Years at Western: 6 University Department: Facilities Management
Job Title: Facilities Engineer III Personal Motto: "Seek to optimize."
For anyone who is wondering just exactly who are the people that help Western move forward as a sustainable institution, you could not start at a better place than by meeting Facilities Management Engineer Chris Hadley. Tucked into a spacious corner of the AIC, Hadley is surrounded by luminous computer monitors, suitcases of equipment for temperature and velocity measurements, and scrolls of numerical data. For a man who is comfortably ensconced between ductwork and ventilation pipes, it was surprising for me to learn that Hadley started his journey toward energy conservation by earning a BA in English from the UW. "I have always been interested in reading and acquiring new knowledge," Hadley said, and he seemed to regard the arts as a logical place to begin.
Hadley's introduction to sustainability proper came shortly after graduating with his BA when he accepted a position as General Manager at a large recycling operation in Seattle. "I still like to recycle" Hadley says, "but I figure I got a lifetime credit under my belt from that job." At first he was not really interested in a career that focused on environmental conservation; he was more interested in earning enough money to move to California. "I was looking for a dirty job that would earn a lot of cash quickly," Hadley said, "and I found an opening at a recycling plant in Seattle." Hadley interviewed for the position and 6 weeks later got a call from the owner offering him the spot. "It was exactly the kind of temporary work I was looking for," Hadley said, "but what happened was I fell in love with the job."
But it wasn't the recycling aspect that really motivated him; it was the mechanics of the operation. "I can fix almost anything" Hadley said, speaking of his lifelong affinity for problem solving, "and I loved the constant demand and challenge the recycling plant provided. I had no idea how much stuff was broken in that place."
Eventually his interest in mechanical systems led Hadley away from the recycling industry and back into the college classroom. In 1998 he enrolled at Bellingham Technical College and graduated in 2000 with an Associates degree in Applied Science, focusing on heating and cooling systems. "I was sitting in class on the first day and the instructor introduced the topic of sub-cooled liquids and superheated vapors" Hadley said, "and I knew right then, that was it, I had found my passion." While speaking Hadley rolled up his sleeve and revealed an arm freckled with goose bumps. "Twelve years later I still get chills just talking about it" he said, eyes wide with excitement. "I absolutely love this stuff."
Among some of the many practical theorems Hadley absorbed during his BTC degree, the idea of energy conservation struck home. "As I studied the processes involved with heating and cooling systems I began to realize how much energy we have the potential not to waste." After working in various technical trades in Whatcom County between 2000 and 2006, Hadley brought his keen mind and fervent passion for climate systems to Western. "I work in a very fast changing, dynamic field whose challenges and fascinations never cease" Hadley says. "Far and few between are the days that I don't look forward to showing up to work and giving it my best."
As we talked Hadley frequently rolled his chair to one of three computers in his basement office, opening programs and schematics to demonstrate where and how energy conservation was taking place within the university's walls, ceilings, and rooftops. Phrases like "shaft pressurization control strategy," "polynomial functions," and "terminal boxes" danced in my ears while spreadsheets filled with numbers to the ten-thousandth decimal place scrolled past my eyes. I didn't understand most of it, but I could get my mind around the savings figures. "Optimizing our systems and implementing simple concepts will save the university millions of dollars," Hadley said. "Good systems serve the campus better, they serve the buildings better, they save energy, and they are easier to maintain." Hadley went on to describe how the money saved by energy conservation measures usually pay for the project in a short period of time; after that, it's just gravy. "I'm passionate about what I do and the impact it can make" Hadley continued, "the challenge is to break through the patterns and practices of the past."
Part of this challenge can be addressed at the university level. When asked how Western might work more efficiently in the field of sustainability, Hadley was frank, "We will need to continue invest in the technologies that can provide optimizing strategies" he said. "We will also need to invest in the high level of education and skills required by the technicians who work on them, which are now in short supply, and anticipate this area as one of job growth rather than reduction, even in the face of budget cuts." From Hadley's perspective, these high skill technical jobs have the potential to be self-sustaining far into the future.
We closed our conversation with a short discussion about personal sustainability practices, though for Hadley, I think it is hard to distinguish between personal and professional pursuits. He doesn't seem to think in the terms we commonly wrangle from sustainability dialogue, malleable terms like "compact community" and "social responsibility." He genuinely lives them out. "I'm not really a big consumer" Hadley mused, "I bike to work when I can and I eat my vegetables." But what inspires him isn't really the small stuff. Hadley thrives on the big picture. He is a visionary. "I need systems to optimize," he continued, simultaneously referring to his work and his biological composition. "I like urban life." And I would go further to say that urban life fascinates Hadley with its diversity of opportunity for optimized, smart, and conservative systems that serve the long-term good of human and ecological health. Individuals of Hadley's caliber are moving Western toward that future.
