Designing Large Buildings for a Zero Emissions Future
Colin Schless CPHC, LEED AP BD+C
Thornton Tomasetti
Vice President
ABSTRACT:
Within the past two years the building industry has shifted to a zero carbon standard, with large buildings in cities like Boston being required to demonstrate net-zero operations to obtain building permits. Residential projects have migrated to passive standards like PHIUS and PHI and large commercial projects are largely adopting fossil-fuel free heating systems. This presentation will review current trends in high-performance design and introduce students to critical engineering concepts they are likely to encounter in professional practice.
BIO:
Colin Schless leads Thornton Tomasetti’s East Region energy modeling and building analytics group within their Sustainability Practice. Most recently he collaborated with BR+A in the authorship of Boston’s city-wide Net-Zero zoning standards. Prior to being located in Boston, Colin Schless led TT’s Western Region energy modeling and building physics group. Thornton Tomasetti is a 1,500-plus person multi-disciplinary engineering firm with 54 offices worldwide. Colin’s background is in building science and he manages the company’s passive house and R&D efforts related to parametric design and analysis. His project experience ranges from a 500,000 gross square foot museum in Riyadh Saudi Arabia to the first large-scale cold-climate multifamily passive house located in Brewer, Maine. Colin is one of 10 members serving on the Passive House US Technical committee.