Hanley Sustainability Institute

By Shannon Dennemann

If you stopped by the Hanley Sustainability Institute (HSI) on Feb. 21 or 22, you would have seen the office bustling with students discussing the ins and outs of energy. From beginners learning the basics to graduate students learning how to conduct professional tests, the Energy Assessment Bootcamp offers something for everyone.

Even with all of the varying levels of experience, they all shared the common interest in learning how to improve energy efficiency of houses. 

In early 2025, the HSI Residential Energy Team hosted 34 students for the Residential Energy Assessment Bootcamp. This is the second year for the bootcamp, and, based on last year's experience, the event was shortened from three to two days to adjust to the busy schedule of college students.

A new addition this year were fun shirts, made in collaboration with Flyer Enterprises. While these shirts were a nice perk, they also have the message “Sustainable Energy Starts at Home,” reminding students of their role in campus sustainability.

The bootcamp was divided into two days. On the first day, we introduced many topics, such as how the electric grid works, UD’s energy dashboards, how to read energy bills and the basics of a walk-through house assessment.

Additionally, we had the honor of bringing three energy field professionals to participate in a panel. Katie Schoenenberger (Director of GIS Management and Environmental Sustainability Project Development at the University of Dayton), Micah Bidwell (ITAC Assessment Manager at Sinclair Community College) and Matthew Worsham (Sustainability Specialist at the City of Dayton) made up the panel, and discussed what their career track has looked like, the state of energy regulations and what young people can do to make a difference in the environmental sector.

This panel was the highlight for many attendees. The opportunity to hear from professionals enables me to contextualize what I learn about and a chance to ask questions students may not have other outlets to ask. There are certain types of questions not easily searchable, and it is our goal to empower students to explore what they are unsure of. One such was an attendee, who asked to know the panelists’ opinions on nuclear energy. While we can read about nuclear energy and learn about it in lectures, hearing how people’s experiences have shaped their opinions can give us more insight to form our own opinions, which will then influence our work after college.

On the second day of the bootcamp, we discussed the different components of a house audit, before going to a university-owned guest house. Once inside, the group conducted a visual inspection and performed various tests, including a blower door test. The blower door test lowered the pressure inside the house, allowing participants to feel incoming air where there were leaks in the house’s insulation. In the remaining portion of the day, students were able to conduct calculations to analyze the results of the tests, ultimately determining that the audited house was “leaky”.

This weekend would not have been possible without Amelia Dougherty, who spearheaded the improvements of the weekend, the Energy Team (Andrew Bartsch, Shannon Dennemann, Grace Haas, Maya Pelshaw and Colleen Stumbruis), Sarah Richard, Cassie Austin, Dr. Andrew Chiasson, Dr. Robert Gilbert and our gracious panelists.