Monthly Forum: How Has COVID-19 Impacted Energy Use?
April 3, 2021
When COVID-19 hit, the virus not only infected bodies, but also homes. Our kitchens, bedrooms, even bathrooms became office spaces as people had to suddenly cram both work and leisure into the same place. This change drastically altered the distribution of energy usage across the city (and the world) as office buildings emptied and people were confined to their homes.
Meanwhile, as businesses plan the return to centralized or hybrid operation, they are forced to consider their approach. In a world of increased consciousness about airborne particles, workplaces must be equipped with a means to sanitize spaces and filter circulated air. Additionally, to achieve the ‘new normal’, office spaces should incorporate smart monitoring of energy consumption.
How has the shift in working and living patterns affected energy consumption? How will the return to offices look? What adjustments will need to be made to accommodate the ‘new normal’? How will these adjustments impact energy consumption and adherence to LL97? These questions will be discussed by our panelists of industry experts on the frontier of these issues.
Speakers include:
Mathew Chamish // JLL, Director, Energy and Sustainability ServicesAdam Fisher // JLL, Senior Project Manager, Energy and SustainabilityCharles Szoradi // Purge Virus, CEO
Mathew Chamish is a Director with JLL’s Energy and Sustainability Services team. In this role, he is responsible for designing energy and sustainability strategies to reduce resource consumption and cost for commercial, public, and industrial real estate portfolios. These programs include procurement of electric and natural gas commodities, identification and implementation of energy-efficiency technologies, as well as, the roll-out of clean energy strategies.
Mathew is a Professional Engineer in New York State, and a Certified Energy Manager with the Association of Energy Engineers and a LEED Green Associate. He graduated with his BS in Mechanical Engineering from George Washington University in Washington DC. He then earned his MS in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Energy Systems from Columbia University in New York City.
Adam Fisher is a Senior Project Manager in Energy and Sustainability Services based out of the New York City office. Having joined the team in Summer 2020, Adam works with institutional investors and corporate occupiers to establish strategic sustainability programs and identify carbon and energy reduction strategies.
Adam holds an M.B.A. from New York Univeristy Stern School of Business as well as a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University. Adam is a Certified Energy Manager from the Association of Energy Engineers as well as a LEED Green Associate from the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI).
Charlie Szoradi is an architect and sustainability executive with three decades of experience in advanced clean-technology and cost-effective solutions for retrofits and new construction. Charlie focuses on high performance architecture, and he is a LEED AP (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – Accredited Professional), a Certified Building Performance Institute (BPI) Energy Auditor, a member of the Energy and Sustainability Committee for the Society of American Military Engineers, and the Leadership Council Chairman of the American LED Alliance. In 2009, Charlie was elected to the Board of the Sustainable Business Network and selected as a member of the Green Economy Task Force, with direct participation on the Capitol Hill Delegation to encourage senators to support the Obama Administration’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
Charlie earned his Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Virginia, and he earned his Masters from the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote his Masters Thesis on Energy Intelligence – “Eco-Humanism” in the early 1990s. He has multiple patents granted by the USPTO and is the author Learn from Looking, How Observation Inspires Innovation, which includes over two decades of his travel drawings and insights on energy-efficiency and sustainability from his travels and work around the world.
Read our recent blog post titled Getting Back Out: A City Dweller’s COVID Reflection on Nature in Place