My undergraduate degree is in Environmental Studies and Planning from California State University at Sonoma with an emphasis in Energy Management and Design. My coursework included the following: Fundamentals of Energy Use; Solar Energy Direct Uses; Passive Solar Design; Solar Laboratory; and, Energy Management. I also took several computer programming courses.
Between 1982 and 1983 I had a one year paid internship with the Sonoma County Energy Coordinators' office. Duties included: research and report writing/editing; monitoring state/federal energy legislation; office liaison to community-based energy groups and the Sonoma County Planning Department. While serving in the coordinators' office I assisted in the preparation of a base document for an energy element to the county general plan, including an assessment of indigenous energy resources within Sonoma County and their associated environmental impacts and mitigation measures.
For my senior project I designed a geothermal heating system for the entire campus of Sonoma State University. The area is rich in geothermal activity so this was fun as well as educational.
In terms of solar design, the methodology I learned is the one developed by Dr. Douglas Balcomb and the passive solar group of the Los Alamos National Lab in the 1980s. Virtually all solar design guidance for builders and professional to this day is based on their seminal work. He is the primary author of Energy-10 which is one of the most common computer design tool for residential and nonresidential energy-efficient buildings in use today.
I have a Schools Energy Auditor certification from the California Energy Commission #840328. I also received training in California State Energy Standards Title 24 code compliance from the Association of Bay Area Governments. After graduation between 1984 and 1986 I became a founder and senior partner in my own business, Energetic Systems, a commercial and residential building energy analysis firm. Energetic Systems conducted a variety of energetic and related econometric analyses for both the private and public sector. Energetic Systems specialized in California State Energy Standards Title 24 code compliance. Customers consisted of architects, general contractors, builders, developers and homeowners. Energetic Systems used energy analysis computer programs including: CALPAS; F-CHART; DOE-2.1B, MICROPAS and SUNPAS. Energetic Systems conducted an energy management analysis of Wells Fargo Bank Building in downtown San Francisco which led to the installation of an efficiency system with a payback of 1.2 years.
Earlier this year I completed the HERS Rater Training and learned how to use REM/Rate™ home energy analysis software.
As an aside, I was the last caretaker of the The Integral Urban House located in Berkeley, Calif. run by the Farallones Institute. The house was a demonstration model of self-sufficiency in an urban environment and was the inspiration for The Integral Urban House Book published by Sierra Club Books in 1979. For a while I also lived at their rural center in Occidental, Calif. in one of the several passive solar houses DOE grants funded.
With the demise of the federal residential energy tax credit in 1985, the market took a real hit so I changed career direction, moving into information technology and have been there for the last twenty years. Now with peak oil, global warming, rising energy prices and restored federal tax credits for energy efficiency, I'm adding energy consulting back into my professional repertoire.
Updated on November 3, 2007 10:18 AM
