ENGINEERING - WITH A PASSION

Newly ‘green’ chief exec finds himself recharged

May 27, 2007

     Ram Shrivastava has gone green, and he couldn't be happier.
     The president and chief executive of Larsen Engineers in Brighton is focusing most of his attention on the design and construction of buildings and facilities that make the best use of energy and do the least damage to the environment.
     "I suddenly wish I had 30 more years to practice," said Shrivastava, 60, of Pittsford. "I've started a whole new practice focused on conservation, focused on preserving the Earth.
     When Shrivastava came to Larsen in 1969, he found himself working on the designs of landfills, wastewater treatment plants and drinking water facilities.
     He became owner of the company in 1982, at a time when building was booming here, and the company did the engineering work on projects such as malls, laying out the roads and other infrastructure.
     The company, which generates $4 million in fees annually, still has work like that, but in the last three years it is doing more and more to help clients create buildings and other projects that are environmentally sound.
     One key to this practive, Shrivastava said, is cooperation among all the people involved in a project - engineers, architects, builders, suppliers.
     Larsen now is working on the construction of an environmentally sound YMCA lodge in the New York City area. One feature of that building is insulation made from recycled denim jeans.
     Shrivastava also spends time talking to government groups and other organizations about the importance of green design. "My hope especially is that schools are built as green schools, so kids and teachers will have the best," he said.
     Shrivastava graduated from college in his native India in 1967 with a degree in civil engineering.
     "Then I was hearing kids saying they were going to the United States to study. It caught my interest, and I said, ‘Why don't I try that, too?’"
     He was accepted for study at three colleges in the United States and chose Clarkson University in Potsdam, St. Lawrence County.
     The education there agreed with him, though the weather was something of a shock, as no one had warned him about the cold and long winters in northern New York.
     Shrivastava received his master's in environmental engineering from Clarkson in 1969 and then took a job at Larsen.
     When he speaks to college students, now, Shrivastava stresses that learning does not end with graduation.
     As laws have changed, as people's knowledge of the environment has changed and as his own interests have changed, Shrivastava has had to re-educate himself.
     "Learning is a very important part of anything," he said. "It never stops."