CCHRC Sustainable Northern Shelter Forum Logo  
Sustainable Northern Shelter
 
   in a World of Diminishing Resources

Panelists
 

Panel: Building Science and Technology in the North

Jim Fitzgerald is known throughout North America for his expertise in training contractors and weatherization crews for numerous agencies and utilities in over 35 states in the US and 2 provinces in Canada. His use of combined air sealing and improved insulation practice in the private market became the shell basis for the M-200 Weatherization Protocol in Minnesota. He was part of CEE's Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) group for the MSP Airport Sound Insulation Program. In 2005 he joined Conservation Services Group (CSG) as Director of Building Diagnostics. He has been a key contributor to the Building Performance Institute and development of practical standards for existing homes included in Home Performance with Energy Star.

Mark LaLiberte: As a distinguished trainer, author and consultant, Mark LaLiberte has devoted two decades to educating the homebuilding industry about the benefits of constructing healthier, more durable, more energy efficient homes. His lectures are a high-energy blend of technical expertise and hands-on practicality. He has 20 plus years in the industry and is focused on energy efficient construction practices and systems approach building.
 
His commitment to helping the building industry reduce callbacks and litigation keeps LaLiberte traveling nationwide, reaching more than 8,000 builders annually. A presenter in high demand, Mark has been featured at leading industry events such as the NAHB International Builders Show, PCBC, Sunbelt Builders Show, and JLCLive conferences. He delivers training sessions for major manufacturers, utilities and for non-profit agencies. He co-created the program curriculum for the Energy and Environmental Building Association (EEBA) Houses That Work™ program which is based on the U.S. Department of Energy's Building America Program, and served in an advisory capacity on the EPA's ENERGY STAR® Program and the Minnesota Energy Code Advancement Project.
 
At the 2002 EEBA Conference, he received a lifetime achievement award for his long-standing commitment to helping the home construction industry embrace building science.
 
Recognizing that building science education on a global scale is vital in delivering better home performance, LaLiberte has provided training to members of the Warsaw, Poland housing industry and the International Housing Symposium in Tokyo, Japan.

James (Jim) Lee is executive director of Interior Weatherization, Inc. which specializes in home weatherization and rehabilitation. For the last 10 years his hands-on experience in building science has benefited hundreds of clients throughout the Fairbanks area. Mr. Lee is a frequent speaker at weatherization conferences discussing topics related to building science, client education and the need for quality assurance in all stages of the construction process.

Stefan Simek is the president of Ferguson Simek Clark (FSC) in Yellowknife, NT, Canada. FSC maintains one of the largest groups of civil engineers and technologists resident in Northern Canada and utilize state of the art design with significant experience in Northern Canadian and International projects. They specialize in Remote Cold Regions and provide total project management services including planning, detailed design and construction services to public, private and First Nations clients.

 
Panel: Energy and Alternative Energy Systems and Infrastructure

Rob Dumont is a building scientist with the Saskatchewan Research Council who focuses on low energy buildings, indoor air quality, and building envelopes. He has been associated with a number of innovations in buildings including one of the first computer programs for calculating annual heat requirements of houses (pre-cursor of the HOT-2000 program), and the development of residential air to air heat exchangers. He has also been involved with a number of low energy demonstration houses starting with the Saskatchewan Conservation House (1977). He is currently involved with the Regina, Saskatchewan, Factor 9 Home: A New Prairie Approach (www.factor9.ca) that is targeted to use 90% less energy and 50% less water than a conventional Saskatchewan Home.
 
He and his family live in what has been described as "The Best Insulated House in the World," which has R80 attic insulation, R60 walls, R60 basement walls and R35 basement floor.
 
Recently he assisted two Canadian teams that are developing Net Zero Energy Homes on the Canadian prairies.

Chris Ives founded EriA EcoSystems to focus on building healthier houses, less destructive infrastructures, and communities that are "resilient ecosystems". Better quality affordable dwellings and neighborhoods that are healthy to live in, and that "don't cost the earth". He retired from CMHC in May 2007.
 
Chris studied Mechanical Sciences (graduated 1965 Cambridge University) and his work experience is in Energy, Transportation, and Buildings. Starting in 1961 as an apprentice learning about Nuclear Power Plants, he "saw the light" in 1973 and is now an advocate of simpler, more renewable technologies. He built a solar house in 1976 with National Research Council / McGill University support, and worked from 1989-2007 as a Researcher/Project-Manager with CMHC, Canada's Federal Housing Agency. Chris was the "midwife" for the Vancouver & Toronto Healthy Houses, and for the Eagle-Lake "EcoNomad" demonstration (onsite containerised utilities). He was closely involved in starting the CMHC "Net Zero Energy Healthy Housing" initiative (now renamed "Equilibrium Housing"). He also authored CMHC's "Backup Power for Your Home", and guided demonstrations of onsite micro-utilities for water & sewage, and heat & power co-generation systems.
 
Chris challenges the current approach to housing that is dependent on large costly centralized infrastructures. He supports the view that nuclear power is quite unsuited for a role in addressing climate change. He believes we must now focus our resources to implement the sustainable energy technologies which will have the greatest impact on reducing carbon emissions and addressing the climate crisis. Solar, Wind, Water, Biomass/Waste, and Earth Energies are of particular interest - for community-scale grid-tied energy systems.

Ron Johnson is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He was department chair from 1987 until 1997. He received his Sc. B degree from Brown University in 1965 and his MS [1966] and PhD [1969] degrees from Cornell all in Aerospace Engineering. He was employed by Avco Systems Division in Wilmington, Mass. from 1969 until his arrival at UAF in 1976 where he worked both on Aerospace projects as well as water desalination and transportation projects. His current research interests include indoor air quality and sustainable energy systems. He teaches classes in thermodynamics, heat transfer, and energy and the environment. He has taught classes in water quality management, air quality management, as well as water and wastewater treatment.

Daniel M. White, Director of the Institute of Northern Engineering (INE), joined the University in 1995. Dr. White also holds the rank of Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UAF. His interest and expertise in the traditional field of sanitary engineering led him to conduct research on drinking water protection, development, and treatment. Dr. White is pioneering research on how climate change affects drinking water, water resources, and related infrastructure. Pursuing issues related to freshwater in the Arctic, Dr. White spends considerable time in rural villages and remote locations. Dr. White's work has led to a better understanding of water resources for rural communities as well as the potential impacts of climate change on freshwater resources and infrastructure. In 2005, Dr. White accepted an appointment as Interim Director of INE. After a national search, he was hired as director of INE in July, 2006. Dr. White is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Alaska.

 
Panel: Appropriate Sustainable Design of Buildings and Communities

Robert Banghart is a designer and cultural resource management advisor who has, for over 30 years, assisted Alaskan communities in defining, developing and interpreting their cultural resource base. He has had the opportunity to work with communities in every part of the state in creating sustainable institutional structures that represent their traditions, technologies and value systems.
 
In many of the projects, Robert serves as the common connection between the architects, community and cultural resource manages to facilitate the processes of community ownership of the concept, sustainable economic viability of the facility and connection to the cultural vitality of the region.
 
He is the founder of the design and consulting firm Banghart & Associates and served as principle for 30 years. Robert was recipient of the Museums Alaska 2006 Award for Excellence for his work with communities in Alaska. He is currently the Curator of Exhibitions for the Alaska State Museum in Juneau. Peter Barfoed is an architect born in Copenhagen who grew up by the cyrolite mine in Ivigtut, South Greenland. He studied and was educated as a carpenter in both Greenland and Denmark. He earned his certificate in Architecture from the Academy of Arts—Architecture Department in Copenhagen. He returned to Greenland and worked for three years at Henning Larsen's drawing office. He has been working at Tegnestuen Nuuk A/S since 1984, studying and designing buildings in relation to the particular climate conditions of the Arctic.

Anthony (Tony) Zedda is an Architect registered with the Architectural Institute of British Columbia (AIBC). Antonio graduated with a Master's degree in Architecture from The University of Manitoba in 1994 receiving the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal. With his business partner Jack Kobayashi, Kobayashi + Zedda Architects Ltd is a five-person, Whitehorse-based, architecture and planning firm and winner of the 2006 Professional Prix de Rome for Architecture. Since its inception in 1993, the firm has been involved with 400 design projects throughout the Yukon and northern BC. They attribute their design achievements to their progressive clients and the many remote, rugged and undisturbed sites which encourage fundamentals of good design to unify their built form with the landscape. The firm has been recognized with several prominent awards for its work with Yukon First Nations clients and for its energy efficient designs. The firm's design for a school in Mayo Yukon represented Team Canada at the International Green Building Challenge in Oslo in 2002. As part of their Prix de Rome grant, Kobayashi + Zedda will be studying and traveling the circumpolar regions of the north including Iceland, Greenland, Russia, Norway and Finland; areas of the world that share commonalities like the boreal forest, extreme sun paths, harsh climates and aboriginal cultures. It is their belief that architects of the global north are forced into innovative yet basic technologies to produce ambitious and original site specific buildings.

Dan Seiser, AIA, SCUP, of Bezek Durst Seiser, Architects and Planners, is a lifelong Alaskan with more than 32 years of experience. Dan is responsible for contract management, client services, overall design, and quality control oversight on the majority of BDS projects. He has applied his extensive background in northern climate master planning, programming, condition surveys, and concept design to a variety of projects including numerous University of Alaska Fairbanks facilities such as the Biological Research and Diagnostics Facility (BiRD), Natural Sciences Facility (Reichardt Building), and the Duckering Engineering Building. Through the years, BDS has worked on a wide range of projects throughout Alaska and the Arctic North, all with an eye toward sustainable design and excellence in architecture.

Björg Kippersund is an advisor at The Norwegian State Housing Bank, in Hammerfest, Norway. After graduating from Bergen University College (building technology and municipal planning) in 1983, she moved to Finnmark, Norway's northernmost county. The first ten years she worked for a group of municipalities on community planning, transportation policy, tourism and developing trade and industry. She then worked for the local administration in Hammerfest municipality on planning and community development for 15 years. Major topics have been sustainable building and infrastructure in a harsh climate as well as growth management due to increasing oil/gas activity in the region.
 
The Norwegian State Housing Bank is the Norwegian government's implementing agency for the state housing policy. Working methods include participatory processes/cooperation with local/regional authorities, developers and inhabitants. The Norwegian State Housing Bank also provides funds for loans, grants and housing allowances. Important objectives for The Norwegian State Housing Bank are: a well functioning housing market, an environmentally friendly and universally designed built environment, housing for groups that are disadvantaged on the housing market, and promoting the aesthetic.