At Prism, our People are our Most Important Asset

As we get ready to celebrate our 27th year in business, our success in helping organizations save energy continues to be dependent on our most important asset: our people. In the past year, our team has grown to over 40 staff, all of whom come to our company with different professional and cultural experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives.

Prism is happy to offer a workplace that embraces the uniqueness of each of our employees, and recognizes that diversity has strengthened our business and enabled us to better serve our clients.

• Many on our team bring expertise from around the globe, having lived in or studied in countries outside of Canada, and about half of employees speak at least two languages. The different perspectives and experiences of our staff help us to find solutions to complex problems and inform our holistic approach to energy management.
• Women make up about 40% of Prism’s total staff and about 25% of our Energy, Mechanical, Electrical, and PUMA teams. We recognize that there are still too many barriers to women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields and continue to work alongside our industry partners and professional organizations toward closing this gap. Over the last fifteen years, at Prism, the number of female employees has grown steadily with our business to stand at 17 strong today, with women represented on all of our teams and in all levels of our company.
• Prism has (and continues to) provide opportunities for co-op students and interns, with an appreciation for the innovation and new ideas that they bring to the table. Among Prism staff, there are a few who started out their careers as students or interns with the company and opted to return after graduation to be full time employees. We are similarly lucky to carry a depth of knowledge and experience on staff, with many decades of age diversity between employees.

We look forward to welcoming new ideas, perspectives, and voices in the coming years as we continue to work towards our shared vision of “saving you energy.”

In January 2017, Prism President Robert Greenwald travelled to Edmonton to take part in the Alberta Energy Efficiency Alliance (AEEA) event, Launching Energy Efficiency in Alberta. The full day event brought together representatives from government, industry, consulting, and non-profit sectors.

The event was the first major gathering of Alberta’s energy efficiency industry since the creation of a new energy efficiency agency for the province, Energy Efficiency Alberta. The event was designed as the ‘go to’ place for conversations about the future of energy efficiency in Alberta.

Robert’s presentation focused on strategic energy management in the industrial sector – one of Prism’s services provided to BC Hydro customers via the Industrial Energy Manager (IEM) program. Prism has supported strategic energy management in Alberta for more than 20 years, with clients such as the City of Calgary and Alberta Health Services. As the market for energy efficiency in Alberta grows, Prism is excited to share our expertise on both the commercial and industrial side with Alberta organizations looking to deliver savings through efficiency.

Learn more about Prism’s Industrial Energy Management expertise

As the holiday season is now upon us, we find ourselves reflecting on the past year and those who have helped to shape our business. In this festive time of year, we’d like to say thank you for your support and partnership, we look forward to continuing our work with you in the year ahead.

2016 has been quite a year of growth and excitement for us. Some highlights from our year include:

• Completing our office expansion at 3605 Gilmore Way to create more work and meeting space and upgrade office lighting
• Growing to 40 employees strong between our Burnaby and Nelson offices
• Over 150 modernization projects completed
• 1.7 gigawatt hours in savings identified through energy audits and continuous optimization investigations
• Delivering energy management coaching to 50+ commercial and industrial BC Energy Managers
• Partnering with BC Hydro and FortisBC to launch the Energy Wise Network, which supports sustainability engagement programs in 46 organizations across 5 sectors
• New PUMA software releases that enhance the user experience and GHG reporting capacity for our now 40+ clients and nearly 1,000 sites

Happy Holidays from the team at Prism Engineering. We wish all the best for you, your family, and colleagues as you embark on 2017.

Prism’s Kootenay office recently moved to a new location. Sam Thomas and our Nelson branch are now located at 202A – 330 Baker St. To celebrate the move, we hosted an office warming party with clients and new neighbours.

About 40 people stopped by for a visit, including Robert from our Vancouver office. The doors are always open, so if you’re in the neighbourhood, stop by and say hello to Sam in the new space!

This month, Prism delivered the first of two 2-day Summits as part of BC Hydro and FortisBC’s Energy Wise Network program. The Energy Wise Network is a newly formed conservation community comprised of a diverse group of BC organizations focused on saving energy through staff behaviour change and awareness programs.

Among the 46 Network members are school districts, post-secondary institutions, municipalities, governmental organizations, and commercial clients.

The October Summit focused on kick-starting energy conservation awareness and behaviour change campaigns and developing an annual progress for implementing engagement programs. The Summit provided a unique learning environment where participants had the opportunity to share their experiences, hear from others in the Network, and develop new skills through facilitated sessions with Prism’s Training and Engagement Team.

With 46 organizations and 60 participants, the October Summit was an exciting two days of knowledge-sharing, learning, and development for all those involved.

This month, a Chinese delegation from the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) had the opportunity to visit Prism’s Burnaby office. Their visit included a presentation by Prism President, Robert Greenwald, about our holistic approach energy management and how we demonstrate our approach in-house with our Advanced Energy Office.

The presentation showcased the many energy efficiency upgrades undertaken in our office, including high quality lighting design, efficient plug loads and power management, HVAC performance and advanced metering. Together these projects have made our space 33% more energy efficient than a typical office. Following the presentation, BOMA China delegates had the opportunity to tour the office, meet with staff, and take a look at our most recent renovation projects. The delegates also had the chance to see and test out our energy dashboard, which displays our office energy usage though PUMA, Prism’s Utility Monitoring & Analysis software.

Prism Engineering Ltd. is proud to partner with the Canadian Institute for Energy Training (CIET) to deliver Dollars to $ense (D2$) energy management workshops. Beginning this fall, Prism President Robert Greenwald and Founder Brian O’Donnell join a team comprised of some of Canada’s most capable and experienced energy-management trainers who will be delivering the workshops across the country.

Developed by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), the D2$ workshops currently include six standard workshops:

• Energy Management Planning (EMP)
• SPOT the Energy Savings Opportunities
• Energy Monitoring (MT&R)
• Energy Management Information Systems (EMIS)
• Recommissioning for Buildings (RCx)
• Energy Efficiency Financing (EEF)

The workshops can be offered publicly in most major Canadian cities and on-site at organizations’ facilities. The complete D2$ training material consists of 30 individual modules, which can be easily reorganized or adapted to meet any organization’s training needs.

Since 1997, over 30,000 trainees from industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) organizations across Canada have enrolled in the Dollars to $ense energy management workshops.

We are pleased to welcome Pani Pasbanpoo as a new member of our Mechanical Team. Pani lived and worked in Tehran before moving to Vancouver. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Guilan and a Master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Science and Technology of Iran. Pani brings significant experience in plumbing and HVAC systems design to Prism.

During her first month in Vancouver, at an industry conference, Pani met members of the Prism team and became familiar with the company. She was drawn to Prism’s client service values and the diversity of work that Prism does. Shortly after the conference, she applied to join our Mechanical Team. She now calls Vancouver home.

1. What are you aiming to achieve through your work with Prism?

I would like to contribute to my new community in Canada by using my skillset to make a positive impact and help our clients save energy. I’d also like to continue learning and expanding the knowledge and skills that I have.

2. What part of your work experience so far has been the most fun?

Working with my new colleagues has been lots of fun. I like coming to work in a friendly atmosphere where staff work together to achieve a common goal.

3. If you could have any job in the world (besides the one you have now), what would it be?

As a lover of animals and nature, I would probably pick something where I could be outside with animals. Maybe I would choose to be a shepherd!

On post-secondary campuses, computers can be a big contributor to energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. By adjusting power settings on computers and monitors to be as close to actual usage as possible, VCC’s IT Team is helping to significantly reduce energy consumption at the Broadway and Downtown campuses.

Over the course of six years, since IT began managing computer and monitor power settings, VCC has avoided unnecessary energy consumption and costs totalling:

• 2,111,165 kWh of electricity (or the annual usage of 133 homes)
• 1,502,281 kg of CO₂ (or what 5 km2 of forests sequester in a year)
• $126,660 (or the cost of 230 brand new PCs)

Prism recently showcased the IT Team’s accomplishments in a Case Study. The IT team continues to work with facilities and VCC’s energy manager, Prism Engineering’s Majid Pishavei, to take savings even further.

Prism Engineering was well represented at last month’s GLOBE conference, North America’s largest and most influential sustainable business leadership summit. Our President, Robert Greenwald attended a variety of sessions including the keynote address given by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and a speech delivered by Premier Christy Clark.

“It was illuminating to hear our federal and provincial leaders address climate change and economic growth in the same sentence,” he said of his time at the conference. “One of the most important and exciting takeaways for me was that we’re no longer looking at the environment and the economy as competing issues, but rather a pieces of a larger, more complex problem – a problem that new technology, innovative thinking, and customer engagement are offering solutions to.”

Stefanie Jones, Sustainability Engagement Specialist at Prism Engineering also took part in Globe events. Stefanie facilitated a discussion during the Renewable Energy Challenge workshop hosted by the Vancouver Economic Commission, C40 Climate Leadership Group and Renewable Cities. Of the workshop, Stefanie says, “I was happy to help create a dialogue among people of such diverse backgrounds and expertise about a future based on renewable energy.”

From Prism’s Energy Team, Iram Green attended the Green and Digital Demonstration Program’s Inside the Boardroom session which showcased the joint City of Vancouver and Vancouver Economic Commission program and demonstrated how winning proponents are selected.