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Doug White, a former intern with the Alliance to Save Energy’s Green Campus program, graduated in June of 2009 from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo with a degree in Economics. Now he works as an account manager for Utility Solutions at Trane, a world leader in HVAC systems and one of the Alliance’s 165 Associates.
In October, Doug spoke with the Alliance about his transition from Green Campus intern to full-fledged energy efficiency professional.
How did you first become interested in the fields of sustainability and energy efficiency?
Well, actually I’ve always been interested in the outdoors. I’m a big backpacker, I like to rock climb, so I’ve always spent a lot of my time in the outdoors. I was studying business and I wanted to figure out a way to incorporate my love for the environment into business, and I started getting interested in sustainability – looking at the triple bottom line, starting off there, very basic – and then trying to figure out how to actually go into an industry and make money doing what I enjoyed doing. Right now and a couple of years ago, energy efficiency was the hot topic and I figured that this industry was going to be a growing industry. Sure enough, it’s grown by leaps and bounds.
I didn’t want to just go work for an ordinary company, I wanted to do something, you know, extraordinary…. I’m saving people money but I’m also helping out the environment – so it worked well for me.
You recently graduated this past June from Cal Poly Tech State University, and while you were there you were involved in the Alliance to Save Energy’s Green Campus internship program. Over the course of your time as an intern for Green Campus, what was your experience like, and what kind of activities were you involved in with that program?
Well, the Green Campus program was a wonderful program. It really was kind of my eye-opener to energy efficiency. One of the big programs that we ran with that particular campus was the dorm energy competition, and while I was there we actually did it twice…. The first time we focused on four dorms, and we saved about $5,600. The next year we expanded it to all six red brick [residence halls] and we actually saved $10,000 in a 4-week period. These were all behavioral changes, so we didn’t install anything. We just calibrated the meters to make sure they were working, benchmarked the buildings, and then tracked their energy usage for four weeks through behavioral changes.
Just seeing that students were able to do that – save $10,000 in behavioral changes –I was like “Wow, imagine what you could have done if you tied like a simple piece of technology into that building.” I mean, it’s unbelievable. Right there it blew me away that you could do that.
$10,000 in just four weeks is a really incredible savings in a really short amount of time! So currently, you’ve graduated and now you work for Trane, where you are an account manager. Could you tell us a little about your current job at Trane – what you do there and how you landed that position right after college?
Well, as an account manager for Utility Solutions, it really is like [having] a Green Campus program on steroids. For the program I’m working right now, we’re working on the “terms and conditions” portion of signing a contract with Southern California Edison (SCE) to implement rebate dollars into energy efficiency projects for three different industries…. We go in there and we do these energy audits and then we walk the customer through the whole process of applying for the rebates, getting the incentive money and then moving forward with an energy efficiency project… our whole goal with SCE is to get projects that save money and reduce energy demand from the grid.
…How I actually got introduced to Trane: I was at a Green Campus midyear meeting in Irvine my senior year and I was with Dennis Elliot, who was our Green Campus liaison for Cal Poly…. We got to the conference and it was the night where we have the panel of speakers and Jim Pape [of Trane] was actually one of the speakers. …Dennis introduced me to Mr. Pape and one thing led to another and here I am.
The Green Campus program really is what helped me get the job. The experience with the Green Campus program really gave me a leg up on the competition.
How do you think being a Green Campus intern helped prepare you for a position in the environmental field after you graduated?
Well, for my particular industry I think it helped a whole lot. I’m not just focusing on HVAC energy efficiency projects, I’m focusing on building envelop, lighting – everything... The Green Campus program has really, really helped me out there. Just understanding the basic language, terminology – all the way down to scopes of work...
Today a lot of young people are interested in environmental issues and green careers. What advice do you have for current college students or other young people who are interested in becoming part of this new green workforce that we hear so much about?
I would say, stick with it. I’d say this is the time... Right now at Trane we’re actually planning on hiring 12 more people just like me to do these energy audits and projects with the SCE program. So at Trane, we are hiring young professionals that have a background in energy efficiency and projects like that. There are a lot of companies that are hiring for this right now. There is always going to be a demand for energy, and right now because of the stimulus package there is a lot of money coming in for green, renewable energy, green technologies, smart grid – so it’s just heating up.
Energy efficiency is a good easy way for energy service companies… to get involved with it. It’s a way to make their customers feel happy that they’re helping out the environment, but it’s also a great way to save people money and make money as a business.
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