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Martha’s Vineyard’s integrated design/build company

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The Company We Keep

Dear Reader,
This blog is now an archive. John Abrams (Founder of South Mountain, author of this blog, and a book of the same name) retired on December 31, 2022. All posts published up until this date are preserved below.

For updates on John's next chapter, visit abramsangell.com.

For updates on South Mountain's second act, subscribe to our newsletter using the form below.

Marc Rosenbaum

Riding Toward A New Future

December 4, 2020 by John Abrams 1 Comment

More than 25 years ago, I was in a room somewhere organizing a conference for the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association. There were two new faces among the group – Marc Rosenbaum and Bruce Coldham – who were engaging and appeared to know their stuff. Not long after, The Wampanoag Tribe asked SMCo to design a new Headquarters, the first building they would raise as a tribe in 300 years. I was excited, but knew we had neither knowledge or capacity to take this on alone. I asked Marc (a mechanical and systems engineer from New Hampshire) and Bruce (an architect from Western MA) if they would collaborate. They agreed; we did that project together and several more after. Although we collaborated deeply on all aspects, at the heart of our shared work, Marc was Numbers, Bruce was Pictures, and I was Words. Together, a seamless composition.

Thus began a relationship that has endured. For several decades, Marc was our go-to consultant about all things energy and systems. He taught us so much about buildings that we wouldn’t have known otherwise. He still does!

Ten years ago, our relationship changed. Marc and wife Jill moved to the Vineyard. He became an SMCo employee, and later an owner. His contributions to the company, to our buildings, and to our institutional knowledge ever since have been entirely remarkable. He thinks in a way that is unlike anyone I’ve ever met. The thing about Marc is – he cares. About truth, excellence, people, life, and impeccable data-driven information. It matters to him to make a difference; he’s committed to improving conditions for people on our planet. He does – consistently, relentlessly, and generously.

At the end of this year, our relationship will change again. Marc recently announced to our leadership team that he will end his time as an employee-owner and transition back to being a trusted consultant. He has other endeavors he wants to combine with his SMCo work, so he wants to be more independent and flexible and . . . well, you know, unemployed. He’ll still work with our architects, engineers, solar team, and production staff on most of our projects. It really won’t be much different (since he’s not in the office these pandemic days anyway). We’ll still be asking “Hey Marc…” on a regular basis. He’ll still be finding the best intelligence, dreaming up new solutions, and teaching us all. We’ll still have the benefit of well-filtered know-how from his extraordinary nationwide network of experts. He’ll still be pointing out my typos and making bad puns.

He’ll still be here. We’re very lucky and very grateful. We all hope that his path forward is all-the-way fulfilling, as we’re sure it will be. After all, he’s never been one to waste opportunity.

Our mutual friend Jamie Wolf illustrates this point with an early NESEA conference story. He remembers this guy in the front row at every presentation. Invariably, his hand would shoot up to ask penetrating questions. “I first met the back of his head,” says Jamie. “Inquiry, scrutiny, mastery. That was his method. He embodied that – it’s the NESEA ethic, but we learned it, as much as from anyone, from Marc.”

About SMCo, Marc wrote after his announcement, “ . . . This community of people is extraordinary in so many ways. . . . . I’ve never been in a group where dedication to excellence, and doing the best one can, has been so prevalent. The richness comes from the diversity of what we define as excellence. That diversity leads to differences of opinion about what should be prioritized, but the commitments we bring are the foundation of goodwill that allows us to, together, create something profoundly better than any of us could do alone.”

The first time I visited Marc and Jill in New Hampshire, decades ago, I stayed in their finished basement. Hanging on a sheetrock wall in the hallway at the foot of the stairs, where you’d expect a painting to be, was a bicycle. I asked him about it. “Oh, that’s a bicycle I built for my senior thesis at MIT. At the time, it was the lightest bicycle in the world.”

Buildings are one of his passions. Bicycles are another. He’ll surely find time for both in this new chapter – The Rosenbaum Chronicles, part three.

Filed Under: Collaboration, Employee Ownership, Small Business, Uncategorized Tagged With: Bruce Coldham, Marc Rosenbaum, NESEA, Wampanoag Tribal Center

BE 12 Meets TED Talks

March 21, 2012 by John Abrams Leave a Comment

Two weeks ago several of my SMCo colleagues and I spent two days at Building Energy 12, the annual conference of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA).  My involvement in NESEA goes back 30 years.  For me this annual meeting is truly a tribal gathering.

This year’s conference was particularly thrilling. The highlight for me was experiencing the emerging youth contingent which has brought great new vitality into the organization the past few years. It makes me feel like we have greater capacity than ever before. I feel this at NESEA, and at South Mountain too. I like us. I like who we are now. While we are more empowered as individuals than ever before, we are people who know, with conviction, that all of us are smarter than any of us.

Read More about BE 12 Meets TED Talks

Filed Under: Climate Change, South Mountain Company Tagged With: BE 12, Marc Rosenbaum, Marjorie Kelly, NESEA, Paul Gilding, Peter Diamandis, Rob Meyers, TED talks, Terry Mollner, The Divine Right of Capital, The Great Disruption, The X-Prize

Is Zero Energy Possible?

July 27, 2011 by John Abrams 1 Comment

Indeed it is!

Last year we completed an eight house cluster of permanently protected affordable housing designed to be “Net Zero Possible”, meaning that if you live carefully in these homes you may be able to produce as much total energy, on an annual basis, as you use.

After careful monitoring of the energy use in the eight houses and extensive data collection, our systems engineer extraordinaire—Marc Rosenbaum—has analyzed the data in depth.  We also ran a net zero energy contest and two households managed, during the first year, to make more total energy than they used (and others came close).  Zero energy can be a reality!  We hear many claims about energy use, energy savings, and net zero energy, but it is rare to see measured comparative data.

Read More about Is Zero Energy Possible?

Filed Under: Energy, Martha's Vineyard, South Mountain Company Tagged With: Marc Rosenbaum, Zero-energy housing

Asparagus, Solar, & SMCo

July 12, 2011 by John Abrams 6 Comments

The thing that intrigues me most, right now, is my semi-pathetic asparagus bed.  I’ve been wanting to plant asparagus for years, but until this spring I didn’t manage to get around to it.  I love the idea of a vegetable that you plant once and harvest for decades.  Are there others?  Well. . . sort of.  Rhubarb, but is that a vegetable or a fruit or just something else entirely?  Horseradish, but who eats much of that?  There may be others, but asparagus is the main one.  When I finally got  around to it, most of the crowns made plants, but it’s still a work in progress.

A few weeks ago I was wondering – at the same time that I was watching my colleagues, Phil and Jon, cover the roof of our house with solar electric panels – why I’m so psyched about the asparagus bed.

Read More about Asparagus, Solar, & SMCo

Filed Under: Energy, Politics, South Mountain Company Tagged With: Marc Rosenbaum, Paul Gilding, South Mountain Energy, The Great Disruption, Thriving on Low Carbon

For Better Or Worse

June 21, 2010 by John Abrams Leave a Comment

Several weeks ago my old friend Marc Rosenbaum arrived on Martha’s Vineyard.  He often arrives on Martha’s Vineyard.  For 20 years this distinguished, nationally recognized building performance engineer has been arriving here to consult with us – to help us make better buildings. For 30 years he has been responsible for some of the most advanced buildings in New England.

When he arrived here last Tuesday, it was different than most times. 

Read More about For Better Or Worse

Filed Under: Climate Change, Design, Energy, Environment, Martha's Vineyard, South Mountain Company Tagged With: Alex Wilson, Energysmiths, Environmental Building News, Island Cohousing, Marc Rosenbaum, Martha's Vineyard, South Mountain Company

Rosenbaum on Deep Energy

August 5, 2009 by John Abrams Leave a Comment

This is a post about a local event, so it may not mean much to those of you far away.

When it comes to houses, there’s plenty of talk these days about Zero Energy, Passive Houses, and even strange new terms like Deep Energy Retrofit.

It’s not just talk.  For old friend Marc Rosenbaum, of Energysmiths, it’s practice.  And it’s passion, too.  Marc has been working closely with us for the past 20 years.

Rosenbaum CCC Poster

Marc’s projects include three of the American Institute of Architects Top Ten Green Projects.. An experienced and enthusiastic teacher and speaker, he has trained thousands of professionals., including several trainings of Vineyard architects and builders.

Come to the Chilmark Community Center and hear where we’re headed with housing and how we might get there.  It’s free.

Filed Under: Energy, Martha's Vineyard, South Mountain Company Tagged With: Chilmark, Deep Energy Retrofits, Energysmiths, John Abrams, Marc Rosenbaum, Martha's Vineyard, South Mountain Company, Zero Energy Homes

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