Denver, CO, April 3, 2013
Former Rocky Mountain Institute Principal (Buildings) and Certified Passive House Consultant Will Enrich Firm’s German-Inspired Portfolio and Help Accelerate Cleantech Hotspot Denver
Ebert & Baumann Consulting Engineers, Inc. (EB) has joined forces with former Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) Principal and Certified Passive House Consultant (CPHC) James Scott Brew, AIA, FCSI to build up their operations in the Mile High City. EB, an enterprise of the German Ebert-Consulting Group, will make Denver its third US location, with current presences in Washington DC and Chicago. “I am excited to become a part of the EB team and to help bring their unique service portfolio to the Mountain West. Joining EB is like coming full-circle for me. The firm’s and my background really complement each other,” states Brew. EB has made its mark as a leading engineering and consulting firm for high quality, low energy, and high efficiency buildings. They offer in-house researched and developed services like operation diagnostics and integrated energy master planning for campuses and communities, in addition to your standard building engineering services. Their broad expertise for commercial, institutional, educational, and industrial buildings is unique to the US market, combining German innovation in the field with US market and industry knowledge. James was an owner of a Minnesota-based architecture and engineering firm that focused on sustainable design practice, before he joined RMI in 2007. At RMI, he co-led the Superefficient Housing Initiative and previously headed the design and planning studio. Maximum building efficiency has been essential to James’ professional growth. The topic itself was pioneered by RMI’s Amory Lovins through his super-insulation work in the early 1970s. Twenty years later, Lovins’ findings were further developed in Germany into the so-called Passive House standard, currently the strictest building energy standard in the world. This standard was successfully re-introduced to the US in 2007, with James being an integral part of that movement.To date, he is one of 450 certified CPHCs across the United States. His involvement and expertise in the field bring a new element to EB’s service portfolio that nicely connects to the company’s German roots. On Saturday, April 20, James will also speak at the 17th International Passive House Conference 2013 in Frankfurt, Germany on behalf of EB. In the morning plenary session, he will present a US perspective with “Reinventing Fire: Passivhaus role in bold solutions to get one nation off coal and oil by 2050.“ “We are thrilled to bring James on to our team and see his expertise, as well as the new Denver location, as a major benchmark to make EB a national brand and a globally recognized leader for sustainable and energy efficient buildings consulting,” comments Oliver Baumann, President of Ebert & Baumann Consulting Engineers, Inc.
The Denver location has become a destination for the clean tech industry since a 2010 Colorado state requirement to generate 30% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Subsequently, the city has seen a 6% average annual growth in clean technology jobs according to fDi Magazine. This development, as well as Denver’s requirement to build public buildings to the LEED Silver and Energy Star standards, and their massive infrastructure overhaul are further incentive for EB to set-up shop in Colorado’s capital. Additionally, the region’s excellent universities and sustainability degree programs, as well as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), are great potential partners for the firm, which has often joined efforts with educational and research facilities.
