Theo Christiaanse

Manager of Custom Software Solutions

I joined OPEN after my post-doctoral fellowship at the Energy in Cities Group based at the University of Victoria. Here, I worked on a combination of physics-based building energy modelling, mixed integer linear programming optimization, data science, machine learning techniques, and evidence based public policy design. Combining these topics, I experimented with numerous ways to find fast, accurate, and cost-effective ways to improve new building design, find retrofit solutions for existing buildings, and understand how changes in the building stock will impact future emissions.

I am deeply passionate about sustainability, and developing models that capture multiple aspects, of wicked problem that is, the built environment. I hope to see us create livable resilient equitable bike/walkable affordable green carbon negative communities.

I regularly go for runs and walks, and have a meditation practice. During the COVID lockdown, I started to learn how to speak Chinese to kill my time which I’m not spending commuting. Outside of work I spend time with my family and friends, read non-fiction books, and like to keep up-to-date with various technology and scientific developments.