design. Peter founded Point Energy Innovations in 2014 and is its CEO and Chief Design Innovator.
Before that he founded Rumsey Engineers in 1998 which was acquired by Integral Group in 2009.
He served as Integral’s West Coast Director and Chief Technology Officer.
He has consulted to venture capital firms, successful start-ups and has worked worldwide: in North
and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. He has directed the design of 41 LEED Platinum
projects, 10 COTE Top Ten projects, 3 Living Building Challenge projects, and 22 Net Zero projects.
Peter has been responsible for many key innovations in energy efficient design and analysis,
including pioneering the use of chilled beams, efficient outside air systems that eliminate reheat,
radiant cooling systems, low pressure drop distribution systems and the use of guaranteed
performance contracts for HVAC systems.
His designs include the world's highest scoring LEED Platinum CI, the first certified Net Zero
project, the world's first LEED Platinum pre-certified data center, the first Net Zero laboratory, the
first LEED Gold microchip manufacturing plant, the first radiant cooled building in India for Infosys, the high-profile greening of The Empire
State Building, and the largest Zero-Energy public building in the U.S. One of his major areas of innovation is making green affordable -
creating prominent examples of green buildings that are affordable and practical. In 2012 the Association of Energy Engineers named him
“Renewable Energy Innovator of the Year.” His design of the Packard Foundation Net Zero HQ won ASHRAE’s prestigious Award of
Engineering Excellence --only given 4 other times in ASHRAE’s 100-year history.
Peter is a graduate of UC Berkeley and has taught a graduate level engineering course on low energy buildings at Stanford for over 15
years
Building Decarbonization
This presentation will provide an overview of a roadmap for decarbonization of U.S. buildings. Buildings in the U.S. account for 40% of carbon emissions. Eighty percent of that is from electricity use and the remainder is from the combustion of fossil fuels for heating and other uses at the building. As many states, utilities, and large corporations are moving to get electricity from clean, carbon neutral sources, it is clear that electricity is becoming the carbon-free choice of energy for many in the United States. Buildings that use natural gas and other fossil fuels for heating will be stuck producing carbon emissions, as electricity becomes increasingly carbon free. Natural gas can now be replaced with electric systems that provide equivalent or better service. An all electric building coupled with a renewable or carbon free source of electricity is considered to be a decarbonized building. Pathways for electrifying both new and existing buildings will be discussed, as well as the trajectory of how this approach can decarbonize the U.S. building stock.