November is almost over

Hmmm I haven't blogged in a while but watching my roommate write posts for her blog and reading other people's great posts have given me some blog-envy and moved me to write. After having tiptoed into the colder months with what I assume was unusually amazing weather for October in Chicago, winter is finally upon us. Fortunately, I've had the foresight to save the restaurants directly in and right around Wicker Park for the wintertime so I'll still be motivated to try new food establishments when it gets disgusting outside. Chicago just got a Michelin guide so hopefully I'll be able to explore some of the highlights soon! I've also been making regular visits to the Art Institute and am becoming quite good at navigating the CTA.

At work, I've routinely started going out in the field to do energy audits-- this consists of traveling all over (the south side, the north side, the western suburbs) and is giving me the opportunity to see parts of the city (and boiler rooms) that I otherwise would not have ventured into. Last month, I got to audit the Greater Chicago Food Depository which is an amazing 270,000 square foot facility built specifically as a warehouse to store food for distribution to pantries, soup kitchens and shelters all over Cook County. I got to see all of their kitchens and giant refrigerators and even got to 'inspect' the roof. It was a very impressive operation and while I'm not sure there's much we can do for the energy efficiency of the building (they thought a lot about that while designing the building), it was fun to get the deluxe tour. Our program normally works with residential buildings, so on a more day-to-day basis, I meet with building owners/property managers and review their heating equipment and units. These visits are followed up with reports detailing suggested retrofits with cost analysis, financing assistance and bid solicitation/construction oversight with contractors. The split between field work and office work is something that I'm really enjoying about my job at CNT Energy so far.