Jim holds degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering and is a Certified Energy Manager, credentialed by the Association of Energy Engineers. He is also a licensed building contractor. This unique combination of credentials has enabled Jim to innovate more efficient and less expensive commercial energy audit processes..

Prior to joining Big Green Zero, Jim owned and operated a remodeling company which specialized in bringing energy conservation technologies to renovation of residential properties. Prior to becoming a residential contractor, Jim served as the Phoenix-based Senior Account Manager for the largest Freightliner truck dealership in the southwest. While working at Freightliner, he was responsible for meeting (and often exceeding) the challenging fleet requirements of the nation's largest trucking companies.

Prior to moving to Phoenix, Jim was employed by the Freightliner Corporation (in Oregon) as a Senior Sales Engineer and team leader of the North Central-East Coast Sales Group (which was responsible for 236 out of 445 national Freightliner dealerships). His direct responsibilities included ensuring that the logistics of sales orders aligned with the tremendous complexity of the national manufacturing line.

Jim’s first job, out of college, involved responsibilities as a Product Development Engineer for Tektronix microelectronic component manufacturing. His responsibilities in this position included taking individual product concepts from the design stage to a completely manufactured product. The projects that he shepherded through this process ranged from components used in GSM cell phones to laser guided missile systems.

Jim Burpee's academic credential includes an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Portland and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Oregon Institute of Technology. He is credentialed as a Certified Energy Manager by the Association of Energy Engineers and is an instructor at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture.

Jim Burpee is innovating the commercial energy audit process to make Arizona America's model for energy efficiency.