While You're At It: Mining Energy Savings in the Alteration of Existing Buildings

In recent years technology, economics and environmental concerns have converged to create new interest in the possibility of making existing buildings more energy efficient. Much of the work we do as small firms and small project architects and builders involves existing buildings and their alteration. This means that we are likely to pay more attention to energy savings as a design goal or at least as a more important factor in the design process.

At the November Small Firm Forum meeting we will look at the process of thinking about energy efficiency from the beginning of a project and how there may be opportunities which might appeal to our clients in a project that does not even have as its main purpose making a building more energy efficient. We will look at the methods available to us now, some of which were not available only a few years ago, to evaluate the opportunities to save energy. We will look at the effort and expense needed to explore the opportunities. We will look at the benefits that may accrue to our clients and how some of these efforts will have offsetting costs. We will also look at how these efforts can affect our designs and how some notions must be brought into our thinking at an early stage of the process.

Our presentation and discussion will be led by two known experts in the field of construction and energy saving design.

Michael McCutcheon
President, McCutcheon Construction, Inc.

Michael McCutcheon, CGBP, is the owner of McCutcheon Construction, Inc. in Berkeley, California, an award-winning, nationally recognized firm with about 40 employees. Since he started "working with his tools" and then built his business from the ground up, Michael is able to speak on many of the typical stages of building a successful company. Michael speaks and writes frequently on industry topics and is active in local industry groups including NARI, the Splinter Group, and the Green Building Professionals Guild.


Adam Winter
Senior Vice President of Building Science, Sustainable Spaces, Inc.

Adam brings to Sustainable Spaces a wealth of experience, ranging from project management to environmental restoration. He currently oversees all remediation operations and acts as lead consultant to some of the Bay Area’s top green contractors, architects, and developers.

Adam moved to San Francisco after completing a Bachelor of Science in Renewable Resource Management at University of British Columbia (UBC) and running environmental and watershed restoration projects throughout the province. Adam changed career courses upon his arrival in San Francisco to focus on project management in the technology field, implementing sales force automation systems for a world-wide sales force and managing software development for a fast paced startup.

Having returned to his environmental calling as a core member of the Sustainable Spaces Team, Adam is trained in a wide range of building science disciplines. He is a certified Green Building Professional and GreenPoints Rater.

11/5/09

Small Firm Forum: While You're At It - Mining Energy Savings in the Alteration of Existing Buildings

Donald Wardlaw, AIA will examine the design process of energy efficiency through all stages of a project. He will introduce new methods and explain the effort and expense needed to obtain the benefits of energy efficient design.

Time: Noon - 1:30pm

Location: AIA East Bay Chapter Office, 1405 Clay Street, Oakland.

Contact: 510/464-3600

Cost: Free for AIA East Bay Chapter Members; $3 for non-members.

1.5 CES/LU - HSW/SD TBD

For more information: 510/464-3600