Ian Metzger
Director, Utility Program Development and Innovation

Ian Metzger is TRC’s Director of Utility Program Development and Innovation. He works directly with TRC’s utility clients to successfully design, implement, and verify energy efficiency savings for utility demand side management (DSM) programs across the country. He provides technical expertise for the deployment of electrification, decarbonization, and distributed energy resources through utility DSM program services, including engineering support, stakeholder engagement, data analytics, measurement and verification. Through his work and publications, he contributes to national and regional emerging technology research efforts related to energy efficiency, greenhouse gas reduction, and renewable energy systems.

Ian’s career began in 2008 at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) where, over six years, he advanced to become a senior engineer focusing on energy efficiency and renewable energy deployment. In this role he traveled the world leading energy audits for high profile buildings and trained over five-hundred energy managers. In 2014, he joined TRC Companies where he directs the deployment of carbon reducing technologies to the market at a large scale through utility DSM programs. His primary areas of expertise include advanced energy program design, energy efficient buildings, electrification, greenhouse gas reduction, emerging technology research and evaluation, and renewable energy systems. He has decades of experience with energy assessments, data analysis, energy modeling, measurement and verification, software development, and technical services. His professional achievements comprise 30 publications, 15 software copyrights, one patent, and national awards.

Recent achievements:

• Directs hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives for carbon reducing technologies
• Develops optimization tools for energy efficiency and electric vehicle program design, automated application processing, and U.S. Energy Information Administration visualizations
• Leads research and emerging technology pilots

Ian leads a national team of program design experts that are responsible for developing advanced energy solutions for utilities and government agencies. His team’s work includes:

• Developing program budgets and goals
• Targeting market sectors and subsectors
• Forecasting participation and savings
• Analyzing cost-effectiveness
• Designing measure lists and incentive structures
• Recommending delivery approaches
• Consulting and reporting for regulatory filings and testimony
• Providing continuous improvement through measure development and evaluator collaboration
• Developing measurement & verification (M&V) tools
• Designing innovative pilots
• Launching utility DSM program start-up activities

Ian is driven to learn from everyone around him and is a passionate advocate for continuing education. Benefiting from great mentors himself, he finds fulfillment in encouraging teammates with professional growth ambitions within the advanced energy sector.

Ian earned his M.S. in building systems engineering with a specialty in sustainable building design and operation from the University of Colorado, and he earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering and a B.A. in liberal arts from the University of San Diego. ​

Ian is a Professional Engineer (PE), Certified Measurement and Verification Professional (CMVP), Certified Energy Manager (CEM), and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional (LEED AP). He has won numerous industry awards for his collaborative work in the energy field, including:

• AESP Energy Awards: Emerging Tools & Technologies, 2019
• New Face of Engineering: ASHRAE, 2013
• Outstanding Performance Award, National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL), 2012