Applicant to work in government advisory role ASHRAE and USGBC Cosponsor Washington Fellowship  (ATLANTA)

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) have joined forces to sponsor a one-year fellowship in Washington, D.C., that will allow the participant to work in the federal government in a technical advisory role. Members of ASHRAE or USGBC may apply.

Possible placement areas include Congress, a federal agency such as the Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency or the General Services Administration, or the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

“Federal government fellowships provide a valuable public service to the nation while at the same time providing engineers and scientists with a unique opportunity to participate directly in the policy-making process,” says Doug Read, ASHRAE program director of government affairs. “This is an exciting, rewarding, and educational period in their professional careers. This enriching experience enables fellows to bring back to their employers an insider's perspective on government decision making that can contribute significantly to the mission and vision of the organization.” 

“The fellowship is designed to educate participants on the inner workings of federal policy-making,” said Jason Hartke, director of public policy, U.S. Green Building Council. “The fellowship is an opportunity to provide scientific guidance and analysis to decision-makers, and to increase the visibility and involvement of scientists and engineers in the public policy arena.”

The fellowship runs from September through August 2009, and an orientation is conducted through the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A $50,000 stipend will be provided to the selected fellow.

Candidates should possess a doctoral or other terminal degree in engineering or another building-related scientific discipline. Final placement of the selected fellow depends on the needs of the government offices and agencies at the time as well as on the skills and experience of the applicant.

The deadline for applications is May 1, 2008. ASHRAE or USGBC members interested in applying for the fellowship should contact Doug Read, ASHRAE program director of government affairs, at 202-833-1830 or dread@ashrae.org.

Lessons from ASHRAE Roundtable on High-Performing Buildings Shared in Video  (ATLANTA)

Early involvement by all members of the building team is crucial to the success of high-performing buildings, according to panelists in a new video from ASHRAE.  “You can’t operate efficiently if the building hasn’t been designed with that in mind,” said Don Winston, P.E., director of technical services, The Durst Organization, Inc. “The operators will always win in the end. If you don’t design it in a way that it can be operated in accordance with its performance goals, it won’t be….it really goes back to the design process and a level of cooperation. Everyone has to be in on it, including the operations team, from day zero.”

Lessons learned in sustainable design can now been seen via a free online video at www.ashrae.org/roundtable. The video is a recording of a special roundtable, High-Performance Buildings: Lessons from the Leaders, originally presented at ASHRAE’s 2008 Winter Meeting.  The panelists discuss owner motivations, technical challenges, design choices and trade-offs, costs for these projects, and share perspectives about whether the expectations set early in the design process have been met once the buildings are occupied.  The panelists include representatives of New York’s best-known owner/developer firms. along with the engineering designers who bring their projects to reality. Their projects include some of the most sustainable buildings in New York City, such as 4 Times Square, the Chrysler Center, One Bryant Park and the New York Times Headquarters.
“What does high performance mean?,” questions panelist Tom Scarola, director of engineering, Tishman Speyer. “Up until even a few years ago, buildings were designed very prescriptively based on meeting codes, not challenging whether they could perform better. What we do today is called high performance but it is just good and efficient design. It is reasonable to believe that the issue is no longer if it is a high-performance building, the question is how high. Building a high-performance building means never having to say you’re sorry.”

The panelists agree that it is essential that planning for the design, operation and maintenance of high performing buildings start early and involve all members of the building team. They also agree that designers and engineers should strive to incorporate new technologies and design methods.
“Put behind you what’ve done for the last 20 jobs,” suggests panelist Scott Frank, P.E., partner, Jaros Baum & Bolles. “Get in the habit of saying ‘how can we do this differently,’ ask ‘why not’ at every turn, worship the god of common sense, and be sure every decision and recommendation you make is backed up by rigorous engineering.”  Dan Nall P.E., senior vice president/director-advanced technologies, Flack + Kurtz addresses sustainability outside the U.S. market.  “Perhaps the most informative experience I have had is working on projects in the Middle East, where the entire support infrastructure is being built at the same time as the buildings. This provides an opportunity to investigate the relations of multiple buildings to their support infrastructure and the opportunities that exist to create a complex cascading utilization of resources. The answer doesn’t lie in making individual green buildings – it lies in making green cities.”