How Emma Van Fossen Helps Make Buildings Greener

At Trane Technologies, our purpose is to boldly challenge what’s possible for a sustainable world. We believe every job can be sustainability job, and every role is an opportunity for impact. 

Emma Van Fossen connects to our purpose through her work as an energy engineering team lead in our Energy Services business. 

When we think about reducing emissions, we often think of driving less or switching to an electric vehicle. But buildings create emissions, too. In fact, 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings. 

Emma’s team identifies technologies and designs solutions to reduce the emissions of buildings like restaurants, stores, hospitals and schools. Emma works with customers to decarbonize—or remove carbon from—buildings, often through electrification—switching from fossil fuels to electricity as an energy source. 

She and her team implement technology like thermal storage systems—when we use ice tanks to store energy like batteries—and strategies like demand management—shifting a building’s heating and cooling needs to off-peak hours. Energy services also helps customers identify renewable energy sources to power their buildings.

Emma uses her skills as an engineer to develop decarbonization plans that help customers increase efficiency, lower costs and reduce emissions. And she loves getting to do this work with a team that really believes in the impact they’re making.