Mark Pitterle, PhD | Water Engineering Sustainability Specialist
Ph.D., Civil Engineering, University of Colorado Denver M.S., Environmental Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University B.S., Earth Science, Minors: Geography & Geology, Pennsylvania State University
Mark Pitterle is a water engineering sustainability consultant at Symbiotic Engineering, LLC, focusing on life cycle assessment (LCA), greenhouse gas (GHG) management, zero waste, and waste-to-energy opportunities. Mark has over 10 years of hands-on field and consulting experience in designing, construction, and installation of sustainable energy and water treatment systems. Mark’s efforts have always focused on quantifying life cycle performance impacts as a means to establish what technologies are most sustainable for a given region and population. Mark has extensive LCA experience and GHG quantification experience for water and wastewater treatment plants, as well as targeting key cost-effective GHG reductions, including asset management, performance efficiency, sub-metered process energy, state-of-the-art Infiltration & Inflow (I&I) improvements, waste-to-energy digester gas combined heat and power generation, and energy efficiency improvements. Mark’s focus has been to extend the existing life cycle system boundary to include embodied energy impacts (e.g., infrastructure, fuel processing, chemicals, etc.), enabling infrastructure trade-offs to be evaluated and advantages of water reuse and avoided biosolids fertilizer benefits to be realized.
Internationally, Mark has led renewable energy installation projects in both India and Sri Lanka, including the design and installation of solar and wind renewable energy systems. Additionally, Mark led workshops in both the US and internationally, where Mark taught participants to make reliable home-made windmills from scratch.
Mark currently serves as a technical advisor for the development and implementation of Symbiotic Engineering’s suite of GHG accounting and system sustainability management tools. Mark is currently a program manager overseeing the use of Symbiotic Engineering’s Carbon CityTM Sustainability Information Management System (SIMS) to enhance existing clientele’s conservation & efficiency programs and their long-term sustainability plan.
- Project Manager for Water Treatment Plant (WTP) and Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) World Resource Institute and Local Government Protocol Scope 1&2 GHG inventory quantification
- Developed LCA methodology for inclusion of Scope 3 embodied energy impacts for US WTPs and WWTPs of all scales (e.g., septic to large-scale centralized)
- Developed US WWTP sustainability metrics through a participatory approach with US wastewater professionals that evaluate performance, economics, resource efficiency (e.g., water, energy, materials, nutrients), environmental impacts, and social impacts
- Developed GHG mitigation strategies for US WTPs and WWTPs
- Quantified sustainability metrics, primary energy use, and Scope 1,2,&3 GHG footprints for 5 US wastewater treatment systems, ranging in scale from single family septic to large-scale centralized