The Wrench of the Year award honors onsite facilities personnel who best exemplify the spirit of hard work, responsibility and determination that resulted in the successful implementation of an energy-efficiency project. The  Association of Energy Engineers – Columbia River Chapter, hosts the annual award to recognize on-site facility personnel whose hard work and attention are key to the successful implementation and persistence of energy-efficiency projects.

Congratulations to Kevin Harding, the 2024 Wrench of the Year award winner. HP recently completed their first year in Energy Trust’s Strategic Energy Management offering and through Harding’s leadership as Energy Champion, he led the completion of 60 O&M projects! Some of the key projects include optimizing heat recovery chillers, improving make up air handler humidification efficiency, reducing airflow velocity in fab support areas, and a substantial compressed air leak program.

The most impressive aspect of Harding’s leadership is related to not only the scale and scope of the projects completed. At a facility with over 3,000 employees, Harding coordinated projects with diverse teams across the entire campus of 10 buildings.

Kevin embraced his role as Energy Champion and extended his impact beyond energy efficiency project execution. Kevin led a sustainability-related employee engagement effort every month of the year, creating broad organizational awareness of the program and gaining support for the work his team was championing.

Through HP’s participation in SEM, they expect to save nearly 3.8 million kWh in energy savings annually. To learn more about Strategic Energy Management and how to reduce energy use and costs across your organization, visit www.energytrust.org/industrialSEM.