Joseph Clair
Joseph's goal in life is to improve the quality of life. A product of a working class, Irish community on Chicago's southside, Joseph sees the need for visionary thinking balanced with practical implementation when solving problems in a community setting. Through years of working with school districts, campus communities, and his own community, Joseph has seen value in taking the time to identify, discuss, and select community priorities through extended dialogue, but also understands that change requires action, and action requires determination and inspiration. As the son of a teacher and an employee of a public utility, Joseph understands how both infrastructure and human capital work together to create the foundation for our communities, but through work and life experiences, he has seen how social capital makes all the difference in the world.
Our planet does not contain the resources to support seven billion people living the lifestyle of the average American. When nine billion people inhabit the planet by mid-century, we will all experience this resource scarcity in an exponentially more acute fashion. If communities can separately work to increase their resource efficiency and self-reliance, then establish strong relationships with other similarly focused communities, we can avoid this scenario and create a world in which we can all thrive. As an advocate for community stewardship, Joseph uses seminars and workshops to inspire community leaders to determine their priorities: increasing the resources that remain within a community, using fewer resources to maintain the quality of life, or another priority relevant to that particular community. The connection does not end there, however. Joseph remains engaged with the community, helping to organize a community project centered around an institution of the community....an elementary or high school, community college, youth center...to bring together people across generations and walks of life around a common goal. Over a twenty year career, Joseph has learned many valuable lessons, and shares them with communities to help increase the depth and pace of our necessary shift to a more efficient way of delivering the high quality of life we enjoy.
In the broader sense, Joseph wants our communities to create a culture of stewardship whereby members of the community view every choice as an opportunity to keep resources in the community and improve the quality of life. For communities to increase self-reliance, or rebuild themselves in a more self-reliant fashion, a culture of stewardship needs to root the community. When communities have this culture, they use resources wisely, supporting themselves while minimizing or eliminating the impact of their lives on the lives of people in other communities.
Joseph recently served as the first Director of Campus Energy and Sustainability for the Illinois Institute of Technology (and one of the first in the nation). In this position, Joseph will documented and coordinated programs for resource efficiency, environmental protection, and stewardship, and developed an overall strategic sustainability vision and plan for the Institute called the IIT Campus Sustainability Plan. Working cooperatively with students, faculty and staff, Joseph supported the ingenious and tenacious push for true sustainability coming from all aspects of the university. Accomplishments included creation of the ten year plan, documenting Silver status for the university (on AASHE STARS), creating the process for the Living Laboratory, establishing the IIT Utilities model, overseeing implementation of the first smart-grid in Illinois (in cooperation with the Department of Energy, Galvin Center for Electricity Innovation, and IIT) and one of the first on-site, in-vessel composters in the state.
Previously, Joseph served as the Managing Engineer for the Chicago Public Schools, a role he held for two and a half years. In that role, he oversaw the implementation of sustainable building practices for the Board of Education's over 650 school buildings, the energy management for the district, as well as new building construction. Accomplishments included codification of the district's commissioning program, completion of the district's New Construction Guidelines for HVAC, electrical and energy consuming systems, documentation of building automation system standards including solicitation of five year's worth of guaranteed pricing for new systems. On the energy front, Joseph championed and obtained a commitment of 20% of the district's electrical energy from renewable sources laying the groundwork for the district to become one of the largest purchasers of certified green energy in the country, instituted a rugged and verifiable curtailment program, and pioneered procurement methods for on-site renewable energy generation at the school level. One of his most exciting projects was serving as an advisor to the students of the CASE colloquium at Northside College Prep High School which looked to design, fund and document an actual renewable energy installation on their school.
In 14 years in the construction business, Joseph has worked as a contractor, designer, construction manager, commissioning authority and now owner, seeing all ends of the building business. In each of these capacities, Joseph has attempted to bring practical, effective solutions to construction issues resulting in better building performance, more cost effective construction, and better cooperation among designers and contractors. His respect for the knowledge, skills and contributions of all members of the construction and building operation team has allowed him to build bridges between traditionally adversarial groups, resulting in improved building performance.
As a founding member of the Chicago Chapter of the USGBC (and 2009 Chapter Chair), Joseph continues to spread the message of resource efficiency, design simplification, and effective cooperation among and beyond the construction community. Joseph has guest-lectured at universities, presented professional development courses, and spoken at conferences and symposiums...always challenging himself and others to make use of our most abundant and limitless resource - human ingenuity.
Through all this, Joseph is most proud of being a father of four amazing children, husband to an unbelievable wife, and a lifelong Chicagoan.
Joseph's goal in life is to improve the quality of life. A product of a working class, Irish community on Chicago's southside, Joseph sees the need for visionary thinking balanced with practical implementation when solving problems in a community setting. Through years of working with school districts, campus communities, and his own community, Joseph has seen value in taking the time to identify, discuss, and select community priorities through extended dialogue, but also understands that change requires action, and action requires determination and inspiration. As the son of a teacher and an employee of a public utility, Joseph understands how both infrastructure and human capital work together to create the foundation for our communities, but through work and life experiences, he has seen how social capital makes all the difference in the world.
Our planet does not contain the resources to support seven billion people living the lifestyle of the average American. When nine billion people inhabit the planet by mid-century, we will all experience this resource scarcity in an exponentially more acute fashion. If communities can separately work to increase their resource efficiency and self-reliance, then establish strong relationships with other similarly focused communities, we can avoid this scenario and create a world in which we can all thrive. As an advocate for community stewardship, Joseph uses seminars and workshops to inspire community leaders to determine their priorities: increasing the resources that remain within a community, using fewer resources to maintain the quality of life, or another priority relevant to that particular community. The connection does not end there, however. Joseph remains engaged with the community, helping to organize a community project centered around an institution of the community....an elementary or high school, community college, youth center...to bring together people across generations and walks of life around a common goal. Over a twenty year career, Joseph has learned many valuable lessons, and shares them with communities to help increase the depth and pace of our necessary shift to a more efficient way of delivering the high quality of life we enjoy.
In the broader sense, Joseph wants our communities to create a culture of stewardship whereby members of the community view every choice as an opportunity to keep resources in the community and improve the quality of life. For communities to increase self-reliance, or rebuild themselves in a more self-reliant fashion, a culture of stewardship needs to root the community. When communities have this culture, they use resources wisely, supporting themselves while minimizing or eliminating the impact of their lives on the lives of people in other communities.
Joseph recently served as the first Director of Campus Energy and Sustainability for the Illinois Institute of Technology (and one of the first in the nation). In this position, Joseph will documented and coordinated programs for resource efficiency, environmental protection, and stewardship, and developed an overall strategic sustainability vision and plan for the Institute called the IIT Campus Sustainability Plan. Working cooperatively with students, faculty and staff, Joseph supported the ingenious and tenacious push for true sustainability coming from all aspects of the university. Accomplishments included creation of the ten year plan, documenting Silver status for the university (on AASHE STARS), creating the process for the Living Laboratory, establishing the IIT Utilities model, overseeing implementation of the first smart-grid in Illinois (in cooperation with the Department of Energy, Galvin Center for Electricity Innovation, and IIT) and one of the first on-site, in-vessel composters in the state.
Previously, Joseph served as the Managing Engineer for the Chicago Public Schools, a role he held for two and a half years. In that role, he oversaw the implementation of sustainable building practices for the Board of Education's over 650 school buildings, the energy management for the district, as well as new building construction. Accomplishments included codification of the district's commissioning program, completion of the district's New Construction Guidelines for HVAC, electrical and energy consuming systems, documentation of building automation system standards including solicitation of five year's worth of guaranteed pricing for new systems. On the energy front, Joseph championed and obtained a commitment of 20% of the district's electrical energy from renewable sources laying the groundwork for the district to become one of the largest purchasers of certified green energy in the country, instituted a rugged and verifiable curtailment program, and pioneered procurement methods for on-site renewable energy generation at the school level. One of his most exciting projects was serving as an advisor to the students of the CASE colloquium at Northside College Prep High School which looked to design, fund and document an actual renewable energy installation on their school.
In 14 years in the construction business, Joseph has worked as a contractor, designer, construction manager, commissioning authority and now owner, seeing all ends of the building business. In each of these capacities, Joseph has attempted to bring practical, effective solutions to construction issues resulting in better building performance, more cost effective construction, and better cooperation among designers and contractors. His respect for the knowledge, skills and contributions of all members of the construction and building operation team has allowed him to build bridges between traditionally adversarial groups, resulting in improved building performance.
As a founding member of the Chicago Chapter of the USGBC (and 2009 Chapter Chair), Joseph continues to spread the message of resource efficiency, design simplification, and effective cooperation among and beyond the construction community. Joseph has guest-lectured at universities, presented professional development courses, and spoken at conferences and symposiums...always challenging himself and others to make use of our most abundant and limitless resource - human ingenuity.
Through all this, Joseph is most proud of being a father of four amazing children, husband to an unbelievable wife, and a lifelong Chicagoan.
