Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings

About the Training
As buildings become increasingly electrified, we need new strategies to meet the growing demand on the electric grid, control costs and maintain reliable building operations.

This webinar will explore how grid-interactive strategies, including demand management, onsite generation, and energy storage, can be integrated into new construction to create buildings that are more resilient, efficient, and responsive to both grid and occupant needs.

Through a real-world case study of the Manchester Public Library, you’ll learn how to:
• Evaluate grid-interactive strategies and incorporate them into new construction.
• Build the business case by considering  cost, benefits, resilience, and energy affordability.
• Identify and address implementation challenges, including technical complexity and the need for early-stage planning and coordination.
• Leverage available incentives and technical resources, including the emerging Mass Save® Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings offer.

This training is eligible for 1 AIA LU / HSW continuing education credit.

This is a live, online webinar led by Andrea French from Eversource. Christopher Till from Town of Manchester, CT and Joe Bliss and Matthew McLean from B2Q Associates.

Andrea French has spent nearly two decades working in energy efficiency and sustainability, with a career spanning green building practices, strategic planning, program management, and organizational leadership. She spent more than eight years as Vice President and shareholder at Sustainable Comfort, Inc., where she helped grow the company, led its property management division, and contributed to company strategy and organizational development. Andrea currently works at Eversource, supporting Mass Save’s New Construction and Major Renovations programs and working with municipal clients across Massachusetts and commercial customers in Western Massachusetts. She is passionate about helping shape buildings of the future through energy efficiency and decarbonization. Andrea holds a B.A. in Journalism and Sociology from UMass Amherst and is a LEED Accredited Professional. She volunteers on the Development Committee for New England Women in Energy and the Environment (NEWIEE), is a mom of two, and a proud slow runner.

Christopher Till, PE, is the Facilities Project Manager for the Town of Manchester, Connecticut, where he has overseen more than $250 million in public infrastructure improvements during his 18-year tenure. Chris has helped lead Manchester’s transition toward sustainable design, including three Net Zero Energy schools and a new 75,000-square-foot Net Zero Energy public library integrating geothermal, solar PV, battery energy storage, and grid-interactive microgrid controls. Building on these projects, Chris is advancing Manchester’s exploration of a Main Street Thermal Energy Network, using the new library as a potential anchor for shared thermal infrastructure serving public and private properties. The initiative expands Manchester’s decarbonization efforts from individual high-performance buildings toward connected, community-scale energy systems. Chris holds a Master of Science in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Tufts University.

Joe Bliss, PE, is a mechanical engineer with over 15 years of experience, serving B2Q as both a senior project manager and as a design engineer. His specialties have been in energy efficient HVAC design, decarbonization, building automation system design, and recommissioning. He has completed dozens of energy audits and energy efficiency studies and has also led several of the firm’s largest MEP design projects, serving as both the project manager and lead engineer on these assignments. Joe was named the Energy Engineer of the Year in the Northeast US by the Association of Energy Engineers in 2024. Joe also brings over 10 years of public speaking experience, presenting talks at events hosted by AEE, NESEA, Eversource, and National Grid, and serves as a guest lecturer at Northeastern University for SBSY-5500: Deep Energy Retrofits of Existing Buildings.

Matthew McLean serves as B2Q Associates’ Electrical Team Lead, bringing more than a decade of experience in the MEP industry since 2013. As the head of the electrical department, he provides technical direction, mentors junior engineers, and drives innovative, high-performance design solutions that support the firm’s growth. Matthew has led electrical design for a diverse portfolio with a strong emphasis on higher education facilities, as well as complex electric service upgrades and decarbonization initiatives. Known for managing multiple fast-paced projects simultaneously, he excels at developing creative, forward-thinking approaches to electrical infrastructure and building electrification that meet both current needs and long-term sustainability goals.