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What Makes McKinstry Different? by Tyler Pritchard

September 2, 2020 by Leave a Comment

In just twelve weeks at McKinstry, I have already learned more about HVAC, EPC, and ECM calculations than I could have ever hoped to learn in a classroom. From lessons on open and closed chilled water loops to practice thermal energy storage optimization problems, I have expanded my technical knowledge of the energy performance contracting (EPC) industry in significant ways that will benefit me for years to come. However, the biggest lesson I learned from McKinstry had little do with calculations, floorplans or otherwise. Rather, the biggest lesson I learned from McKinstry is to embrace a mindset obsessed with the pursuit of efficiency.

Ash Awad, McKinstry’s Chief Market Officer, originally inspired my concept of a McKinstry mindset; a mindset focused on the relentless pursuit of efficiency. Mr. Awad explained how McKinstry believes that “50% of the energy in buildings is wasted and 50% of all construction cost are wasted.” From here, Ash explained that manufacturing – guided by a manufacturing mindset – is characterized by highly repeatable, highly efficient, and highly economical product systems. Unfortunately, the construction industry isn’t quite as efficient.

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Filed Under: B.L.U.E. Blog Tagged With: B.L.U.E., B.L.U.E. Blog, Engineering, McKinstry Way, The B.L.U.E. Experience

What I’ve learned at McKinstry…and what comes next

September 5, 2019 by Leave a Comment

What I’ve learned at McKinstry…and what comes next

Growing up, I always loved science and math. When those two classes combined in my high school physics course, I decided to major in engineering. Though I wasn’t sure what being an engineer would specifically entail in the professional world, I knew that my many interests (math, physics, science, tech, Boeing’s newest jet, epic LEGO Star Wars sets, etc…) put me in a place where studying to become an engineer made sense.

What I hadn’t accounted for was my development into a full extrovert. I love people. I love hearing stories about where they’ve been and where they come from, what they do and how they got there, meeting new people, working with people…you get the idea.

Stereotypically, engineers are not known as “social butterflies.” My love for people has sometimes made me unsure whether I’d picked the right major during college. I’m happy to say that my experience at McKinstry has shifted me back toward confidence in myself and my future career.

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Filed Under: B.L.U.E. Blog, Home Tagged With: B.L.U.E., B.L.U.E. Blog, Career Development, Engineering, Engineers, Interns, Internships, Spokane

How to engineer an engineer

August 12, 2019 by Leave a Comment

How to engineer an engineer

Greetings once again! For those who don’t remember my first post, I’m Jason Orr. I’m working as a mechanical design intern on the Energy team in Seattle this summer. Since arriving in May, I’ve experienced a steep learning curve. Luckily, my all-star team is full of patient and flexible people willing to help a rookie like me.

Jason Orr, at his desk in Seattle.

In short, McKinstry’s Energy team is responsible for projects that involve existing buildings. Since humans aren’t perfect, the buildings we design aren’t either. We try to ensure that, say, a hospital that’s been standing for 100 years is there for 100 more. In the age of sustainability, another goal of ours is to make everything more efficient. How can we save the customer money while also saving the planet?

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Filed Under: B.L.U.E. Blog, Home Tagged With: ASHRAE, B.L.U.E., B.L.U.E. Blog, Codes, Energy, Engineering, Engineers, Excel, Interns, Internships, Seattle, Vent Calcs

Leaning and learning at McKinstry

July 31, 2019 by 2 Comments

Leaning and learning at McKinstry

One of the things that attracted me to McKinstry’s internship program was the opportunity to work on a team where I was of tangible use. So far, my experience has been just that—I’ve been an entry-level design engineer who gets to learn while doing work that needs to be done.

Bunji McLeod at his desk in McKinstry’s Spokane office.

Energy auditing and mechanical design adjustments to boost energy efficiency has been the name of the game for me as I’ve worked in the Spokane office this summer.

During my first week on the job, I traveled with Derek Larson, a design engineer, to a small town in the rolling hills of the Palouse. McKinstry recently helped a small school district there win a large grant to fund an elementary school renovation. The building itself was two stories and made up of several classrooms, office spaces and a gym whose layout was engraved into stone tablets by an architect in the Jurassic era (OK, it was 1927). Adaptations and renovations since then have added offices and rooms to the plans we didn’t know about until we stepped into the school.

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Filed Under: B.L.U.E. Blog, Home Tagged With: B.L.U.E., B.L.U.E. Blog, Engineering, Engineers, HVAC, Inland Northwest, Interns, Internships, Mechanical, Spokane

Bunji McLeod: Getting to know me & my journey to McKinstry’s B.L.U.E. Program

June 25, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Bunji McLeod: Getting to know me & my journey to McKinstry’s B.L.U.E. Program

So, first things first, my legal name is not Bunji. I was born in Kagoshima, Japan, on the south end of the island Kyushu. Originally, my mother wanted to give me the name Benjamin. However, I’ve been told “benjo” is Japanese slang for toilet, which must have been why I soon was born—”legally”—as Jason Shang McLeod.

Bunji McLeod.

That name didn’t last long. In the operating room, my dad mentioned that the umbilical cord for a baby is like a bungee cord with a little human attached to the end. My mom didn’t think it was as funny as he did, but I quickly became baby Bunji—much like the name Benji (i.e. Benjamin), but with a little extra spring of uniqueness in it. It has no meaning in Japanese, no cultural rooting in my Taiwanese ethnicity, and no daredevil bungee jump that deemed me worthy of such a nickname. It’s simply my name now.  

Three years after jumping into this world, I moved to Bellingham, Wash., where I lived underneath the smells of damp shade and never-ending greenery. There, I took two classes with a high school teacher who has shaped my college experience more than any other: Mr. Doud. The local legend of a physics teacher could inspire us to tackle any mathematical challenge with passionate fervor, using only a pen, whiteboard and cheesy one-liners developed over decades of classes. Because of him, I am here now in Spokane going into my fourth year of mechanical engineering and working at McKinstry.

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Filed Under: B.L.U.E. Blog, Home Tagged With: B.L.U.E., B.L.U.E. Blog, Career Development, Engineering, Gonzaga University, Interns, Mechanical, Mechanical Design, Mechanical Engineering, Mentorship, Spokane, WSOS

Jason Orr: Getting to know me & my journey to McKinstry’s B.L.U.E. Program

June 25, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Jason Orr: Getting to know me & my journey to McKinstry’s B.L.U.E. Program

When you want something, all the universe conspires to help you achieve it.

Paulo Coelho
Jason Orr.

As an avid reader, I believe people always have something to share. To accomplish anything in life requires shared wisdom across communities and the selflessness of those who are knowledgeable. Let me introduce myself.

My name is Jason Orr, and I am going into my final year studying Mechanical Engineering at Gonzaga University. Before starting my freshman year, the Engineering program at Gonzaga seemed like a great fit. Solving problems was always fun and working hands-on felt more engaging. As I continued through my initial semesters, there was an internal conversation with the malice of a 2016 Presidential debate happening in my mind. Is this what I want to do? Do I love this? Questions led to discontinuity and confusion. The only thing I knew was I wanted to have an impact.

We were all made by the same hand, and we have the same soul.

Paulo Coelho

The curriculum was undeniably tough: calculus, statics, physics. There was no point in asking what the “hard” classes were because there were multiple every semester. Eventually, I would ask a professor for his perspective and opinion. He offered me sound advice and incredible wisdom on how to persevere your way to excellence as an individual and an engineer.

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Filed Under: B.L.U.E. Blog, Home Tagged With: B.L.U.E., B.L.U.E. Blog, Career Development, Engineering, Interns, Mechanical, Mechanical Design, Mechanical Engineering, People, Seattle

Indoor air quality answers as the smoke settles

September 27, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Indoor air quality answers as the smoke settles

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.

frank_michael_web


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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Filed Under: Better Buildings, Big Ideas, Home Tagged With: Engineering, HVAC, Indoor Air Quality, Particulate Matter, Pollutants, Wildfires

Getting To Know: Nicole Demby (Golden, Colo.)

July 24, 2017 by 1 Comment

Getting To Know: Nicole Demby (Golden, Colo.)

demby_nicole

Nicole Demby.

Hello! I’m Nicole Demby, and I’m a commissioning engineering intern and proud B.L.U.E. Program participant at McKinstry this summer. I’m from Cortez, Colo. and I’m a rising junior studying Mechanical Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines—just five miles from McKinstry’s office in Golden, Colo.

Getting to intern at McKinstry this summer has been invaluable. My knowledge of HVAC systems and commissioning engineering (not to mention construction in general) has grown exponentially over the past few weeks.

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Filed Under: B.L.U.E. Blog, Home Tagged With: B.L.U.E., Colorado, Commissioning, Engineering, Internships, Mechanical Engineering

Getting To Know: Taylor Blevins (Portland)

July 24, 2017 by Leave a Comment

blevins_taylor

Taylor Blevins.

Hello! My name is Taylor Blevins, and I’m a B.L.U.E. Program intern in McKinstry’s Portland office. I first met with a McKinstry representative at the Oregon State University career fair and once I learned more about the company, I knew it would be a good fit for me.

I’m currently a rising senior at Oregon State studying Energy Systems Engineering. I also have some experience in BIM (Building Information Modeling) from my last internship with an architectural firm.

Ever since that internship ended, I’ve wanted to further-develop my skills in building systems and learn more about how buildings consume energy. As an engineer, it’s important that I learn how to help reduce that energy consumption.

Since McKinstry focuses on the mechanical systems of buildings and the energy aspect of buildings, I knew I was in the right place. So far my experience with McKinstry has been tremendous and I’m learning constantly.

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Filed Under: B.L.U.E. Blog, Home Tagged With: B.L.U.E., BIM, Energy, Engineering, Internships, Mechanical, Oregon, Portland

Getting To Know: Jessica Baumann (Madison, Wisc.)

July 24, 2017 by Leave a Comment

baumann_jessica

Jessica Baumann.

Hello! My name is Jessica Baumann and I’m a rising junior and Engineering Physics major at the University of Wisconsin – Platteville.

There are two things in that sentence that many people don’t know about. One is where Platteville is located. Platteville is in the southwest corner of Wisconsin, about 20 minutes away from the Wisconsin/Iowa border.

Secondly, most people don’t know anything about Engineering Physics. This major consists of curriculum taught to mechanical engineers, electrical engineers and physics majors. I enjoy this major because I feel like—once I’m out of college—it can lead to many opportunities, as I’ll have knowledge from several different areas of engineering.

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Filed Under: B.L.U.E. Blog, Home Tagged With: B.L.U.E., Engineering, Internships, Project Management, Wisconsin

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Recent Posts

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  • How COVID-19 changed my Internship: Nolan Dahl

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