Category: GHI Education Manager

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As the Chief Expansion/Program Officer at CEDA John is seasoned professional in the field of Home/Building Performance, with a passion for net zero construction with a strong emphasis on equity, indoor air quality, and project management. With extensive experience and expertise in the industry, John has consistently demonstrated his commitment to sustainable building practices that minimize environmental impact and promote energy efficiency.

Throughout his career, John has played a key role in leading and managing projects that prioritize equity, ensuring that communities have access to high-quality, energy-efficient homes. His deep understanding of the importance of indoor air quality has driven him to implement solutions and technologies that create healthy living environments for occupants in marginalized and disinvested communities.

With a passion for net zero construction and a dedication to sustainability, John stays at the forefront of industry trends and innovations. He is a strong advocate for incorporating renewable energy systems, energy-efficient materials, and advanced building techniques to achieve optimal energy performance in residential and commercial buildings.

In addition to his professional accomplishments, John is actively involved in professional organizations related to Home/Building Performance. He is a respected member of the industry and serves on the board of directors for the Building Performance Association and is dedicated to advancing sustainable building practices and promoting equity in the industry.

Kahryn Riley is an attorney and native Michigander dedicated to working on the most pressing social and economic issues. She began her career in public policy as the director of criminal justice policy at one of the nation’s premier state-based think tanks, where she published peer-reviewed papers on the state penal system, juvenile justice system and bail scheme, and helped lead a bipartisan coalition to raise the age of adult criminal liability in Michigan from 17 to 18. Today she works in energy policy and clean energy technology, leveraging her experience with administrative law to pass more effective electricity regulation and open new markets for demand-side technology resources that help make the grid more reliable. She resides near Lansing with her husband and their two young boys.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kahrynriley/

A GreenHome Institute member since 2018 she is as a licensed architect for over 30 years.

Debbie has designed hundreds of low-energy passive solar homes for clients across the United States and Canada in many climate zones.  She obtained a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Arizona and has been a licensed architect for over 30 years. In 2002, she founded Sun Plans Inc. which specializes in internet-based, sun-inspired, passive solar home design. Debbie authored The Sun-Inspired House: home designs warmed and brightened by the sun which is available in the ever-expanding eBook from Sun Plans with over 150 house designs.

Her design philosophies incorporate Passive Solar Design Strategies; Guidelines for Home Building developed by NREL and are continuously evolving to adapt to the ever-changing low-energy construction methods and climate changes as well as other housing and energy technologies related to green building. She believes in efficiency first and building as small as possible as prerequisites to good house design.  Her work has been published in Solar Today, Mother Earth News, Fine Homebuilding, Home Power, and Home Energy. In December 2022, she presented The Basics of Passive Solar Home Design webinar for GHI. (

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As a member of the American Institute of Architects, she understands architects, but with her typical services, her services align well with designers, draftsmen, engineers, and builders. Debbie has worked in construction, been the general contractor on her previous home, and coordinated a renovation on her current home. She is a LEED-GA and an active member of the American Solar Energy Society where she serves on the board of directors, the solar buildings technical committee, and the committee for the National Solar Tour that showcases many forms of sustainable living and buildings across all 50 states.

Debbie is passionate about how the sun can warm and brighten the interior of homes but enjoys being outside more than inside. She works very hard at connecting the two by bringing in the outdoors with careful attention to window placement which varies with each climate, piece of land, and family preferences with custom designs. Debbie has lived in a variety of places with cold, moderate, warm, humid, and dry climates. She enjoys traveling and exploring new places from the mountains to the sea, and being with others who share her love of the sun.

Green Home & Sustainability Jobs Round-Up

One argument that inevitably comes up when considering the transition to a green economy is the loss of jobs related to unsustainable building practices and the fossil fuel industry. It is important to recognize that those workers deserve equitable transitions and resources to take on positions in green building and renewable energy. Here are some articles on that topic, including net zero job gains offsetting losses, the growth of clean energy jobs being seen in all states, and a specific example (which we need to see more of) where new wind energy jobs were filled by retaining power plant workers in NY.

Job Opportunities

Green Building Verification Project Associate (Field Technician), Ellicott City MD
Climate Initiatives Program Coordinator, Lansing MI

Technical Project Manager, Remote

Director of Finance, Washington DC

OSR Energy and Technical Services Manager, Atlanta GA

Senior Climate Justice Program Manager, Oregon

Healthy and Resilient Homes Project Manager, Kingston NY

Community Rebuilders – various positions, Grand Rapids MI

Project Manager, High Performance Buildings, Chicago IL/Remote

Product Manager, Remote

Residential Designer, Valparaiso IN

Energy Procurement Consultant, Grand Rapids MI

Project Manager, Boulder-Denver metro area

Account Manager, New Account Development, Miamisburg OH

Home Repair Manager, Detroit MI

Project Manager, Sustainable Buildings, Remote 

Executive Director, Boston MA 

Senior Account Manager, New York NY 

Regulatory Director, Education and Innovation, Remote
Program Manager, Strategy, Portland OR

The short answer is it did slightly, but my goals for my solar system were still met. But how did I figure that out?

We know that cloud coverage reduces solar power. When a system is designed and installed, the solar installers account for average to worst-case cloud coverage, which is built into the energy production model. So there should be no surprise or question about cloud coverage reducing solar. It is totally normal, but now should installers be accounting for wildfire smoke (and apparently Sarahn dust storm?) events?

We sadly got to give this a test in Michigan, where we, up until the 2020s, got few wildfire smoke issues. The worst so far has been the month of June—specifically the last week. A steady haze from the Canadian wildfire smoke sat over our area. I observed it frequently just by seeing thin fog daily, a more orange sun, and then by checking my EPA AirNow air quality App, which bounced mostly yellow (Moderate ) to orange (unhealthy for sensitive) once and a while every day and throughout each day. The app detects ozone issues which is not a problem for solar, but the concern is the PM2.5 or particulate matter, which was tracking higher than normal and causing the sun to diminish.

So before we can know how much the smoke was blocking the solar, I needed to know the % of sunny days vs cloudy days and the cooling degree days, and what the solar projections are for my system in the month of June. Obviously, on the first question, if it was just cloudy, it would block the sun, and on the 2nd, if it was hotter than normal, it would diminish the output of the solar as well.

Grand Rapids National Weather Service has a sunshine tracker which tracks the daily sun, and so once they updated it for June, I could take a look. I asked them if this sun tracker was impacted by wildfire smoke, making it think it was a cloudy day.

“Yes, the smoke did impact the sensor readings to a degree. Basically, whenever shadows are cast, the sensor accumulates the minutes of sunshine. If enough smoke obscures the sky even with no cloud cover, the sensor will show less minutes observed than what normally would occur. This is especially true early in the morning and late in the evening with a more shallow sun angle, which has to cut through a greater degree of smoke. I don’t have a hard metric for you on what the reduction would be.” 

Essentially wildfire smoke will increase our reduction in sunshine days as time goes on.

Next, I used degreedays.net to check cooling degree days which may tell me how hot it was and if that diminished the solar output.

Lastly, I looked at my solar installers’ projections for June, and by the way, their projections are only good for a year. Most systems, I am told, are supposed to lose 20% efficiency in the second year, and so on. Again, the total normal

Lastly, I compared solar generation, sunny days, and Cooling Degree Days (CDD) on June 22, 21, and May 23, 22 to see how it all compares. Overall cooling degree days held steady in June between weeks and stayed as warm as average Junes in the last few years.

The last week of June was the smokiest. We had to stay indoors mostly. The levels on the IAQ were ready in red and purple for most of the week, so this was the thickest cloud coverage. Most of the weather forecast for that week called for sunny days. However, the Grand Rapids solar observer reported it was mostly cloudy because smoke blocked it. The smoke made it report that the last week in June was 50% more cloudy than the rest of the month.

This resulted in a 25% reduction in solar energy compared to the rest of the month.

Then if you look at solar data for June going back to 1950, the average has been 64% sunny days. So if you look at the data, this June was on track for hitting the average even with it being slightly smoky all month. Still, the last week, when the real heavy smoke blew in, it dropped to an 8% loss compared to the average, which correlated to a 3% loss in solar power compared to the average projection for my solar system.

After doing this review, what really stuck out to me was looking back at 2021. Significantly hotter and significantly more cloudy than average and the worse solar performance despite the system just being installed in Feb 2021.

So, in summary, wildfire smoke and heat are guaranteed in our future, and it does impact solar power generation, but despite that, my goal of staying off-peak with less than 1 kwh out of 677 being used during peak for the entire month. This leads me to believe solar is still resilient despite wildfire smoke and is an effective way to power our homes in the future.

Learn more here about Brett’s Green Home Renovation and how you can too

Once again, so many jobs are being offered in the residential green building, sustainability, and decarbonization sector. It is unthinkable!

A decade ago, I could have only dreamed of this when I was in the job market.

A recent article from Planet Detroit focused on Detroit, though it could be a template for the rest of the country or world, as it highlights over 100,000 of these jobs being added alone in just the city in the next decade. https://planetdetroit.org/2023/05/planet-detroit-green-jobs-guide-construction/

The article then explains what a green job, a green career, and where to find one is. Even if you have a job not specifically related to green, our friends at Project Drawdown would argue that every job is a climate job (https://drawdown.org/news/insights/what-are-you-working-in-service-of), advocating that you can look for ways to advance decarbonization in your current job and, do this, advocate for it!

Remember, the first step to advancing green or a climate job is to get your Green Associates Designation or GreenHome Associates. GHI offers free assistance in both of these once you become a member!

Our featured Job of the Month 

Mitsubishi Electric Trane HVAC US LLC is looking for a Performance Construction Manager in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky or West Virginia.

POSITION SUMMARY:

Support and implement an area Performance Construction (PC) program with a dedicated focus on residential construction core markets. Develop a successful regional strategy to uncover and capture new revenue streams with the primary focus on new construction, remodeling, and home performance.

AKA – If you are excited about heatpumps, it will be your job to get more heatpumps out the door.

Learn more – Performance Construction Manager

Other jobs you may be interested in

Manager, Building Impact – Climate + Energy, Remote

Director of Communications, Upper Marlboro MD

Product Manager, Miamisburg OH

HUD Multifamily Senior Advisor for Housing and Sustainability! https://lnkd.in/er5Qxetv

Senior Director, Sustainable Technologies, Melville NY (Hybrid)

Instructor, Construction Management & Building Science Technologies, Asheville NC

Learning and Development Lead, Chicago IL

City Climate Resiliency Manager, Tucson AZ

VP of Engineering, Berkeley CA

Project Manager, Austin TX

Project Manager I – Energy Council, Oakland CA

Specialist, Materials, Remote

Several career opportunities in affordable housing, Grand Rapids MI

Technical Program Manager, Remote

Building Energy Modeling Analyst, Upper Marlboro NY

Product Manager, Miamisburg OH

Sustainability Manager, Chicago IL

Product Manager, Municipal Technical Assistance and Consulting, MI

Manager, Grants, Programs, and Engagement, Vancouver BC

Multifamily Certification Project Manager, Portland OR

Architecture firm opportunities, AZ and MI

Project Development Manager, Arlington VA

Program Manager, Grid Services, Houston TX

Managing Director, Development, Washington DC

Policy Lead, Buildings, Seattle WA

Environmental/Solid Waste Program Coordinator, Cincinnatti OH

Habitat for Humanity opportunities, Holland MI

Environmental Protection Specialist, Washington DC

Customer Solutions Manager, Remote

Energy Efficiency opportunities, various locations

Passive House Consultant, Toronto ON

Senior Associate – Advancing Federal Climate Opportunities, Salt Lake City UT

Energy Engineer, Electrical and Renewables, Madison WI

Communications Director, Albany NY

Clean Energy Markets Analyst, Albany NY

Several opportunities in decarbonization in Minnesota
The team at New Buildings Institute just posted two new positions

– A Senior Project Analyst with experience in existing building energy, carbon and cost analysis, and energy modeling for code or certification. This is a full-time remote position hiring as soon as possible.

– An experienced Office Manager/Executive Assistant to work part-time in our downtown Portland, OR office two days a week and remote the other two days. Full health and other benefits are provided!

www.NewBuildings.org

Did you see that the 2023 National Association of Realtors Residential Sustainability Report was out?

One item highlighted in that report was that nearly 50% of realtors had been involved in a property with green features. That is why we are excited to share we have an opportunity to go before a forms committee this June to improve the local green seller’s disclosure. Does your community have a green seller’s disclosure? What does it say? What should it say?

Some other interesting parts of the survey indicate 18% of realtors are concerned about misrepresenting green in listings, and 28% are concerned about lack of information being provided and so to help with this and help your clients determine the seller’s disclosure form as well as a list on the green MLS you may wish to consider taking our GreenHome Associate realtor training here. 

But we know more and more people wish to understand these issues in the homes they buy or communicate the benefits of the homes they sell because “63% responded and said energy efficiency promotion in listings was very or somewhat valuable.”  So part of obtaining the information you need to understand a home’s green and energy savings benefits and then communicate them to buyers and sellers is what we refer to as an updated home inspection or GreenHome Inspection. The cost of these may come back to your clients from the Inflation Reduction Act up to 30% of the cost or $150.00. Learn more here https://greenhomeinstitute.org/greenhomeinspection/

Further looking at the NAR Report, it determined that at least

” Eleven percent of respondents said that a high-performance home had an increase of one to five percent of the dollar value offered compared to other similar homes.”

But how do we define high performance? That is through 3rd party verification, which can be obtained from the GreenHome Inspection like the GreenStar Homes Certification program, (https://greenhomeinstitute.org/greenstar/) which may align with the Green Appraisal Addendum (https://www.appraisalinstitute.org/assets/1/7/ResidentialGreenandEnergyEfficientAddendum.pdf) to increase value and the MLS. A recent article and training highlight how we need your help to make this happen. “Listing agents are the linchpin to ensuring sellers derive value from the energy-efficient and green features in their home, said Sandra Adomatis, 2023 president-elect of the Appraisal Institute….That’s because appraisers rely on the information agents input into the MLS. Too often, Adomatis said, appraisers don’t have a clear picture of any energy or green features in listings because the data is hidden in or excluded from the MLS. ” Read more at https://www.nar.realtor/magazine/real-estate-news/sales-marketing/green-appraisals-dependent-on-agents

Ultimately, it is important to start somewhere and identify yourself as the go-to resource for your new and existing clients, who will hopefully be your clients again someday. Let them know about this new website here from the DOE https://www.energy.gov/save that may help them improve their homes with additional incentives up to $14,000 and be ready for increased value when they go to sell.

We are excited to continue the West MI Green Home Realtor Task Force to keep solving these issues. Do you have one in your region? We are hosting more west MI workshops so please contact us.

Capitol Park LDHA LLC is a two building, 48 unit, Low Income Housing Tax Credit New Construction apartment complex located adjacent to the State Capitol Center.  The two buildings are strategically place on the 5.4 acre site to provide for future development.  The units are tempered by electric heat pumps that are right-sized for the volume.  8 units are permanently set aside for Project Voucher Based Housing and units are type ‘A’ accessible units.  All units are visitable & type B ADA compliant.  The main level of each building is set aside for potential commercial tenants.

The interior units are all electric with minimal gas onsite being used to heat nonresidential entry space, common spaces, and the dryers.