Krishnan Gowri
Senior Engineering Fellow
Energy Solutions
3617 188th Street, SE
Bothell, WA 98012
United States
510-482-4420 x1037
Region: XI
Honorarium: None
Languages Spoken:
Krishnan Gowri, Ph.D., LEED AP, Fellow ASHRAE, is an expert in building science and energy performance with over 30 years of experience advancing energy efficient design and construction practices. He currently serves as a Senior Engineering Fellow at Energy Solutions, where he drives innovative strategies to improve building performance analysis for energy code development and implementation.
Krishnan’s career spans academia, national laboratory research, and industry. At Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, he led the development of COMcheck and REScheck, two widely used tools for energy code compliance across the U.S. He also developed the Targeted E4 program, enhancing energy performance in federal buildings. At Autodesk, he helped integrate cloud-based energy modeling into Revit, enabling seamless EnergyPlus simulations for design professionals. More recently, as a member of the Intertek Building Science Solutions team, he has worked with architects and building owners to incorporate energy code compliance into enclosure commissioning. He also teaches building science, energy modeling, and performance assessment.
A long-standing member of ASHRAE, Krishnan was named a Fellow in 2017 and is a recipient of both the Distinguished Service and Exceptional Service Awards. He currently chairs the 2027 Applications Handbook Subcommittee, leads the Multidisciplinary Group on Generative AI applications and serves as the President of Puget Sound Chapter.
Krishnan holds a Ph.D. in Building Engineering from Concordia University, where he also taught building science and integrated design. Outside of his professional work, he is an avid tennis enthusiast and dedicated volunteer in educational nonprofits.
Topic
AI in HVAC Industry: Past, Present and Future (Basic)
Early AI applications in the HVAC industry started with knowledge-based systems or expert systems applications for HVAC system selection, design and fault-diagnosis based on heuristics. At the same time, data analytics were explored for time-series data analysis for predicting energy use and using BAS data for fault detection and diagnosis. Recent advancements in conversational AI and machine learning techniques have taken the world by storm where every aspect of our work and daily lives will be impacted by these next generation AI technologies. During the early 1990's, knowledge-based systems and AI application promises fell short of expectations in the HVAC industry. However, with cloud-based computing, internet information resources, and rapid advancements in natural language processing and conversational AI, the HVAC industry can now solve many challenging problems with analysis, design and operation. This presentation will review the history, terminology, concepts, development tools and application of recent advancements in AI for ASHRAE members; and provide an overview of AI Chatbot and machine learning technologies for HVAC industry applications.
Efficiency Assessment for Real Estate Transactions and ESG Reporting (Basic)
This presentation will cover the challenges in energy benchmarking and efficiency assessments during the due diligence phase of real estate transactions. New simplified field audit forms have been developed and integrated with property condition assessment field visits to collect the additional data required for identifying energy efficiency measures. Attendees will learn how to use energy modeling and simplified calculation techniques to identify and prioritize
efficiency opportunities.
BIM to BEM - Agile Energy Modeling for High Performance Building Design (Intermediate)
Agile energy modeling provides a framework for robust energy modeling practices based on iterative development starting with BIM models, where the energy model evolves through collaboration between architect, MEP designers and a self-organizing cross-functional team of energy modelers. The collaborative and communicative nature of agile energy modeling needs a scalable infrastructure that can support building model management, analysis as well as delivery of modeling outcomes with software tools and infrastructure solutions. This presentation will introduce the concepts, best practices and evolving workflows that help automate the energy model creation from BIM for early design analysis to detailed design.
Role of Thermal and Moisture Performance Analysis in Building Enclosure Commissioning (Basic, Intermediate))
Building performance analysis during early design reviews can provide highly valuable input to design teams to assure quality and compliance to code requirements of high-performance building enclosures. This presentation will highlight the use of THERM, WUFI, dew point analysis, climate analysis and psychrometry principles to identify potential thermal bridging, interstitial and concealed condensation potential, compliance to mandatory requirements of energy codes. Examples from recent case studies will be discussed to demonstrate how value engineering decisions on envelop material selection and construction sequencing impacts the envelope performance. Lessons learned in providing design review comments and sample envelope commissioning plans and specifications will be discussed to help ensure the BECx process is formalized with these tasks as part of the enhanced envelope commissioning requirements.
Building Enclosure Commissioning Requirements in Energy Codes (Basic)
Many state energy codes and recent updates to ASHRAE 90.1 include detailed design, construction and documentation requirements for building enclosure commissioning. These include field verification and installation of insulation, fenestration and air sealing of the building envelope to ensure improved thermal performance. This presentation will review the new energy code requirements and assessment techniques to identify and mitigate thermal bridging, moisture and air barrier performance issues, and strategies for energy code compliance.
