2024 Ones to Watch - Innovators in CRE: Tristan Schwartzman, Goldman Copeland

Tristan Schwartzman has been a principal of the firm since 2019 and director of the Energy Services Department since 2016. As director of the department, he has grown it from four employees to a team of 18 and is responsible for all energy-related initiatives of the firm, focusing on innovative but practical solutions that have delivered consistent savings to his clients throughout the tri-state area. Under Tristan’s leadership of the department, Goldman Copeland has been recognized with the ACEC New York Platinum Award in the Environmental Category and the ACEC New York Platinum Award in the Energy Category. The firm has also won the New Jersey Alliance for Action’s Distinguished Engineering Award, and Tristan has been named ACEC New York’s New Principal of the Year.

 Innovative Outlook: 

My colleagues at Goldman Copeland and I have always been strong believers in the axiom that the best way to save energy and money in a building is to run it properly. I have focused my team on returning to the fundamentals of engineering, focusing on recalibration of buildings and targeting system distribution measures to enhance building performance. Our work has thereby resulted in dramatic savings for our clients, generated funding through a wide range of city and state sustainability programs, and produced a number of award-winning outcomes. While electrification and new technologies are a piece of the puzzle of decarbonization, maintenance and operations remain the cornerstone of long-term replicable success.

Innovative Solution: 

New York City has become a global leader in its aggressive carbon-reduction goals for large buildings through legislation like Local Law 97 and other initiatives. My colleagues at Goldman Copeland and I have played a major role in helping the real estate industry comply with those initiatives. Energy optimization has become a key component of all of our work, from tenant fit-outs to infrastructure upgrades to new construction. While we have retained our focus on developing practical solutions for our clients, we have adapted to incorporate new solutions for energy recovery, thermal storage, and enhanced building controls throughout these projects to deliver a result that holistically addresses buildings’ needs at the nexus of occupant comfort, energy performance, and overall implementation and operational costs.

“Tristan Schwartzman provides global leadership by designing, implementing, and championing energy-efficiency innovations in buildings in Greater New York City. Under his direction, Goldman Copeland’s Energy Services Department has completed energy audits and retro-commissioning projects for over 70 million square feet of commercial and institutional properties and led those buildings through design and implementation of resulting capital improvement projects. In recognition, the Association of Energy Engineers named Tristan its 2024 International Energy Engineer of the Year.” - Henry Miller, High Impact Partnering.