Tristan Schwartzman, Principal and Director of Energy Services with Charles Copeland, Goldman Copeland President and CEO.

The New York Chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers has presented its “Energy Engineer of the Year” Award to Tristan Schwartzman, Principal and Director of Energy Services at Goldman Copeland. The award presentation was a highlight of the New York Chapter’s annual June Benefit on June 21st at Club 101 on Park Avenue in Manhattan.

Tristan is a leading designer and champion of energy-efficiency innovations in Greater New York City. Under his direction, the Energy Services Department at Goldman Copeland has completed energy audits and retro-commissioning projects for over 50 million square feet of commercial properties. It has certified more ENERGY STAR® buildings in the tri-state area than any other firm.

Through energy audits and retro-commissioning projects, Tristan has optimized energy systems for many of the city’s largest commercial property owners. He has led their buildings through design and implementation of annual, multi-million-dollar, capital improvement projects based on the audits’ findings, generating both energy and financial savings for property owners.

At a time of vital importance for energy efficiency in New York City, the region, and the nation, Tristan has been central to both the creation and the replication of the first online Geothermal Ground Source Screening Tool in the nation. The first of those initiatives was created in 2018 for the City of New York; the second was launched in 2021 by Westchester County. Both tools enable users to simply assess the feasibility of geothermal heating and cooling for every lot in the jurisdiction. The New York City tool covers nearly 900,000 lots in all five boroughs. The Westchester tool—“Westchester GeoPossibilities”—demonstrates that the New York City model can be replicated for suburban counties anywhere.

Goldman Copeland is the only firm to have been involved in creating both the New York City model and the Westchester model. Together the tools represent a landmark development for energy efficiency in the Greater New York City area and the nation. Their far-reaching potential offers the opportunity to expand use of geothermal ground source energy in meeting clean energy needs worldwide.