Business
Setting a New Standard: A world-renowned engineering society builds a cutting-edge home on Technology Parkway
You may not know what ASHRAE is, but you know its work: the clean and comfortable air we all take for granted inside many modern buildings.
The international professional society’s standards are behind everything from the filtering of airplane cabin air to the energy efficiency of office buildings that mitigates climate change and dependence on foreign oil. Today, it’s a major authority in the COVID-19 fight, penning standards for halting the coronavirus’s spread through HVAC systems that are promoted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And now ASHRAE is your neighbor, having recently moved into a new $20 million global headquarters on Technology Parkway meant to be a living laboratory for “walking the talk” on energy efficiency.
“We harness the collective wisdom of the world’s experts and bring that wisdom to bear on some of these challenges,” said Jeff Littleton, ASHRAE’s executive vice president, in a recent interview.
ASHRAE (pronounced “ash-ray”) is the easier-on-the-tongue version of the group’s full name, the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers. The society traces its history back to 1894, when a group of heating and air-conditioning engineers convened in New York City. A merger with a society of refrigeration engineers in 1959 produced the current organization.
Today, ASHRAE has more than 55,000 members in around 130 countries. It offers training and professional certifications for those in the HVAC and refrigeration industries, and stages conferences that attract up to 75,000 attendees. It funds research at universities and specialty labs to the tune of $5 million a year.
But ASHRAE’s most influential role is writing industry standards that are taken so seriously, some of them become law. ASHRAE isn’t a trade association designed to promote its industry; it’s a professional society with a nonprofit mission of promoting the public good. ASHRAE’s priority is not what might make your HVAC contractor the biggest paycheck, Littleton said, but what will best ensure “health and human comfort.”
“We have an obligation to serve the public trust,” said Littleton. “… We are a true-blue professional society, and that drives a lot of what we do.”
The energy efficiency of buildings is a major standard set by ASHRAE, whose word has been federal law for decades.
“Back in the 1970s, when the oil embargoes caused oil and gas shortages in the U.S. and lines at gas stations and all that, the U.S. Department of Energy came to ASHRAE and said…, ‘The built environment in the United States is burning too much energy and we need to cut back on that,’” said Littleton.
The result was a regularly updated code for commercial buildings in federal law that has been adopted by many state and local jurisdictions as well. On such standards, ASHRAE goes beyond heating and cooling to virtually every “building technology” related to energy usage.
It’s one of the ways, Littleton said, that ASHRAE is a “really big player in trying to mitigate climate change.” He noted that while motor vehicles are often depicted as the villains of climate change, buildings are major factors: 35% of the world’s final-customer energy use and 40% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, according to ASHRAE.
Last year, ASHRAE responded to another national crisis: the COVID-19 pandemic. “People started calling us [asking], ‘What do we do? What do we do when we find out someone in our 10-story office building had COVID?’” Littleton recalled.
ASHRAE quickly formed a pandemic task force and subcommittees with more than 100 members, including not only industry experts, but also medical doctors and epidemiologists. In some ways, it’s familiar turf for the society, which writes standards for hospital ventilation systems and how to prevent outbreaks of some specific bugs, like the air-conditioning-loving bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease.
For COVID, the society is regularly devising best practices and rules for preventing the coronavirus from blowing around inside buildings, with everything from air filters to virus-zapping ultraviolet systems addressed. “Right now, we’re developing a … guidance document on outdoor dining because we’re getting requests from jurisdictions that want to get those open as soon as possible,” said Littleton.
While ASHRAE always develops its standards and practices with public input and review, one way it makes money is keeping the final documents exclusive and selling them to authorities and organizations. But not with COVID guidance. All pandemic-related material is free to view and download from the society’s website.
“We certainly don’t want to profit from the fact that the pandemic is going on,” said Littleton. The society finds it rewarding enough that its task force experts “have really risen to that challenge. It’s really had a big impact. … We’re really proud of that work as an organization.”
ASHRAE aims to live up to its own standards. It did so when it moved in 1984 from New York to metro Atlanta, building a high-efficiency headquarters in DeKalb County near I-85 and North Druid Hills Road. That site is now in the young city of Brookhaven and neighboring Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, which has a $1 billion hospital project that made it clear it was time to move again. The society looked around for a site to set a new standard with its headquarters — and found it in Peachtree Corners.
Littleton said the attractions were plentiful. Hotels, green space and restaurants for the many visiting students and experts. A “high-tech look” and fellow cutting-edge infrastructure enthusiasts, like the Technology Parkway autonomous vehicle test track.
ASHRAE now calls home an old office building at 130 Technology Parkway that dates to 1978. Instead of tearing it down, the society retrofitted it into a futuristic, hyper-efficient HQ. Its interior is heated and cooled with a “hydronic” system of fluid-filled panels instead of duct-blown air, and by the end of April the site will be studded with solar panels. The goal is a “net-zero-energy” building, meaning it will create as much energy as it burns. In short, ASHRAE is doing what it tells everyone else to do.
“If we, as a society, are really going to reduce the energy consumption in the built environment that contributes to climate change and all of that, we have to deal with existing buildings,” said Littleton. “… So ASHRAE is walking the talk.”
In the society’s public spirit, the building is also an experiment, “a learning lab, a showcase to demonstrate what’s possible.” Eventually the building will have an online dashboard publicly displaying its energy performance to see if it’s living up to its promise.
“A lot of building experts around the world are watching very closely,” said Littleton. “You throw enough money at any building, you can get there. But can we demonstrate that we can do it in an economical way?”
Much of that experiment is on temporary hold in the pandemic, which has already taken the wind out of what was supposed to be a banner year for ASHRAE. In 2020, the society planned to celebrate its 125th anniversary — counting from an 1895 debut annual meeting of its ancestor organization — and to have a major grand opening celebration at the new headquarters. Now health concerns have the society shying away from even a ribbon-cutting, and most of the 110 staff members remain working from home to avoid COVID.
But that, too, shall pass, and ASHRAE is looking forward to enjoying its new home and setting new standards.
“We’re excited to be here in Peachtree Corners. It’s a cool place. It’s got hotels and restaurants and everything close by,” said Littleton. “Working with the folks from the city of Peachtree Corners has been great. They’re very responsive.
“It’s just ironic that we’re not really using the building right now, but it’s going to be really neat.”
For more about ASHRAE and its work, see ashrae.org.
With every new year, it’s not unusual for people to think about their health and ways to improve their physical well-being. More recently, however, mental health has been shown to be just as important.
To help its members start the year right, the Peachtree Corners Business Association hosted a panel discussion on January 30 at Hilton Atlanta Northeast. Titled “How Prioritizing Health and Wellness Can Influence Your 2025 Business Success,” it featured a diverse mix of community leaders and professionals.
Panel members and host
Facilitator Caroline Dotts, owner of Strengths On Site, a coaching and consulting company, is dedicated to helping individuals and teams discover their innate talents and unlock their true potential. She posed questions to the panel members that were geared towards the financial impact of health and wellness on business decisions and company success.
The panel included:
Alex Wright, Peachtree Corners City Council member
Michael Maiorano, tax partner at Hancock Askew & Co.
Toby Anderson, senior financial advisor at SGL Wealth Management Group
Dr. Jeff Donohue, medical director of Elite Personalized Medicine
Ashley Lock, physical therapist at Emory Healthcare
Jason Price, founder and COO of Atlas Behavioral Health and Zenith Mental Health
Good health isn’t just physical
The panel discussed the importance of prioritizing health and wellness for business success by emphasizing the interconnectedness of physical, mental and financial health, highlighting that a balanced approach is crucial for productivity, employee retention and overall success.
Dotts kicked things off by asking each panelist about their philosophy for mental health.
Maiorano explained that prioritizing health and wellness means taking care of oneself before helping others, using the analogy of putting on an airplane mask first.
“For me, health and fitness are like three legs of a stool, and if any one of those legs is out of out of whack, then success is going to be more difficult to achieve,” he said.
He emphasized the importance of spiritual, mental and physical health, stating that all three are critical for achieving success. He concluded by stressing that a healthy mindset is essential for focusing on and achieving important goals.
“I really believe that all of those are critically important to be in a healthy mindset, and therefore help you achieve success,” he said. “That part must be in line if you’re going to be making an effort and focusing on something that’s important and … trying to achieve a goal.”
Implementing positive actions
Price explained that prioritizing health and wellness involves implementing actions that support wellness, not just talking about it.
“I can say as an operating officer that we prioritize health and wellness, but if I don’t put some kind of implementation behind that, it’s all fantasy,” he said. “I work in substance use and mental health, so [with] my staff, if they are not healthy, how can I possibly expect them to help our clients get healthy and get wealthy?”
Lock said that success to her is keeping people out of her clinic.
“A big portion of my job is actually education,” she said. “The first time you see me, I spend 30 minutes just yapping about how you could have not ended up here and how I’m going to get you out fast.”
She added that knowledge is what’s lacking in this society.
“We focused on drive, drive, drive. But we forget to kind of look at ourselves and think about the hierarchy of needs,” she said. “We can’t address the higher parts of that need pyramid until we address ourselves.”
“If you’re not taking care of yourselves, it’s very hard to look outward, and it’s hard for you to want to do other things.” She continued. “If you’re in pain, if you’re not well, you’re not really focused on other things. You’re not being the best for yourself.”
Prioritizing health
Anderson said that health and finances are two of the most important aspects of anyone’s life, and prioritizing health is critical for financial planning.
“If I’m helping somebody plan for retirement, get into retirement, or if I’m helping a business owner launch their business, if I’m not bringing the best version of myself, I’m not doing right by them,” he said. “To prioritize my health is critical to making sure I’m in the right state of mind and have the right ability to guide my clients with extremely important decisions that are extremely personal to them.”
Wright emphasized that health is the foundation of everything else in life. He shared a personal anecdote about the importance of health, stating that without it, nothing else matters.
“This past weekend, I caught some kind of fungus and woke up on Saturday — I normally go work out with some friends of mine — but I just could not get up,” he said. “When something like that happens, everything else is irrelevant.”
He added that you could be 65 years old with $50 million, but if you’re decrepit, you really have nothing.
“I think we’re all kind of saying the same thing in that, if you don’t have your health, nothing else matters,” he concluded.
Getting to the root cause of health issue
Dr. Donohue explained that he practices functional medicine, and it focuses on finding the cause of health issues rather than just treating symptoms.
“Our goal is to make you the best version of you,” he said. “We all practice what you guys preach. … When you come see us, we’re going to work on your journey — what you want to get out of life.”
He emphasized the importance of stress management, diet and exercise in functional medicine.
“I always tell my patients exercising 30 minutes, five days a week, results in a 70% reduction in all causes of mortality. That is a big deal. It’s not blood pressure control and diabetes and cholesterol,” he said. “Make your patients move. That is our goal.”
How to help employees, residents with wellness
Dotts further asked about physical wellness strategies that businesses can implement to support employees.
Price explains that burnout is a significant issue in the substance use and mental health fields.
“It goes back to what the doctor was saying about stress and people aren’t taking care of themselves,” he said. “If I’m just exhausted and drained all the time, and I don’t want to go to the gym, then I’m more depressed because I didn’t go to the gym. And it can spiral out of control.”
Price also mentioned that many employees use their job as their self-care program, which is not sustainable in the long run.
Anderson went further to suggest that employers can and do offer benefits that help workers physically, mentally and financially, but the rank and file don’t always know about them.
“One of the biggest challenges any business owner or business has is keeping and retaining the right employees. And the more benefits you can give to your employees, the more likely they are to stay,” he said. “If they feel like you are investing in them, in their well-being, from a health standpoint, mental health standpoint, functional longevity standpoint, they’re more likely to stay.”
He said helping employees find ways to successfully manage their finances can have a significant return on investment for business owners when that stressor is removed from workers.
“I think the statistic is like 80% of employees do all of their financial planning and most of their health stuff at work,” he said. When I bring on board a new client, whether it’s a business owner, an employee, I love to look at their benefit package … so I can see if they’re in the right plan for their situation.”
Community wellness in Peachtree Corners
Wright went over community wellness initiatives in Peachtree Corners.
“In 2012 there was no gathering place. We were just a commuter city — a series of neighborhoods that kind of slide together. The Forum was our de facto downtown,” he said.
One of the things that the city was very intentional about was creating a place for folks to gather.
“According to some stats I looked up, they’re talking about an epidemic of loneliness in the country,” he said. “The report said one in three adults in the United States suffers from loneliness, and it said that the physical impact of loneliness was the equivalent of smoking 15 cigarettes.”
With foreknowledge of this issue, city leaders created the Town Center as a place to gather.
“Humans want to commune with each other. It’s good for us,” he said. “I’m a member of the YMCA and when it closed for COVID I was in a class that immediately started meeting out on the Town Green because we sort of desperately needed that human connection.”
He added that the plan is to continue in that direction. The city has created venues for people to gather and connect, such as the Town Green and various parks. It has also invested in infrastructure, such as sidewalks and trails, to encourage physical activity.
But it doesn’t mean anything if it’s not utilized.
“There will be a calendar that will be launched soon to be a community calendar, basically anything going on in Peachtree Corners, including PCBA events,” he said. “It will be a one stop shop that’s all about getting people out, giving you opportunities to be around other people, and combating the physical issues of isolation.”
For more about the PCBA and upcoming events, visit peachtreecornersba.com.
Local small business owner has found a way to keep mosquitos at bay with natural remedies
Geoff Krstovic, a former firefighter, transitioned into the mosquito control business after a divorce, driven by the desire for flexible work.
“Nobody ever thinks they’re going to be into bugs and chemistry when they grow up,” he said. “It’s not like, ‘I want to be a firefighter. I want to be an astronaut.’ Nobody thinks that they want to go out there whacking bugs or says, ‘I want to be in pest control.’”
But as he progressed in his new career, Krstovic took an interest in how to get rid of pests without using harsh, man-made chemicals.
“The more certifications, the more promotions and everything that I got, [and] the more entomology classes I started taking, … I really started to realize what we were putting out into the environment,” he said.
“I spend 90% of my time outside, and I see so much wildlife. So, when I would see a deer eating a leaf or a rabbit run out of bushes that I just treated, it really made me start to think about the effects of what we were doing to them.”
Not to mention pollinators like bees and butterflies.
“When I [would finish a treatment], I’d look back at the yard and everything that I’d seen flying around was just gone,” he said.
As a parent and a pet owner, he knew there had to be a better way to get rid of pests but still safeguard ourselves and the animals around us.
With a growing concern for the environmental impact, he developed a natural mosquito treatment system. The company he was working for wasn’t interested in his new product, so he started his own business.
Road to pest control
Krstovic graduated from Georgia State with a major in English. He joked that many of his contemporaries in the field have similar backgrounds.
“There’s an ongoing joke in the pest community where it’s like … what do you go to college [for] to be a pest [control] owner? Well, you major in liberal arts, English or writers’ composition,” he said.
“A lot of the other owners I met had the same degrees. A big part of it is that creativity aspect, and in pest control, you’re allowed to think outside the box, and you’re allowed to adjust and adapt to what you’re seeing and use different methods.”
That desire to do things differently led him to find a way to help keep people safe from West Nile, Zika virus and Eastern equine encephalitis while they enjoyed time outdoors.
With a lot of research and a little help from relatives with backgrounds in chemistry and engineering, he came up with a formulation based on using essential oils.
The dangers of mosquitos
“After you meet your first client that tells you about their experience just walking to a mailbox and they get West Nile, it changes your perspective 100%,” Krstovic said, “because you’re not just out there killing bugs, you’re out there protecting people and their families.”
Mosquitos are often called the most dangerous animal on earth, with the diseases they spread killing over a million people annually according to statistics from the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control.
While the more serious mosquito diseases don’t pose the greatest risk to most communities, there are common ailments that can show up in people and pets, including bites that get infected and heartworm in dogs.
Reaching out to the community
Though people were a little skeptical about Krstovic’s natural pest control methods at first, Erin Rhatigan decided to give it a try.
“Geoff cold-called our house in 2021 and revealed that he actually grew up in the house next door,” she said. “He really wanted to return to his roots and offer his services.”
Rhatigan has three young children, and with her home being situated on the Chattahoochee River, the outdoor areas are beautiful, but also plagued by a lot of mosquitos.
“We’re very focused on spending time outside, and our kids are very, very active, so they’re outside a lot,” she said.
But Rhatigan and her kids are also very sensitive to mosquito bites, and the spraying services she tried year after year weren’t satisfactory.
“I had gone through every franchise. I had used the large companies every season. I was switching because it seemed like it would be effective at the beginning, and then it would lose effectiveness,” she said.
She was also concerned about the toxicity of the chemicals being used.
“I felt like using toxic chemicals on our property was not only bad for our family, but because we are on the river, we’re kind of a steward to the environment as well, … so when he mentioned that the product that he uses to control the mosquitoes was eco-friendly, I was happy to try it,” she shared.
Local solution gets a local investor
The treatment was so effective that Rhatigan isn’t just a customer, she and her husband decided to invest in the business.
“It was better than anything I had used for the previous 10 years,” she said. “The amazing thing is that when he sprays the property, you have this effervescence of the essential oils in the air.”
She recommended Geo Mosquito to everyone who’d listen to her, and eventually Krstovic took over maintaining the facilities at Rhatigan’s community pool.
“[What he was doing] kind of piqued my husband’s and my interest because we were looking for a small business to invest in locally,” she said. “I’m now home with the kids, but I have a long career in sales, and my husband is in sales as well.”
Within a year, the couple became active investors.
“We love the origin story of this relationship because it’s reflective of how friendly and supportive the local business community is in Peachtree Corners,” she said.
Caring about the work
Krstovic attributes his success to caring about the work, attention to detail and understanding client needs. He doesn’t just spray the yard and leave; he has a system of mapping out problem areas and educating clients about prevention.
“We’re looking at anything that could hold a water source and eliminating that, asking our clients what time of the day they’re getting eaten up, what part of their body and what part of their yard,” he said.
“That helps us figure out the species of mosquito that’s attacking them, so we know where to target, because different species have different nesting sites.”
Growing the business
Geo Mosquito has begun working with Vox-pop-uli to upgrade their logo, website and promotional materials.
“Geoff is a typical entrepreneur — protective of what he’s doing,” Rhatigan said. “So going through the steps of changing the logo, coming up with a new tagline, starting to do some marketing, is both exciting and a little scary.”
But the team at Vox-pop-uli has been a tremendous resource — helping them go at their own pace.
“This first year of investment was about seeing what the market interest is and expanding brand awareness,” said Rhatigan. “Vox-pop-uli offers so many services, it’s daunting for an emerging company to manage so many different contractors: creative, graphic design, printing, mailing. But they have a great, responsive organization that has been very helpful.”
Next steps
With a proprietary formulation for the mosquito abatement, Geo Mosquito wants to bottle the solution and sell it nationally.
Additionally, in 2025, the company plans to expand into ecofriendly pest control services for inside the home. They are also interested in working with local municipalities, churches and schools to expand their mosquito control services.
The Local Thread: This business profile series is proudly supported by Vox-pop-uli, championing local stories and the communities we serve.
This article is also available in the print and digital edition of the Jan/Feb issue of Southwest Gwinnett magazine.
Photos courtesy of Geo Mosquito.
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