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AI in HVACR...Yay or Nay?
Moderator(s): Brenden Lurie ., Lori Schiavo
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Can AI Help Solve Burnout Crisis/Tech Shortage? 0 L. Schiavo Published in the Spring 2023 issue of RSES Journal: Can AI Help Solve Burnout Crisis/Tech Shortage? Spring has already been a whirlwind of activity for and at RSES HQ. Just a few weeks into the season and we have already launched a new website, published a new issue of RSES Journal, collectively travelled to three different Regional events and shows, and witnessed several Chapters hosting training events and meetings. If this is any indication about the remainder of the year, well than I am looking forward to it. Several of the events attended by and/or presented by representatives of RSES are featured in RSES News on pg. 22 of this issue. To sum up my personal travel this Spring, I have to say refrigerants, the AIM Act, heat pumps, SEER 2 and training appeared to be the loudest murmurs on all of the trade show floors. Know that each of these topics offers enough fodder for full-length features, which will be coming in the Summer 2023 Issue of RSES Journal. For the sake of column brevity, I want to focus on the increasingly daunting tech shortage and AI. That’s right, Artificial Intelligence as it relates to a possible AI solution. I struggled with the drive to write about this one, but as I continue to hear more and more about worker “burn out,” I felt compelled to dialogue about it. Years have gone by discussing the upcoming HVACR technician shortage and here we are (17 years later in my personal career), no closer to solving the dilemma. Add a pandemic, a mass retirement movement that took a ton of knowledge with it, a volatile economy and worldwide calamities—that while are not always in our backyard, affect us as if they were—and one cannot help but wonder if there is even a solution that matches the enormity of the problem. We appear to be approaching another tipping point where we can no longer sustain the growth we are presently seeing. There are only so many people to train and employ within the industry. While I want to believe we can solve this through training, recruitment and/or by creating better work environments for everyone involved, alone, I believe that is merely just a small facet of what the problem actually is. Either we decide, collectively, to slow down the growth of production so that it better matches our abilities to maintain systems presently in operation with the resources we presently have—which I cannot see happening; OR we figure out a way to automate more processes and procedures within our industry to keep up with demand. Like it or not, I think AI just might have a bigger future in our industry and likely, in some ways, already does. Although limited (for now) in its abilities within HVACR, I believe we are gearing up for this as our new reality. Our rate of population growth continues to decline, which means there will be fewer and fewer individuals to recruit into our industry. AI appears to be a possible solution to tide us over. We will never be able to replace the skills an actual human being brings to the jobsite each day, but perhaps AI can lighten their workload a bit by having solutions at the ready before they even step foot in their truck. I am curious to know your thoughts. Email me or send me a DM via LinkedIn or Facebook. Lori Schiavo Senior Director of Operations
by L. Schiavo
Wednesday, April 12, 2023

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