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ABOUT US
Bright Green Strategies is a firm specializing in comprehensive residential energy, sustainable design and green building certification. Our goal is to bring the latest knowledge from the field to you, solving green building problems before they occur.
Green Building is a constantly evolving process. At Bright Green Strategies, we’re continually educated ourselves about all aspects of green building and the certification process in order to assist our clients in navigating this complex industry. We’re thoroughly versed in the challenges faced by the building community and are committed to providing consistent advice and continuity from design, through construction, to completion
OUR EXPERTISE
Bright Green Strategies has substantial experience with residential Green Building certification programs such as LEED for Homes, GreenPoint Rated and Energy Star. We’ve helped hundreds of green building projects achieve these certifications throughout the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas. We strive to offset our costs through our comprehensive expertise in multiple state, federal, and local rebate programs. Our expertise allows us to assist you in creating buildings that are healthy, durable, energy and water efficient with minimal cost impact to construction budgets. With over 20 years of energy efficient building design and planning, we are also a valuable resource to city governments, training and advising them on green building ordinances. Bright Green Strategies is now a LEED for Homes Provider. We provide oversight of the LEED certification process. We were selected by the USGBC because we have a proven record of supporting builders in the construction of high performance and sustainable homes.
WE MAKE IT EASY
Having worked on hundreds of green building projects, we recognize that sustainability goals are best met through an integrated process between developers, architects, engineers, and builders. We believe this integrated design process is a necessary component to achieving the highest efficiency standards for our clients. We’re here to provide leadership to your team throughout the process to ensure sustainability goals are achievable and within budget.
“With over 20 years of energy efficient building design and planning, we’re a valuable resource to city governments,
training and advising them on green building ordinances.”
The built environment is an integral part of our lives, and it’s the place we feel we can make a substantial, positive environmental impact. At Bright Green Strategies, we’re constantly learning, innovating, and sharing our knowledge with our clients. We realize that sustainability goals vary broadly from project to project; while some projects are budget driven and look to meet the minimum requirements, others strive to push the envelope and achieve the highest certifications possible.
Whatever your goals may be, we’re here to navigate you through the complexities of regulatory requirements, distill the ‘acronym soup’ of the sustainability world into plain English, and help you reach your goals, on time and within budget. We are changing the marketplace, helping our clients construct durable, non-toxic and resource efficient buildings.
“We’re here to distill the ‘Acronym Soup’ of the sustainability
world into plain English and help you reach your goals,
on time and within budget.”
Sharon Block
Founder & Principal
Sharon started Bright Green Strategies nine years ago when a local contractor asked her to help him with his pilot LEED for Homes project. Since then she has ventured into larger territory working on Multi-family projects that cover blocks of San Francisco and the Bay Area. She continues to push the envelope by always looking forward and exploring what\'s next. Knowing the State\'s goal to reach Net Zero for residential new construction by 2020 is a current exploration. When she\'s not hunting down kilowatts, she enjoys traveling, biking and good food.
Pete Kennedy
Senior Project Manager
As Senior Project Manager, Pete is interested in pushing beyond incremental improvements and achieving zero net energy in the residential marketplace. An accomplished GreenPoint and LEED for Homes Rater, he has certified 30 projects, including several award winners. In his free time, Pete serves on the City of Santa Cruz Planning Commission, constructing ordinances that give developers real incentives for exceeding what is required.
Steve Davis
Project Manager
Equipped with a degree in Construction Management and Sustainability from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Steve brings coordination to the table as a Project Manager at Bright Green Strategies. A pupil of minimalism and simplicity, Steve streamlines projects to meet their sustainability goals. When not in the office managing construction projects, you\'ll likely find him in the mountains rock climbing or underwater scuba diving.
Marzena Wrobel
Project Manager
Marzena holds a Master's Degree in Civil Engineering from the Technical University of Berlin, Germany. She is a GreenPoint Rater with experience in Construction Management. Marzena worked on large commercial and residential buildings as well as residential renovations in Germany and Poland. She became interested in Green Building a couple years ago and is currently a LEED for Homes Green Rater in-training.
Andrew Williams
Energy Analyst
As Energy Analyst at Bright Green Strategies, Andrew has mastered both the science and art of energy modeling. With more than 10 years of experience in the field, he has completed more than 5,000 compliance energy models, for a range of projects from high end custom homes to high rise residential projects. When he\’s not behind his workstation, Andrew is volunteer director of several youth and community outreach programs.
Roseanne Prevost-Morgan
Project Coordinator & Financial Analyst
As the Project Coordinator and Financial Specialist, Roseanne enjoys the organizational challenges at Bright Green Strategies. With an extensive background in construction software design, accounting, and 5 years in the Solar PV industry, she is a perfect fit for this new and dynamic marketplace. An “outdoors-y” person at heart, Roseanne can be found hiking, cycling, or with a pair of binoculars—an essential element of bird watching.
Patti Heath
Project Manager
Patti has been involved with the LEED for Homes program since 2007, as a program coordinator, Green Rater, Quality Assurance Designee, and LEED AP Homes. She is also a GreenPoint Rater, a WaterSense Inspector, and HERS rater. When not helping clients with checklists or site inspections, she is in a water aerobics class, hiking, or hanging out with her family and 4 mutt-iants.
Matt Koester
Sustainability Associate
With his background in sustainability in biotechnology, health care and commercial construction, Matt is interested in multidisciplinary approaches to sustainability, and is excited to help clients navigate the changing multifamily landscape with the 2022 code cycle. While not in the office, you may find him hiking with his pup in the East Bay hills. Matt holds a bachelor's degree in Economics and Environmental Studies from Denison University.
Jenifer Jackson
Energy Analyst
Jenifer is a Certified Energy Analyst for both Residential and Non-Residential Energy Code, helping project teams with projects ranging from single-family and small business retrofits to high-rise apartment buildings and hotels. Working in the sustainable building arena for over 10 years, she has experience providing program and operations functions for various residential energy upgrade pilot programs throughout California. Despite spending her days piecing together energy models, she can often be found doing jigsaw puzzles in her off hours.
Anusha Bijjal
Energy Analyst
Anusha is an environmental enthusiast and wants to contribute to the planet by making energy efficient buildings and reducing their carbon footprint. This led her to pursue a Master in the Built Environment (Energy Performance and Climate Responsive Architecture) from Arizona State University. Anusha also enjoys hiking, reading, traveling and sometimes painting too.
CERTIFICATIONS
Third-party certification is important because it creates accountability within the green building community. It provides a sense of trust between consumer and developer that the building is up to the sustainability standards being marketed. Each third-party seal has a set of values associated with it. We’ll help you determine which certification program is best for your project.
- LEED for Homes
- GreenPoint Rated
- Energy Star
- Specialty programs including DOE Challenge Home, EPA Indoor airPLUS, Passive House, Enterprise Green Communities, Living Building Challenge
- HERS Verification for Rebates, Tax Credits and other Incentive Programs
LEED FOR HOMES PROVIDER
We provide oversight of the LEED certification process. We were selected by the USGBC because we have a proven record of supporting builders in the construction of high performance and sustainable homes.
PERFORMANCE TESTING
Building performance testing provides verified third party assurance to the owner that their building will perform as designed. As part of the verification process, we’ll provide you with the most cost-effective options to meet your energy saving goals. If your building doesn’t meet the requirements necessary, we’ll diagnosis the problem and recommend which improvements need to made to meet your goals.
- Duct Leakage testing
- Air Infiltration testing (blower door)
- HVAC Airflow verification, fan watt draw, refrigerant charge
- Mechanical System verification for indoor air quality
TRAINING
We work one-on-one with construction teams to educate them on the project’s sustainability goals and construction standards. We distill complicated requirements into simple checklists so that expectations are clear. We’re here to work with the team throughout construction to make sure the building exceeds the expected design performance within budget.
INTEGRATED DESIGN
Conventional building design usually takes a linear approach, moving from one team to the next. In the integrated design approach, all parties come into the planning process together, taking into account each team’s needs, expertise, and insights. Because sustainability goals and design principles are established in the beginning of the process, it allows teams to make adjustments according to those goals early on, to achieve synergies and savings during construction. We believe Integrated Design is a necessary component to achieving the highest standards for our clients, and we work with you throughout the process to keep sustainability goals at the forefront, and all teams working harmoniously.
“We work with you throughout the process to keep sustainability goals at the forefront and all teams working harmoniously. ”
PROGRAM EVALUATIONS
With over 20 years experience in the green building industry we’ve worked extensively with all of California’s Energy Code regulations and understand how effectively they can be implemented on the construction side. With this valuable insight, we work with city governments to determine the effectiveness of incentive programs and can evaluate their green building ordinances.
ENERGY MODELING
With our state’s aggressive climate change goals, compliance with the California Energy Code can be challenging. We understand the uncertainty our clients face with increasingly more rigid standards. With preliminary energy modeling and optimization, we give project teams the information they need early on, allowing for inexpensive iteration and experimentation. With our experience we’re able to assist you in avoiding pitfalls and help you achieve your energy saving goals in the most cost effective way.
1717 Seabright Avenue, Suite 4, Santa Cruz, CA 95062
820 Delaware Street, Berkeley CA 94710
Santa Cruz: 831.454.9956
Bay Area: 510.863.1109
