EVOLVE BUILDING ENERGY
Since being founded in 1972, Evolve Building Energy, formerly Felts-House Engineering, has established itself as one of the most well-respected building technical services firms in the region. Our project approach is marked by our commitment to being flexible, reliable, and knowledgeable so that we are able to accommodate each client’s needs, delivering a winning project every time. We have both a deep and broad knowledge of building system functionality and, as a result, we are capable of searching out the best solution for every challenge. Evolve is a member of ASHRAE and the Building Commissioning Association.
OUR TEAM
Phillip House, EIT, LEED AP, QCP - President
Years of Experience
Education
- B.S. Electrical Engineering, Boise State University, 2004
Areas of Expertise
- TAB
- Mechanical systems performance verification
- Advanced, efficient control strategies
- Green mechanical systems
Affiliations
- American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers
- Building Commissioning Association
- United States Green Building Council
Mr. House has gained a wide breadth of experience in the HVAC industry. He has a great amount of experience working hands-on with a wide variety of HVAC equipment including packaged air handing units, boilers, chillers, hydronic pumps, and energy recovery units. During the course of his work he has identified such issues as inefficient economizer control, excessive duct leakage, incorrect pump installation, system effect, low motor power factor, and deficient coil performance.
Mr. House is not only experienced on the equipment side. His knowledge and understanding of the inter-functionality of building systems and assemblies is substantial. He has worked with varied HVAC systems such as variable flow hot, chilled, and condenser water systems, variable air volume systems, four- pipe fan coil systems, ground-source heat pump systems, and cleanroom filtration and ventilation systems. In the hundreds of separate projects that Mr. House has been involved with, he has gained expertise with various pneumatic, electric, and DDC control systems. He has worked extensively with controls from such manufacturers as Siemens, Johnson Controls, Alerton, TAC, and Staefa.
Mr. House possesses a wealth of knowledge in the area of energy efficiency. He has gained this knowledge through on-the-job experience, classes, seminars, and self-directed learning. As a Qualified Commissioning Provider, he specifically focuses on low cost measures to improve building function. Such measures include supply air temperature reset, supply air static pressure reset, scheduling, temperature optimization, part-load analysis, economizer optimization, operation and maintenance improvement, and sensor calibration and placement. In determining building performance levels, Mr. House has employed trending utilizing both permanent (DDC) and temporary (HOBO) resources and has performed sophisticated analyses utilizing Excel and Universal Translator. Mr. House is well versed in a variety of energy savings estimation techniques including brake horsepower calculations, psychrometrics, daily and hourly binning, and energy modeling. He has experience working with such modeling software as DOE 2.2 (eQuest), EnergyPlus, and TRNSYS.
Patrick House, PE - Senior TAB Engineer
Years of Experience
Education
- B.S. Mechanical Engineering, University of Wyoming, 1963
Areas of Expertise
- HVAC systems
- Hydronic heating/cooling systems
- Energy efficient ventilation
- Functional performance testing
Affiliations
- American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers
- Building Commissioning Association
- United States Green Building Council
Over the course of his 38 years in the industry, Mr. House has grown his knowledge of HVAC systems to a very advanced level. He has worked on thousands of projects and has hands-on experience with a wide variety of HVAC systems. He is proficient in the function of variable air volume systems, constant air volume systems, energy recovery systems, kitchen ventilation systems, and dedicated outside air systems as well as countless other technologies. In addition, his experience with hydronic heating and cooling systems such as condenser water systems, four-pipe heating and cooling systems, and advanced hybrid systems is substantial. Over the course of his career he has worked on dozens of K-12 school projects across the state of Idaho and is extremely familiar with the bases of design and control strategies employed in them. He has worked intimately with a wide variety of control systems including pneumatic, electric, and DDC controls. His insight into sequences of control and set point operation has rectified countless functionality and energy efficiency issues.
Mr. House possesses a deep knowledge of HVAC equipment function as well. He has gained a vast amount of experience in working with such HVAC equipment as packaged air handing units, boilers, chillers, hydronic pumps, and energy recovery units. During the course of his work he has experienced a multitude of equipment failures such as faulty damper actuators, corroded hydronic pump impellers, pipe corrosion, and control malfunctions. This experience has given him an ability to identify the sources of performance issues and to formulate a solution to them in a very efficient manner.
As a Licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Idaho since 1972, Mr. House has gained the esteem of his colleagues. Through his deep involvement in the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers, he has been continually exposed to new ideas and new technologies. This has allowed him to remain on the cutting edge of a dynamic industry.
Brent Hiller, LEED AP - Lead TAB Technician
Years of Experience
Education
- USGBC LEED Accredited Professional
- Licensed HVAC Journeyman
- Licensed ELE Specialty Journeyman Electrician
Areas of Expertise
- HVAC systems
- Hydronic heating/cooling systems
- DDC control system installation/programming
- Functional performance testing
Affiliations
- Building Commissioning Association
- United States Green Building Council
Mr. Hiller began his career in the HVAC industry as a licensed HVAC Journeyman. During his six years as an installer, he gained a great amount of expertise in the areas of duct construction, equipment installation, curbing installation, seismic isolation, duct sealing, and codes and standards. Mr. Hiller carried this experience with him to his next career working for an HVAC controls contractor. During his six years as a controls technician, he participated in many controls installation projects, accomplishing such installation tasks as low voltage wiring, damper actuator s, valve actuators, and controllers. Not only did he install the controls but he also spent much of his time programming and commissioning the systems. This enabled him to gain exposure to controls issues such as hardware failures, equipment failures, nonstandard equipment control points, and insufficient or impossible sequences of operation. He also dealt a great amount with various variable volume air handler, hydronic heating and cooling, and building pressure control schemes.
During his time at Evolve Building Energy, Mr. Hiller has been able to take his embedded knowledge of HVAC equipment and systems and build upon it. He has become proficient in functional testing on both the equipment and system levels. He has implemented functional performance testing of such systems as variable volume air systems, variable flow hydronic heating and cooling systems, building pressure control systems, energy recovery ventilation systems, and condenser water systems. He has also worked extensively with component testing of packaged air handing units, hydronic pumps, chillers, boilers, cooling towers, computer room air conditioning units, and heating induction units.
Steven Hammons - TAB Technician
Years of Experience
Certifications
- Licensed HVAC Journeyman
- Nate certified
Areas of Expertise
- HVAC systems
- Hydronic heating/cooling systems
- DDC control system installation/programming
- Functional performance testing
Mr. Hammons began his career in the HVAC industry as a Licensed HVAC Journeyman. During his twelve years as an installer, he gained a great amount of expertise in the areas of duct construction, equipment installation, curbing installation, seismic isolation, duct sealing, codes and standards. Mr. Hammons also has five years of experience as a service Technician where he gained knowledge of residential, commercial and Hydronic systems. Not only did he install the system but he also spent much of his time commissioning, troubleshooting and repairing these systems. This enabled him to gain exposure to system issues such as hardware failures and equipment failures system.
During his time at Evolve Building Energy, Mr. Hammons has been able to take his embedded knowledge of HVAC equipment, systems and build upon it. He has become proficient in functional testing on both the equipment and system levels. He has implemented functional performance testing of such systems as variable volume air systems, variable flow hydronic heating and cooling systems, building pressure controls systems, energy recovery ventilation systems and condensation water systems. He has also worked extensively with component testing and packaged air handling units, hydronic pumps, chillers, boilers, cooling towers, computer room air conditioning units, and heating induction units.