2014 Kate Fund Award Recipient Heather Nolen reflects on her experiences in Denmark and Stockholm.
(I am grateful for many things this Thanksgiving, one of them being the Kate Goldstein Fund for Emerging Sustainability Professionals.
Energy efficiency is learned through many ways: conferences, work experience, courses and workshops, and through conversations with others in the field both experts and dabblers. I was lucky enough to be awarded the first scholarship, giving me the opportunity to talk shop and walk buildings with architects, engineers, government employees, private developers, educators, experts, residents, home owners and those interested in energy efficiency. I am grateful that I had this experience which has and will continue to help shape my future work. I'd love other emerging professionals to be able to have an amazing experience as I did and be supported by the foundation, which is why I'm giving today.
How does my experience and scholarship relate and honor Kate? Through three actions I have taken and will continue to take: By making the best of my opportunity to travel through Sweden and Denmark learning about their plans and actions to tackle energy efficiency. Through using and sharing what I learned. And third by taking runs, running through the cities we visited to get a real feel for the city! I am still thinking through what I learned, building relationships with those I met and figuring out how I will put that knowledge to use; stay tuned there is more to come from me! This trip was part of the beginning for me, my exploration of energy efficiency in buildings continues.
I am making a pledge today for the Kate Goldstein Fund for Emerging Sustainability Professionals and challenge you to do the same. Please make a pledge to continue the fund and it's support of emerging professionals and make a pledge to push yourself to learn, share and run. “Run” being a placeholder for whatever personal activity you do for yourself, reading, yoga, etc, something that relaxes and recharges you so you are ready for more!
Read more about the Kate Goldstein Fund for Emerging Sustainability Professionals here.
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NESEA advances the adoption of sustainable energy practices in the built environment by cultivating a community where practitioners share, collaborate and learn.
Heather Nolen, a lifetime NESEA member, is a Senior Energy Consultant for Steven Winter Associates where she works to improve energy use in multifamily housing by focusing on buildings with steam space heating systems. She was honored to travel to Sweden and Denmark with fellow NESEA members to study the country's plans for carbon neutrality and approaches to improving energy use in buildings. Inspirational items on her desk are a steam trap (carried home from a site visit) and a snow globe of a girl on a bicycle that says...given a cape and a tiara she could save the world.
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