Bernhard and Mercy Project Wins AEE Region IV Corporate Energy Management Project of the Year

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Bernhard announced today that an Energy Stewardship Program created with St. Louis-based Mercy recently won the 2022 Association of Energy Engineers’ Region IV Corporate Energy Management Project of the Year.The award was presented during the AEE’s 45th annual World Energy Conference & Expo, held at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The awards recognize organizations, individuals and projects making contributions to or doing important work in energy management, sustainability, energy efficiency and related fields.“Bernhard shares Mercy’s focus on stewardship and improving patient care through the upkeep of Mercy’s infrastructure and controls assets. The program’s turnkey, design-build-commission approach allows projects to follow expedited schedules and preserve team continuity from start to finish,” said Aric Reed, project manager at Bernhard. “Maintaining contact with each facility after completion of projects via monitoring-based commissioning and operator training ensures the implemented energy-saving measures remain in place.”

Launched in March 2020, Mercy’s energy stewardship program is focused on improving energy efficiency, reducing operational costs, making needed infrastructure upgrades and improving indoor environmental quality for patients and co-workers. The project is unique in size and scope, with Bernhard substantially optimizing the energy efficiency of systems serving more than 14 million square feet of medical office and clinical space. 23 projects have been completed, with another 29 in progress.

“Mercy has benefitted in many ways from the energy stewardship program,” said Tom Brinkmann, Mercy’s Director of Facilities Maintenance and Operations. “In addition to reducing operating costs, focusing on this critical aspect of our facility operation improves comfort, indoor air quality and maintenance resource utilization, energy stewardship also supports our overall sustainability initiative.”

Multiple systems were upgraded as part of the project, including direct digital control (DDC) building automation, HVAC upgrades and modernization, metering, fault detection, LED lighting upgrades, as well as ongoing measurement and verification, remote operator support, utility bill auditing and commodity management. The program has led to estimated energy savings of $1.7 million per year.

The AEE’s Region IV judging considered energy projects from 11 states in the central and southern U.S., including Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota. Founded in 1977, the Association of Energy Engineers currently represents more than 18,000 energy professionals in more than 100 countries.

For a full list of 2022 AEE Regional Award winners, click here.

Bernhard’s Chris Jackson Named to 2022 Environment+Energy Leader 50

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Chris Jackson, vice president of business development, has been named to the 2022 Environment+Energy Leader 50 (E+E 50) list. The annual E+E 50 list recognizes the top 50 environment and energy professionals who are driving their companies – and the environment, sustainability, and energy management industries – forward.

“The honorees on our annual list show groundbreaking work and dedication to the field of sustainability and energy management,” says Sarah Roberts, Publisher of Environment+Energy Leader. “We’re thrilled to recognize this year’s honorees and congratulate all who made the list.”

Chris is a licensed professional engineer in four states (Utah, Arizona, California, and Washington), as well as a LEED accredited professional. He graduated with a B.S. in chemical engineering and an MBA from the University of Utah while simultaneously performing as a scholarship member of the men’s basketball team.

He entered the engineering industry with ETC Group 15 years ago and relocated to Tempe in 2014 to establish their Arizona office. He grew the branch from 2 to 16 employees and nearly 50% of the company’s total project work. Chris was a principal engineer and shareholder of ETC Group, helping to guide the company to a successful acquisition earlier this year. Chris has been a vice president since 2019, retaining the title and successfully expanding his team through the merger.

“It’s an honor to be selected to the E+E 50 list, especially in a year with so much professional transition,” said Jackson. “Although this is an individual honor, I have to commend my team at Bernhard who are continually pushing the energy industry forward and innovating every day.”

Chris’ accomplishments establishing the Arizona branch and growing sales were instrumental to developing acquisition interest. Bernhard, headquartered in New Orleans, now comprised of 25 offices in 14 states, is one of the largest privately-owned infrastructure firms and the largest private energy-as-a-service company in the United States. Bernhard now has two offices in Arizona—Tempe and Tucson.

Now in its sixth year, the annual E+E 50 recognizes those environment and energy “doers” who break trail in creating new solutions, programs, platforms, best practices and products to help their companies achieve greater success in commercial and industrial environment and energy management. The E+E 50 doesn’t just celebrate the C-suite, but also those top managers and in-the-trenches team members who are working diligently behind the scenes and shaping the industry. Nominations are open to the public and the final honoree list is selected by Environment+Energy Leader. See this year’s honorees and past honorees here: https://www.environmentalleader.com/ee-50-honorees/.

Nominations for the E+E 50 are made by Environment+Energy Leader readers and others that work in the industry, are vetted and then Environment+Energy Leader team and a select group of advisors from the industry make the final selections.