Zero Net Energy Buildings: Reality or Fiction?

Speakers

Definitions and Metrics

Paul Torcellini, PhD

National Renewable Energy Laboratory
e-mail | web site

Paul A. Torcellini is section supervisor for commercial buildings research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory. He has a Master's and PhD in mechanical engineering from Purdue University. Paul is on the adjunct faculty at Colorado School of Mines.

Torcellini is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA), and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

Paul Schwer, PE, LEED AP

PAE Consulting Engineers
e-mail | web site

Paul Schwer is president of PAE Consulting Engineers in Portland, Oregon. PAE is a mechanical/electrical design firm that specializes in integrated sustainable design for buildings. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Bucknell University, and is a registered Professional Engineer in four states. Over the last 20 years, Paul has designed mechanical systems for a number of public and private buildings both nationally and internationally.

Schwer spent two years as an adjunct faculty member of New York University and is currently an adjunct faculty member of the University Of Oregon Department Of Architecture. He is a LEED Accredited Professional currently working on over two dozen projects pursuing USGBC LEED certification. Several of these projects are pursuing LEED Platinum ratings. Paul is also actively involved with The Natural Step (TNS).

Clark Brockman

SERA Architects, Inc.
e-mail | web site

Clark Brockman is director of SERA Architects' sustainability resource team. He is the chair of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council board of directors and serves on the Oregon Natural Step's advisory board. He has served in a green building advisory capacity to Portland's Office of Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Commission, City Commissioner Dan Saltzman, the Portland Development Commission, Multnomah County, Clackamas County, the Oregon Business Council, the Governor of Oregon, and Oregon Congressman David Wu's office. He is also a frequent lecturer and panel participant on sustainable design, green building policy change, and the impact of the built environment on climate change.

Brockman completed a Bachelor of Environmental Design at the University of Colorado, and is a registered architect in Colorado and Washington.

Case Studies

Roger E. Frechette, III, PE, LEED AP

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
e-mail | web site

Roger Frechette is the director in charge of Building Services and Sustainable Engineering for the design firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP. He is a registered professional and mechanical engineer with over 20 years of experience. Frechette is currently leading the engineering team for Burj Dubai, which is planned as the world's tallest building and man-made structure, as well as the "low-energy," high-performance concept Pearl River Tower under construction in Guangzhou, China. His work also includes a diverse group of projects, ranging from laboratories, airports, hospitals, academic buildings and corporate offices to government buildings and museums.

In 2002, Frechette coauthored a document known as the Nantucket Principals, which focuses on the trends and issues that will influence green building and sustainable design in the future. In 2004, Frechette received United States Congressional recognition for his work in building sustainability.

Luke McKneally, AIA, LEED AP

Solar Design Associates
e-mail | web site

Luke McKneally is a registered architect at Solar Design Associates, Inc. with 15 years of diverse design experience. A U.S. Green Building Council LEED accredited design professional, he specializes in energy-efficient, environmentally responsive design and the use of renewable energy in buildings. He is involved in all aspects of the firm's practice including client relations, architectural programming, design and production, project management and LEED certification.

During his first decade of practice, Luke became increasingly involved in sustainability and environmental issues and took a sabbatical to expand his knowledge of living systems. He earned his MS in biology from Harvard, performing his graduate research at the Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Laboratories while also providing weekly presentations at Boston's Museum of Science to broaden public understanding and appreciation of science.

Luke has returned to architecture with the goal to significantly improve environmental stewardship, and is currently focused on Solar Design Associates' "Beyond LEED" program to create ultra-efficient buildings powered by integrated renewable energy systems to achieve carbon neutrality, and require little to no fossil fuels. He has recently contributed to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's "Zero Net Energy Building" Task Force to provide recommendations and guidelines for future Massachusetts state building projects.

Edward H. Brzezowski, PE, LEED AP

Noveda Technologies
e-mail | web site

Edward Brzezowski is a nationally recognized professional mechanical engineer with 30 years of experience. He is currently the director of engineering for the Ferreira Group and president and founder of Noveda Technologies in Branchburg, NJ, where he engineered the first Net Zero Electric Commercial Building in the United States. He is the lead commissioning authority engineer on the new World Trade Center Transportation Hub project in New York City.

Brzezowski has been the recipient of various state and national awards, including the National Award for Energy Innovation from the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Award for Contract Engineering and the National Award for Demand Side Management from Energy User News, Power Sources Manufactures Association Education Award, and the Big "E" Energy Award.

Brzezowski is a graduate of the New Jersey Institute of Technology and holds professional engineering licenses in New York and New Jersey. He is also a LEED® accredited professional, a New Jersey Department of Energy technical analyst, and a member of the American Society for Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and Building Commissioning Association (BCxA).

Report from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development

William Sisson

United Technologies Corporation
e-mail

William Sisson is presently the director of sustainability and since 2006 the co-chair for United Technologies Corporation in the World Business Council for Sustainable Development Energy Efficiency in Buildings Project. Since 1985, he has worked for UTC in a variety of technical and business leadership positions. Most recently, he was director of Carrier R&D Programs, at UTC's central corporate research center, where he was responsible for Carrier's longer range innovation portfolio, with emphasis on energy and environment.

Sisson is an MIT Sloan Fellow since 1999, where he developed a thesis entitled "Fueling Innovation and Growth Strategies using Corporate Venturing". He completed his undergraduate studies at Virginia Tech in Engineering Science and Mechanics, received his MS in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and was awarded an MBA from the Sloan School at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Guy Battle

dcarbon8
e-mail | web site

Guy Battle is an environmental consulting engineer. He is passionate the design and delivery of sustainable solutions within the built environment and is one of the founding partners of consulting engineers BattleMcCarthy.  More recently Battle founded a new carbon management group, dcarbon8 which specializes in the delivery of low carbon solutions for business and buildings.

Battle has worked with many of the world's most renowned architects including Fosters, Richard Rogers, and Frank Gehry. Battle has worked on a number of buildings within the U.S. including the Freedom Tower with SOM, Hudson Yards Masterplan (Cooper Roberston), and the Federal Courthouse, Los Angeles.

Battle is a member of the World Economic Forum where he is part of the Sustainable Buildings Group and has contributed to a number of publications including Sustainable eco-Systems and The Endless City. He also lectures widely having been a visiting professor at IIT, Chicago and a master speaker at the USGBC Annual conference on two occasions.

Financial Incentives and Valuation

Scott Muldavin, CRE, FRICS

The Muldavin Company
e-mail | web site

Scott Muldavin is executive director of the Green Building Finance Consortium, a group he formed in 2006 to enable an assessment of sustainable property investment from a fiduciary/financial perspective. The Consortium is supported by the real estate industry independent of green building product or trade groups. Trade group members and collaborators include the Mortgage Bankers Association, BOMA International, the Pension Real Estate Association, the Urban Land Institute, the National Association of Realtors, the Appraisal Institute, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, and CoreNet Global. Muldavin has been an advisor for over 25 years to many of the nation's leading real estate companies including CalPERS, UBS, RREEF, and Bank of America. Muldavin has led the Muldavin Company for 10 years, been a lead real estate partner at Deloitte & Touché, co-founded the $4+ billion Guggenheim Real Estate investment fund, and served on the Advisory Board of Global Real Analytics, an advisor on nearly $2 billion of REIT and CMBS funds. Muldavin is a counselor of real estate, a fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, and author of over 200 articles on real estate finance, investment, valuation, and sustainability.

Ron Dembo, PhD

Zerofootprint Inc.
web site

Ron Dembo is the founder & CEO of Zerofootprint. Recently nominated for a "Crunchie Award" as most likely to change the world and named "Toronto's Best Green Organization" by blogTO, Zerofootprint's goal is to mobilize and empower large groups of individuals and organizations worldwide to reduce their collective carbon and ecological footprint. Targeting businesses, cities, communities, and schools, Zerofootprint's software helps clients measure and manage their environmental impact and can be accessed easily through the web. Prior to that, Dembo was the founder, CEO, and president of Algorithmics Incorporated. He had a distinguished 10 year academic career at Yale University, authored 3 books, published over 60 technical papers on finance and mathematical optimization, and holds a number of patents in computational finance. A sought-after speaker, he was one of the few individuals to present at the David Suzuki's Foundation Conference last year.

Don Monroe

Don Monroe is a science writer based in Murray Hill, New Jersey. After getting a PhD in physics from MIT, he spent more than fifteen years doing research in physics and electronics technology at Bell Labs. He writes on physics, technology, and biology.