Charlie Martin Announces Retirement

Charles (Charlie) Martin has announced that he will be retiring in December. Charlie’s career has spanned nearly 50 years, and he’s been with Advanced Energy as a senior energy engineer since 2012.

Charlie grew up in a small town in Virginia and went on to study mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech — he became interested in engineering through his uncle. Upon graduating, he went to work for Carolina Power & Light Company (CP&L), where he would spend 24 years. Charlie held several roles at CP&L, providing technical support for customer services teams, project oversight for a water heater load-control program, and program development for commercial and industrial energy audits. He concluded his tenure with CP&L by leading its commercial and industrial energy engineering team.  

While at CP&L, Charlie became involved in his local ASHRAE chapter, which covered the Triangle area of North Carolina. He worked his way up from treasurer to secretary to vice president and then president — his chapter was even named best in the region during his presidential year. He also served as regional vice chairman for three years.

Around the turn of the century, the onset of utility deregulation was a tumultuous time for electric utilities. To gear up, Charlie’s team was tasked with industrial energy project development and with establishing measurement and verification procedures for CP&L’s subsidiary, Strategic Resource Solutions, which was engaged in commercial performance contracting. This came to an abrupt halt with the Enron scandal, and deregulation of electricity ended in North Carolina. Soon after, CP&L decided to downsize and eliminate most of its sales, marketing and engineering force. Charlie, along with many on his team, was let go.

Charlie’s next stop was with Foresight Group, where he worked in energy efficiency, audits and training, and he then moved on to Lowe’s Companies Inc., where he would spend a decade as an energy manager and, later, director of energy management.

Charlie was responsible for utility budgeting (for electricity, natural gas, water, sewer etc.) and energy efficiency for Lowe’s entire store portfolio. The company at the time was growing rapidly and adding about 120 to 150 stores per year, and Charlie helped reduce electricity consumption per store by nearly 30% — going from an average of 3.5 million to 2.5 million kilowatt-hours — through more-efficient controls; heating, ventilation and conditioning (HVAC) systems; and lighting.

When Charlie arrived at Advanced Energy in 2012, he hit the ground running with commercial and industrial facility audits, providing recommendations that improved site operations while saving energy, money and emissions. He’s led around 30 audits annually and has formalized and streamlined a process that can be used for years to come. He’s also conducted numerous customized trainings for facilities, utility and internal staff on chilled water, HVAC equipment, building envelopes, lighting and more.

In retirement, Charlie is looking forward to devoting additional time to his family, church and 16-acre mini farm. He also plans to do more traveling and fishing. Please join us as we congratulate him and wish him the very best!