Elaine Gallagher Adams: Senior Consultant

Contact Information

Rocky Mountain Institute
Attn: Built Environment Team
1820 Folsom Street
Boulder, Colorado 80302

e-mail: BET@rmi.org
phone: 303-245-1003

Elaine Gallagher Adams is a Senior Consultant on RMI’s Built Environment Team with a wide range of experience in architectural design, historic preservation, energy conservation, and green operations, with expertise in passive solar design and rehabilitating existing buildings. She has a particular interest in achieving bold energy and resource efficiency through sustainable urban planning and effective building codes - learning from precedence and integrating RMI’s whole-systems design approach to campuses, communities, cities, and regions.

Background

Elaine Gallagher Adams is a licensed architect, and LEED Accredited Professional, with a strong background in existing building rehabilitation and conservation. She has designed renovations for a wide range of building types, from residential to entire commercial city blocks, and served as a sustainability consultant for new government and corporate buildings, assessed building portfolios, and championed sustainability at a Federal level.  With knowledge of passive solar design and precedence in sustainability, she is a national speaker promoting building reuse and low-tech energy efficiency. She firmly believes that existing buildings, even historic buildings, can be every bit as energy efficient as a new green building.

Elaine’s interest in sustainable design developed while practicing historic preservation in New England – observing ingenious climate adaptations in early colonial architecture. Applying lessons learned from pre-petroleum eras, she has incorporated sustainable features into buildings for over 17 years. Working with the US General Services Administration, she facilitated sustainable design in US border stations, courthouses, and federal office buildings. As a practicing architect, Elaine has designed energy-efficient new buildings and renovations. She authored a Sustainable Facilities Management Plan for the City of Steamboat Springs, Sustainable Historic Preservation pages of the Whole Building Design Guide, and has contributed to environmental blogs. Her work at RMI ranges from large-scale mixed-use residential development to campus sustainability, green factories, and the occasional sustainable historic building renovation when opportunities arise.

Education

Master of Architecture, University of Kansas, 1995
Bachelor of Architecture, University of Kansas, 1994
Study Abroad - Siena, Italy, 1993
Bachelor of Arts – Historic Preservation, Savannah College of Art and Design, 1987
Preservation Institute: Nantucket, 1986

Qualifications/Recognition

Licensed Architect, Colorado
LEED 2.0 Accredited Professional
Adjunct Faculty, University of Colorado School of Architecture & Planning
2004 AIA Colorado Young Architect of the Year

Professional Affiliations

American Institute of Architects (AIA)
Association for Preservation Technology (APT)
USGBC Colorado Chapter