BTU Engineer’s employees have an average 18 years of experience in MEP design, commissioning, retro-commissioning, energy modeling and energy feasibility services. Our employees have extensive experience with energy efficient design, fire life safety system testing and electrical/mechanical/plumbing systems testing.
BTU Engineers has a hands-on approach to the commissioning process, meaning our staff is experienced at trouble shooting building failures, working with and training building staff, optimizing operational policies, performing retro and re-commissioning services, monitoring and verifying performance, and providing comprehensive reporting.
BTU Engineers is committed to top level professional standards. Our associate principal and engineers given commissioning presentations and training around the country and serve as officers and active participants in leading organizations, such as the American Society of Heating and Refrigeration Engineers (ASHRAE) and Association of Energy Engineers (AEE).
Key Personnel
BTU Engineers has assembled a successful team of professional with years of experience in MEP design, Commissioning and Energy Efficiency industry.
Senthil Arunachalam, P.E., CCP, BECx, CEM, BEMP, LEED AP BD+C, EBOM – Principal
With more than 14 years of experience in MEP design review, training and Building Controls, Mr. Arunachalam is a Licensed Professional Mechanical Engineer in the State of California and a Licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Texas. Mr. Arunachalam has extensive knowledge of MEP design, high performance green buildings, energy conservation, energy modeling, and commissioning. He has been a valuable contributor to the development and maintenance of ASHRAE’s Building Energy Modeling Professional (BEMP) certification program. Mr. Arunachalam is currently a member of Building Commissioning Association (BCxA) Certification Committee and has given presentation at Association for Energy Engineers (AEE) world energy congress conference and International Facility Management Association (IFMA).
He has been involved in various MEP design projects, commissioning (Cx), retro-commissioning (RCx) and monitoring-based commissioning (MBCx) projects across U.S. He has experience with LEED-NC and LEED-EBOM projects throughout U.S. His responsibilities have included: MEP design review, conducting building walkthroughs, collecting and reviewing documents and utility bills, and identifying preliminary energy savings measures, as well as writing and performing functional performance testing for HVAC, lighting, electrical, plumbing and medical equipments. He also has experience in Measurement and Verification protocols, project pricing, and cost estimation.
Mr. Arunachalam is skilled in utilizing energy simulation tools such as eQUEST, Energy Plus, Trane Tracer and TREAT. He has used AutoCAD and MS-Visio for plotting electrical and mechanical drawings, as well as MATLAB for data analysis and curve fitting. Mr. Arunachalam holds a Master of Science in Energy Management and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
Geoff Laughlin, P.E. – Associate
With more than 30 years of experience as a Mechanical / Plumbing design engineer, Mr. Laughlin is a Licensed Professional Mechanical Engineer in the State of California. He is specialized in Mechanical design and integrated project delivery services. Mr. Laughlin also brings extensive experience as a project engineer focusing on scheduling and project cost management. Mr. Laughlin has been responsible for projects from the conceptual, detailed design, through equipment procurement, bidding, construction, start up and commissioning. His experience includes HVAC, central plant design, plumbing, fire protection and building automation controls.
Mr. Laughlin provided design assistance on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Fresno Utility Energy Service Contract (UESC) project which included energy improvement to a 550,000 square foot office building which processing tax returns and other related tax documents. His involvement included preliminary design, energy savings review, subcontractor design review, contractor pricing for four Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) including Lighting Upgrades, EMCS Expansion, Chiller and HVAC replacements.
For the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Monterey, Mr. Laughlin was involved in preliminary design, subcontractor design review for four ECMs including Lighting Upgrades, Summer Boiler Installation, EMCS Expansion, and Steam Upgrades and was responsible for the final design work.
Mr. Laughlin holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.