New Buildings Institute (NBI) welcomes five top-level industry influencers as new Senior Fellows. These are experts in advanced energy policy, program implementation, research and education who have helped define the efficient use of energy in the built environment. We recognize NBI Fellows as luminaries in energy efficiency, who have made significant contributions to society through their work. These individuals serve as advisors to NBI’s board of directors and staff on industry trends and strategic direction for the organization.
“Climate change is the challenge of our generation. Decarbonization is the ‘what.’ NBI’s thought leadership and connections allow us to rally the best technical minds in our movement. Together, we will figure out the ‘how’ to decarbonize the built environment,” said Marge Anderson, NBI Board Secretary and Slipstream Executive Vice President. “What a privilege,” she said. Read more about our new and current Senior Fellows below.
Introducing our new NBI Senior Fellows
Janice Berman is the director of Grid Innovation at Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). Her team’s mission is to test and demonstrate innovative technologies, programs, and capabilities that are needed to operate the “grid of tomorrow.” Over the past three decades at PG&E, Ms. Berman has held numerous regulatory, financial, and operational posts.
Doug Baston has advised utilities, states, public energy efficiency programs and NGOs on energy efficiency programs, leading to vast energy savings over his career. He worked at Bonneville Power Administration and Central Maine Power Company before launching his own advisory practice. Doug is commited to protecting the health in his community members by serving as a selectman, assessor and overseer of the poor in his hometown of Alna, Maine.
Dian Grueneich created some of the most influential policy in California during her time at California Public Utilities Commission. She is a sought-after expert in demand response, smart grid, renewable energy resources, and transmission. Dian retired from Stanford in the fall of 2018 but remains affiliated as a Precourt Energy Scholar. She continues to advance energy efficiency through her private consulting practice and involvement in various committees and task forces.
Vivian Loftness is the former head of the School of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University. She is an educator, internationally renowned researcher and author, focusing for more than 30 years on environmental design and sustainability and advanced building systems integration.
Michael McAteer worked for Massachusetts’ Department of Energy Resources and NationalGrid, showing his commitment to promoting building energy efficiency by creating policy, regulation and utility program development. Michael forged a career of advancing energy efficiency in the Northeast United States.
Recognizing our current NBI Senior Fellows
In 2012, R.K. Stewart was invited to become a Senior Fellow while working jointly with NBI, California Public Utility Commission and Architecture 2030 on the California Zero Net Energy Action Plan. Since then R.K. has helped shape the Getting to Zero National Forum, where he has presented multiple times. He has won numerous awards, and currently serves as the vice chairman of the National Institute of Building Sciences board of directors.
NBI Fellow Charles Eley worked with our staff and partners to transition the industry’s approach of tracking building energy efficiency from “percent better than code” to absolute energy targets using the Zero Energy Performance Index (zEPI). zEPI represents a fundamental shift in measurement as it sets energy targets for actual energy consumption and adjusts for climate. By setting an absolute scale, zEPI helps chart a clear course on energy policymaking to both set and track progress toward zero energy goals.
Dave Hewitt served as the director of NBI from 2005 to 2013. During his tenure, NBI continued to spark meaningful program on building science research, national energy code advancement, and next-practice offerings for efficiency programs. NBI’s policy development and advocacy around advanced energy codes catalyzed shifts in state and local priorities and changed the commercial building energy codes industry. He also identified the critical need to support design professionals in the development of high-performance buildings.
Achieving market transformation of the built environment to a zero energy and zero carbon future will take leadership and creative problem solving. Our Senior Fellows are undoubtedly playing a vital role in making this happen.
by Webly Bowles, Project Manager