Gordon P. Sharp

Gordon Sharp is the President of the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I²SL), a non-profit organization dedicated to decarbonizing and making laboratories more sustainable across the world. Gordon is also the inventor of many important, widely applied technologies that have had a significant impact on lab sustainability and energy efficiency such as sash sensing VAV fume hood and laboratory airflow controls, the electronic venturi airflow valve, and demand based control of lab ventilation. He is also the founder of two major companies in the lab sustainability field: Phoenix Controls, a well-respected laboratory airflow controls company, and Aircuity, a leader in healthy and energy-efficient ventilation for laboratory and commercial buildings. The many technologies invented by Gordon at Phoenix Controls and Aircuity are today saving well over $2.5 billion annually in energy use and cutting over 7.5 million metric tons annually in carbon emissions from thousands of commercial and laboratory facilities around the world.

Gordon has over 35 years of experience and over 35 patents covering energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, laboratory controls, and even airflow-based kinetic artwork. Along with his efforts to decarbonize lab buildings, Gordon also founded and is the President of Airflow Kinetics, which creates large, airflow-based kinetic sculptures that are mesmerizing, educational, and designed to increase the public’s understanding and appreciation of airflow and building ventilation.

Gordon is an MIT graduate with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering. He has been an ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer, and has served as a voting member of the ASHRAE Standard 170 on Healthcare Ventilation, the ANSI Standard Z9.5 on Laboratory Ventilation, the ASHRAE TC9.10 committee on Laboratories and the TC9.11 committee on Clean Spaces. He has also testified before the U.S. Congress on the topics of climate change and energy efficiency.