May 2026 Newsletter 
Calendar of Events
ASHRAE paintball outing
May 15th, 2026, 11:30 AM - 6:00 PM
Midwest Adventure Park 2111 Rue St, Council Bluffs, IA 51503
ASHRAE society presidents LUNCH
May 22, 2026, 11:45 AM - 1:00 PM
Scott Conference Center - 6450 Pine St, Omaha, NE 68106
Food will be served at 11:45am. The presentation will start promptly at 12:00pm, please arrive early to get your food.
Healthy Buildings: Designing for Life
Bill McQuade, P.E., CDP, Fellow Member ASHRAE, LEED AP is ASHRAE’s President for the 2025-26 term.
McQuade previously served on the ASHRAE Board of Directors as president-elect, treasurer, vice president and director-at-large. He has also served as chair of the ASHRAE Members Council and Technology Council, liaison to the Center of Excellence for Building Decarbonization, vice chair of the President-Elect Advisory Committee and coordinating officer of the Conferences and Expositions Committee, the Communications Committee, the Chapter Technology Transfer Committee, the Honors and Awards Committee, the Membership Promotion Committee, the Research Promotion Committee, the Student Activities Committee and the Young Engineers in ASHRAE Committee. From 2021-2022, Bill served as president of the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of ASHRAE and was awarded the ASHRAE Region III ACE award.
Prior to his term as President, McQuade was the ASHRAE representative to the Building Owners and Managers Association, the International Code Council and the Rocky Mountain Institute, liaison to the ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force and was a member of the AIA Liaison Committee, the AiCARR ASHRAE Club and the United Nations Environment Programme, among other Society participation.
McQuade’s theme for the 2025-26 ASHRAE Society Year is "Healthy Buildings: Designing for Life."
nebraska ashrae technical conference
August 07, 2026, 7:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Hilton Omaha 1001 Cass St, Omaha, NE 68102
Registration is now open! https://dionysustickets.com/nebraskacrc2026
The Nebraska ASHRAE Tech Conference is being held in conjunction with the CRC we are hosting August 6-8 in Omaha. Complete with vendor booths, 3 simultaneous session tracks, the ASHRAE Society President's Luncheon, and off-site tours, this will be our biggest Tech Conference yet! Local chapter members can register here. Be sure to register for the Zoo tour or the Steelhouse Omaha tour if you are interested in attending those Friday afternoon. Full day Tech Conference registration includes a breakfast buffet and the President's Luncheon. You can also add a la carte purchases for the CRC Awards Dinner at the Zoo that evening or other CRC events.
Registration for CRC as a full attendee includes the Tech Conference, so if you are already attending CRC, you do not need to purchase a separate Tech Conference registration.
Join us for a full day of presentations and tours with an opportunity to earn up to 8 PDH credits. More information on Tracks, Presentations, and Speakers coming soon!
President's Report
Government Affairs
Nebraska gac spotlight
GAC: A Society Year in Review
Every year, GAC has a very tangible way to review progress and improvements throughout the year: the list of legislation that has received action partly as a result of our input. Legislative Bills (LBs) are draft bills that are assigned to a committee to review, and if they pass committee, they go to the Unicameral floor to be voted on. Our point of greatest impact is in the committee stage, because it has the least amount of individual senators to find touch-points with, and has the greatest ability to stop a bill ASHRAE opposes before it even reaches most of the Unicameral. That’s why our Day On the Hill events are so important!
LB 800 was a proposal to adopt updates to the building and energy codes for Nebraska. This bill would have updated the building codes to the ICC 2024 versions, and included IECC 2024, which directly adopts ASHRAE 90.1 as a compliance pathway. As such, ASHRAE society supported this bill. A version of this bill is often introduced each year and is passed when the Unicameral decides it is time to update. While this bill was indefinitely postponed this year, it will likely come up again, and GAC was able to pass along the positive feedback from many engineers regarding updating the codes.
LB 1134 was a proposal to roll back the state building, electrical, and energy codes to 2009, and provide limitation on local jurisdictions trying to adopt more recent energy codes. While the stated purpose of this was to reduce the cost of building housing in Nebraska, the reality is that the costs would have been saved on construction while placing the cost burden on the individual occupying the building in the form of energy and gas bill increases. GAC at the direction of Jeff McCaslin issued a members notice to submit comment to their local legislator. Partly as a result of the public comments from ASHRAE members and testimony from GAC, the bill was indefinitely postponed.
ASHRAE RESEARCH PROMOTION
research promotion spotlight
Target Goal: $25,250
Current Donations: $12,993
Click the link below to donate to the 2025-2026 Nebraska Research Promotion fundraising campaign:
https://www.ashrae.org/about/invest-in-the-rp-campaign
If you do not have a specific area you would like your donation applied to (YEA, scholarships, etc.), please consider donating to the Nebraska Chapter's Endowment Fund!
- Choose the option "Endowed Research Funds"
- In the dropdown list next to "Apply To Existing Endowed Fund"
- Select "Nebraska Chapter Research Fund"
Donating to the endowment fund works similarly to growing an investment account. The more donations made to it, the larger the account grows. Every year, we are guaranteed a 5% minimum return on that investment which goes directly to research projects and counts towards our Chapter's RP fundraising goal for the year. In essence, the more we grow the fund, the easier it will be to improve our fundraising capabilities every year! If you regularly donate to the "ASHRAE Research" category, consider this as a way for your donation to have an even larger impact.
Again, THANK YOU to our donors!
Individual Donors
Major Donor ($500 - $999)
Sara Robbins
Nicholas Mandel
Major Donor ($250 - $499)
Dan Holtmeyer
Frederich Granzow
Honor Roll ($150 - $249)
Abigail Brophy
Tim Wentz
Sarah Bordenkecher
Ryan Hempel
Tyler Glesne
Jeff McCaslin
Patrick Killeen
Jessica Renner
Other Donors
Geir Rimmereide
Donald Horn
Corporate Donors
Major Donor ($1,000 - $2,499)
Samsung
Victaulic Co
ASHRAE NE Chapter - Member Appreciation Casino Night
Major Donor ($500 - $999)
Sys-Kool - Omaha
Hydronic Energy
Honor Roll ($150 - $499)
Engineered Controls Inc
Mechanical Contractors Association - Omaha
Hayes Mechanical
Mechanical Sales, Inc.
Verne Simmonds Company
Tune Facilities
Johnson Controls Inc.
Grundfos Americas Corporation
Trane - Ralston
Community Announcements
Certification application discount
NEW! 25% Certification Application Discount
Apply May 1 - 31
Exciting news! Apply May 1-31 with the discount code CERT2026 to receive a 25% discount on applications for any of ASHRAE's seven (7) building design or building performance certifications.
Here’s how the discount works:
- Apply anytime May 1-31 using the Discount Code: CERT2026
- Take your certification exam at any of ASHRAE's new 1,000+ test center locations worldwide
Discover what ASHRAE-certified professionals say about the Benefits of Certification:
►Credibility
►Recognition
►Career Opportunities
►Earning Power
Region IX CRC
REgion ix crc sponsorships
The Nebraska ASHRAE chapter is seeking sponsorships for this incredible event that will be held in Omaha in August. Sponsorships of ANY amount are greatly appreciated! If you are interested and have questions regarding available sponsorships, please contact Will Morris @ [email protected].