Summer 2019 Contributors

May 29, 2019

WEB ONLY

This online-only article is a supplement to the Summer 2019 print edition of Home Energy Magazine.

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Sarah Poe

Sarah wishes readers to see “the collaborative approach that our team has taken to reach underserved customers through our WarmChoice program.”

Sarah has a degree in math and is very data focused. “As I continue to utilize those data in order to be able to improve our programs, and as I step back and take a bigger picture of the program and how it’s running, and even further, as I see how we can enhance it using those data, I see that being data driven has helped me in my career.”

You might not know that Sarah and her husband are world travelers who try to take a big trip every year.

Rick Karg

"Ventilation in the 2019 California Energy Code"

Rick hopes readers won’t feel overwhelmed by the details and rules of mechanical ventilation, but will keep their focus on the prize—the enhanced health and well-being that result from better indoor air quality.

Rick changed directions early in his career. “My mentor was Dr. Charlie Wing, then a physicist at Bowdoin College and one of the nation’s first building scientists. In 1980, Charlie was responsible for my shift from building contractor to analyst and trainer.”

Readers probably don’t know that Rick gave up a PhD from Ohio State for a move to the Maine coast.

Andrew Woodruff

"Overcoming Obstacles to Advanced Air Sealing"

Ian reassures readers that it’s fine to put a heat pump water heater within a heated and cooled home; it doesn’t have to be in the basement.

With this article, Andrew hopes readers gain a better understanding of zonal pressure diagnostics. “Once you dive in, you’re able to see all the possibilities yet also the limits of that testing.”

Andrew had a formal education with a specialization in building energy design but had a real wake-up call when he got into the field. “I saw a disconnect between all the advancements in building science and what was really out there in terms of housing stock: standard construction details and standard performance. Inherently building in my job security.

Did you know that Andrew is a big fan of heavy metal and is learning to play electric bass?

Sara Hayes

“Measuring the Health Benefits of Energy Efficiency”

Sara hopes that readers come away knowing that “a lot of the work we do encourages reaching across disciplines addressing people’s needs by blending resources. There is no need to recreate the wheel for each of the more than 100 energy efficiency programs nationwide.”

When the Clean Power Plan rule came about, “people from various specialties, like state air regulators and state utility regulators, were sitting down for the first time, saying, ‘’Maybe I need to understand better what it is you do!’ And we [ACEEE] were really involved in that; that was a very exciting time. Having those conversations—that was a game changer!”

You may not know that Sara is “a single mom to two young wonderful children and veteran of the U.S. Army Reserves, where I was a helicopter mechanic.”