News Release

NREL employees honored by industry associations

Grant and Award Announcement

DOE/National Renewable Energy Laboratory

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE)'s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and its employees have garnered new awards and recognition from industry groups for advancing energy efficiency and renewable energy research.

NREL Engineer Named New Face of Engineering

NREL Engineer Ian Metzger has been named by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) as its New Face of Engineering. The program, part of National Engineers Week, and co-sponsored by ASHRAE, promotes the accomplishments of young engineers by highlighting their engineering contributions and the resulting impact on public welfare.

Metzger is dedicated to increasing the speed and scale of energy efficiency and renewable energy deployment. He's served as a lead energy auditor - conducting assessments of 30 facilities over the last three years in the United States and internationally. He also has trained more than 200 people in the United States and abroad on how to be an energy auditor. He is a principal investigator at NREL for new and emerging technology demonstration. Metzger has also provided commissioning oversight for two NREL high performance buildings — the Research Support Facility and the Energy Systems Integration Facility.

"I am proud and excited to represent young engineers as a New Face of Engineering," Metzger said. "I am excited for the opportunity to encourage future generations of engineers to tackle some of the challenges in advancing and deploying energy efficient and renewable energy technologies."

RSF Garners Top Industry Award

NREL's net-zero, 360,000 sq. ft., Research Support Facility (RSF) in Golden, Colo., also was honored recently by ASHRAE. The RSF is changing the commercial office building landscape by using 50% less energy than if it were built to current commercial code while being built at a competitive cost for new construction.

ASHRAE had bestowed the project with a first-place 2013 ASHRAE Technology Award. The award recognizes achievements by ASHRAE members who have successfully applied innovative building design. The RSF project followed the integrated design process and used design tools and concepts developed by the NREL Building Technologies Program over the past 30 years. NREL researchers who influenced the energy-efficient design of the RSF included Shanti Pless, Paul Torcellini, Otto Van Geet Rob Guglielmetti, Jen Scheib and Ron Judkoff.

In addition, Stantec Consulting Inc., a member of the RSF design team, received ASHRAE's Award of Engineering Excellence. This award is given to an outstanding project receiving a first-place ASHRAE Technology Award. It has been awarded only two other times in ASHRAE history.

NREL Research Fellow Honored by the Materials Research Society

NREL Research Fellow David Ginley recently was singled out as the recipient of the Materials Research Society's Woody Award, which recognizes a volunteer who has made extraordinary contributions of time and effort to the success of the Society. Ginley was chosen based on his more than 20 years of service to MRS, including as board member, secretary, treasurer, vice president, and president.

"I was thrilled to win the award," Ginley said. "Since the Woody Award isn't given out every year, I am honored indeed to receive this special recognition from my peers."

NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by The Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

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