2021 In Review

Happy New Year from the Cyclone Energy Group Team. As we enter 2022, we wish you all great success in the new year. As we leave 2021 behind our hope is that we can collectively begin to feel a sense of optimism moving into the new year. To this end, we would like to reflect on some of our wins from last year, and share highlights and achievements for the Cyclone team and our clients. 

Despite the continued challenges of the past year, we had a successful 2021 and continued to expand our team and service offerings. The Cyclone Chicago office received our WELL Health and Safety rating and we also became one of the first companies in the world to become a verified WELL Performance Testing Organization. We also launched two new services this past year. We added a commercial drone, cyFLY, to our team. cyFLY allows our Envelope Commissioning team to survey large buildings quickly with a high-resolution infrared camera. We expanded and branded our indoor air quality monitoring and consulting service, airPLAN. airPLAN was launched in Q2 after it was tailored to the demands of our clients in response to efficiently and effectively operating their buildings during a pandemic. Glenstar was one of the first portfolios to sign on, launching airPLAN service in all of their Chicagoland properties.   

2022 marks the tenth anniversary of Cyclone Energy Group. In recognition of this milestone, we decided now was a good time for an updated logo and brand refresh. We spent months working with a very talented design firm and are so excited with the outcome, which is a perfect reflection of who we are as a company.  Full press release here.

More notable achievements for 2021:

Awards

• Cyclone project, McDonald’s Global Flagship-Buena Vista received the 2021 Illinois ASHRAE Excellence in Engineering award

Cyclone Team Personal and Professional Achievements

• We welcomed three new team members: Ian O’Connor, Senior Energy Engineer; Marlon Stepp, High Performance Studio Project Manager; Jason Sippel, High Performance Studio Leader
• Emmy Riley was promoted to Account Manager for energyPLAN and airPLAN services
• Greg Swiss was promoted to Senior Energy Engineer, was awarded Consulting-Specifying Engineer 40 under 40 and was named AAE Regional Energy Engineer of the year
• Sumayyah Theron passed her Fundamentals of Engineering exam, became a WELL AP and was promoted to Director of Sustainability  
• Megan Starner was promoted to Director of Operations
• Vinit Gala achieved his LEED BD+C accreditation 
• Dave Lippe was promoted to Client Relationship Leader, was appointed ASHRAE Illinois President and was elected to sit on the CREN Board of Directors
• Jed Starner earned his FAA UAS Drone Pilot license, earned his CxA, earned Level 1 Thermography Certification and achieved WELL Performance Testing Agent status
• Jason Sippel earned Level 1 Thermography certification and achieved Passive House Testing Agent status

2021 Innovation Rodeo 

• Our 6th Annual Innovation Rodeo was a virtual event again this year, held over two Thursdays in September. We had over 250 registered attendees
• This year our discussions covered Performance-Based Healthy Buildings, an update on where we are one year later regarding COVID-19, and an update on Decarbonization efforts in Chicago and the midwest. These videos can be found on our YouTube channel

Virtual Knowledge Sharing Events 

• We continued our Virtual Learning Series, you can find our webinars on our YouTube channel
• Team members were panelists or moderators for Illinois ASHRAE webinars
• Team members were panelists in Illinois Green Alliance webinars
• Ben Skelton was a moderator and a panelist in two Bisnow webinars
• Ben Skelton was the keynote speaker for the CIBSE Technical Symposium
• Cyclone Energy Group and Glenstar co-moderated a BOMA webinar
• Ben Skelton presented with RWDI at the ASHRAE Annual Meeting

Project Certifications 

• Endurance York LEED v4 certified 
• Cyclone Chicago office WELL Health and Safety Rated
• Boler Group, LEED v4 Certified
• The Link, LEED v3 Silver

Utility Incentives 

• Cyclone assisted clients in earning more than $930,338 in ComEd energy efficiency incentives

Retro-Commissioning Project Outstanding Achievements

     Our team completed 12 retro-commissioning and 1 monitoring-based commissioning projects 

• Continental Towers 1 – 120% of estimated savings target 
• Continental Towers 2 – 178% of estimated savings target 
• Continental Towers 3 – 118% of estimated savings target
• 10 Riverside – 144% of estimated savings target
• 120 S Riverside – 203% of estimated savings target
• 340 On The Park – 207% of estimated savings target
• Ace Hotel – 173% of estimated savings target
• 69 W Washington – 185% of estimated savings target 

Energy Modeling 

• Our energy modeling team has completed 110 modeling projects, some of which have earned Green Globes, ENERGY STAR and LEED Certification

Special Projects 

• Bittersweet Condominiums – Heating Boiler Replacement 
• Randolph Place Condominiums – Domestic Water Heater replacement
• 680 N Lakeshore Drive – Chiller Replacement

Cyclone Day of Service

• This year we were able to gather in-person for our annual Cyclone Day of Service. In early December our team got together and filled holiday hygiene bags for The Night Ministry to distribute to Chicago’s homeless population. We provided 100 bags to support this ongoing effort.