Industry Voices: A Q&A with David Burchfield of Burch Energy Services
In this issue of Connections we are launching a new column called Industry Voices. The column will feature engineers outside of Syska who are elevating the profession through original ideas and influential initiatives.
For our inaugural column we chose to interview David Burchfield, PE, CEM, the president of Burch Energy Services. He spoke with us about his company, his vision, and the ways that he and his colleagues are working to advance what he terms climate justice.
Connections: Please tell us a little about Burch Energy Services.
DB: Sure. I founded the company in 2017 and it grew quickly. Today we have 17 employees and a vision to normalize racial inclusivity in the clean energy economy, while mitigating the effects of climate change.
Connections: What are your key product and service offerings?
DB: The primary one is BuildingLens®, our SaaS platform. It’s a cloud-based monitoring and management system that prioritizes human health while saving energy. Under the BuildingLens umbrella are three products: AirLens, EnergyLens, and Album Suite.
AirLens is a clean-air management system that we created with the help of a grant from the Department of Energy. It improves indoor air quality, leading to increased productivity of employees. EnergyLens is the product we use to remotely manage building systems. Album Suite uses anonymized data gathered through EnergyLens to create digestible information for utility stakeholders, enabling them to make decisions about the demand side of their grid and determine how to grow their business within the constraints of the clean energy economy.
Connections: We understand that you’ve used AirLens to mitigate risks from COVID-19 and from wildfire smoke. Can you talk about how this process works?
DB: Sure. AirLens modulates outdoor air dampers and fan speeds to increase ventilation at times when COVID-19 positive rates are high. Forest fires are an exterior, rather than interior, threat. So when we know that air from a forest fire is heading toward a building, we start by flushing out the building with 100% outside air to get the cleanest air available as a starting point. When the forest fire smoke arrives, we close all the outside air dampers. It won’t stop all the air from entering the building, but it slows it down. Eventually we hope to integrate short-term mitigation components into BuildingLens.
Connections: You are a strong advocate of climate justice. What exactly do you mean by that term?
DB: My definition ties to the vision I mentioned earlier. To me, we’ve reached climate justice when we’ve normalized racial inclusivity in the clean energy economy while mitigating the effects of climate change.
To me, we’ve reached climate justice when we’ve normalized racial inclusivity in the clean energy economy while mitigating the effects of climate change.
Connections: How can engineers promote climate justice?
DB: Respect people rather than positions. For example, someone who works as a janitor in a building may not have a technical degree, but probably knows way more about that building than we ever will. The janitor might be our chief source of information when it comes to reducing the building’s emissions. We need to treat that person accordingly.
Connections: We’ve talked about mitigating the effects of climate change, but we haven’t specifically addressed racial inclusivity. Do you have any suggestions about how engineering firms can work more closely with members of minority groups?
DB: As an African American who is five generations away from slavery, I can tell you that a lot of damage has been done to our people. Consequently, our trust in institutions is limited. If you approach a minority institution, your intentions should be to gain trust. Because if your intentions are different, we will sniff it out. I always ask prospective project partners ‘Do you want to work with us because you want us to check a box? Or do you want to truly partner and build a relationship and help to make this economy more inclusive as we reach toward equity? If so, we’ll put in the business development work to make it happen.’”
Connections: You’ve done a lot of teaching. Is this a method of expanding the scope of your efforts to promote climate justice?
DB: My love for teaching has a different origin. I had several mentors – my father, my uncle, and my father-in-law. If it weren’t for these men, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today. So teaching is a way of paying it forward to the next generation.
Connections: Is there anything else you’d like to mention about climate justice?
DB: Yes. This pertains to climate justice, cleantech and energy efficiency. We need to get rid of the scarcity mindset. There’s so much work out there. There’s so much that needs to be done. There’s so much training that needs to happen. I tell my Black brothers and sisters, ‘Hey, it’s time. We cannot make excuses anymore. It’s time to take that chance and begin trusting and see where it takes us, because there’s a lot of opportunity. We have to take the handcuffs off our minds. When I was able to do that and trust firms to do what they said they were going to do, my company grew from one person to 17 in a few years. It’s because I moved on faith.”