RSES Journal Winter 2025, RETA-RSES

HVACR AT MANY CROSSROADS

The issues facing the HVACR indus try are invariably connected, and they all intersect at the AHR Expo.

BY TERRY MCIVER

E ach year, the AHR Expo brings HVACR applications of every kind, as well as a slate of mainstream and forward-thinking educational content unmatched in number by any other U.S.-based HVACR event. Is it accurate to call 2025-26 the year of the most significant change in the HVACR industry? The answer is yes , because this year’s intersection of monumental chal lenges long in development—mildly-flam mable A2L refrigerants, flammable A3L refrigerants, artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, energy grid concerns and growing the HVACR workforce—are also its most significant challenges. together an astounding number of people and products associated with

AI is reducing the time necessary for system diagnostics and predictive main tenance. With the great expansion of AI, energy grids across the country are being stretched to the max, and it will continue. A2L and A3L refrigerants have replaced popular HFC refrigerants which are no longer used in new HVAC systems, but these new gases require strict adherence to transportation, storage and reclamation/ recycling requirements. Surrounding it all is the need for more than 100,000 new residential and commer cial HVACR technicians to make it all manageable by the end of the decade. As we await the Expo's 2026 rendition in Las Vegas, NV, Feb. 2–4, 2026, we have—

as provided by the International Exposi tion Company—the annual Industry Trend Report of the major issues and activi ties that will drive the industry through the coming year. These observations are provided by representatives of the lead ing HVACR industry organizations, select manufacturers and contractors. A Time Like No Other. No, Really!

Lori Schiavo , Senior Direc tor of Operations, RETA RSES, believes this is indeed a time unlike any other for HVACR; and she’s seen much over 18 years of observing many

22 RSES Journal WINTER 2025

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