The Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) named Richard Beam Energy Manager of the Year for Region 5. Beam, who is director of energy management services with Providence Health and Services in Seattle, received the award at the World Energy Engineering Congress held in Atlanta in August.

AEE recognized Beam for, “outstanding accomplishment in promoting the practices, principles and procedures of energy management.”

“Energy efficiency aligns with Providence’s values and culture,” Beam said. “Stewardship is a core value and we express it as being good stewards of resources in our trust and get the most out of them.”
 
Beam said he recognized years ago that to be effective, energy efficiency needed to be part of the culture of the organization.

“Our executives are the keepers of our culture and we need their buy-in to make the link between the boiler room and the board room,” he said. “The way you do that is the have the executives carry that message and have it trickle down through the organization.”

Under Beam’s leadership, the new Providence Newberg Medical Center, Newberg, Ore., is the nation’s first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) gold hospital. Plus, the health organization received the Best Infrastructure project in 2005 from the American Society of Health Care Engineers for the Providence Portland Medical Center’s new central plant for energy efficiency and design.

Beam has been involved in energy management for 30 years and has worked for Providence for the last 12. He is responsible for managing energy use in 238 facilities from Anchorage to Los Angeles, in five states. Through the years he has instituted many practices to reduce energy use in existing buildings and is extensively involved in new construction projects. He recently stepped down from NEEA’s board of directors after serving six years.

If you would like to nominate a member of your energy efficiency team to be recognized, let our editor know.