Qualifications

Mr. Welch has a Masters Degree in Engineering from North Carolina State University. He received his Bachelors of Science degree in Natural Resource Management from Humboldt State University in California. He spent two years doing industrial wastewater remediation work, which allows him to understand many of the environmental issues that manufacturers face.

Process heating has been a major focus of Mr. Welch for a number of years. He held positions as Managing Director and Lead Engineer in Advanced Energy's Industrial Electrotechnology Lab(IEL) during the 1990's. During that time, he co-authored a book titled "Industrial Applications of Infrared Heating" and was a frequent trainer on the subjects of product drying, curing, and heat treating. He spent a great deal of time monitoring and optimizing ovens and furnaces.

Mr. Welch also has a great deal of experience with the other energy using systems of commercial buildings and industrial plants. He is well versed in lighting, HVAC, compressed air, boilers, motors and drives, pumps and fans, building envelope/building modeling, building controls, etc...

Mr. Welch has conducted on-site work at more than 500 business facilities - from small grocery stores to paper plants the size of small towns. He has had tremendous success at finding innovative ways to save energy and in assembling and selling the business case to make needed change. His analyses often include non-energy benefits and he finds that these frequently outweigh the energy benefits. For example, increased productivity and reduced maintenance can often turn a long payback project into a short payback project. Just as importantly, these ancillary benefits may be important selling points within your organization. Including these items in the analyses can gain allies up and down the Corporate ladder and help spur action - and that's what this is all about.