2019 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award Winner Webinar Series

2019 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award Winner Webinar Series

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR program is excited to showcase best practices and innovations from commercial and industrial Partner of the Year award winners through an engaging webinar series. These partners have demonstrated leadership, innovation, and excellence in improving the energy performance of buildings and plants—and now they’re sharing their expertise and lessons learned.

Join this series to learn about best practices for managing your energy use, engaging your employees and tenants, and communicating your success.

Click on the links below to register for upcoming webinars or watch recordings of past webinars.

Celebrate Earth Day with Energy Efficiency Education

Watch the recording from our April 4, 2019 webinar here

Are you looking for ways to educate your building or facility occupants about saving energy? Are you trying to get the word out about your building’s energy efficiency improvements? Join us to hear from two ENERGY STAR partners with successful energy education strategies.

Speakers included:

Jessica Loeper

Jessica Loeper is Vice President at Verdani Partners, a full-service sustainability consulting firm, and Director of Sustainability for CommonWealth Partners, a real estate investment, development, and management organization for Class A office properties across the United States. Jessica will speak on how Commonwealth Partners’ education strategy motivates their tenants.

Kelly Stemcosky

Kelly Stemcosky is a Communications Specialist for Sustainability at Corning Incorporated. In her role, she creates strategies, develops content, and designs materials to tell Corning’s sustainability story, including social, environmental, and governance related practices, both inside and outside the company. Kelly will speak about how Corning maintains a consistent energy efficiency message across their company.

Alena Hutchison, ENERGY STAR Communications team, EPA

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POY Award Winners: K-12 Success Stories

Watch the recording from our May 22, 2019 webinar here

K-12 schools across the country are reducing their energy bills, cutting energy consumption, and helping protect the environment. From student engagement to energy audits, a wide range of savings opportunities exist. Listen to this webinar recording to hear first-hand success stories from 2019 ENERGY STAR Partner of Year - Energy Management awardees.

Speakers included:

Greenville County Schools representatives will provide an overview and accomplishments of key projects and initiatives, such as communication improvement, controls system optimization, and lighting and HVAC upgrades.

Bill Knight

Bill Knight is a consultant and Director of Energy Management at Greenville County Schools. He has been in the HVAC industry for 38 years specializing in large building HVAC systems and the analysis of building energy systems. 

Ryan Tonnsen

Ryan Tonnsen is an Energy Management Engineer at Greenville County Schools who manages on-going and one-time energy saving projects, provides review & feedback for capital projects, and interfaces with maintenance & school personnel to assure optimal operation of District facilities.

Tim Berklich

Tim Berklich serves Greenville County Schools as the Performance Improvement Manager in the Energy Management Department. Tim is a training and organization development professional, certified educator, and an Accredited Commercial Energy Manager by the South Carolina Energy Office. 

Pinellas County Schools will share how they reduced utility spending, increased classroom comfort, and optimized systems and reduced maintenance by partnering with Cenergistic in sustainability.

Michael Gaal

Michael Gaal serves as Executive Vice President of Operations at Cenergistic where he leads a 250-strong engineering, measurement and verification, consulting services and energy specialist team responsible for services and operations.

Bullitt County Public Schools

Kimberly Joseph

Kimberly Joseph is the Energy Manager for Bullitt County Public Schools. She will speak about their energy management strategy including leveraging ENERGY STAR tools, creating a District Energy team, providing student and staff education and awareness, and monitoring HVAC systems and indoor air quality.

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Innovation in Energy Management

Watch the recording from our June 25, 2019 webinar here.

Commercial buildings are finding creative ways to reduce energy use by encouraging tenants to modify behaviors that impact energy use, installing efficient equipment, and testing out cutting-edge technology. Join us to hear how two ENERGY STAR Partners have saved energy through innovative approaches.

Speakers:

Al Scaramelli

Al Scaramelli is Managing Director at Beacon Capital Partners.  Dr. Scaramelli is based in Boston and oversees Beacon’s energy and sustainability initiatives, capital projects and building operations, and certain tenant marketing and leasing initiatives. In his presentation he will share how encouraging the use of revolving doors and installing regenerative elevator drives reduced energy use significantly in their buildings; and how office building tenants were very interested in “calculating their personal carbon footprint” as related to today’s climate change issues.

Gregg Fischer

Gregg Fischer is the Director of Energy Systems under the Design + Construction Sustainability and Utilities division of Tishman Speyer. He manages both supply contracts and demand side energy usage for more than 55,000,000 square feet of class A commercial property including buildings like Rockefeller Center (New York), The Metlife Building (New York), The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and The Franklin (Chicago). Gregg will explain Tishman Speyer’s thermal ice storage pilot program which has demonstrated a 60% decrease in energy intensity thus far. 

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How to Leverage Brokers to Promote Energy Efficiency

Watch the recording from our July 18, 2019 webinar here.

Training brokers to promote the energy performance and sustainability achievements of your buildings is key to attracting clients and executing green leases. Three ENERGY STAR Commercial Real Estate Partners will share how they provide energy efficiency training for brokers and recognize their accomplishments.

Speakers:

Rachel Schiftan

Rachel Schiftan is a Sustainability Project Manager for Cushman & Wakefield. Rachel provides end-to-end sustainability and project management solutions to clients, including assisting teams set and achieve superior sustainability goals as well earn LEED, TRUE, Fitwel, and ENERGY STAR certification. In her presentation she will share Cushman & Wakefield’s experience with holding trainings for brokers, featuring the value of asset energy performance, and how they assisted brokers in benchmarking additional buildings in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager.

Sara Neff

Sara Neff is Senior Vice President, Sustainability at Kilroy Realty Corporation. At Kilroy, she oversees all sustainability initiatives such as solar and battery deal making, the implementation of energy and water efficiency initiatives throughout the existing and development portfolios, the integration of sustainability standards into annual financial reports, the launch of the Kilroy Innovation Lab, and the award-winning green leasing program. Sara will talk about Kilroy’s “Brokers for Better Buildings” Twitter campaign which celebrated brokers who helped sign green leases in ENERGY STAR buildings.

Jennifer Leitsch

Jennifer Leitsch is Vice President, Corporate Responsibility at CBRE, the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm. Jennifer leads CBRE’s sustainability strategy and reporting, including the development of the company’s annual Corporate Responsibility Report and responses to stakeholder inquiries regarding CBRE’s environmental, social and governance practices. She will discuss their internal training program, The Business of Green, which gives real-world examples while also incorporating a customized ENERGY STAR for Brokers presentation.

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Discovering Energy Savings with Treasure Hunts

Watch the recording from our September 12, 2019 webinar here.

During an Energy Treasure Hunt, groups of people walk around a building looking for opportunities to save energy. Treasure Hunts focus on quick fixes with a short payback period. Hundreds of organizations have used Energy Treasure Hunts to reduce their facilities’ energy use by 7 to 15 percent.

During this webinar, you’ll hear from two ENERGY STAR partners that have used Treasure Hunts as a way to improve day-to-day operations and engage building operators and employees in “discovering” treasure in their facilities. In addition, we’ll provide an overview of new resources available from EPA to help your organization plan and host a successful Treasure Hunt in time for Energy Awareness Month this October.

Speakers:

Michael Roberts

Michael Roberts is Director – Energy Services and Central Energy Plants for Atrium Health. Michael will talk about how Atrium Health uncovered $75,000 in potential annual energy savings through their Treasure Hunt at one acute care facility. The event involved 20 teammates from seven different departments and included training on ENERGY STAR portfolio management and certification.

Leslie Adebayo

Leslie Adebayo is the Corporate Sustainability Manager for Bimbo Bakeries. He will share their experience and success achieved by creating their own Treasure Hunt version to address their company’s needs and realities.

Alena Hutchison, ENERGY STAR Communications Team, EPA

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Success Stories on Holding ENERGY STAR Competitions

Watch the recording from our October 17, 2019 webinar here.

Are you looking for a fun way to engage your building occupants? Join us to hear from two ENERGY STAR partners that have successfully run internal energy efficiency competitions.

We’ll also review off-the-shelf, co-brandable tools and resources that EPA has created to help you “Build Your Own Battle.”

Speakers:

Sean Shropshire

Sean Shropshire is an Energy Engineer for Retail Business Services (RBS) and has an Electrical Engineering degree. He has worked for RBS’ parent company, Ahold Delhaize, for 15 years. He will share how Food Lion encouraged sister brands to start developing energy management programs and helped them manage energy, as well as highlights from their inaugural Battle of the Buildings competition which resulted in a 10% energy reduction for the winning store. 

Crystal Frost

Crystal Frost, Sustainable Behaviors and Conservation Program Leader at The Boeing Company, leads the development and execution of a companywide strategy to engage employees to adopt sustainable behaviors and replicate conservation best practices. 

Alena Hutchison, ENERGY STAR Communications Team

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Recognizing Employee Participation in Energy Management Efforts

No recording available.

Employee engagement is often essential for achieving energy improvements in buildings. Join us to learn from three ENERGY STAR partners how they encouraged employees to pursue energy efficiency and recognized their participation and accomplishments.

Speakers:

James Soutter

James Soutter is Vice President, Engineering of Hudson Pacific Properties (NYSE: HPP), a Los Angeles-based real estate investment trust focused on owning, operating and developing office and studio properties along the West Coast.  In this role, he oversees the company’s engineering operations throughout the portfolio, totaling more than 17 million square feet. James will share how Hudson Pacific Properties implemented a robust engagement and recognition program to recognize: Best Improvement in ENERGY STAR Score, Best Tenant Engagement Event, and Largest Reductions in Energy, Water and Waste.

Michelle German

Michelle German is the Director of Operations and Sustainability at LBA Realty, overseeing corporate operations and sustainability. In her presentation she will share how LBA Realty recognizes engineers as well as their annual “Call for Case Studies” in which operations, construction and engineering groups are incentivized to submit sustainability case studies and share sustainability project ideas with all regional teams.

Cathy Kerr

Cathy Kerr is the Senior Operations Manager at Principal Real Estate Investors. She is responsible for managing the administrative and operations functions within the asset management teams, including property operations, lease and construction administration, commercial management reporting and property management compliance and oversight. She will talk about Principal Real Estate Investors’ Cornerstone Awards program, which recognizes the leadership and engagement in sustainability efforts by their property teams and joint venture partners.

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Engaging Commercial Tenants in Energy Efficiency

Watch the recording from our December 5, 2019 webinar here. 

The people who work in your office building, retail store, warehouse, or other commercial building can make or break your efficiency strategy – after all, they often consume most of the energy. Learn how two ENERGY STAR partners engage tenants and occupants to save energy. We’ll also give an update on the status of the forthcoming ENERGY STAR Tenant Space recognition program.

Speakers:

Christopher Cayten

Christopher Cayten is a Principal at CodeGreen Solutions, a leading sustainability and energy efficiency consulting firm based in New York City. He will speak about CodeGreen Solutions’ participation in the 2018 ENERGY STAR Charter Tenant Pilot program, and how they achieved recognitions for their headquarters & client offices in the Empire State Building.

Dan Egan

Dan Egan is a Senior Vice President for Energy and Sustainability at Vornado Realty Trust. He will share how Vornado earned ENERGY STAR Charter Tenant recognition for tenants and hosted an energy savings competition based on the principles of “Bring Your Green to work with ENERGY STAR.”

Cindy Jacobs

Cindy Jacobs is a Senior Advisor in the Commercial and Industrial Buildings Branch, within the Climate Protection Partnerships Division at US EPA.

Craig Haglund

Craig Haglund is the Program Manager for Commercial Real Estate and Multifamily, in the Commercial and Industrial Buildings Branch, within the Climate Protection Partnerships Division at US EPA.

 


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