Darryl Duffe's Background-

My bachelor's degree is in geology, Emory University 1973 (with some graduate studies in archeology) but after a few years in soil engineering and field archeology, in 1977 I became interested in passive solar building design, so after taking some courses in energy auditing, passive solar design and drafting, I started working for passive solar architecture firm, INNOVATIVE DESIGN, still run by Mike Nicklas and Gary Bailey to do a federal contract conducting energy audits on the schools of Western North Carolina. Mike Nicklas has been a former chairman of the North Carolina Solar Energy Association, was twice chairman of the American Solar Energy Society and is a former president of the International Solar Energy Society. Innovative Design was inducted into the Environmental Hall of Fame. After that school energy audit contract was complete, I then worked for Bill Langdon, (who wrote MOVEABLE INSULATION a Rodale Book on insulating shades and shutters. Here are projects I worked on at William K. Langdon, P.A. (click). Bill Langdon's  junior architect, who I worked with there on a daily basis is Jim Samsel who is now a sought after architect; Here's Jim's website Samsel Architecture.   At that time there was a way to become a registered architect in NC without an architecture degree. You had to work as an apprentice to an architect for 7 years then you could study for and take the architecture board exam. I had been working for 3.5 years as an apprentice toward that goal when they changed the state law.....and my path toward becoming an architect was shut down. So along with W. Laurence Doxsey and Jim Samsel, I started an alternate energy business- Progressive Energy Works, Inc. which had 3 greenhouse dealerships, a Marvin window dealership, a Hurd window dealership, a Window Quilt dealership, a Kalwall/Solar components dealership, a Hot Tub dealership, a Southern Wholesale Glass  dealership, and we sold about 4 brands of solar collectors installing 66 solar hot water systems in 1986 the last year before the federal solar tax credits expired.... and afterward we only installed 5 solar systems in the 2 years after the tax credits expired. I became a licensed contractor and builder in NC from 1986 to 1992. I became a licensed building contractor in Florida from Aug 1994 to Aug 2000. Since then I've been a construction manager and residential designer with some light commercial design on occasion. My emphasis has always been on state-of-the-art energy efficiency and appropriate design for the context of the building. The terms "green" and "sustainable" have begun to dominate the terminology of the years since we started in the 70's with the emphasis mainly on energy efficiency. Of note, is that Laurence, my partner and the first president of Progressive Energy Works, Inc., went on in the early 1990's to establish the first green building program in the USA. He was hired by the City of Austin, TX after working for Dr. Pliny Fisk at the Center for Maximum Building Potential to establish a green building guide and educational program for builders in order to produce a building rating system similar to the prior energy rating systems which only considered energy efficiency. The Green Building Guide, the first of its kind, was published in September 1992 and was presented at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janero for which it recieved prestigious awards and rave reviews. Laurence's phone rang off the hook after that introduction at the Earth Summit. The "Green Building Guide" which has since become the "Sustainable Building Sourcebook" trained builders to think of the resource impacts they made on WATER, ENERGY, BUILDING MATERIALS, SOLID WASTE and awarded points in each arena to encourage sustainable use of resources and helped builders to market sustainability features to buyers.

The following year, 1993, the U.S. Green Building Council was formed and Laurence was the guest speaker at their first meeting, called in to speak about the green building program he established at Austin Energy, the municipally owned utility. The folks who were forming the USGBC then began researching how to establish a viable system to rate the sustainability or "green-ness" of buildings. In 1998 with funding from DOE they started the LEED pilot program and by April of 2000 they had certified the first 12 Buildings under the pilot program (LEED 1.0) In June 2000 they launched 2.0 LEED NC (for New Construction).

Currently, I've passed the test for Florida Certified General Contractor's License in August 2008. I am waiting for the building market to improve before I follow through with the remaining steps to get insurance and a Contractors' license. 

In addition, I've taken the course work to take the test to become a LEED Accredited Professional but at this point I don't see the need to get into large commercial / institutional  buildings where most of the LEED activity is. It involves tedium so I have lost interest in that route. I'll just apply the sustainability principles as I have done all along, and skip the certification process. The building projects will speak for themselves, but if desired by a client, I can hire one of 422 certifying agents for residential projects to certify green buildings under the Florida Green Building Coalition's rating sytem which is a lot less expensive than going through the LEED process..

Our Business

We can work with you as an advisor, a designer, a graphic artist, an energy auditor, a construction manager, and a builder.

Who We Are

I'm a sole proprietor who has a team of associated colleagues that I can enlist when it's required for the scope of your project.