As we enter the second half of 2020 it is hard to focus on anything much beyond the global pandemic of Covid19 and the social awakening we are finally seeing with the Black Lives Matter movement. Both are intensely impactful, and the future is still…

In a building, lighting and HVAC have historically remained separate systems without a need to communicate with one another. Although each of these systems have advanced in efficiency independently, there are additional energy efficiency synergies when they can be integrated. Recently, California’s 2019 Building Energy…

In a workshop this October, the CEC released a set of working presentations about efforts underway to re-shape energy codes and standards for California building codes. With a rapidly changing planet and massive deployment of renewable energy which are changing the very shape of the…

Straight talk with Chuck Mignacco, Senior Manager of Campus Facility at one of the world’s most sustainable museums….. the Exploratorium.  Back in September 2012, the Exploratorium announced its goal to be become the largest zero net energy (ZNE) museum in the U.S., if not in…

Congratulations to Workday on the grand opening on May 13th of their new 6 story, 410,000 sq. ft. corporate headquarters in Pleasanton, CA. It is truly an impressive building! As the Commissioning Agent on the project, I can honestly say that it was one of the most positive experiences I’ve had on the job. On the Workday project, the systems…

We had the opportunity to present on one of our favorite topics: CA Code Change. We hope the local North Bay redwood empire and Sacramento ASHRAE chapters enjoyed the show. Every 3 years, California ratchets up the energy efficiency codes in buildings. Just last month,…