Richard Eschenbach

Richard D. Eschenbach brings more than 30 years of experience in facilities engineering, construction, maintenance, energy management, and infrastructure to Salus Solutions. As Director of Engineering and Maintenance, he develops, procures, and manages operations, maintenance, repair, and construction for government facilities. His work has ranged from routine building maintenance to multimillion-dollar infrastructure projects involving electrical systems, HVAC, steam plants, underground utilities, industrial equipment, and major facility improvements.

At the U.S. Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore, Eschenbach helped change the way the service measured and managed energy. He was part of the Coast Guard team that developed a nationwide advanced electrical-metering system using 1,960 meters across 220 facilities. The system gave engineers detailed information on electricity used by buildings, electrical panels, and vessel shore connections. It helped identify waste, verify energy savings, and reduce consumption. The program was credited with approximately $624,000 in annual savings and earned Eschenbach and his team a 2013 Department of Energy Federal Energy and Water Management Award.

Eschenbach also helped turn waste into power. He initiated the Coast Guard Yard Energy Center, a renewable-energy project that captured methane from Baltimore's nearby Quarantine Road Landfill and used it to produce electricity and steam for the Yard. The project was designed so energy savings would pay for the plant and its infrastructure over time. By fiscal year 2010, the center was producing approximately 9.7 million kilowatt-hours of renewable electricity a year. Coast Guard officials later cited the project as an example of innovative federal energy management.

His engineering experience also includes industrial air-compressor systems, HVAC, steam boilers, underground steam distribution, utilities, building renovation, preventive maintenance, and capital construction. His career has emphasized the same principle across projects large and small: understand why a system fails, correct the cause, and build it to perform better the next time. He has received recognition for federal energy, water, and environmental-conservation work, including the Coast Guard Civilian Service Commendation Medal reported by Salus.

At Salus, Eschenbach brings engineering into the larger mission of operational resilience. A failed boiler, electrical system, utility line, or piece of critical equipment is not simply a maintenance problem when people and operations depend on it.

Know the system. Find the weakness. Fix the cause. Keep the facility working.