Principal
M. Dennis Knight joined ASHRAE in 1979 and has ben working in the building design, construction and operations industry since 1974. He provides engineering, design and construction related services within the building industry. Mr. Knight has served as a Director at Large on the ASHRAE Board of Directors and holds the membership grade of ASHRAE Fellow. Active at the local, state and national levels with various agencies and professional societies, he works to help develop sustainable, integrated building design guidelines and standards. Nationally, as a member of ASHRAE, Mr. Knight is a member and former chair of Standards Committee SPC 224 - "The Application of Building Information Modeling", is the former Chair of Technical Committee (TC) 7.1 “Integrated Building Design,” and served as chair of the ASHRAE Building Performance Analysis Specialty Conference for six years. He currently serves on the ASHRAE Finance Committee, Standards Committee, the International Standards Task Force, and the Epidemic Task Force.
Mr. Knight founded Whole Buildings Systems, LLC, in 2010 after having been a principla at a local architectural firm for 6 years and owning an MEP engineering firm and an HVAC Design/Build construction company for 27 years.. Whole Building Systems’ is a high performance buildings consultancy that focuses on commissioning, building performance simulation, energy management, BIM applications, operations and maintenance management and planning.
Mr. Knight holds an assortment of professional registrations and accreditations. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Wisconsin and holds dual registration in South Carolina as a Mechanical Engineer and a Fire Protection Engineer. He is a LEED Accredited Professional, a Construction Specification Institute (CSI) certified Constructional Specification Specialist, a American Commissioning Group (ACG) certified Commissioning Authority and Building Performance Institute (BPI) certified as both a Building Energy Analyst and a Building Envelope Professional.
This presentation focuses on how to setup and utilize an integrated time and action management system to improve personal communication and productivity. No matter where you are on the project delivery list of stakeholders, this presentation is designed to provide new ideas and tools to help you provide better leadership, improve personal communications, and to help you personally get things done without giving up your entire personal life.
This presentation focuses on the Integrated Building Design and Project Delivery processes including team building, project management, stakeholder responsibilities, early collaboration, better decision making, documentation methods and the use of technologies like BIM to improve the built environment. The presentation provides an overview of ASHRAE Applications Chapter 57 and how to apply its recommendations to help design, construct, operate and maintain better buildings.
This presentation focuses on building performance rating systems and their requirements for energy use reduction and whole building optimization. The program provides an overview of how to use computer assisted building performance analysis systems and ASHRAE 90.1 Appendix G to maximize the design team’s ability to achieve the greatest number of credits when seeking project certification under a building performed rating system.
This presentation focuses on the value and uses of BIM to Owners, Architects, Engineers, and the community. It provides a consistent definition of BIM and provides the Mechanical Engineer with the information needed to begin the process of adopting and using BIM as an integrated design tool to optimize mechanical systems design, improve collaboration, minimize coordination errors and deliver better work products and results. It also provides Mechanical Engineers with the information they need have included in a BIM before they receive it so that they may take advantage of its value without having to spend unproductive time cleaning up corrupt or incomplete files and filling in missing information.
ASHRAE has a new Building Energy Quotient (bEQ) Energy Labeling Program that officially launched its operational program in 2011, and launched its “as designed” rating in 2013. This presentation includes an overview of the ASHRAE bEQ program with an up to date discussion of its primary goals, objectives, and procedures.