Meeting/Event Information

Gwelen Paliaga is a Technical Director with TRC within the Research and Emerging Solutions group. Mr. Paliaga has 15 years of experience in commercial building energy efficiency and building science research. He brings his expertise in design and operation of high performance buildings, research and emerging technology, codes and standards development, and a strong project management background to his role at TRC. He has a long history of facilitating collaboration between the design and construction industry, property owners and managers, academic research, public agencies, and utilities.

Mr. Paliaga has completed significant research on topics of HVAC systems and Controls, Occupant Comfort, and Integrated Design, all focused on accelerating market adoption of emerging solutions. He currently oversees multiple research projects focused on achieving energy savings and improved occupant comfort through solutions that take advantage of emerging technologies, as well as integrated solutions.

Paul Raftery, Ph.D., is a Professional Researcher at the Center for the Built Environment at UC Berkeley. His main goal is to improve building energy efficiency by investigating advanced integrated HVAC systems. He holds a PhD in Engineering for developing a new method for calibrating building energy models to detailed measured data. He has a decade of hands-on experience in: HVAC engineering, building automation systems and controls, fault detection & diagnosis, full-scale laboratory experiments, new technology development, measurement and verification of technology demonstrations, machine learning, and software development. He is a Fulbright Fellow and an active member of ASHRAE - voting member of ASHRAE TC 6.5 (Radiant heating and cooling) and ASHRAE GPC 36 (High performance control sequences). He is currently a co-Principal Investigator on two California Energy Commission research projects: a $3M (4-year) project focused on radiant hydronic systems and a $2M (3-year) project focused on integrated smart ceiling fans and thermostats. 

In this presentation, Gwelen and Paul will focus on new findings from VAV control concepts, such as cost-based reset and time-averaged ventilation (TAV).