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Published June 13, 2024
In this episode of Building Tomorrow, Mark MacCracken, the Vice President of CALMAC at Trane Technologies, joins host Ellen Honigstock and co-host Whitney Smith to discuss thermal energy storage. Thermal energy storage is a clean energy alternative that involves using ice for cooling and water for storing heat. Listen in to learn more about how this method of heating and cooling compares to fossil fuel systems and conventional electric resistance.
Speakers
Whitney Smith
Senior Climate & Sustainability Leader and Associate Principal, Arup
Whitney Smith is an Associate Principal and Senior Climate and Sustainability Leader at Arup with over 17 years’ experience integrating sustainability into campuses, cities, masterplans and individual buildings to create value for property owners and developers. She leads multidisciplinary teams in delivering on sustainability by focusing on performance based outcomes that support client objectives and has completed more than 125 million square feet of built projects globally. Before joining Arup, Whitney served as Director of Sustainability at Cosentini Associates where she founded the firm’s sustainability practice and oversaw design and construction for all sustainability projects. She is a graduate of Colgate University and holds an MBA in Sustainability from Bard College.
Mark MacCracken
Vice President and CALMAC Portfolio Leader, Trane Technologies
Mark MacCracken is the Vice President of CALMAC Portfolio at Trane. Prior to Trane’s purchase of CALMAC, it was one of the largest manufacturers of Thermal Energy Storage equipment in the world, with over 4,500 installations in 60 countries. In MacCracken’s over 47 years in the energy storage field, he has assisted in the design of hundreds of ice storage systems, including those in New York City for Rockefeller Center, Google, Goldman Sachs and the Bank of America Tower.
MacCracken has his BS in Mechanical Engineering, 5 U.S. Patents, is a Professional Engineer and LEED® Fellow. He has served as USGBC’s Chairman of the Board of Directors, ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer and on the Board of Directors of Urban Green and New Buildings Institute.
Ellen Honigstock
Senior Director, Education, Urban Green Council
Ellen oversees the development of Urban Green’s Public Programs. She is also responsible for developing the curriculum for Urban Green’s signature programs, including GPRO and Crushing the Code. Ellen has 28 years of experience as an architect and volunteered for Urban Green for several years before joining the staff, where she served as the first Residential Green Building Advocate for Urban Green Council, working to increase green building and LEED for Homes certification in the New York residential marketplace, and as a committee chair of the Green Codes Task Force. Ellen is a co-founder of Solarize Brooklyn and Sustainable Kensington Windsor Terrace.
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