ASHRAE is one of the groups that have agreed to incorporate “resilience” into building design, planning and construction to make the nation’s infrastructure more secure.

The society was one of the HVAC construction signatories to a joint statement on resilience issued this week at the National Building Museum, where a major exhibition, “Designing for Disaster,” presents design and building solutions for disaster mitigation, opened Sunday.

“The built environment industry strives to design, construct and operate buildings to withstand both natural disasters and man-made hazards,” said Bill Bahnfleth, president of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers. “We must use the knowledge gleaned from disasters like the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Superstorm Sandy, last year’s Oklahoma City tornado and others, as well as predictions of the effects of climate change, to our advantage to save lives and infrastructure in the future. ASHRAE is pleased to stand beside these other organizations in making this commitment to protect the public and building stock.”

The statement is available here.