2017 Update
Erich Binder (ACT '74), President, Erich Binder Consulting Ltd.
"When I was with Nova Pipelines (now TransCanada), I was doing risk management. Our group was one of the first to do in-house loss prevention. Rather than pay tons of insurance and then take the payout when something went wrong, we decided to take that money from the premiums and put it into making the systems safe. It worked out really well. And I still do a lot of work with the local loss prevention group in Calgary. We call ourselves The Chelodians. We share our failures and learn from those, and our successes too. We are in our 21st or 22nd year of meeting.
I'm also very involved with the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). I'm in my second three-year term on the board of directors. There's a lot going on there, too. With the carbon tax coming in, everyone is worried about energy efficiency and what's going on with solar and wind power and other renewables. ASHRAE already has standards in place that far exceed what building codes require ...
And it's interesting. The new energy code just came out federally and Alberta is finally adopting its first energy code requirements in building codes. I have been in the industry over 40 years, and one of the first things I was involved with was developing energy standards in 1972 because of the oil embargo. Now, more than 42 years later, it's finally happening."
After graduating from SAIT's Air Conditioning Engineering Technology program in 1974, Erich Binder joined a Calgary-based engineering company. In 1981, he went into consulting before joining Nova Pipelines (now TransCanada Pipelines). In 2001, he launched Erich Binder Consulting Ltd. He is serving his second three-year term on the Board of Directors with the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers. Erich has taught and served on committees at SAIT, and is involved with the annual SAIT School of Construction Golf Tournament.