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Bulletin Board
Austin Energy Green Building Says Hasta La Vista
to Katie Jensen
Austin's loss is Dallas's gain. Katie Jensen, PMP, LEED® AP, AEGB's Multifamily Program Coordinator, is
moving to Dallas.
Katie has been with AEGB for over 7 years—we first met
her in 2001 when she interned with AEGB after spending a year in Austin as a VISTA volunteer. Katie's
enthusiasm, intelligence, and work ethic was quickly evident and she was soon hired as a full-time
Conservation Program Associate.
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| Katie's first year with AEGB (2001) |
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Katie worked with AEGB's Commercial and Multifamily Programs for several years, and in
2005, she began updating the Multifamily rating tool and coordinating the re-emergence of the
Multifamily program. "I was drawn to multifamily because of its unique development challenges
and green building opportunities," says Katie. "Multifamily buildings can be residential or commercial,
owned or leased, permanent or temporary. This diversity allows for constant creativity and
resourcefulness."
Katie and her team work closely with building professionals, providing design
team consultation, construction document review, construction inspections, energy modeling, and
marketing for multifamily residential developments. "Katie has been a great asset to AEGB," says Maureen Scanlon, LEED AP, P.E., with AEGB's Commercial Program. "Katie's proactive work with Watershed Protection Development Review, Neighborhood Planning & Zoning, and SMART Housing has helped make Green Building the building standard in many parts of our city. She has also worked closely with other COA Departments, such as Solid Waste Services and Austin Water Utility, to help keep Green Building standards coherent and in line with the regulatory language familiar to building professionals."
Austin is one of only a handful of cities to have a Green Building Multifamily Program and many of
Austin's multifamily developments are required to achieve some level of our green building rating
based on their zoning or development agreements. For example, in the new Mueller development,
multifamily housing with three or more units must achieve a minimum two-star AEGB rating
and/or meet the LEED® Certified criteria. Also, any multifamily development in Austin utilizing the
SMART Housing policy initiative is required to achieve a one-star rating.
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Katie participating in the City of Austin's Farm to Work CSA (2007) |
Richard Morgan, AEGB's Program Manager, had this to say about Katie: "What stands out for me when I think about working with Katie is her willingness to take on the tough jobs and her ability to get things done. For instance, the persistence she showed while working on the Downtown Design Standards and her committment to working through the whole process and collaborating with all the stakeholders to develop and implement the green building rule is typical of her work ethic. Katie is calm and unflinching in the most difficult of circumstances and is committed to getting the best buildings possible built in Austin. I'm proud to have worked with this remarkable woman, who has an unwavering commitment to her beliefs and cares deeply about her community, the world and the people in it."
Not only will Katie be missed by AE staff, many folks in our local community will feel the loss as
well. For her work as a community activist, Katie received the Save Barton Creek Association’s
Young Professional Award in 2008. Her contributions to Austin's environmental community include
coordinating a monthly luncheon for Chicas Verdes, a networking resource for
environmentally-minded women. Since 2001, Chicas Verdes has supported Austin women doing valuable
work for environmental awareness and action. From 2004-2006, Katie served as the first Chair of
the Board of Directors and worked hard to co-create the Central Texas-Balcones Chapter of the
US Green Building Council. She has also served as the Vice Chair of the Texas Solar Energy
Society; and was the coordinator’s coordinator of the Sustainable Building Coalition (now known as
Design-Build-Live). Katie recently organized the Construction and Demolition Waste Management
Summit, and will give her last official AE presentations in Munich, Stuttgart and Berlin, Germany for
the German-American Chamber of Commerce.
We know Katie will go on to do equally wonderful things in Dallas where her knowledge, energy and
leadership are much needed! We wish Katie the best of luck in her new endeavors! Katie's last day with AEGB was June 30, 2009.
AEGB's Annual Networking Party Coming Soon
Be sure your company is represented in our annual slide show!
Every October, AEGB hosts a Networking Party for anyone who participates - or is interested in
participating - in our program. The party takes the place of our regular monthly lunchtime seminar and is an opportunity for our participants to share information and meet other green building professionals in a relaxed atmosphere. It's also an opportunity to celebrate Austin's thriving green building community: during the party, we run a PowerPoint slide show that highlights current or recently completed (2008/2009), Austin-based, AEGB-rated projects.
Don't miss out on the fun! Send low resolution (72 dpi is fine for PowerPoint and easy to send in
email) photos, electronic drawings or renderings of
projects in the design stage to: greenbuilding@austinenergy.com.
Save the date for the party: Thursday, October 29, 2009.
View photos from the 2008 Networking Party>>
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