[Article] Fall 2019 Contributors

A version of this article appears in the Fall 2019 issue of Home Energy Magazine.

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Bill Eckman

“Seeing the Possibilities with the Water-Energy Nexus”

Bill says that integrating water use into our home performance analysis won’t save the world, but it is a great step to taking house-as-a-system further.

“When I bought my first house, it was brand new and uncomfortable. It had upgrades on the surface, but we did not get what we expected of a new home. I decided to change my focus from production building to solving the problems of poor performance.”

When he changed career paths, Bill also decided to buy an old school bus, paint an argyle stripe down the side, and move across the country. Bill misses that bus and still visits it infrequently in Rowe, NM.

Walt Yakabosky

“Tackling the House’s Biggest Energy User: The Occupant”

Walt wants to show readers that the responsibility for energy efficiency should be shared with the consumer.

A career turning point came when Walt was an academic dean at a community college. “I put all of these technical trade school programs into an academic model. I’m a big proponent of community colleges, but also of putting people into programs that lead to highly successful careers.”

Walt has this advice for people continuing in their careers: Take advantage of continuing education. Just because you have a BPI certification, don’t think you’re at the end of the road.”

Jim Gunshinan

With his tribute, Jim hoped to show just what a friend and mentor Alan Meier has been to the magazine.

Jim’s career sea change happened 19 years ago. He was searching for a career that would combine his training as an engineer and his strong writing skills. “I got the job of editorial assistant, and after a couple of days, the publisher, Mary James, said, ‘Want to be managing editor?’”

Readers might not know that Jim worked on the artificial heart during graduate school at Penn State. “I went there for bioengineering and got assigned to the artificial heart lab—a happy development and a great opportunity to contribute to medical research.” After that, Jim went back to school to study theology and do a different kind of heart research.

Miguel Walker

(Mentioned in L. Jackson’s) “HE Podcast Roundup”

Miguel says, “We want our podcast to be a resource for people to learn what a home can do.”

A career turning point was when, bored by soul-sucking hi-tech consulting work, he was invited by friends to join Positive Energy, and this hands-on work reconnected him with his BA degree in archeology and his love for vernacular architecture.

Home Energy’s readers don’t know that Miguel is passionate about vexillology, the study and design of flags.

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