You're Invited to Redwood Energy's 11th
Zero Carbon Retreat!
July 29th and 30th, 10-5
"When I'm sometimes asked when there will be enough [women on the Supreme Court] and I say 'When there are nine,' people are shocked. But there'd been nine men, and nobody's ever raised a question about that" - Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, RIP
1 - 1:30 PM Lunch Break
Will Vicent of the California Energy Commission
Will (he) is a proud member of the California Energy Commission, where he leads the Building Standards Office. Will is the friendliest and least knowledgeable member of an all-star team who are responsible for maintaining and updating California’s Energy Code, its companion energy compliance software, and outreach & education programs. Will has dedicated his career to reimagining our built environment into one that is more ecologically intelligent and equitably distributed.
Marnese Jackson of the Midwest Building Decarbonization Coalition
Marnese (she) is the Co-Director of the Midwest Building Decarbonization Coalition and has previously served with Mothers Out Front as a Frontline Program Manager, and with NAACP's Environmental and Climate Justice Program as a Regional Organizer. Marnese holds a Master’s Degree in Social Justice from Marygrove College and a Bachelor’s in Public Relations and African American Studies from Eastern Michigan University.
Lance Collins of Partner Energy and SoCal NOMA
Lance (he) is a Director at Partner Energy with over 20 years of experience in architecture, urban design, and sustainable design consulting. A licensed architect in California, Lance has provided design and consulting solutions for various types of buildings, including institutional, office, mixed-use, retail, schools, and multifamily residential properties. Lance has led the completion of more than 50 Green certified projects including LEED Platinum, and Net-Zero projects for new buildings and existing construction for Partner Energy clients.
Dr. Ashling Leilaeioun of the University of California-Merced
Ashling (she) is a postdoc at UC Merced. She is an expert in the renewable energy industry; her research is on projects such as demand management and Terawatt challenge in PV and how positive feedback loops can help accelerate the energy transition by taking a balanced approach. Prior to joining UC Merced, she has worked as a process engineer at Q CELL, a top solar module manufacturer. She received her Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering working on novel solar cells with near world record efficiency.
Jasmine Lomax of Kilroy Realty
Jasmine (she/they) is the Manager of Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility for the Kilroy Realty Corporation. Jasmine spent most of her free time as a youth volunteering with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, and she is achieving her dreams to bring sustainable, environmentally friendly practices to the built environment. Her degree is from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in Construction Management with dual minors in Real Property Development (RPD), and City & Regional Planning (CRP). LEED GA, CGP.
Ram Nararamamurthy
Ram (he) is the Technical Executive of EPRI's Decarbonization of Buildings and Communities division. EPRI supports electric utilities world-wide, and Ram specializes in supporting electrification technologies that provide grid services, low-GWP refrigerants and leading edge efficiency. He has been instrumental in advancing California’s goals for Net Zero Energy and zero carbon buildings, developing one of the first Zero Net Energy neighborhoods of houses, and developing zero energy affordable housing communities in the Central Valley and Southern California.
Dr. Dre Helmns of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Dre (they) is a postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory working to decarbonize energy technology. They are currently developing a novel heating and cooling system to optimally shift thermal loads in commercial buildings. As a scholar and an educator, Dre aspires to transform the culture of engineering by cultivating inclusive learning environments and making space for new leaders.
Dr. Anthony Kinslow II of Gemini Energy Solutions
Anthony (he) is the Founder and CEO of Gemini Energy Solutions, a team of experts working to implement strategies for overcoming cultural and socio-economic barriers that are preventing the vast majority of Americans from being aware and/or engaged in energy efficiency. Gemini, operating nationwide, also partners with municipalities – such as San Francisco International Airport and Memphis, TN – to support their efforts to meet their climate change goals and increase economic resiliency through energy efficiency.
Danny Tam
Danny Tam is a Professional Engineers specializing in mechanical systems at the California Energy Commission, serving as the Water Heating Technical Lead in the Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Title 24) division. Danny has been instrumental in developing individual heat pump water heater Code in 2017, central heat pump water heater Code in 2020 and supporting mechanical system decarbonization Code measures in the 2022 California Title 24 Code.
Ruby Rose Yepez of Southern California Edison
Ruby (she) currently supports Southern California Edison as a Senior Advisor assisting developers and builders and promoting decarbonization programs and resources. She is very active in the building industry currently serving as a Planning Commissioner for the city of South El Monte and a former Board Member for the US Green Build- ing Council Los Angeles Chapter and California Association of Building Energy Consultants.
Dr. Frey Brownson of Heliotactics
Frey (they) was one of only five faculty in the nation to teach solar engineering while an Associate Professor of Energy & Mineral Engineering at Pennsylvania State University for 13 years before founding Heliotactics to provide engineering-related companies adaptive tactics for supporting and training a diverse and inclusive STEM workforce. They have supported the Solar Decathalon, a Dept. of Energy SunShot award, written 37 peer reviewed publications, 28 non-refereed/conference publications, 2 patents and a 16 chapter textbook on Solar Energy.
Rashida Manuel
Rashida Manuel (she) is the Director of Public Engagement at Green Umbrella, an intersectional environmental and social organization in Cincinnati, Ohio. Rashida is recognized as a passionate advocate of racial and gender justice, with over a decade of professional experience as a social justice advocate. Rashida is a strong communicator, deftly bridging non-profit, corporate and academic cultures to effectively build coalitions.
Debbie Lai of Rewiring America
Debbie Lai (she) is the Head of Planning and Operations at Rewiring America, a non-profit devoted to national electrification policy. She is also an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University College London. She previously worked at Google, on the Business Development and Policy teams, at Sony Pictures Entertainment, and in the legislative office of then-U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer. She received her degree in Economics from Brown University, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa.
Pablo Navarro
Pablo Navarro is a Vancouver, B.C., software engineer and data visualization specialist working with Rewiring America and Covid Act Now. The forecasting model he supports at Covid Act Now is used by every level of government across the U.S. Pablo has previously worked as a software engineer at Alloy, Axiom Zen and ZenHub.
Marie Gunter
Marie develops and manages residential & commercial solar projects - most recently for GRID Alternatives Bay Area, which includes Multifamily Affordable Housing, Non-Profit and Community arrays. She also served as a Bay Area representative and advocate for GRID’s core Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, and Women in Solar initiatives, and continues to serve as an advocate in community on these topics.
Avideh Haghighi of ZGF Architects
Avideh is an Architect with ZGF Architects and a Living Future Accredited professional dedicated to creating a regenerative built environment through her role as a designer and A/E/C industry advocate. She has a diverse portfolio of work spanning public and private sectors, including public schools, mixed use residential and institutional. Avideh’s career has been equally rooted in client-serving sustainable design and advocacy for greater in the building industry.
Li Ling Young of the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation
Li Ling (she) is the Senior Energy Consultant at the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation, undisputed building science leaders in cold climate, all-electric housing, and succeed at ZNE with single wide manufactured homes. In the 1990’s Li Ling did what is now called Home Performance contracting. In the 2000’s Li Ling joined Vermont Energy Investment Corp, where she led the building science effort to cut building leakage in half, deliver clean air with heat pump HRVs, the coldest climate heat pumps and super-insulated shells.
Andre Saldivar of Southern California Edison
Andre is a Senior Engineer with SCE and leads their all-electric Foodservice Technology Center to support restaurants and commercial kitchens in SCE territory. Andre is a member of the F26 committee & Co-Chair of the F26.06 subcommittee for the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) for Foodservice Equipment. Andre is also the Chair of ASHRAE TC5.10 Kitchen Ventilation and Vice-Chair of SSPC 154 Ventilation for Commercial Cooking Operations.
Wei-Tai Kwok of Amber Kinetics and The Climate Reality Project
Wei-Tai (he) is a volunteer public speaker who has delivered more than 100 multimedia presentations for The Climate Reality Project, a 501c3 founded by Vice President Al Gore which is dedicated to engaging the public to take urgent action on climate. In his day job, he works in the solar and renewable energy industry, most recently as COO of Amber Kinetics, an early-stage flywheel energy storage company.
Dr. Yanda Zhang of ZYD Energy Inc.
Yanda (he) is the CEO and founder of ZYD Energy, Inc. ZYD Energy provides advanced control solutions for water heating systems to achieve load flexibility and efficiency optimization. Yanda has more than 15 years of experience in the energy efficiency industry. Previously, he worked as a technical director at HMG and TRC, leading and managing consulting projects in building energy science research, technology assessment, codes and standards development, program evaluation, and policy analysis.
Kelvis Amayoti of Epicenter Africa
Kelvis (he) is a renewable energy and environmental physics professional working on rural electrification in Kenya with Epicenter Africa, specializing in replacing gas-driven well pumps with solar powered well pumps. Kelvis has a B.S. from the Technical University of Mombasa.
Jose Torres
Jose Torres is the California Director for the Building Decarbonization Coalition and formerly served as the Energy Equity Program Manager for the California Environmental Justice Alliance. Mr. Torres has also served as an Analyst with the California Energy Commission and as a Legislative Aide to Members of The California State Assembly.
David Takahashi of Boulder, Colorado
David (he) works at the individual, household, neighborhood, congregational, city, county, region, state, nation, and global scales. At the individual and household level, having lost their home in the Four Mile wildfire of 2010, he is somewhat a Climate Refugee. Starting in 2015, David and his partner have reduced their carbon footprints from 17 MT (Metric Tons GHG) to 2 MT: the Earth’s carrying capacity is 3 MT: a personal reduction from 100 pounds/day to 12 pounds/day. Working with a modest 60-year-old home, this is an 87% reduction in GHGs.
Maria Diaz of Redwood Energy
Maria (she) is an advanced modeler and domestic hot water researcher with California's Title 24 software. Prior to working with Redwood Energy, Maria was with the Integral Group modeling large developments. She is a graduate of HSU's Environmental Engineering Program.
Hannah Cantrell of Redwood Energy
Hannah (she) is a Staff Researcher at Redwood Energy, where she studies conservation strategies for the most expensive and carbon intensive load in affordable housing--plug loads. She is Senior at Humboldt State University studying Environmental Science focusing on Energy & Climate.
Abdullah Alyami of Redwood Energy
Abdullah Alyami is a Redwood Energy Staff Researcher, recent Co-Director of an all-electric demonstration home and field scientist using his Environmental Engineering degree from HSU to support environmental monitoring. His home nation, Saudia Arabia, has some of the most ambitious, and funded, electrification and renewable energy goals in the world.