Could a new leader save the Energy Efficient Buildings Hub?

Last month, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee proposed defunding the Energy Efficient Buildings (EEB) Hub, the five-year, $129 million research initiative dedicated to developing ways to make buildings more energy efficient, citing “poor management and failure to meet technical milestones.”

Those involved with the project hope a new leader, among other things, can save the EEB Hub, Axis Philly reported in a story that attempts to explain the Senate’s dissatisfaction with the initiative. The EEB Hub’s current director, Paul Hallacher, is based at Penn State, the organization that runs the effort. The new director would be on-site at the Navy Yard, where a burgeoning green tech scene revolves around the EEB Hub’s work.

John Grady, chairman of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, is on the search committee for a new EEB Hub leader and believes it will bring the right change to initiative.

“[The Department of Energy] has been clear that they want to see changes in the way things are run, and Penn State and DOE both agree there needs to be more management of the work here on site,” Grady said to Axis Philly. “I can tell you that we are reviewing candidates now who are quality people, people who will want to really be in charge, and will need to be.”

Who could that leader be? Credit is often paid to Laurie Actman, the deputy director and chief Philly-based leader who joined in 2011.

Read the whole Axis Philly story here.