The mission at Green Property Solutions (GPS) is to create efficient and sustainable buildings, businesses and brands by implementing innovative and cost saving strategies, using financial models that produce measurable results and bring a substantial return on investment. Environmental Building Strategies has partnered with GPS to deliver more effective results to our clientele base by coupling their devotion and experience within commercial real estate property management, with our ability to churn the results owners need to see from green building.

U.S. Green Building Council: The USGBC is a non-profit trade organization that promotes sustainability in how buildings are designed, built and operated. The USGBC is best known for the development of the LEED® green building rating system, and Greenbuild, a green building conference that promotes the green building industry, including environmentally responsible materials, sustainable architecture techniques and public policy. The USGBC has more than 17,000 member organizations from every sector of the building industry and works to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work. To achieve this it has developed a variety of programs and services, and works closely with key industry and research organizations and federal, state and local government agencies.*

LEED: The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ encourages and accelerates global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through the creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria. LEED is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED gives building owners and operators the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their buildings’ performance. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.*

RESNET: The Residential Energy Services Network's (RESNET®) mission is to ensure the success of the building energy performance certification industry, set the standards of quality, and increase the opportunity for ownership of high performance buildings. RESNET’s standards are officially recognized by the U.S. mortgage industry for capitalizing a building’s energy performance in the mortgage loan, certification of “White Tags” for private financial investors, and by the federal government for verification of building energy performance for such programs as federal tax incentives, the Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR program and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building America Program. RESNET Ratings provide a relative energy use index called the HERS® Index – a HERS Index of 100 represents the energy use of the “American Standard Building” and an Index of 0 (zero) indicates that the Proposed Building uses no net purchased energy (a Zero Energy Building). A set of rater recommendations for cost-effective improvements that can be achieved by the Rated Building is also produced.*

Build It Green: Build It Green is a non-profit membership organization whose mission is to promote healthy, energy- and resource-efficient building practices in California. They work with mainstream stakeholders in the housing industry to accelerate the adoption of green building practices, and their short-term goal is to facilitate the greening of 10,000 housing units by the end of 2008. They offer trusted green building training, tools, technical expertise, and partnership opportunities for key stakeholders including public agencies, builders, developers, architects, contractors, affordable housing advocates, real estate professionals, suppliers, and homeowners. They also promote the GreenPoint Rated System which is the most widely utilized residential "green" certification process in California and is recognized by the USGBC as a powerful tool in residential remodeling and new construction.*

ENERGY STAR: ENERGY STAR is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy helping us all save money and protect the environment through energy efficient products and practices. Americans, with the help of ENERGY STAR, saved enough energy in 2007 alone to avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those from 27 million cars — all while saving $16 billion on their utility bills. Energy efficient choices can save families about a third on their energy bill with similar savings of greenhouse gas emissions, without sacrificing features, style or comfort. Because a strategic approach to energy management can produce twice the savings — for the bottom line and the environment — as typical approaches, EPA’s ENERGY STAR partnership offers a proven energy management strategy that helps in measuring current energy performance, setting goals, tracking savings, and rewarding improvements. EPA provides an innovative energy performance rating system which businesses have already used for more than 62,000 buildings across the country. EPA also recognizes top performing buildings with the ENERGY STAR.*

CHEERS ® California Home Energy Efficiency Rating Services is a California statewide 501 (C) (3) non-profit organization dedicated to promoting energy efficiency. Founded in 1990, CHEERS® was approved in 1999 by the California Energy Commission as the first home energy rating provider under the Home Energy Rating System Regulations. It has an independent Board of Directors representing utilities, environmental and energy conservation and consulting groups. CHEERS® trains and certifies home energy Raters for the building industry. Working with builders as homes are being built, CHEERS® Raters—nearly 500 statewide—conduct independent third party tests, verifications and certifications for homebuilders. This process ensures that homes being built meet or exceed the energy efficiency standards established by the state. Last year, CHEERS® Raters completed more than 20,000 ratings and verifications.*

As a principal at Environmental Building Strategies, Ryan Potvin brings years of experience in the real estate sales, marketing and development fields to compliment an active involvement in the progress of green building. While attaining degrees in business and communications at the University of Colorado, Ryan was an active member of the University Real Estate Council. As a LEED Accredited Professional (BD+C), Certified Green Building Professional, LEED for Homes Green Rater, HERS Rater and Certified Sustainable Building Advisor, Ryan's consultation expertise ranges across every potential aspect of a sustainable project. Ryan remains active in his field as a member of several non profit organizations that provide leadership in green building including the California Home Energy Efficiency Rating System, the Bay Area LEED Users Group (BAyLUG), the Northern California Chapter of the USGBC, the Urban Land Institute, and the Emerging Green Builders Association. Ryan is highly involved in his community of San Francisco as a cross country coach at Stuart Hall for Boys and a board member of the Northern California Chapter of the University of Colorado Alumni Association. Ryan's breadth of expertise and exceptional experience accompany his passion in each and every project he undertakes.

Through years of hands-on experience in the construction and development fields, Matt Macko came to appreciate firsthand the need for progress in green building. From the University of Colorado Leeds School of Business, Matt received degrees in both economics and finance as well as an Entrepreneurial Certification. Meanwhile, he was the President of the University of Colorado's Real Estate Club and the owner of two successful businesses. During schooling and as a post-graduate, Matt successfully built and managed one of the greenest residential projects in Connecticut. He is now a LEED Accredited Professional (BD+C), RESNET HERS Rater, Certified Energy Plans Examiner, Certified Green Building Professional, and Certified Sustainable Building Advisor, as well as Chair of the Bay Area LEED Users Group (BAyLUG), board member of the California Deconstruction and Reuse Network, and board member of the Northern California Chapter of the USGBC. Through the various projects he's managed, Matt personally encountered many of the challenges associated with sustainable development and has the experience, knowledge, and leadership to overcome new hurdles in future projects.

In March of 2009, Matt traveled to Washington D.C. where he participated in a subject matter expert group formed for GBCI (Green Building Certification Institute) test development. As part of the group, Matt assisted in drafting, revising and reviewing items for possible inclusion in the GBCI item bank, and linked such items to test specifications and available reference resources.” As a result, he regularly presents on the changes to LEED throughout Northern California.

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Pierce Holstrom is a Mechanical Engineer with a professional background in high performance buildings design, cost estimating, and project management. He has extensive experience with new construction and existing buildings and his diverse portfolio includes a wide spectrum of projects ranging from high-rise commercial tenants to data centers, research and development facilities, institutional clients, and big box retail. Clients have included AMD, Network Appliance, Juniper Networks, Stanford University, URS, Kiewit, Target and many more. As a LEED Accredited Professional and ASHRAE associate, Pierce is prepared to provide useful and real-world solutions for Fundamental or Enhanced Commissioning, Retro-commissioning Projects, and Indoor Air Quality Management/Testing.

Jake brings a strong science background to the EBS team. Jake is a seasoned LEED project manager with projects ranging from tenant improvements, to new construction and existing buildings. He is an expert in the LEED requirements and has extensive experience maximizing projects’ certification level.

Currently at Environmental Building Strategies, Jake is in charge of all items related to energy. He has become an extremely skilled energy modeler, commissioning coordinator and sustainability project manager. In this time he has worked on a variety of LEED and ENERGY STAR projects. Jake has been integral in the development of the EBS LEED EDGE project management tool which brings efficiency to LEED consulting . It combines the LEED reference guide with LEED Online providing a streamlined approach to understanding credit compliance. He also helped design and build EBS’ Sustainability Financial Impact Analysis tool, which analyzes the financials of energy efficiency improvements to buildings.

Igor Barer is a Mechanical Engineer with a professional background in estimating and managing design-build projects for new construction and energy retrofits for existing buildings. His diverse experience includes biomedical and research facilities (Bayer, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, Novartis, Genentech, Proteus Biomedical), medical facilities (St. Rose Hospital, Alta Bates Medical Facilities, Highland Hospital, Mills Peninsula Hospital), educational facilities (UC Berkeley, Oakland Unified Scholl District, UCSF), data centers (LLNL, Sun Microsystems), and museums (Contemporary Jewish Museum, Oakland Museum). As a LEED Accredited Professional, Igor's consulting expertise includes Indoor Air Quality Management/Testing as well as both Fundamental and Enhanced Commissioning. Igor is a member of ASHRAE (Americans Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers) and the Building Commissioning Association.

Justin Moresco is a licensed civil engineer in California and a LEED AP O+M. As a contractor for EBS, he manages LEED and Energy Star projects for existing buildings. He is a widely published author on the topics of green building, energy efficiency and renewable energy. His articles have appeared in Earth2Tech.com, RenewableEnergyWorld.com, Sustainable Industries magazine and PV Magazine. Before focusing his career on sustainability, Justin worked for three years at one of the country’s leading structural engineering consulting firms. He has lived and worked abroad, including two and a half hears in West Africa where he was a correspondent for IRINnews covering environmental issues. Justin is a member of the US Green Building Council and a board member of the Northern California chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute.

Due to his experience within the Real Estate, Financial, and IT fields, Laurence Chaw brings a unique skill set to the Environment Building Strategies team as a Financial Analyst. Since early childhood, Laurence was introduced to family residential investment properties which he became increasingly involved in as he matured. He earned his undergraduate degree from James Madison University with majors in Finance and IT. Post graduation, Laurence worked as a Risk Advisor for Ernst & Young dealing with a variety of clients ranging from FORTUNE 50 to growing start ups. He is currently pursuing an MBA at the University of Colorado in Boulder with focuses in Real Estate and Finance with an expected graduation date of April 2010. The focus on sustainability was Laurence’s primary motivator for pursuing his MBA at the University of Colorado. His relevant experience includes complex financial modeling, client relations, due diligence, sustainable development, and database design. Laurence is a LEED Accredited Professional dedicated to demonstrating the profitability of sustainable building from a triple bottom line perspective.