Here’s how Alison Schwabe takes energy action at work and at home

October 3, 2018 by Spark Staff Leave a Comment

Alison Schwabe joined McKinstry eight years ago and works in our Golden, Colo. office. As powerED program manager for the Mountain region, she works with schools, universities and local governments within the Mountain region to help them save energy and cut waste. She has also been instrumental in building the Mountain Region’s corporate stewardship team including rolling out the office’s composting program.

Q: How do you explain powerED?
A: Our powerED program is all about people and encouraging sustainable behaviors (like this month’s challenge). We drive awareness, action, and impact to help our clients save energy and cut waste through three key components. The first is PEOPLE. We engage building occupants and operators in a campaign to increase awareness and action around energy efficiency. The second is PROCESS, which involves working with our clients to help them identify and implement low- and no-cost energy-saving measures. The third is PERFORMANCE. We’re only as good as our results. We measure impact and demonstrate progress by tracking energy savings, carbon reduction, and other key benchmarks. I’m proud to say that through our powerED program to date, company-wide we’ve helped participating clients save $21.7 million in energy cost and cut carbon by 155,861 metric tons.

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Energized by our future

October 1, 2018 by Ash Awad 1 Comment

October is Energy Action Month. While we take action every day to drive waste out the built environment, Energy Action Month offers an ideal opportunity to reaffirm our commitment. With each action we take, we’re one step closer to our vision of together, building a thriving planet.

McKinstry balances current action with remaining resolute on driving future innovation. Spokane embodies that balance, embracing innovation while honoring its historic buildings and rich past. Every trip to Washington’s Inland Empire inspires me. Here’s why.

The power of net positive energy

Catalyst will be the first net-zero energy building in Eastern Washington.

Net-zero energy buildings and net-positive eco districts are inevitable. State and local governments are now mandating solar photovoltaics as building code, and behind-the-meter energy storage is emerging in both commercial and residential buildings. Technology costs for these renewable energy systems are dropping at an astounding rate. By 2030, we will see net-zero energy system design become the norm in every new construction project with clusters of buildings working together to produce more energy than they consume.

Spokane will soon be home to the future of the built environment. McKinstry and our partners broke ground on the Catalyst Building in August, starting construction on what will become the world’s largest verified net-zero energy building. The five-story, 159,000 square foot building will demonstrate what’s possible in our built environment – and what we’re capable of delivering here at McKinstry.

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My B.L.U.E. Summer: Griffin Small (Seattle)

September 28, 2018 by Griffin Small Leave a Comment

Hello! My name is Griffin Small and I spent the summer of 2018 working as a construction project engineer intern at McKinstry’s Seattle headquarters. Primarily, I’ve been working on the Central Kitsap High School/Middle School jobsite.

Griffin Small.

Learning was my biggest takeaway from this summer—lots and lots of learning. Before I dive into that, though, I’ll introduce myself a little. I was born and raised in Edmonds, Wash. and am currently attending Saint Martin’s University in Olympia, Wash. I’m a rising senior majoring in mechanical engineering. I’m also a soccer player and a goalkeeper (any other goalkeepers should feel free to reach out, we’re a dying breed)!

As you can probably tell from my photo, I’m also a full-on ginger (red hair and freckles, if you were unfamiliar with the term), so other gingers please feel free to reach out as well—we’re also a dying breed. Being an athlete and an engineering student simultaneously has been a tremendous challenge. Learning to manage my time playing soccer and traveling while also keeping with my studies has been tough, but I think it will help me in real-life situations as I get older.

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My B.L.U.E. Summer: Tessa Weiss (Golden, Colo.)

September 28, 2018 by Tessa Weiss Leave a Comment

Hello! My name is Tessa Weiss and I’m a rising junior studying Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This summer, I’ve had the opportunity to intern as an energy engineer with McKinstry’s Colorado team.

Tessa Weiss.

I’ve always been interested in sustainability and energy, and McKinstry intrigued me because the company sees many of its projects through its entire life-cycle—from development to design to construction to commissioning and measurement and verification. As an energy engineer, knowing that my work is actually helping to make an impact at increasing the energy efficiency of buildings is a powerful feeling.

One of the first words I think of when I think of McKinstry is implementation; this is in part because of their ability to design, construct and verify the project all under the same roof. McKinstry doesn’t just sit around and hypothetically talk about how to increase the efficiency of buildings—they actually design, construct and verify a more efficient built environment.

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My B.L.U.E. Summer: Sara Berry-Maraist (Spokane)

September 28, 2018 by Sara Berry-Maraist Leave a Comment

Hello! My name is Sara Berry-Maraist, and spending my summer as a project design engineer intern in McKinstry’s Spokane, Wash. office has been a wonderful experience. I graduated from Gonzaga University (also located in Spokane) in the spring of 2018, and interning at McKinstry has made for a smooth life transition.

Sara Berry-Maraist.

Everyone has been so welcoming and—even when I ask questions multiple times—I always get nothing but positive responses. I’ve wanted to work at McKinstry since I toured the office in 2017 and working here has exceeded my already-high expectations. Even as an intern, I’ve felt like an important part of the company—doing real work and not stereotypical tasks like getting coffee and making copies.

This summer, I’ve worked on a variety of projects from smaller Seattle projects to significantly helping design the zero energy Catalyst Building in Spokane. Recently, I’ve done a lot of load calculations and duct static pressure calculations. I think my favorite activity, though, is designing in Revit—a building information modeling software. The only modeling software I learned in college was a different one called SolidWorks, so learning Revit and expanding my skillset was important for me.

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Indoor air quality answers as the smoke settles

September 27, 2018 by Michael Frank Leave a Comment

The building industry typically focuses on delivering higher quantities of outdoor air as a proxy for occupant wellbeing. The quality of that outdoor air claimed center attention across Washington State with unhealthy ratings for a significant part of August. Now that the smoke has settled, it’s important to examine how outdoor air quality impacts the air we breathe indoors and what can we do to improve our indoor air quality.

Michael Frank.

As mechanical engineers in the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) industry, we have gained substantial indoor air quality knowledge from working with clients and monitoring our own facilities. A few of the lessons learned are that more outdoor air does not guarantee better indoor air quality and that not all filters are created equal.

Pollutants are typically measured as particulate matter (PM), which quantify substances in micrometers or one millionth of a meter. The typical industry scale ranges from 0.3 to 10. To define the scale a little more as an example, PM2.5 includes all particulate matter 2.5 micrometers and smaller. Smoke is typically measured at PM2.5, but can be as large as PM10 when visible ash is present. In actuality, much of the mass of smoke in PM2.5 is often in the 0.5 to one micrometer size. This is where differences in air filters can make a big impact.

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My B.L.U.E. Summer: Rachel May (Seattle)

August 23, 2018 by Rachel May Leave a Comment

Growing up near Seattle, and attending school in the city, I’m well-acquainted with the “Seattle Freeze,” and I’m regretfully complicit in perpetuating it most of the time. However, being part of the B.L.U.E. Program at McKinstry this summer has opened my eyes to the company’s unique people-first orientation. Everyone here smiles, waves and is almost always eager to start a conversation. McKinstry might be the friendliest company I’ve ever worked at.

Rachel May.

This summer, I worked with the Brand Services/Communications team at McKinstry to create both internal and external communications. While I’ve been designing as a freelancer for people I know for quite a while now, this was my first taste of being a part of an in-house design process. Having an established process to request graphics and a whole team to support me ensured I stayed organized and hit all my deadlines to keep clients happy.

Starting at a new company is kind of like walking into a class that’s already in-session. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and paralyzed by not knowing the material and the culture of the room. However, having the resources and structure of the B.L.U.E. Program made transitioning into McKinstry feel more like walking into the classroom after just a summer away. All of the interns are in the same boat, which helped us become friends, grow as a team and build a central pool of knowledge.

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My B.L.U.E. Summer: Haley Hansen (Seattle)

August 23, 2018 by Haley Hansen Leave a Comment

Haley Hansen.

Hello! I’m Haley Hansen and I’m a safety engineer intern at McKinstry through the B.L.U.E. Program this summer in Seattle. I’m originally from Bellevue, Wash. and was raised in Great Falls, Mont. I’m a rising senior studying Occupational Safety and Health at Montana Tech in Butte, Mont. and I also have an associate’s degree in Accounting Technology and Human Resources from Montana Tech.

I chose to work in Safety because of three reasons:

The People. My passion in life is to be a support system for individuals and to work with others. Safety inspires me to make a difference, positively impact my community and provide a helping hand for those in need.
The Company. Being a part of a company and its community drives me to help develop both the company and the employees around me every day. It also gives me an opportunity to influence the future of a company.
Myself. I’m passionate about becoming a better person and serving others as well as I can.

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My B.L.U.E. Summer: Mac Cliff (Portland)

August 16, 2018 by Mac Cliff Leave a Comment

Before I jump into what I’ve learned, what I’ve been working on and what my internship experience has been like thus far at McKinstry, I’d like to take a couple minutes to introduce myself. My name is Ivan Cliff, but most everyone knows me as Mac. My parents named me Ivan to keep the name in the family. I was born and raised in a little town called San Anselmo outside of San Francisco. Ever since I could walk, I’ve been riding a bike—at first around the local school yard and eventually out into the mountains.

Mac Cliff.

I continued to race bikes through high school and the beginning of college, until I decided to ride as a hobby, not a sport. Throughout high school, I worked in a bike shop as a mechanic and that—combined with a passion for speed—is where I discovered my engineering intuition. Fast-forward to today and I’m entering my final year of the mechanical engineering program at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash.

I first heard about McKinstry from a friend who toured the Spokane office two years ago. I attended an open house at the Spokane office in the fall of 2017, and that boosted my interest in joining the McKinstry team. On May 15 of this year, I was thrilled to start work as a design project engineering intern in McKinstry’s Portland, Oregon office through the B.L.U.E. Program.

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Unlocking safety through data analytics

August 16, 2018 by Ali Vahed Leave a Comment

McKinstry’s safety performance dashboard is increasing safety transparency and driving change across the organization.

Originally published in the August 2018 issue of HVACR Business. Republished with permission.

McKinstry, like many construction companies, is a family. As a family, our top priority is making sure everyone goes home safe and healthy after each and every day. That’s why we take safety so seriously.

Numbers don’t lie; construction is dangerous. According to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), one in five workplace fatalities are in construction. Improving construction safety cannot happen by accident. We must make a conscious, deliberate effort to do better. Big data and business intelligence dashboards offer a platform to drive awareness, accountability and change.

McKinstry started its analytical data safety transformation in 2013. Over the past five years, we’ve developed a safety analysis and reporting program based on deep data tracking, analytics and reporting. Here are the six steps we followed along with some insights gleaned along the way.

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SPARK

Discoveries, innovations, and insights that illuminate the future of the built environment

Here’s how Alison Schwabe takes energy action at work and at home

Energized by our future

My B.L.U.E. Summer: Griffin Small (Seattle)

My B.L.U.E. Summer: Tessa Weiss (Golden, Colo.)

My B.L.U.E. Summer: Sara Berry-Maraist (Spokane)

Indoor air quality answers as the smoke settles

My B.L.U.E. Summer: Rachel May (Seattle)

My B.L.U.E. Summer: Haley Hansen (Seattle)

My B.L.U.E. Summer: Mac Cliff (Portland)

Unlocking safety through data analytics

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