July 29th and 30th 2021, 10am-5pm (PST)
Deputy Director of Building Standards at the California Energy Commission
Has worked collaboratively with nationally recognized design firms, builders, developers, utilities and research entities to bring to life verified zero emission buildings. Currently leads an all-star team at the California Energy Commission who are responsible for maintaining and updating California’s Energy Code, its companion energy compliance software, and outreach & education programs. Accepted invitations to speak on topics in building science at a spectrum of events including Greenbuild, the White House and many universities. In 2019, received the Net Zero Trailblazer award for his leadership in decarbonizing our environment.
Co-Director at Midwest Building Decarbonization Coalition
Marnese Jackson is an Environmental and Climate Justice activist, advocate, trainer and educator from Pontiac, Michigan where she is a mother of two children London and Dawson. Marnese was previously with the Mothers Out Front in December 2018 as the Frontline Organizing Program Manager where she focused on building the base of Mothers in Frontline communities. During this time, Marnese was the staff liaison to US Climate Action Network, staff Equity Team and BIPOC Affinity Team member. Marnese also managed the Youth Global Climate Strike (2019) and Earth Day Live (2020). She is the former Midwest and Great Plain States Regional Organizer for the NAACP’s Environmental and Climate Justice Program. She was the Weatherization Coordinator for Oakland Livingston Human Services Agency and Energy Outreach Specialist for the Southeast Michigan Regional Energy Office. Marnese is the membership chairperson of the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition and a Environmental and Climate Justice chairperson of the NAACP Northern Oakland County Branch. Marnese was appointed in 2021 to the Governor Whitmer’s Michigan Council on Climate Solutions.
Director at Partner Energy
Mr. Collins is a licensed architect and a LEED Accredited Professional, and is currently a Director at Partner Energy, in charge of the Sustainability team providing design consulting, and project management for projects pursuing green certification such as LEED, GreenPoint Rated and others. He has over twenty years of experience in architecture, urban design, and sustainable design consulting. Mr. Collins has led the completion of more than 50 Green certified projects including LEED Platinum and Net-Zero projects for new buildings and existing construction for Partner Energy clients. In addition to his professional experience, Mr. Collins is the President of the Southern California Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (SoCalNOMA), on the Homefree Champions Advisory Board for the Healthy Buildings Network, a member of the AIA-LA committee on Affordable Housing, and was the founding Co-Chair of the US Green Building Council Long Beach Branch.
Postdoc at University of California-Merced
Ashling (she) is a postdoc at UC Merced. She is an expert in the renewable energy industry; her research is on projects such as demand management and Terawatt challenge in PV and how positive feedback loops can help accelerate the energy transition by taking a balanced approach. Prior to joining UC Merced, she has worked as a process engineer at Q CELL, a top solar module manufacturer. She received her Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering working on novel solar cells with near world record efficiency.
Manager of Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility for the Kilroy Realty Corporation
Jasmine (she/they) is the Manager of Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility for the Kilroy Realty Corporation. Jasmine spent most of her free time as a youth volunteering with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, and she is achieving her dreams to bring sustainable, environmentally friendly practices to the built environment. Her degree is from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in Construction Management with dual minors in Real Property Development (RPD), and City & Regional Planning (CRP). LEED GA, CGP.
Technical Executive of EPRI's Decarbonization of Buildings and Communities division
Ram (he) is the Technical Executive of EPRI's Decarbonization of Buildings and Communities division. EPRI supports electric utilities world-wide, and Ram specializes in supporting electrification technologies that provide grid services, low-GWP refrigerants and leading edge efficiency. He has been instrumental in advancing California’s goals for Net Zero Energy and zero carbon buildings, developing one of the first Zero Net Energy neighborhoods of houses, and developing zero energy affordable housing communities in the Central Valley and Southern California.
Postdoctoral Researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Dre (they) is a postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory working to decarbonize energy technology. They are currently developing a novel heating and cooling system to optimally shift thermal loads in commercial buildings. As a scholar and an educator, Dre aspires to transform the culture of engineering by cultivating inclusive learning environments and making space for new leaders.
Founder and CEO of Gemini Energy Solutions
Anthony Kinslow II, Ph.D., is the Founder & CEO of Gemini Energy Solutions. Gemini democratizes the small commercial energy audit sector, creating affordable investment-grade energy audits and supporting efforts to drastically increase workforce diversity in the energy efficiency sector. Dr. Kinslow II is also a consultant for Clean Energy Works. This nonprofit organization seeks to accelerate private capital utility investments in inclusive clean energy solutions at the grid edge. He also lectures at Stanford University, where he co-teaches two courses Racial Equity in Energy and Quest for an Inclusive Clean Energy Economy.
California Energy Commission
Danny Tam is a Professional Engineers specializing in mechanical systems at the California Energy Commission, serving as the Water Heating Technical Lead in the Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Title 24) division. Danny has been instrumental in developing individual heat pump water heater Code in 2017, central heat pump water heater Code in 2020 and supporting mechanical system decarbonization Code measures in the 2022 California Title 24 Code.
Senior Advisor at Southern California Edison
Ruby (she) currently supports Southern California Edison as a Senior Advisor assisting developers and builders and promoting decarbonization programs and resources. She is very active in the building industry currently serving as a Planning Commissioner for the city of South El Monte and a former Board Member for the US Green Build- ing Council Los Angeles Chapter and California Association of Building Energy Consultants.
Heliotactics
Frey (they) was one of only five faculty in the nation to teach solar engineering while an Associate Professor of Energy & Mineral Engineering at Pennsylvania State University for 13 years before founding Heliotactics to provide engineering-related companies adaptive tactics for supporting and training a diverse and inclusive STEM workforce. They have supported the Solar Decathalon, a Dept. of Energy SunShot award, written 37 peer reviewed publications, 28 non-refereed/conference publications, 2 patents and a 16 chapter textbook on Solar Energy.
Director of Public Engagement at Green Umbrella
Rashida Manuel (she) is the Director of Public Engagement at Green Umbrella, an intersectional environmental and social organization in Cincinnati, Ohio. Rashida is recognized as a passionate advocate of racial and gender justice, with over a decade of professional experience as a social justice advocate. Rashida is a strong communicator, deftly bridging non-profit, corporate and academic cultures to effectively build coalitions.
Rewiring America
Pablo has the hard kitchen table discussion points ready for you to make a convincing case to family and friends about the transition away from burning natural gas in our homes. Pablo Navarro is a Vancouver, B.C., software engineer and data visualization specialist working with Rewiring America and Covid Act Now. The forecasting model he supports at Covid Act Now is used by every level of government across the U.S. Pablo has previously worked as a software engineer at Alloy, Axiom Zen and ZenHub.
Deputy Director at Sunstone Strategies
Marie develops and manages residential & commercial solar projects - most recently for GRID Alternatives Bay Area, which includes Multifamily Affordable Housing, Non-Profit and Community arrays. She also served as a Bay Area representative and advocate for GRID’s core Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, and Women in Solar initiatives, and continues to serve as an advocate in community on these topics.
Architect
Avideh Haghighi is a Registered Architect with a passion for transforming the built environment towards a net positive impact. She has a decade of experience and a diverse portfolio of work spanning public and private sectors, such as public schools, large mixed-use developments and institutional projects, including the State’s largest Net Zero Carbon building currently under construction. Recently she has turned her attention to the single family housing market, recognizing the need for resources and innovation to decarbonize the existing housing stock. She is applying her knowledge from designing and constructing zero energy commercial buildings to the all-electric deep green retrofit of a 99 year old house dubbed 'Zerohouz'.
Senior Energy Consultant at the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation
Li Ling (she) is the Senior Energy Consultant at the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation, undisputed building science leaders in cold climate, all-electric housing, and succeed at ZNE with single wide manufactured homes. In the 1990’s Li Ling did what is now called Home Performance contracting. In the 2000’s Li Ling joined Vermont Energy Investment Corp, where she led the building science effort to cut building leakage in half, deliver clean air with heat pump HRVs, the coldest climate heat pumps and super-insulated shells.
Senior Engineer with the Southern California Edison
Andre is a Senior Engineer with SCE and leads their all-electric Foodservice Technology Center to support restaurants and commercial kitchens in SCE territory. Andre is a member of the F26 committee & Co-Chair of the F26.06 subcommittee for the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) for Foodservice Equipment. Andre is also the Chair of ASHRAE TC5.10 Kitchen Ventilation and Vice-Chair of SSPC 154 Ventilation for Commercial Cooking Operations.
Amber Kinetics and The Climate Reality Project
Wei-Tai (he) is a volunteer public speaker who has delivered more than 100 multimedia presentations for The Climate Reality Project, a 501c3 founded by Vice President Al Gore which is dedicated to engaging the public to take urgent action on climate. In his day job, he works in the solar and renewable energy industry, most recently as COO of Amber Kinetics, an early-stage flywheel energy storage company.
ZYD Energy Inc.
Yanda (he) is the CEO and founder of ZYD Energy, Inc. ZYD Energy provides advanced control solutions for water heating systems to achieve load flexibility and efficiency optimization. Yanda has more than 15 years of experience in the energy efficiency industry. Previously, he worked as a technical director at HMG and TRC, leading and managing consulting projects in building energy science research, technology assessment, codes and standards development, program evaluation, and policy analysis.
Epicenter Africa
Kelvis (he) is a renewable energy and environmental physics professional working on rural electrification in Kenya with Epicenter Africa, specializing in replacing gas-driven well pumps with solar powered well pumps. Kelvis has a B.S. from the Technical University of Mombasa.
Boulder, Colorado
David (he) works at the individual, household, neighborhood, congregational, city, county, region, state, nation, and global scales. At the individual and household level, having lost their home in the Four Mile wildfire of 2010, he is somewhat a Climate Refugee. Starting in 2015, David and his partner have reduced their carbon footprints from 17 MT (Metric Tons GHG) to 2 MT: the Earth’s carrying capacity is 3 MT: a personal reduction from 100 pounds/day to 12 pounds/day. Working with a modest 60-year-old home, this is an 87% reduction in GHGs.
Energy Modeler at Redwood Energy
Maria (she) is an advanced modeler and domestic hot water researcher with California's Title 24 software. Prior to working with Redwood Energy, Maria was with the Integral Group modeling large developments. She is a graduate of HSU's Environmental Engineering Program.
Redwood Energy
Redwood Energy
Abdullah Alyami is a Redwood Energy Staff Researcher, recent Co-Director of an all-electric demonstration home and field scientist using his Environmental Engineering degree from HSU to support environmental monitoring. His home nation, Saudia Arabia, has some of the most ambitious, and funded, electrification and renewable energy goals in the world.
Director for the Building Decarbonization Coalition
California Trends and Discussion on Prioritizing Environmental Justice and Low-Income Communities. Jose Torres is the California Director for the Building Decarbonization Coalition and formerly served as the Energy Equity Program Manager for the California Environmental Justice Alliance. Mr. Torres has also served as an Analyst with the California Energy Commission and as a Legislative Aide to Members of The California State Assembly.
