green/sustainability GS
Wednesday September 29
8:00 am – 9:00 am
GS-01 Lighting Efficiency Developments
Kurt Schwabauer, CLEP
WSI Lighting
Efficient lighting is one of the largest, if not the largest, cost savings opportunity for commercial buildings. Lighting efficiency technology and legislative regulations are undergoing an almost breathtaking development pace. Claims from multitudes of developers and manufacturers promise fabulous performance and savings. What’s coming and how much of it is useful for existing facility managers today? At the same time new governmental regulations are shaping the future of lighting. It is difficult to find out about all of the new legislation and rulings. To most users they are a confusing jumble of requirements and schedules from different government agencies. What does the existing facility manager really need to know?
Kurt is an MBA and holds a CLEP certification (Certified Lighting Efficiency Professional) through the Association of Energy Engineers. For the last eight years he has been focused on the design and installation of energy efficiency lighting upgrades and retrofits. Prior to that, he had an extensive 20+ year management background in systems engineering, project management, and product development.
9:45 am – 10:30 am
GS-02 Demystifying GBCI’s Credential Maintenance Program for LEED Professionals
Jessica Pascoe
USGBC Colorado
Jessica Pascoe
This session provides an overview of GBCI’s Credential Maintenance Program for LEED professionals. Session will address new continuing education requirements for LEED professionals, and outlines opportunities available through the Colorado Chapter to meet these requirements. Self-reporting of continuing education hours will also be addressed.
Jessica Pascoe is the Director of Education for the U.S. Green Building Council Colorado Chapter. Ms. Pascoe was formerly the Director of Environmental Sustainability for Lewis and Clark Community College and the Director of Education for the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center in Godfrey, IL. While at Lewis and Clark, she helped form the Illinois Community College Sustainability Network (ICCSN) and was involved in the planning process for NGRREC’s LEED registered Confluence Field Station. Jessica has a bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College.
9:45 am – 10:30 am
GS-03 So You Want to Go Solar…
John Thornton
Thornton Solar Consulting
John Thornton
The presentation will include an update of the latest developments in PV technologies and systems, including thin-film PV and building integrated PV (BIPV) as well as a glimpse of what PV technologies of 2025 might look like. Current issues of interest such as current prices of cells and systems; state and federal incentives; the pros and cons between purchasing or leasing a PV system, or even building one yourself; how to determine the value of a PV system; and whether the time is ripe to procure one now will also be addressed.
John Thornton has been in the PV and solar thermal business for 46 years, 28 years of which he spent at NREL. At NREL, he was a Principal Engineer in the National Center for Photovoltaics and led the Domestic PV Applications Development Group. Known in the industry as “MR PV”, he left NREL in June 2006 to consult in solar technologies as well as sustainable buildings and communities. He holds an Emeritus appointment at NREL, which in his opinion is the finest research organization in the world. Currently, he is principal of his own consulting company, Thornton Solar Consulting LLC.
11:00 am – 11:45 am
GS-04 LEED-EB and Other Green Initiatives; Avoiding Legal Traps
Paul Franke
Isaacson Rosenbaum P.C.
Paul Franke
The presentation will cover various legal traps and hazards that the LEED existing buildings certification process poses for property owners and building managers and their engineers. Topics covered will include scheduling, commissioning, product defects, the role of the USGBC in the certification process, and on-going monitoring/compliance issues. The presenters will also provide an update on the insurance markets and the various insurance products that are now being offered to LEED EB projects in the casualty, property, environmental, builder’s risk, surety and E&O insurance lines.
Paul Franke can point to many distinguished, high-profile projects throughout Denver and Colorado for which he’s done work, including Coors Field, Castle Rock Factory Outlets, Hotel Teatro and Buffalo Ridge Apartments in Avon. But he gets the most satisfaction working with organizations like Mercy Housing, an affordable housing developer.
Paul is a member of Isaacson Rosenbaum’s Real Estate and Sustainable Development practice. He has extensive experience in real estate, corporate and commercial finance matters and works with a variety of clients, including buyers and sellers, landlords and tenants, banks and other financial institutions, and commercial and residential developers.
11:00 am – 11:45 am
GS-04 LEED-EB and Other Green Initiatives; Avoiding Legal Traps
Janet McDaniel, LEED AP
Isaacson Rosenbaum P.C.
Legal hazards and risks for LEED EB Projects.
Janet McDaniel
Janet Lawler McDaniel reinforces her litigation counsel with 15 years of industry experience and a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) accreditation from the U.S. Green Building Council. This unique combination of expertise and familiarity with her client’s business and financial goals give Janet valuable perspective when approaching litigation work. Today, she focuses her Isaacson Rosenbaum practice on construction and real estate litigation, as well as construction and design contracts. Prior to studying law, Janet worked for general contractors in Florida and Colorado as a project executive, project manager and project engineer, and as a private construction management consultant.
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
GS-05 Xeriscaping: Saving Water on the Outside.
Marcia M. Pryor, CLT, LEED AP, and Nate Adams, Brickman Group
Xeriscaping and Water Management are each an important part of site sustainability, LEED certification and saving energy. As more and more building owners and managers are looking into ways of becoming “green” or cut costs and save your money, these two topics address most actions to be made in the landscape. Join two seasoned landscape professionals and learn the seven principles of Xeriscape –that is Xeriscape not Zeroscape. In addition, dive deeper into landscape water management. Learn about simple changes that can be made to improve your irrigation system, rebates currently offered and about the latest irrigation components being installed.
Marcia Pryor
Marcia Mosbarger Pryor – Account Manager / Business Development Associate / LEED-AP / Landscape Architect for The Brickman Group, Ltd., LLC
Marcia is a Colorado licensed Landscape Architect with a BS in Landscape Architecture from Colorado State University. She has worked in the Green Industry for 24 years as a Landscape Architect, Account Manager and a Business Development Associate. Marcia is also a Certified Landscape Technician – in Installation. She has a strong understanding of construction and maintenance practices. Her main focus is new business development, brand awareness in the marketplace, key strategic account maintenance and development and LEED education for the Brickman team and customer assistance with LEED certification. She is a member of IFMA, BOMA, ASLA and ALCC. Born and raised in Englewood, she currently resides with her family in Littleton.
Nate Adams
Nate Adams – Branch Manager for The Brickman Group, Ltd., LLC
Nate has a BS dual degree in Ornamental Horticulture and Business from Utah State University. He has worked for Brickman for 7 years starting out as a work order crew leader. Nate was promoted to Maintenance Operations Manager and then later an Account Manager and now to a Branch Manager. Nate has been involved in landscaping in several western states, including Oregon, Idaho, Utah, and Colorado. He was raised in Idaho on a sustainable farm and currently resides with his family in Denver.
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
GS-06 Welcome to ASHRAE 189.1: A New Standard for High-Performance Buildings
Brian Lynch, HBDP, LEED AP
Western Mechanical Solutions
Brian Lynch
Published by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), Standard 189.1 is the first code-intended commercial green building standard in the United States. It covers key topic areas such as site sustainability, water use efficiency, energy ef¬ficiency, indoor environmental quality and the building’s impact on the atmosphere, materials and resources. Standard 189.1 has been written by experts representing all areas of the building industry, including engineers, lighting designers, building owners, designers, architects, code and compliance officials, utilities, materials experts and manufacturers.
Brian Lynch, HBDP, LEED-AP, is a partner with Western Mechanical Solutions, where he focuses on minimizing the energy use of buildings through innovative applications of energy recovery and energy efficiency equipment. Brian is a graduate of Colorado State University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.
He is actively involved with the ASHRAE at the Society level as the Chair of the ASHRAE High-Performance Building Design Professional certification committee and Secretary of the ASHRAE Standard 55 Committee (SSPC 55), Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy. He is a Past President of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of ASHRAE.
Thursday September 29
8:00 am – 9:00 am
GS-07 Justifying LEED-EB O&M for Your Facility
Michael Levingston, LEED AP O&M
Enermodal Engineering
Everyone is talking about LEED for Existing Buildings. But who’s actually doing it? Hear firsthand experiences from people who have been through the LEED-EB O&M process and succeeded. Find out what they did right, what they did wrong, and what they would do if they had to do it all over again.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the pros/cons of LEED-EB O&M certification.
- Identify no cost steps you can take towards LEED-EB O&M.
- Learn about the common mistakes made during the LEED-EB O&M process, and techniques for avoiding them.
- Evaluate whether or not LEED-EB O&M is appropriate for your institution.
Michael Levinson has been an energy efficiency and sustainability analyst for 7 years. Currently, he serves as a LEED Existing Building Operations and Maintenance consultant for Enermodal Engineering. Michael specializes in the development of database energy audit tools for utility and load analysis, the assessment of financial performance of energy efficient improvements, and LEED certification services. Michael has also helped clients identify and successfully apply for over 4.5 million dollars in energy efficiency incentive and loan programs. Most recently, he served as the LEED consultant for the Silver LEED EB O&M certification of the Missouri Botanical Garden Monsanto Center.
9:45 am -10:30 am
GS-08 Understanding Design & Performance of Geo-Thermal Projects
Trey Austin, CEM, CGD, LEED AP
Geoenergy Services, LLC
Trey Austin
This discussion will provide information on fundamental design considerations for new construction and retrofit projects that evaluate the use of ground source heat pump systems. Topics include basic site constraints, good design practices for the ground heat exchanger as well as optimal interior HVAC layout design, and considerations when commissioning or operating the system.
Mr. Austin is a Certified Energy Manager (CEM), a Certified GeoExchange Designer (CGD), and a LEED AP. His expertise focuses on energy analysis and optimization of HVAC design, operation, and commissioning and integrating technology specific solutions. He has 15 years of experience with research, design, and consulting for ground source heat pump systems. He was recently elected to the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association’s Advisory Council. He has worked on projects ranging from a single-unit residential system up to a multi-campus style system.
9:45 am -10:30 am
GS-09 Saving Polar Bears – It’s the Operations
Katharine (Joni) Teter, Esq, LEED AP, U.S. General Services Administration
Jim Blackledge AIA, LEED AP, NCARB, Strategy Groups, LLC
Great strides have been made in the design and construction of buildings to reduce energy use and related CO2 emissions. But new construction won’t get us where we need to go – we’ve got to address the existing building portfolio through retrofit, renovation and operational strategies that reduce energy use in a continuous improvement model. Jim & Joni will share best practices, lessons learned and strategies gleaned from private sector and government experiences with operating high performance and renovated building, including examples from GSA’s ongoing Recovery Act projects.
Joni Teter
Joni focuses on metering & performance metrics, GHG emissions accounting & facility O&M. Before joining GSA, Joni worked for EPA as a green building and environmental management system expert. She has developed and implemented programs integrating high performance building standards with environmental management system requirements and operational research. Joni teaches part time at Colorado State University and currently leads a trans-Atlantic project aimed at establishing a Sustainable Building research and teaching center at the Universities of Alexandria and Helwan (Cairo). Joni and her husband Matt managed to stay married after designing and building a passive solar, energy-efficient home in Boulder, Colorado.
Jim Blackledge
Jim is a professional with 36 years of significant global accomplishments in Strategic Management, sustainable program development and high performance program implementation. Some of his accomplishments:
Presenter, key note speaker illuminating the benefits of high performance green buildings for the last 7 years.
Member, Board of Directors of Green Ops, Inc. A nonprofit organization dedicated to helping nonprofit organizations become more sustainable.
Owner’s Representative for the design/construction of the EPA Region 8, LEED Gold rated facility.
Completed over 6.0 million square feet of corporate offices
Completed over 1.8 million square feet of hospitality/hotels
Completed over ¾ million square feet of research and technology projects
Professional Organizations: AIA, USGBC Commercial Real Estate Initiative, NCARB
11:00 am – 11:45 am
GS-10 A Tale of Two Schools – Case Study
Stu Reeve, Poudre School District
Jim Faes, CEM, Denver Public Schools
Kinard Middle School located in Poudre School District, Fort Collins, CO and Roberts K-8 School located in Denver Public Schools have many similarities and differences. Both were built by the same general contractor at the same time period in 2005-06. Both have geo exchange heating and cooling systems and nearly identical square footage. However, many of the similarities are offset by significant differences in energy use. This leads to evaluation and questioning about design, engineering, siting, performance, building operations, school district design technical specifications and other factors that help evaluate effectiveness of the many decisions involved. The presentation will visit these factors to help determine lessons learned moving forward.
Stu Reeve
Stu Reeve currently serves as energy manager for the Poudre School District (PSD), Ft. Collins, Colorado. For the past 35 years, he has held several positions in facility services and business services, managing the installation and maintenance of electrical/electronic systems throughout the district. Under Stu Reeve’s leadership, PSD created an energy management plan and an energy efficiency team, which has evolved into an award-winning program, recognized both by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Stu Reeve also spent a great deal of time in renewing PSD partnerships and resources, and in November 2000 saw the goal of a successful $175 million bond election to build more schools come to fruition. To improve the performance of these new schools, the Technical Specifications were updated and a Sustainable Design Guideline and Educational Specification were added to the plan. In 2006 PSD collaborated with The Brendle Group, Inc. and completed a Sustainability Management System and has now incorporated environmental stewardship as a “corporate culture” at PSD. In addition to energy management during the past nine years, Stu has been involved in the district’s integrated/sustainable/high performance design approach to building schools and managing the commissioning services. Zach and Bacon Elementary schools were the first high performance schools in Colorado. Fossil Ridge High School, completed in August 2004, was the first LEED certified high performance school in Colorado and a fourth high performance school, Kinard Junior High, was completed in June of 2006. Rice Elementary was completed in 2007 and Bethke Elementary was completed in July of 2008. Bethke Elementary is the first LEED for Schools certified school in the nation. Examples of large remodeled schools with similar principles include Harris Elementary and Centennial High schools. Stu has been an active member of the Association of Energy Engineers since 1996 and is a founding member and past chairperson for the Colorado Association of School District Energy Managers established in 1998.
Jim Faes
Jim grew up in Denver, attended North Denver HS and then on to University of Northern Colorado for B.A. and M.A. in Industrial Arts Education. He started teaching in 1974 at the high school level in Jefferson County Public Schools. He changed career directions in 1993 when he accepted a Teacher On Special Assignment (TOSA) position in Energy Management. He was trained in energy conservation and management, and charged with setting up a comprehensive program in Jeffco Schools. He received his Certified Energy Manager (CEM) certificate in 1996 and has received extensive training in many aspects of energy management and natural gas procurement. He worked with a group of 3 other CEM’s at Jeffco Schools to develop utility cost and consumption tracking and budgeting for a $13 million annual utility budget.
He has since moved over to Denver Public Schools in 2009 as the Director of Sustainability. This is a new position with many challenges and opportunities. Some of his responsibilities are setting up utility tracking and energy conservation programs district wide and coordinating with Denver Public Schools’ $454 million bond program in all aspects of energy infrastructure improvements. Oversight of $16 million annual utility budget and renewable initiatives are both points he is focusing on as well. One final note is to help bring high performance standards into each phase of bond construction.
1:30 pm – 2:15 pm
GS-11 LEED-EB Best Practices
Amanda Timmons, LEED AP
Ampajen Solutions, LLC
Amanda Timmons
Whether LEED certification or implementing sensible sustainable measures is the goal, this session will share best practices from peers around the country that have attained LEED EB Certification. This session will go beyond low-cost and no-cost measures to include innovative ideas that make financial sense. From site management to water conservation, energy measures to green cleaning… walk away from this session with ideas that will pay back.
Amanda Timmons is a Sustainable Specialist for her business, Ampajen Solutions, and the Sales & Sustainability Manager for Master Klean Janitorial. Amanda has 7½ years experience in the mechanical field and 5 years experience in the janitorial industry. She has focused on the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED program for the past 3½ years, conducts training across the country, and is a LEED consultant. She is the co-chair of BOMA’s Energy & Environment Committee and graduated from Cornell College with majors in International Business and Sociology.