This week’s Energy Action Month employee spotlight is on Adam Klein, program manager for McKinstry! Starting in 2016, Adam took the initiative—along with Daniel Shaw, a Portland-based energy engineer—to obtain ENERGY STAR certifications for McKinstry-owned office buildings in Seattle and Portland.
Compared with their peers, an ENERGY STAR-certified office building uses (on average) 35 percent less energy, generates 35 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions, costs $0.54 less per square foot to operate and has higher rental & occupancy rates. Adam joined McKinstry as an intern more than 12 years ago. Today, he is the program manager for McKinstry’s Technical Services Western Washington Annuity.
Q: Tell me about your role as an annuity program manager. What does a typical day look like?
A: As a program manager, my typical day involves going over client utility billing and Building Automation System interval data to review where successful low/no cost improvements have been made and to make new recommendations. Often there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work required to gather and update information to keep a steady stream of data coming.
Q: I understand you received some good news earlier this year about our 2018 ENERGY STAR scores for our office buildings in Seattle and Portland, right?
A: To be eligible for ENERGY STAR certification, a building must earn an ENERGY STAR score of 75 or higher, indicating that it performs better than at least 75 percent of similar buildings nationwide. The most recent work was completed this spring, and I’m happy to say that McKinstry achieved an ENERGY STAR score of 92 for the 220 S. Dawson Street office building in Seattle and a score of 96 for the 5005 3rd Ave. S. office building in Seattle. Our Portland office building received an 88. The EPA-run certification is rated on a 100-point scale. I’m proud of our scores and grateful for the Workspace Solutions Team and other internal partners who help make it happen.
