Speaker Biographies

Jack Anderson, founder and president of Anderson Greenplan Limited, is a professional consultant who practices in both planning and architecture. Jack's undergraduate education in architecture and urban design was followed with graduate work in the ecological community design where he developed his passion to encourage an ecologically sensitive approach to building and land development. He served in the first Planning Department for the City of Nanaimo in the late 1970's followed shortly thereafter as a Park Planner in the Parks and Recreation Department. He later worked within the Regional District of Nanaimo's Planning Department from 1996 to 2001. He then returned to consulting practice and established Anderson Greenplan Ltd.. His business provides both planning and design services for various private sector interests, societies, first nation communities and individual families with a particular passion for encouraging permaculture practice, sustainable development and green building design.

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Ken was trained as a residential "Power Smart" contractor in 1990, and currently manages Pheasant Hill Homes Ltd., a respected leader and innovator in the residential construction sector in the Nanaimo area. He has earned the designation of "Registered Housing Professional" from the Canadian Home Builders Association, and is currently working towards certification as a Master Builder. Ken has been a student of building science for many years, and brings a practical, balanced approach to sustainable building. He is committed to meeting the challenges that environmental issues pose, while building quality, liveable homes.

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Jim Smith holds a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of British Columbia. He is a professional engineer and also a certified solar hot water system installer. His passion for alternative energy solutions led him to become a director at Wizards 4 Environmental Technologies, a company that offers a wide range of services and products including water treatment system solutions, wind generation, solar photovoltaic system, solar hot water installation and heat pump technology.

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John McQuaid is founder and Director of Wizards 4 Environmental Technologies Inc., which has operated in Nanaimo for the past 4 years and focuses on solutions for a healthier, sustainable future. He is also the Asset and Sustainability Manager for Hollyhock, the largest educational retreat in Canada. As a chemist, John started his career off in the Pharmaceutical Industry in Toronto for 3 years before joining a global company out of Chicago, where he focused on technical support for the Pulp, Paper and Independent Power Industry throughout North America for 29 years. John has lived in BC for the past 35 years and moved to Nanaimo in 1985.

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Bob is an advisor and consultant to government and the development community on the feasibility of using rainwater as a water conservation and storm water management tool. This builds on his 30 years of experience as a community planning and housing consultant working with urban, rural, and marine environments in the Lower Mainland, and Vancouver Island. Specializing in affordable housing and public process, his firm, Domain Consulting Ltd. has a reputation for skilled research/interviewing, meeting facilitation and creative problem solving.

Along with work for private clients, Bob consults to the development community, and actively encourages the use of rainwater through public presentations, workshops, and demonstration projects.

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William Marsh is an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia. He comes to BC from the University of Michigan where he enjoyed a diverse career as a landscape planner, teacher, author, consultant, and chairman of the Department of Earth and Resource Science. He has authored numerous papers and several textbooks, including Landscape Planning: Environmental Applications (published by John Wiley), which has been in print over 25 years. At UBC Marsh teaches courses in landscape analysis in the Landscape Architecture Program.

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Peter is a retired mechanical building services consultant and has extensive knowledge on mechanical and electrical building services design, energy efficient building and indoor air quality evaluation. He taught building services engineering courses at Ryerson University in Toronto from 1968 to 1988 and was the course director for an R2000 housing design course. Through his energy consulting practice, he provided computerised energy evaluations and presented design and installation workshops for ventilation contractors, system designers and municipal inspectors. He also collaborated with architects in the design and commissioning of several passive solar and low energy houses in Ontario.

Most recently, he has been employed by Vancouver Island University as a sessional instructor in the Green Building and Renewable Energy Technology program, lecturing on topics ranging from automatic controls of HVAC systems, energy and environmental audit procedures to passive solar heating.

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David has been pioneering new areas of practice for more than 33 years. He is one of the principals at HB Lanarc. David practices as both a land use planner and a landscape architect, and is also heavily involved in green infrastructure planning and design. Many projects have focused on water - ranging from watershed planning to water conservation strategies, and waterfront improvements to watercourse restoration. David's passion is to 'make sustainable development standard practice'. His clients are proceeding rapidly towards that goal.

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Ed, through his company, Aquarian Systems Inc, has been involved in on-site water management for over 15 years. Working closely with both non-profit community groups and provincial government ministries, Aquarian Systems has been involved with research and development in innovative onsite wastewater treatment systems, including Constructed Wetlands for sewage treatment and Planter Box systems for greywater treatment. Ed and his associates are now using the planter box method for onsite wastewater treatment including toilet wastes. As well, Aquarian Systems, is actively involved in designing and installing rainwater collection systems both for in house potable use and landscape irrigation.

Aquarian Systems offers full design consultation for property development, integrating building design with landscaping, rainwater collection and use, wastewater treatment, and stormwater management.

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City Green Solutions is an enterprising non-profit with a mission to excite, inspire and lead British Columbians in finding innovative home and building energy efficiency solutions. We are the only non-profit provider of the LiveSmart BC and ecoENERGY programs in BC. We offer home energy assessments and access to grants for existing home retrofits; EnerGuide Rating Service for New Homes; ENERGY STAR® for New Homes; Thermal Imaging; Sustainability Assessments for Business; Green Building Rating Consultations; Customized Energy Efficiency Outreach Programs; Research and Evaluation Services; and Energy Efficiency Education and Training.

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