Season 4 is here! Hosts Charlie Jelen and Dan Gentry are back in the studio, fresh off the floor at AHR 2026 in Las Vegas, where the Cool Air, Hot Takes™ booth was open for business, t-shirts were flying, and the industry had lots to say. 

This week, Charlie and Dan break down their hot takeaways from the expo — from the CDU arms race taking over every corner of the exhibit hall, to a surprising surge in electrification energy that nobody quite saw coming.  

Live from the AHR Expo floor, we hear from:  

1. Allison Clements, Design Engineers: A hot take on the gap between elegant design and real-world operability and why your maintenance guy needs to be in the room. 
2. Ray Reiling, Trade Water: Why end-of-life refrigerant is everybody's problem and almost nobody's responsibility, and what you can do about it. 
3. David & Conrad Bishop, Twin Bishop Strategies: How the service industry is about to get hit hard by the scale of data center growth and why working smarter isn't optional anymore. 
4. Spencer Ingaldson, Darcy Solutions: Groundwater-enabled geothermal that delivers 50x the capacity of a traditional well. Yes, really.  

We want your hot takes and questions! Email [email protected], drop a comment on YouTube or Spotify, or leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. Don't forget to rate and follow, too! 
 
Cool Air, Hot Takes™ is a Trane Commercial podcast exploring bold innovations, emerging trends, and game-changing tech in HVAC, energy, and the built environment. Learn more at trane.com/coolairhottakes. 

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