Dan Leonhardt

Design Engineer

Ecosystem Energy

In his work at Ecosystem Energy, Dan designs customized deep energy retrofits and distributed energy solutions for large buildings and campuses across multiple sectors (education, healthcare, government, multifamily housing). Prior energy experience includes policy analysis at the Pace Energy and Climate Center (a think tank) advancing distributed energy policy and adoption. He was also the assistant director of energy at the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), a public housing authority with over 178,000 dwelling units under direct management. Before moving to the energy sector, Dan was an IT infrastructure consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers and an IT engineer for Barclays Capital. He has also served for the past 6 years as a director and office of the Clinton Hill Co-op, a 1,200+ unit apartment complex in Brooklyn and so has been both a provider and customer of large energy related capital projects. Dan has degrees in electrical engineering, information systems, and business administration.

For a building to be truly “smart,” sensors and controls will play a large role. Traditionally, a building's central plant and HVAC controls (BMS) have been created separate and apart from the networks maintained by the IT department, and even from each other. Buildings will often have separate systems for workstation/internet access, temperature control, and lighting/occupancy sensors. These disparate networks can now be integrated with each other, at lower cost, in ways compatible with corporate IT networks. But IT departments are often loath to take on additional scope or allow for unknown or unproven devices to be added to their networks. Security concerns are often keenly felt. A well connected “smart” building is going to mean partnering with IT. This presentation will talk about the advantages these new systems offer and advice on how to enroll IT in the process and get their buy-in for smart buildings.

Presentation: Winning IT Department's Support for Smart Building Deployment