just north of Discovery Park. The San Francisco office is only a 7-minute walk from the Civic Center BART station.
The Judicial Council offers hybrid work arrangements for many positions. The successful candidate will be expected to work in-person at the Judicial Council’s San Francisco or Sacramento office at least two days a week, based on their office leader’s direction, and reside in the areas surrounding these locations.
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Assist the facilities maintenance program for technical effectiveness, energy efficiency, and
code compliance: -
- Develops and assists in implementation of policies for MEP review and standards for
capital and facility modification projects. - Develops and implements best practices and maintenance management measures
including the review and update of facilities standards on a routine basis. Ensures
compliance with regulatory laws. - Develops and implements procedures to ensure correct scoping of facility modification
projects.
o Reviews A/E documents for compliance with mechanical, electrical, and plumbing codes
and with the JCC Trial Court Facilities Standards for capital and major facility
modification projects.
- Develops and assists in implementation of policies for MEP review and standards for
- Provides hands-on support to projects:
- Conducts jobsite visits to capital projects and major facility modification projects under
construction. - Review BMS projects against best practices, industry standards and facilities standards
BMS guidelines. Update BMS guidelines as part of facilities standards update. - Review facility modification projects in CAFM for necessary technical reviews.
- Collaborate with Sustainability and facility operations units on energy efficiency studies
and energy trending for improvements to BMS and other relevant projects.
- Conducts jobsite visits to capital projects and major facility modification projects under
- Assist Project Management and Facility Operations teams with technical evaluation of facility
modification and capital projects:- Advises project managers of any technical aspects of the mechanical services that may
affect construction progress. - Visit courthouses to assist with technical aspects of projects.
- Assist in the commissioning coordination of capital projects, maintains database of
commissioning activities. - Participate in design review meetings for facility modifications projects.
- Assist in post-occupancy evaluation of capital projects.
- Advises project managers of any technical aspects of the mechanical services that may
- Contract Assistance for MEP peer reviews:
- Assists in drafting the technical scope-of-work descriptions for RFQs/RFPs related MEP
design. - Reviews contracts, amendments, and change orders for verification of technical aspects
of these documents. - Interacts with contracts group as needed to answer technical questions about contracts,
amendments, and change orders - Confirms billings from peer review consultants aligns with the services provided on
project.
- Assists in drafting the technical scope-of-work descriptions for RFQs/RFPs related MEP
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, energy management, building science, or a directly related field, and three (3) years of experience in area of assignment. An additional four (4) years of professional experience as noted above may substitute for the bachelor’s degree. Or, additional directly related experience and/or education may be substituted on a year-for-year basis.
LICENSING AND CERTIFICATIONS
− Professional Engineer.
− Valid driver’s license as assigned.
OTHER
Please note, if you are selected for hire, verification of employment eligibility or authorization to work in the United States will be required.
HOW TO APPLY
This position requires the submission of our official application, responses to the supplemental questions, and a resume. To ensure consideration of your application for the earliest round of interviews, please apply by November 20, 2025.
To complete an online application, please visit www.courts.ca.gov/careers and search for Job ID #6540.
The Judicial Council provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities who request such accommodation. Reasonable accommodation needs should be requested through Human Resources at (415) 865-4260. Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) is available by dialing 711. Once connected, provide the relay operator with the number for Human Resources: 415-865-4260.
PAYMENT & BENEFITS
$7,941.00 - $11,912.00 per month
Please note due to statewide fiscal conditions, the posted salary range is subject to a 3% reduction. In exchange for this reduction, judicial branch employees accrue an additional 5 hours of paid personal leave per month through June 30, 2027.
Some highlights of our benefits package include:
- Health/Dental/Vision benefits program
- 14 paid holidays per calendar year
- Choice of Annual Leave or Sick/Vacation Leave
- 1 personal holiday per year
- Up to $130 per month reimbursement for qualifying commuting costs
- CalPERS Retirement Plan
- 401(k) and 457 deferred compensation plans
- Employee Assistance Program
- Basic Life and AD&D Insurance
- Flex Elect Program
- Pretax Parking
- Long Term Disability Program (employee paid/optional)
- Group Legal Plan (employee paid/optional)
The Judicial Council of California Is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Supplemental Questions
To better assess the qualifications of each applicant, we will review your responses to the following questions.
1. Provide your mechanical engineer license number for the state of California.
2. Provide a brief description of your work experience.
