2021 DC Sustainability Summit

October 18 – 22, 2021

DC Sustainability Summit

From the comfort of your home or office, learn from sustainable design and construction experts and see game-changing innovations at the 7th Annual DC Sustainability Summit (DCSS). Passionate industry leaders will present the latest green building concepts and discuss the intersection of safety and sustainability in a pandemic driven world.

Daily DCSS seminars, discussions, and speakers will help you learn how to incorporate solutions for sustainability into your work and find creative methods to reduce carbon emissions. You can ask questions about cutting-edge green building technologies and products—and see them in action—at our Virtual Innovative Green Product Expo.

Please join us for this inspiring virtual week with like-minded professionals to find creative solutions to the world’s environmental realities. One registration provides access to all sessions.

General Registration - $40
Student/Faculty Registration - $20
For student/faculty discount code, please email us from your valid school email at summit@dcsustainability.org


All events are eligible for continuing education credits.

Stripe Climate Badge - Small

We will contribute 1% of registration fees to remove CO2 from the atmosphere

SCHEDULE

Monday, October 18, 2021

11:00 am – 12:00 pm

NZE CODES – RISKS & CHALLENGES OR OPPORTUNITIES & SOLUTIONS?

Early adopters will share insights and tips from their Net Zero Energy playbooks from the owner’s, architect’s, engineer’s, and contractor’s perspective. The panel will discuss how market demands are driving change, how NZE and building performance regulations are changing the design process, and how NZE building construction differs from traditional approaches. This panel will share their experience with NZE buildings, how this transition creates new opportunities, and what they see as the biggest challenges to getting to carbon neutrality.

Session Speakers

Scott Emery, Moderator | Baumann Consulting

Jason Fierko | EwingCole

Greg Farley | George Mason University

Jon Penndorf | Perkins & Will

Mike Ricketts | Gilbane Building Company

Oliver Baumann | Baumann Consulting

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

11:00 am – 12:00 pm

RENOVATION STRATEGIES AND DC CLEAN ENERGY ACT COMPLIANCE

The “DC Clean Energy Act” recently passed into law in Washington, DC, is aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of the city. This act requires a continual reduction in the energy consumption of new, existing, and historic buildings. This presentation will introduce you to the Clean Energy Act, requirements for existing buildings, tools for selecting compliant materials, and strategies to achieve compliance (and avoid the significant penalties for non-compliance!)

Session Speakers

Todd Steffens | Loring Consulting Engineers, Inc.

Paul Shahriari | Ecomedes

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

11:00 am – 12:00 pm

NEXTGEN: FRESH IDEAS FROM CUA’S NET ZERO DESIGN STUDIO

In The Catholic University of America’s Net Zero Design Studio course, students partnered with Arlington Public Schools (APS) to propose Net Zero reuse modernizations to several existing schools in the school system. The framework of the presentation will highlight the remarkable student work including one of the 2021 AIA / ACSA COTE Top Ten for Students Award-winning entries.

Session Speakers

Robin Puttock | The Catholic University of America

Thursday, October 21, 2021

11:00 am – 12:00 pm

MULTIFAMILY HOUSING 2.0: DISRUPTIVE IDEAS & SMART TECH

Industry influencer, published author, and former head of US DOEE’s Building Technology Office discusses how the development community can realize substantial cost savings and add value to multifamily housing by embracing user experience and innovative technologies.

Session Speakers

Sam Rashkin | Housing 2.0

Friday, October 22, 2021

11:00 am – 12:00 pm

INVESTING IN SUSTAINABLE COMPANIES & TECHNOLOGY

As businesses and residents increasingly take stock of their environmental footprint, one of the first things they will evaluate is their physical surroundings and how to optimize them. Camber Creek, the leading real estate-technology focused venture capital firm, sits at an important juncture between entrepreneurs developing solutions and some of the largest real estate owners, operators, and investors. This session will describe how the firm identifies green technologies that can work at scale; the process of helping new solutions gain traction; and the leading ESG measurement tool in the sector as well as an energy purchasing platform that is incentivizing companies to improve energy costs and efficiency.

Session Speakers

Lionel Foster | Camber Creek

SPEAKERS

Scott Emery

Scott Emery

Senior Vice President
Baumann Consulting

Scott is a Virginia, Maryland, and DC Licensed Professional Engineer. He currently leads Baumann Consulting’s Washington, DC office with the mission to make high performance buildings the norm and not the exception. Scott is very engaged in advocating for legislative changes to reduce our impact on climate change in the DMV area. He is following DC’s Building Energy Performance Standard (BEPS) very closely and is consulting building owners on how to best meet the BEPS requirements. He is a member of ASHRAE and a founding member of Zero Carbon Virginia. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University and Michigan State University, respectively.

Jason Fierko Update

Jason Fierko

Principal
EwingCole

Jason is a Principal, mechanical engineer, and energy modeler at EwingCole. With twenty years of experience, he specializes in energy efficient and zero-net energy designs. He received his undergraduate degree in Architectural Engineering and Master of Engineering Management from Drexel University. He is an instrumental participant in EwingCole’s sustainability group and has been involved with several LEED Certified and zero-net energy projects. Most notably, he was the net zero coordinator and energy modeler on the United Therapeutics zero-net energy Unisphere project in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Greg Farley Updated

Greg Farley

Director of Univ. Sustainability
George Mason University

Greg is the Director of University Sustainability at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. He has held similar positions at Washington College (Chestertown, Maryland) and Chesapeake College (Wye Mills, Maryland). His experience with energy conservation and generation has spanned the design of LEED-Platinum and net-zero-energy buildings; energy conservation planning and execution; wind, solar, and battery development; and renewable energy procurement for higher education.  His wider work in sustainability has also encompassed watershed remediation, food security and agriculture, and waste, composting, and recycling.

Jon Penndorf Updated

Jon Penndorf

Senior Associate
Perkins&Will

Jon is a Senior Associate in Perkins&Will’s Washington DC office, managing projects at multiple scales and shaping sustainability approaches to projects across the office. Concentrating on the commercial & higher education markets, he brings focus to the varying lenses of ecology, wellness, and resilience. Jon previously served as representative to the AIA Strategic Council, and as an Advisory Group member for the AIA Committee on the Environment. 

Mike Rickets Update

Mike Ricketts

Director of Commercial Markets
Gilbane Building Company

As the Director of Commercial Markets at Gilbane, Mike leads some of the largest commercial office and headquarters projects in the Mid-Atlantic Region. He has a deep understanding of the market demands and trends around sustainability and code requirements. His expertise covers the entire development process from feasibility analysis, acquisitions, financing, conceptual planning, design and construction to successful conclusion. Prior to Gilbane, Mike worked with several developers and general contactors.

Oliver Baumann Update

Oliver Baumann

President
Baumann Consulting

Oliver has two decades of experience in design, commissioning, and measurement & verification for high-performance buildings. After joining the EB-Group in Munich in 1996, he went on to establish the Building Simulation Group and later served as Project Manager for integrated building design and low-energy projects and Head of the International Projects Group. Building on his experiences in Germany, Oliver’s expertise covers the entire lifecycle of commercial, institutional and industrial buildings and facilities, from developing innovative net zero energy concepts to the evaluation of building performance and operation.

Todd Steffens

Todd Steffens

Vice President
Loring Consulting Engineers

Todd has two decades’ worth of experience in commissioning, retro-commissioning, and design of mechanical systems for commercial, institutional, and mixed-use facilities. This experience includes managing trade contracts, coordinating construction activities between trades on-site, conducting all phases of the building commissioning process, investigating construction phase problems and conflicts, and developing and presenting efficient, comprehensive solutions. These activities include the surveying of existing conditions, site assessment reporting, preparation of load and sizing calculations, equipment selection, ductwork and pipe network layout and design, and specifications preparation. In addition to his extensive experience with project management, Todd is able to supervise and manage all commissioning- and energy-related aspects of a given project.

Paul Shahriari Update

Paul Shahriari

Founder
Ecomedes

Paul is an authority on green building and the application of technology in the real estate, design, engineering and construction industries. He began his career as a sustainability consultant in 2000. He was one of the first people in the US to become a LEED accredited professional and served as the US Green Building Council’s youngest faculty member. He has consulted on over $50 billion of real estate, design and construction projects. In 2016 he launched ecomedes, a data platform that leverages product performance data to simplify green decision making and purchasing. Ecomedes streamlines the analysis of economic and environmental impacts for anyone looking to make better data-driven decisions. Paul is a graduate of the University of Florida with a Masters of Engineering.

 

Robin Puttock Update

Robin Puttock

Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies
The Catholic University of America

Robin is an Associate Dean and Visiting Assistant Professor at The Catholic University of America. She is a practicing architect with twenty years of experience in sustainable civic architecture, recognized by the US Department of Education and President Obama. Her teaching and research focuses on sustainability and wellbeing. Students from her Net Zero Studio won the 2021 ACSA/AIA COTE Top Ten for Students Competition. Robin is an active volunteer on local, state, national and international levels, serving on the Arlington Public School (APS) Superintendent Advisory Board on Sustainability, the APS Building Level Planning Committee, the Host Committee for USGBC’s Greenbuild and as one of Al Gore’s Climate Reality Leaders. Robin has a Bachelor of Architecture and a Master of Architecture from Virginia Tech.

Sam Rahkin Update

Sam Rashkin

Founder
Housing 2.0

Sam has earned an international reputation for his work engaging thousands of homebuilders as national director for the ENERGY STAR Certified Home and U.S. DOE Zero Energy Ready Home. Extensive research studies show that user experience leaders compared to laggards realize 3X greater return to investors and 3X greater resilience during downturns. That’s why Sam now focuses on making high-performance builders industry leaders by providing them a comprehensive framework for optimizing the housing user experience. Apart from this work, Sam has been recognized for his contributions to sustainable housing with the prestigious Hanley Award in 2012 and EEBA Legend Award in 2019. 

Lionel Foster Update

Lionel Foster

Senior Associate
Camber Creek

Lionel is a senior associate at Camber Creek, a venture capital firm investing in companies creating tech solutions for the real estate industry. He holds a master’s degree in regional and urban planning studies from the London School of Economics and a JD from Georgetown Law. In previous roles he was special assistant to the director of the Baltimore City Department of Planning and helped draft Baltimore City Public Schools’ sustainability plan.

MODERATOR

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Kathy Lawson

Director of Sustainability
DCS Design

As Director of Sustainability, Kathy guides project teams through the green building process, including preliminary building analyses and energy studies, design coordination, construction phase management, credit tracking and certification documentation submission. Kathy’s expertise and experience on a multitude of LEED, Green Globes, NGBS, and EarthCraft projects allow her to optimize green buildings and allow clients to realize the triple bottom line. Kathy leads DCS Design’s Green Team, manages sustainability initiatives, and hosts the annual DC Sustainability Summit.

SPONSORS

PLATINUM SPONSOR

Allen + Shariff

Allen + Shariff Corporation is a Client-Focused leading professional services firm that offers Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, and Fire Protection Engineering and Commissioning. For more than two decades, we have built partnerships into long term relationships that have been rewarded with great success. Our relationships are client focused, but so too are our relationships within our firm and our communities.

At Allen + Shariff, our mission is to deliver outstanding project management, engineering solutions and construction services that are innovative, efficient, practical, and on time. Our team of caring, talented, and dedicated professionals, working in a rewarding environment, serve with integrity and pride, thus building mutually beneficial and lasting relationships.

Our intellectual capital and experience set us apart from other traditional engineering firms. We have a deep expertise in energy efficient and sustainable design, LEED consulting, geothermal systems, and renewable energy technologies. Our engineering design and commissioning services result in lower energy and operating costs, enhanced system reliability, improved indoor air quality, and increased occupant comfort and productivity.

As a Minority-Owned Business (MBE), we understand the incredible benefits of celebrating and promoting diversity in the workplace. Our best work is inspired by team members of different ages, levels of experience, areas of expertise, and cultural backgrounds. As a result, Allen + Shariff carries multiple MBE certificates. With these qualifications, Allen + Shariff brings a unique perspective to every project we encounter.

We have stateside offices in Columbia, MD (Headquarters); Salisbury, MD; Pittsburgh, PA; Zelienople, PA and Wilmington, NC. Additionally, we have 2 project management offices in the UAE.

SILVER SPONSOR

SESSION SPONSOR

VT (2)

Center for Leadership in Global Sustainability at Virginia Tech

STUDENT SPONSOR

MEDIA SPONSOR

EXHIBITORS

More information can be found on the Green Product Expo Page.

KLAUS New Logo (3)

More information can be found on the Green Product Expo Page

Pella Windows (2)

More information can be found on the Green Product Expo Page

Fast Plank (2)

Fast Plank

More information can be found on the Green Product Expo Page

HOSTS