Summer Consultants, Inc. is pleased to announce the addition of Lee Benzel, PE, LEED AP BD+C to the firm’s ownership as a new shareholder. Mr. Benzel is a mechanical engineer with the firm. “Lee is not only a skilled engineer, but also an effective mentor to graduate engineers just beginning their careers. His dedication to… Read More

We all recognize LEED; it has been around now for some time. While there are several high performance accreditations available, earning LEED certification can provide significant value to a building owner — including energy savings, increased market appeal, and tenant or employee pride. However, for a renovation project, it’s not as easily achieved. Unforeseen additional… Read More

Summer Consultants’ article “Improving Energy Savings Through Retrocommissioning” is featured in the March/April issue of SAME’s The Military Engineer magazine. The article, co-authored by Anne Juran and Jim Gawthrop, discusses the use of commissioning techniques to help reduce energy usage and costs in existing buildings. The article was included as part of the magazine’s energy… Read More

Six months after I started at Summer Consultants, I joined the design team to renovate and expand the Brault Building at the NVCC Annandale campus.  The project had a goal of a LEED Silver rating. I had been very interested in sustainable technologies in college, and this was the first project that I would get to… Read More

Last week Amanda and I attended the I2SL (International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories) conference in Raleigh, NC. There were a broad range of individuals in attendance, including: government, university, and private labs users, health and safety, procurement, and facilities groups lab equipment vendors HVAC and controls equipment vendors sustainability champions architects and engineers The sessions… Read More