ASHRAE NextGen Leaders Share How Young Engineers Are Reshaping HVAC's Future
Three emerging leaders from ASHRAE's NextGen committee recently outlined the priorities and perspectives shaping how engineers under 35 view the HVAC industry, touching on workforce development, decarbonization timelines, and what makes the trade attractive to newcomers.
Elise Kiland, Liz Jedrlinic, and Drew Samuels—all active in ASHRAE's Young Engineers in ASHRAE (YEA) program—discussed the generation gap in HVAC during a recent industry podcast. The conversation centered on how younger engineers approach system design differently than their predecessors, particularly around electrification mandates and refrigerant transitions that will dominate the next decade.
The NextGen demographic brings different expectations to the table. These engineers grew up with building automation as standard, view heat pumps as default equipment rather than specialty installs, and expect employers to have clear sustainability roadmaps. They're also more likely to job-hop if professional development stalls—the average tenure for engineers under 30 in mechanical contracting is now under three years, compared to eight-plus years for those over 45.
For contractors, the takeaway is operational. If your company doesn't have someone under 35 in a visible role—project management, design review, client-facing估—you're likely losing bids to competitors who do. Commercial clients increasingly ask about team composition during RFP interviews, and younger engineers signal to building owners that your firm understands modern code requirements and low-GWP refrigerant transitions.
What Contractors Should Do This Quarter
Start by auditing your recruitment language. Job postings that emphasize decades of legacy experience without mentioning BIM, Revit, energy modeling software, or decarbonization projects get scrolled past. Younger candidates want to see that you're bidding ground-source heat pump projects, not just maintaining legacy boiler systems. If you're still running AutoCAD 2015 and haven't touched Trane Trace or eQuest, that's a red flag to new hires who spent four years learning current tools.
Consider sending mid-level staff to ASHRAE chapter meetings specifically to connect with YEA members. These are engineers two to five years out of school who are already PE-track and looking for companies that will fund their BEAP or HFDP certifications. The cost is minimal compared to turnover expenses, and you're building a pipeline before competitors do.
The broader question for the industry: as manual J calculations get automated and equipment selections shift toward all-electric defaults, will the next generation of engineers even recognize the systems we're servicing today? That knowledge transfer window is narrowing faster than most owners realize.
Read full article →Source — HPAC Engineering