Featured Speakers
Thomas Auer, TRANSSOLAR KlimaEngineering
Thomas is a partner and managing director of Transsolar GmbH, a German engineering firm specialized in energy efficient building design and environmental quality with offices in Stuttgart, Munich and New York. Thomas collaborated with world known architecture firms on numerous international design projects and competitions. A specialist in the fields of integrated building systems and energy efficiency in buildings, Thomas has developed energy and building services concepts for projects around the world noted for their innovative design and energy performance – as integral part of signature architecture. Among his projects in Germany are the Hochtief Prisma naturally-ventilated atrium building in Frankfurt, the new spa in Bad Aibling, and the KfW Westarkade in Frankfurt. The office tower for Manitoba Hydro in downtown Winnipeg, Canada – is considered one of the most energy efficient high rise buildings in North America. Masdar city, a carbon neutral urban development in Abu Dhabi where Transsolar was responsible for the energy concept, was featured on the NY Times cover, Sept 27th 2010 edition. Outside of Transsolar, Thomas is teaching at Yale University and was a visiting professor at the ESA in Paris and other Universities. He speaks frequently at conferences and symposia. In 2010 Thomas received the Treehugger “best of green” award as “best engineer”.
Cole Roberts, PE, Arup
Cole leads the energy and resource sustainability business in Arup’s San Francisco office. Cole specializes in design and consultation in the new and existing built environment. His contributions stem from a background of engineering and business experience that ranges from climate responsive engineering and sustainability consulting to community energy systems, climate positive buildings, and financial analysis. Cole has led dozens of new and retrofit projects to successful third party certification, including numerous internationally award winning platinum and NZE achievements. Additionally, his team has returned to many of these buildings to gauge how they are performing in operation; knowledge that Arup uses to push better design and operational practice. Cole has been a keynote speaker at multiple conferences, an invited speaker at the World Business Council on Sustainable Development, and a published contributor in numerous professional journals. He is a frequent guest lecturer at Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley, the California College of Arts, and the Pacific Energy Center.
http://www.arup.com/
Michael Murray, CEO. Lucid Design Group
Michael is one of Lucid's co-founders and has led the company since its inception in 2004, creating important alliances with universities, strategic partners and technical solution partners, and has managed the company's sales and installations nationwide. A LEED® Accredited Professional, he has years of experience working with metering and building automation systems. Prior to joining Lucid, Michael specialized in Ecological Footprint applications for governments, non-profits and corporations with Global Footprint Network. His work included environmental assessments of electric utilities; commercial real-estate corporations; the Australian, British and Canadian governments; and numerous international non-governmental organizations. He has led original research evaluating payback of photovoltaics at the Lewis Center for Environmental Studies in Oberlin, Ohio. Michael holds a BA with highest honors in Environmental Studies from Oberlin College.
http://www.luciddesigngroup.com/
Dr. Iain Walker, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Dr. Iain Walker is a scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). He has more than 20 years of experience as a building scientist and consultant, conducting research on energy use, ventilation, moisture, performance simulation, and commissioning/diagnostic issues in residential buildings. His current work focuses on retrofits, Zero/Low Energy Homes and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems in residential buildings through field and laboratory evaluations, modeling and simulation activities, and standards setting. He is Executive Editor and member of the board of Home Energy magazine. He is the task group leader for the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards committees on building and duct system air leakage and sealant longevity. For the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) he serves on National Standards committees for indoor air quality, weather, moisture design, and equipment air leakage. He also serves on Building Performance Institute (BPI) and Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) Technical Committees, the Affordable Comfort (ACI) conference planning committee and provides leadership and technical input to many local, state, national and international bodies.
http://homes.lbl.gov/projects/deep-energy-retrofits
Judith H. Heerwagen, Ph.D
Judith is an environmental psychologist whose research and writing have focused on social impacts of sustainable design, workplace performance and behavioral change. She currently serves as Program Expert in the Office of Federal High Performance Green Builldings for the U.S. General Services Administration.
For the past ten years, Judith Heerwagen ran her own research and consulting business in Seattle. Previously, she was a research faculty member at the University of Washington, Department of Architecture and a staff scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. At both the University of Washington and PNNL, her research focused on sustainable architecture and the occupant experience in buildings. She has lectured widely on the human factors of sustainable design, workplace productivity, and the impacts of physical space on emotional, social and cognitive functioning. In 2005, she was named Environmental Champion by ASID. She has been a member of the US Green Building Council since 2000 and currently serves as the vice chair of the USGBC research committee. She is a co-editor of Biophilic Design: The Theory, Science and Practice of Bringing Buildings to Life (Wiley, 2008) and author of numerous papers. Dr. Heerwagen received a PhD in psychology from the University of Washington and a BS in communications from the University of Illinois.
http://www.gsa.gov/portal/category/26433/
Clark Brockman, SERA Architects
Clark is Director of SERA Architects’ Sustainability Resources Group. He is a founding and current board member of the International Living Future Institute and a former Chair of the Board of Directors of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council. He speaks nationally on sustainability and the impact of the built environment on climate change, and he serves as a green building advisor to a variety of cities and counties as well as the State of Oregon and members of Oregon’s federal delegation.
Cathy Higgins, New Building Institute
As NBI Program Director, Cathy directs large research projects, manages the project portfolio and supports business development. She currently leads a California Energy Commission PIER research effort on Evidence-based Design and Operations, national research into deep energy savings in existing buildings, and supports on the Advanced Lighting Guidelines. Her work on the project, business and energy performance stories of high performance buildings is a part of NBI’s efforts to move the market toward zero-net energy targets. Cathy co-chaired the Benchmarking and Performance Assurance working group of the DOE Zero Energy Commercial Buildings Consortium and is involved with regional and national efforts to increase measured performance data. Cathy has over 25 years experience in energy efficiency strategic planning, policy and large-scale project management. Prior to joining NBI in 2000, she served as Director of the Oregon Municipal Energy and Conservation Agency and was a Commercial Conservation Manager with Bonneville Power Administration. Cathy is a LEED Accredited Professional and was a past recipient of the National Energy Manager of the year through the Association of Professional Energy Managers. Her undergraduate studies were in urban and resource planning, with graduate work in energy economics. Her management skills and enthusiasm for improving building efficiency keep NBI’s projects at the forefront of the industry.
Chris Pyke, Ph.D. Director of Research, U.S. Green Building Council
Christopher Pyke, Ph.D. serves as Research Director at The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Dr. Pyke joins USGBC from CTG Energetics in Irvine, Calif., where he was National Director of Climate Change Services. He has a strong background of leadership in green building research to USGBC, underscoring its commitment toraising the bar on research related to green building science and technology, including the performance of LEED-certified buildings. He has worked with USGBC in the past, most recently contributing technical support to the development of the rating systems under LEED v3 and as a subject matter expert for the development of USGBC’s 200-level LEED education curriculum. Dr. Pyke has a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Chris Chatto, ZGF
Chris Chatto is a Sustainable Design Specialist. He focuses on optimizing building efficiencies, from energy and daylighting studies in early project development to tracking the performance of completed projects, to monitoring the energy performance of ZGF projects in the context of the 2030 Challenge. Chris developed an expertise in daylighting, climate analysis and bioclimatic design for high performance buildings while working with the BetterBricks Integrated Design Labs at the University of Oregon and University of Washington.
Josh Hatch, Brightworks
With engineering degrees from Stanford and Cornell and consulting and research experience at Rocky Mountain Institute and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Josh brings an energy engineering focus to Brightworks. He is especially interested in energy systems and carbon footprint analysis and has provided advising for net-zero buildings, energy efficiency programs, renewable energy resource assessments, sustainability metrics development, renewable energy policy effectiveness and smart grid concepts. He regularly facilitates sustainable design charrettes and has and spoken at national conferences including West Coast Green and the Oregon Sustainable Building Expo. Josh has published research on fossil fuel carbon emissions and also serves as the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Chair of the Carbon Analysis Committee, developing their newest CO2 Calculator for the 2010 AIA Portland Design Award competition.
Michael Armstrong, City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability
Michael Armstrong is the Policy, Research and Innovation Manager for the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. His responsibilities include policy and programs addressing climate change, energy efficiency, renewable energy, waste prevention and recycling, sustainable food systems, green building, historic resources, and planning for economic development, housing, and asset management. Michael coordinated the public processes that led to Portland and Multnomah County’s 2001 Local Action Plan on Global Warming and 2009 Climate Action Plan and tracks the implementation of local carbon-reduction efforts. He has staffed Portland’s involvement in Oregon Public Utility Commission proceedings, the citizen Peak Oil Task Force, and the city’s sale of carbon offsets to private purchasers.
Michael received an M.P.A. from Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs, a B.A. from Cornell University, and attended Deep Springs College.
http://www.portlandonline.com/bps/index.cfm?
Lisa Petterson, Associate Principal
For the past 25 years, Lisa has focused her work on the development of green building projects, with a focus on lighting and daylighting. In addition to being an Associate Principal at SERA, she is the Co-founder and manager of SERA’s Sustainability Resources Group (SuRG). Her leadership in integrated design and incorporating sustainability at the earliest stage of projects has been instrumental in making SERA a leader in sustainable design. Lisa’s dual role as a project architect focused on “deep green” design and as a daylighting/sustainable design specialist, gives her a unique insight into the importance that proper architectural design plays in good daylighting and how design affects light quality. She is very familiar with the research supporting the use of daylight to improve worker productivity and to enhance learning, and speaks nationally on the topic. Her current work on net-zero energy buildings has led her to develop climate metrics and early design tools to more deeply integrate data-driven design into SERA’s work.
http://www.serapdx.com/
Margarette Leite, Assistant Professor, Portland State University
Margarette Leite teaches architecture at Portland State University and is a partner in PLDP architects, a Portland firm that designs and promotes sustainable buildings and communities with particular emphasis on disaster relief. Her firm’s “Nomikos House” was featured on the Discovery Channel as one of the “World’s Greenest Homes” and the firm’s current work includes the design of a community center in Houston for victims of Hurricane Katrina. In her academic work she strives to engage architecture students in real world design issues focusing on sustainable solution sought in collaboration with community and industry partners. She worked with Pacific Green Innovations to construct a demonstration home for victims of the Haiti earthquake on campus giving PSU students hands on construction experience with a unique recycled paper panel system. She has involved her students in a number of projects with local school districts for the design of sustainable learning spaces which have been the subject of numerous films and articles. Currently she is at the forefront of a statewide initiative to build a greener, affordable modular classroom. This project is part of the Governor’s “Oregon Solutions” program and serves as a platform for exploring ways in which environmentally responsive design can be scaled to the level of mass-production where it has the potential to transform the marketplace.
http://pdx.edu/architecture/margarette-leite
Sergio Palleroni, Associate Professor, Portland State University
Sergio Palleroni is a Senior Fellow of the new Center for Sustainable Solutions at Portland State University, and a founding member and faculty of the federally funded Green Building Research Lab. Professor Palleroni's research and fieldwork for the last two decades has been in the methods of integrating sustainable practices to improve the lives of communities worldwide typically underserved. In 1988, to serve the needs of these communities he founded an academic outreach program that would later become the BASIC Initiative (www.basicinitiative.org), a service-learning fieldwork program. Each year, the BASIC Initiative challenges students from the United States and abroad to apply their education in service of underserved communities around the globe. Today, the BASIC Initiative continues to serve the poor in Asia, Latin America, Africa and the U.S. In addition, Professor Palleroni has worked and been a consultant on sustainable architecture and development in the developing world since the 1980s, both for not-for-profit agencies and governmental and international agencies such as UNESCO, World Bank, and the governments of China, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nicaragua and Taiwan.
http://pdx.edu/architecture/sergio-palleroni
Corey Griffin, Assistant Professor, Portland State University
Corey Griffin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture at Portland State University, teaching design, structures and building technology courses. He studies the potential of integrating architectural design with engineering and construction to create more sustainable built environments. His structures courses focus on decisions architects make that can reduce the environmental impact of a building. In his research, Griffin focuses on building longevity and the role of structure in integrated design as critical components of sustainable architecture.
http://pdx.edu/architecture/corey-griffin
Sean Penrith, Earth Advantage Institute
Since 2005, Sean Penrith and his team have successfully grown Earth Advantage Institute (EAI), into a leading program provider and think-tank to devise creative green building programs, market mechanisms, and climate change solutions for the built environment. EAI operates nationally and offers a suite of certification programs that cover new construction, existing homes, commercial, and community development.
He believes that carbon mitigation solutions and voluntary carbon markets have a pivotal role to play in the built environment, and would further catalyze the green building movement. To this end, he champions the Energy Performance Score (EPS) asset-rating label in use across the U.S. He is vice chair on the board of The Climate Trust and chairs their Offsets Program Committee.
Sean frequently presents on topics that include green building, deep carbon reduction strategies, the future of sustainability, ecosystem services, green value propositions, benchmarking buildings, and climate change. He sat on the Bureau of Development Services’ Technical Advisory Group, on the selection committee for the Oregon Sustainability Center feasibility program, on the Executive Committee of the Green Building Council for HBA Metro, and sat on the Governor’s Energy Efficiency ’09 Work Group that was tasked with defining legislative language that centered on energy efficiency in the built environment that aligns with Oregon’s climate goals.
http://www.earthadvantage.org/
Ann Hushagen, Oregon Department of Energy
Ann Hushagen has been an energy analyst for the Oregon Department of Energy for 10 years. She provides technical assistance to state agencies and design professionals in conjunction with the State Energy Efficient Design (SEED) program. She helps state agencies meet the mandate of the SEED program which requires newly constructed or significantly remodeled buildings to incorporate all cost effective energy conservation measures and perform 20% better than code. She has her bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Portland State University.
Vincent Martinez – Director of Research, Architecture 2030
Mr. Martinez is the Director of Research for Architecture 2030, whose mission is to rapidly transform the Building Sector from the major contributor of greenhouse gas emissions to a central part of the solution to the climate change, energy consumption, and economic crises. As Architecture 2030’s primary researcher for the nearly six years, Mr. Martinez is responsible for in-depth technical information and data analysis. Additionally, Mr. Martinez is the head of the Architecture 2030 Seattle office and leads Architecture 2030’s involvement in the AIA+2030 Professional Educational Series and the Seattle 2030 District, in which he sits on the Board of Directors.
Profile
The Green Building Research Lab »
Supporting fundamental and applied research relevant to the green building industry, and serving as a teaching resource for students studying building