As a senior mechanical engineer, Russ plays various roles in projects that contribute to cost-effective energy savings in buildings. These roles include securing project funding, project management, building plan review, energy analysis, and conducting field research.

Russ began working as an engineering intern at CEE before he received his BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1990. Since 2005, Russ has been increasingly involved in new construction to provide plan review, whole-building energy simulation, and other technical support to design teams and to organizations charged with project oversight and verification.

Russ’s recent and ongoing work addresses the efficiency of a mix of new and existing buildings, both commercial and multifamily. His new construction work includes the Minnesota portion of a U.S. Department of Energy–funded study of the energy efficiency of new low-rise multifamily buildings, CEE’s new construction review of projects against Minnesota’s Sustainable Buildings 2030 Energy Standard, and a pilot project that provided third-party support for improved compliance with commercial energy codes.

His current research on existing buildings includes leading projects to optimize the control of commercial condensing boilers study the Minnesota energy efficiency program market for commercial and industrial refrigeration. Russ also provides technical support for CEE programs and services that improve the efficiency of commercial refrigeration systems, multifamily buildings, and ice arenas.