2009 BetterBricks Awards - Montana

Meet the 2009 Montana BetterBricks Award Winners

At the first annual Montana BetterBricks Awards, three outstanding leaders in the green building industry were honored for their efforts by BetterBricks along with NorthWestern Energy and the Montana Electric Cooperative Association (MECA). The event was held in conjunction with the Montana Ambassadors Annual Conference and the keynote speaker was T. Boone Pickens, the oil and gas entrepreneur, who spoke about his plan to reinvest in America and renewable energy.  The Montana BetterBricks' partners and sponsors included,and.

Winners and finalists were selected in the following categories:
 

Owner/Decision Maker:
Winner - Gary Griffith, Facilities Director (retired) Bozeman School District. Gary focused on energy conservation for the District, and through a combination of retrofits, repairs and operational practices, he dramatically decreased the District's natural gas consumption by 50 percent. Two of the District's elementary schools are believed to be the only Energy Star certified schools in Montana, achieved under his direction.

Finalist - Tom Schussler, Director of Facilities, Providence St. Patrick Hospital and Health Sciences Center and Tim Chopp, Manager of Facilities Engineering, Providence St. Patrick Hospital and Health Sciences Center in Missoula. Because of Tom and Tim's efforts, St. Patrick is the only hospital to certify (twice) under the Energy Star program in the state of Montana.

Architecture:
Winner - Randy Hafer, President and co-owner of High Plains Architects in Billings. Randy led his team to reinvent a professional office building called, "Home on the Range." This project received LEED® Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, currently Montana's only Platinum project.

Engineering:
Winner - Mark Hines, Mechanical Engineer, Montana state Architecture and Engineering Division, Dept. of Administration. The State Buildings Energy Conservation Program relies on Mark's expertise to design the state's energy efficiency projects. The program regularly saves 15-30 percent of a building's energy costs and is reporting over one million dollars in savings a year.