Walking The Environmental Talk Panel

2:30 pm – Concurrent Session 3a

Bill Maclay – Maclay Architects
Beth Sachs – VT Energy Investment Corp.
Christine Kucipeck – Gardener's Supply Co.
Moderator: Greg Strong – Spring Hill Solutions.

This session will gather businesses from around Vermont to discuss how we can all make better decisions to walk our environmental talk. We propose an interactive panel to examine the issues of healthy workplaces, energy and the environment. The panel will look at the specific challenges of energy efficient facilities, low impact transportation, lean product manufacturing and minimized waste streams to better understand the options that you have at your business to become more environmentally friendly without challenging your bottom line. This session will include two different sections. First, will be a moderated three-person forum where Greg Strong from Springhill Solutions will function as a moderator for the panel made up of Beth Sachs from VEIC, Christine Kucipeck from Gardner's Supply and Bill Maclay from Maclay Architects. They will share their stories, challenges and accomplishments related to walking their environmental talk. Secondly, the forum will be opened up for a question and answer session where attendees can ask questions related to their own challenges and trials.

William Maclay, AIA, LEED AP, president of Maclay Architects of Waitsfield (VT), has been recognized as a leader in innovative, healthy, and ecological architectural design for more than thirty-five years. His work has been recognized internationally in exhibits, books, and publications. His firm, Maclay Architects, specializes in environmental planning and architecture, healthy building design, and energy conservation. Through its team of LEED-accredited professionals, the firm offers a full range of architectural services for all phases of residential, commercial and institutional projects. Recent projects include NRG Systems (over 75,000 square feet of office and manufacturing facilities) and corporate headquarters for Seventh Generation, both LEED Gold projects, as well as a 16,000 square foot net-zero field house for the Putney School that is anticipated to achieve a LEED Platinum rating. With the addition of a 17.5 kW PV system, the Maclay Architects office is the first architectural office in Vermont to go net-zero.

Beth Sachs holds the title of “Founder” of the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation (VEIC), which she and partner Blair Hamilton created in 1986 and where she served as Executive Director until 2008. In this role, she fosters stewardship of the mission, values and goals of VEIC in the workplace and the community, as well as participating in VEIC's education, advocacy and business development activities. She's been involved in energy efficiency and passive solar work for 245 dog-years (35+ human years, but who's counting) in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy, a career that spans several oil embargos, a couple of wars, the ups & downs of "deregulation" and some enormous weather events (that some of us believe may be related to energy use and global warming). Beth chairs the Board of Vermont Works for Women, is a Board member of Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility and the New England Grassroots Environment Fund, and is a non-voting member of the VEIC Board.

Christine Kucipeck, Flower Power Operations Coordinator, has been with Gardener's Supply Company for 12 years, most recently in the Flower Power division, supplying plants and flower bulbs for organization fundraisers. She took on the lead for the company's Green Team in 2009, and has been involved in the logistics of installing a PV system on the roof of one of GSC's buildings, setting up a carpool program and increasing recycling though out the facilities. Christine holds a degree in Forest Biology from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Former lives include raising salmon at a remote Alaskan fish hatchery, and working in various biology and education positions.

Greg Strong, President, Spring Hill Solutions – Greg has 20 years of experience in the renewable energy, energy efficiency, carbon management, and business sustainability sectors. Working with state and national NGOs, private businesses, and governmental organizations, he provides design, system integration, research, software development, intellectual property, and business development services. Example projects include a study of the 20-year technical and economic potential of wind energy in New York for the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA); a cost-benefit analysis of solar energy opportunities at domestic military installations for the U.S. Department of Defense; and the development of renewable energy technology and policy strategies for the Vermont Agency of Agriculture’s Vermont 25x’25 Initiative. Greg’s most recent work has focused on providing greenhouse gas (GHG) assessment, mitigation, and strategy implementation services to businesses and institutions throughout the northeastern U.S.