“There’s power in those drawings,” says Peter Ewers, founder of Ewers Architecture, about the often under-recognized influence his profession has on the world. An architect’s design choices dictate the business of everyday life and even the eternal character of major cities. With influence comes responsibility, and not enough people are on board with the push for sustainable building, including those in the wider architecture community. He cites examples already in place of fully electric buildings, those with net zero energy that eliminate the use of natural gas.

The technology and the know-how are already in place to make these practices the standard in the next 3-5 years, he says. It takes holistic thinking and communication, with those in the building community and without. Of course, the high price of materials, shipping costs, and supply chain shortages are posing challenges to sustainability and to building in general.

Clients also need to improve communication with their architect when building their homes. They should build from their values and lifestyle choices versus from an itemized checklist. Peter discusses the most common mistakes people make when hiring an architect and the advice he would give to all of those in the first stages of planning and building a home.

Quotes:

• “Truly we architects are problem solvers. That’s what we’re doing. We’re identifying problems and finding solutions to them that other people might not think about.” (11:42- 11:52 | Peter)
• “Architects have a lot of influence. And I don’t think I really got that. I don’t think I really understood that until I had been working for a couple of decades. I realized we really wield a lot of power. And we need to be careful with that power. We need to be very thoughtful and diligent in what we design, draw, and suggest.” (28:31-28:52 | Peter)
• “I don’t want to build buildings that are part of the problem, I want to build buildings that are a part of the solution.” (48:52-48:57 | Peter)

Links

Learn more about Peter Ewers: 

Website | www.ewersarchitecture.com

Email |  peter@ewersarchitecture.com

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterewers/

Facebook | http://www.Facebook.com/EwersArch

Ewers Architecture pc

1420 Washington Avenue

Golden, Colorado 80401

303.271.0977

Resources: www.buildingscience.com

Learn more about Better Buildings, Better Society:

Website | https://www.dma-eng.com/

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/dma-engineering/

Steven’s Personal LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-forrester-36a91517/

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/dma_engineering/

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“How can technology and humans work together?” asks Joshua Vermillion, Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at UNLV. How much does AI augment the study and practice of architecture and in which ways is it an improvement? It’s a question that runs through every stage of the process. What are the pros and cons of drawing by hand versus using digital design? Since AI interprets prompts so literally, how can we improve our approach to communication as a result, and use those interpretations to inspire new ideas? How can AI change the operating system of a city to improve daily life and make the city more livable? 

Much of what AI and other technologies afford the user is speed. What once took 48 hours now takes ten minutes. As a result, part of Joshua’s teaching practice is reminding his student to slow down and examine the basics of the craft. 

After all, Joshua reminds listeners, no matter how much AI advances, at the end of the day, their mission is to serve humans first. 

Quotes

• “Early on, the steel industry saw digital technology as a way to sort of simulate everything, to decrease the number of errors, to optimize things, to cut costs without cutting quality.” (5:58-6:10 | Joshua)
• “Now that we can do anything, what do we really do? How do we do it? That’s the other question, right?” (27:03-27:09 | Joshua)
• “The speed that these technologies afforded us isn’t just to take a shortcut, but that maybe we can actually do things better, because it allows us to really look at the problem over and over again, and begin that sort of feedback loop where we can begin to optimize and integrate systems in ways that really can help. Let’s say, architects work better with engineers. Architects and engineers work better with the folks downstream that make the stuff and assemble the stuff.” (36:50-37:23 | Joshua)
• “Some things you just can’t shortcut.” (39:37-39:38 | Joshua)

Links

Connect with Joshua Vermillion:

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/joshuavermillion/

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuavermillion/

https://www.unlv.edu/people/joshua-vermillion

http://vermillion.faculty.unlv.edu/

Email | josh.vermillion@unlv.edu

Learn more about Better Buildings, Better Society:

Website | https://www.dma-eng.com/

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/dma-engineering/

Steven’s Personal LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-forrester-36a91517/

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/dma_engineering/ 

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“It’s more than drafting floor plans and blueprints,” says Christy Riggs, Principal Architect at 308 LLC in Colorado. Architecture is an intersection of art, science and math and as a result, requires a lot more complicated work and offers a lot more possibilities than many people realize. 

Going forward, flexibility will play a major factor in building spaces, as people will need rooms to be able to be easily transformed to accommodate various needs. Technology, particularly AI, is taking on an exciting new role in the architecture space and Christy describes the opportunities and challenges it provides. 

Looking toward the future, Christy hopes to see craft return to architecture, with more consideration of the “why” in design choices. Today, she describes the buildings throughout the world that she admires most. 

Quotes

• “My immediate challenge is finding staff.” (3:38-3:41 | Christy)
• “Architecture is definitely a lot more complicated than just drawing blueprints of floor plans. And like I said before, there are so many avenues that you could go into, even with an architecture degree, whether it’s on the technical side, or on the design side.” (8:00-8:12 | Christy)
• “Architecture is pretty hefty and I think a lot more than what people realize.” (9:23-9:26 | Christy)
• “This is a tool. I really see I can get art, science, math all together in one career. That’s really interesting to me.” (15:55-16:05 | Christy)
• “There were a lot of options going, like I said, we just have this drafting class, and the guy was great. But at that point in time, I thought, that’s what architects did, we drafted. So having the knowledge to say, you could come out of this and be set designer for theater production. Or you could go into your 3d, futuristic design and just do, “unreal buildings,” build sets for movies. And that computer, if you do sculpture, design, you can do furniture design, and you don’t have to just do typical buildings. And like I said, where I grew up, it was a small town, and so things tended to look a little bit the same. But it could go anywhere.” (16:54-17:38 | Christy)
• “I would love to see a lot more craft brought back into architecture, we have all these great tools and 3D visualization and material options. I think sometimes we get a little stuck in our own programs, their own tools. So even on the single family side and come back and just get into the details and get away from the kind of back home stucco box. It would be nice to see that brought to all levels not just the residential, but to come back and do trim details and really intentional planning is just so easy to build in the programs that we have, we need to step back and start asking ourselves a lot more ‘why.’ Why is this space here? Why is this window here? What is happening with the light?” (33:35-34:27 | Christy) 

Links

Learn more about Christy Riggs:

Website | https://308llc.com/

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/308LLC

Email | christyriggs@308llc.com

Learn more about Better Buildings, Better Society:

Website | https://www.dma-eng.com/

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/dma-engineering/

Steven’s Personal LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-forrester-36a91517/

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/dma_engineering/ 

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“As crazy and sick as it is, I really enjoy reading code books,” says Hope Medina, who is the Energy and Sustainability Code and Plans Examiner with Shums Coda Associates. Her passion for energy coding and sustainable living is being put to good use as Colorado has just passed House Bill 22-1362 into law, requiring all buildings to adopt green energy codes. She sees no difference between the importance of adopting proper energy codes and adopting fire and other building codes, as both, she says, prevent potentially life-threatening situations. She is dedicated to educating people on the topic, and recognizes how important balance is when dealing with the competing needs of the building community and the energy community, amidst a series of fast-moving and ever-changing procedures. 

Another passion of Hope’s is water, a finite resource that, unfortunately, does not spring eternal. She discusses the very real impacts of water scarcity, and what water usage and conservation will look like going forward under Colorado’s latest regulations. 

Hope’s work offers comfortability to building occupants. She and Steven discuss the challenges of heating and cooling homes (particularly older ones), the importance of taping your home’s joints and seams, and the benefits of installing an energy monitoring system. 

Quotes

• “I started off on the code enforcement side actually, as a permit tech. And one of the things that kind of bothered me, I guess, or inspired me, gave me that nudge, or whatever was the fact that I couldn’t answer the questions that were being asked of me, I was sending them off. So then I started studying the various coats. And so I could answer the questions and I got to be an inspector, and then plant examiner, and now I get to do all of that, and I get to go out and teach and speak about it.” (3:31-4:15 | Hope)
• “I think balance is going to be that challenge.” (17:53-17:58 | Hope)
• “What made you passionate to start getting into this sustainability and the energy efficiency code?” (30:07-30:11 | Steven)
• “When I was a kid, I used to do things like recycling and composting.  I was not raised by hippies or anything like that. I was just in tune with nature. I thought we should work with it, not against it.” (30:20-30:40 | Hope)
• “Yeah, this is, this is my jam. You know, I love joists, I love beams, but I love me some insulation. Haha!” (32:37-32:48 | Hope)
• “Water is not an infinite resource, it’s a very finite. And on top of that, what is coming here is drastically dwindling.” (47:20–47:30 | Hope) 

Learn more about Hope Medina:

Shums Coda Instructors | https://www.shumscoda.com/sca-instructors/

Email | hope.medina@shumscoda.com

Website | https://www.shumscoda.com/

Learn more about Better Buildings, Better Society:

Website | https://www.dma-eng.com/

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/dma-engineering/

Steven’s Personal LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-forrester-36a91517/

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/dma_engineering/ 

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“Don’t bother. Nobody cares. Forget it,” is what many of the longtime professionals working in solar energy said to Bryan Bowen, when he first graduated from Carnegie Mellon and was eager to begin a career in sustainable design. Today, he is Principal Architect at Caddis Collaborative, a multidisciplinary design firm in Boulder, Colorado which is dedicated to economic, social, and environmental sustainability. At Caddis, Bowen specializes in zero energy design, sustainable homes, and livable communities. 

Bryan was first introduced to green building design early in life. Growing up in New Mexico, and living in a passive solar house, he helped his father build and plumb active hot air and water collectors. His conservation oriented lifestyle growing up influences his work today. Looking ahead to the future, he acknowledges one of the main problems facing efforts toward sustainable living in the West is land usage. Noting that as a collective, we are better off putting growth into existing towns as we can’t keep expanding outward forever. 

Tune into this week’s episode of Better Buildings, Better Society, as Bryan explains what he wishes more people knew about architecture, why it’s so important for contractors to have a say early on in the housing design process, and why there needs to be a shift in our approach to designing living spaces, where we value experiences over things.

Quotes

• “The 101 we give people is that they need to know client-wise, is to design the house to be passively as conservation oriented as it possibly can be: windows, doors, envelope, everything. And then supply those minimized needs, but super efficient mechanical systems and after that,, supply that already minimized energy usage in demand with on site renewables if you can….and there ‘ya go – that’s the whole thing.” (2:44-3:11 | Bryan)
• “A lot of people just don’t really know what we do at all. So, one thing as a result of the Marshall fire is we get a lot of phone calls from new folks and they are kind of stuck dealing with this problem that they’re facing. They haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about building a home or what we all do. And so, some of them are really having a hard time figuring out, ‘Well, what does the architect do?’ and ‘Why do you have other engineers, aren’t you the architect?’ And well, no. We have different specializations. Mechanical engineers are doing a great job with the thing that they’re doing. Structural engineers do a great job at the thing they’re doing. We’re the architects, we’re doing a great job at the thing we’re doing. Oh, and none of us are general contractors. You’ve gotta have a general contractor, unless you do a design build. So, really just getting people oriented has been a big effort there which has exposed to me a lot of things that people don’t know about our profession.” (16:59- 17:46 | Bryan)
• “You look at a final set of drawings, and it’s like, ‘OK, so you’ve got like 50 pages of drawings. Well, how long can it possibly take to sit down and draw 50 pages?’ Well, that’s not really the work. The work is all the stuff that leads up to those 50 pages being a really refined and clear set of instructions that builders can use to construct something that costs millions of dollars. And some folks seem to really value what we’re doing. And other people focus on how cheap we can get this set of drawings and they don’t know that you potentially lose out on quality when you do that.” (19:21-20:00 | Bryan)
• “If you design a high maintenance energy-hog of a building, you’re not doing anybody any favors.” (26:10-26:15 | Bryan)
• “As Americans, we’re consumer-focused people and we want to buy things. We tend to want to talk about things: ‘I want this many sinks, or I want that many square feet, or I want this sort of thing.’ And if you go with that, you generally end up with a big long laundry list of things, it’s more than fits in a budget. We really try to reset the conversation to talk about experiences. (30:42-31:14 | Bryan)
• “We are building the world as architects and engineers, and contractors, right? So, we take that seriously and we have a long view of it.” (45:25-45:33 | Bryan)
• “It all comes back to the envelope.” (53:40-53:41 | Steven)
• “It’s important to know where you are spending your money in energy and then putting that on what you care about.” (57:12-57:15 | Bryan)
• “The work of the past doesn’t necessarily dictate the work of the future.” (1:04:50- 1:04:54 | Bryan)

Learn more about Bryan Bowen:

Website | https://caddispc.com/

Email | bryan@caddispc.com 

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/caddispc

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/caddis-pc/

Learn more about Better Buildings, Better Society:

Website | https://www.dma-eng.com/

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/dma-engineering/

Steven’s Personal LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-forrester-36a91517/

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/dma_engineering/ 

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“Architects are designing the buildings, and buildings are 40 percent of the problem here,” says Nathan Kipnis, Founder and Principal of Kipnis Architecture + Planning. As a child living through the oil embargo of 1973, he recalls feeling the adults around him panicking, and realized then the importance of energy efficiency. It was around this time Nathan began seeing the first examples of solar houses, and as much as he admired their function, they just didn’t look right. Now, under the tagline “high design, low carbon” (which he hopes will soon be zero carbon), his firm creates homes that balance aesthetics with high performance. 

In 1985, the year he earned his masters in Architecture with an emphasis in Energy Conscious Design, Nathan felt like he was wearing an invisibility cloak. No one took his concerns about green design seriously. Needless to say, the world has caught up. Now, as a member of the national committee of the American Institute of Architects, he helps to write policy that influences over 90,000 architects across the country, knowing how much the building process currently accounts for carbon emissions. Most notably, Nathan is part of the AIA’s 2030 Commitment, an actionable strategy that sets goals and standards so that the built environment can reach net zero emissions by the year 2030.

In this episode of Better Buildings, Better Society, hear Nathan’s prediction about the price of materials, the one thing he wishes everyone would incorporate into their building project, and the big deal about batteries. 

Quotes

• “Anyone who is designing a building now that isn’t thinking about long term changes, is giving a client a dinosaur from Day 1.” (2:56-3:06 | Nathan)
• “This is the new frontier—the embodied carbon. Everybody’s been talking about operational carbon for a while and it’s tricky.” (12:50-13:01 | Nathan)
• “When you do the math, you’re going to want to reuse buildings more, stay local, live close to work and all that good stuff and not be in sprawled out communities.” (13:15-13:31 | Nathan)
• “Going all electric is a really important one. If they don’t, that’s about 15 years before they have a chance to correct that choice and 15 years is probably too late.” (25:46-25:56 | Nathan)
• “All the top chefs are using induction. Induction is way better. … This in particular makes people’s eyes roll, especially the cooks in the group.” (26:15-26:39 | Nathan)
• “Even Tesla is moving away from cobalt and lithium to more nickel in their batteries—which, nothing’s perfect. I don’t think the coal plants were perfect, ever.” (40:29-40:42 | Nathan)
• “Don’t let perfection be the enemy of good.” (40:46-40:49 | Nathan) 

Learn more about Nathan Kipnis: 

Website | https://www.kipnisarch.com/

Phone | 847-864-9650

Email | info@kipnisarch.com

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/nathan-kipnis-architects-inc/

Learn more about Better Buildings, Better Society:

Website | https://www.dma-eng.com/

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/dma-engineering/

Steven’s Personal LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-forrester-36a91517/

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/dma_engineering/ 

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“We’re doing individual homes and there are multiple levels to that. But the first one is creating a home that functions for the homeowner who’s living in it and meeting their individual needs,” explains Erin Elston, Project Architect and Associate at TKP Architects. In today’s episode, Erin discusses how residential architects help build better neighborhoods while building houses that meet the homeowner’s needs. 

Before starting a design, Erin meets with clients and asks in depth questions about their needs and how they plan to function in the house to ensure that what she ends up building, will be the best fit for the clients. She then considers the actual land and the way the neighborhood is mapped out to be sure the house is respectful of the pre-existing neighborhood. Thanks to software like Revit, architects are able to design the home in 3D before ever building anything. This allows for the homeowner to have a better understanding of what their home will be like and for architects to be sure their design will be functional. Making sure the home fits the homeowner’s needs helps the house to have more longevity.

Tune into this week’s episode of Better Buildings, Better Society for a conversation about residential architecture and the way architects help build better homes and better neighborhoods that will last longer, suit the needs of the occupants, and respect the land being built on. 

Quotes

• “The way we build is going to change as we start to institute new building codes with energy efficiency.” (7:38-7:45) [Erin]
• “For some reason experience in design is not as tangible to some people. They don’t understand what it actually takes to work out those details and move something from our brains or a conversation with a client into a 2D or 3D creation on the computer that can actually be used to build the structure.” (10:24-10:56) [Erin]
• “Right now Revit makes it faster to draft and show that 3D piece to clients” (22:54-23:08) [Erin]
• “You can draw something in 3D that can’t be built in real life. You still need the education and knowledge base to know that something is going to work or not.” (23:15-23:26) [Erin]
• “I’m hoping it becomes more of a standard, because we should all be allowed to lead healthy lives and have homes that make us comfortable and safe.” (28:45-28:59) [Erin]
• “When it comes to home renovations, do your homework and ask a lot of questions.” (37:13-37:15) [Erin]

Learn More About Erin Elston:

Website |  https://tkparch.com/

Company LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/tkp-architects/

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/tkp_architects/

https://www.houzz.com/professionals/query/tkp-architects

Phone: 303-278-8840

Learn more about Better Buildings, Better Society:

Website | https://www.dma-eng.com/

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/dma-engineering/

Steven’s Personal LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-forrester-36a91517/

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/dma_engineering/ 

“Without a question, we need better air tightness and better insulation. That is the best place to spend your dollars,” shares Paul Kriescher, Expert in Mechanical Design Engineering and Energy Management and Executive Producer and host of Heart of a Building. Paul explains that people often have costly misconceptions regarding how to make their building more energy efficient. In today’s episode, Paul discusses his feelings of dismay when he sees that even custom built homes are being made with little regard to future performance, and how involving an engineer right from the start would fix a lot of the issues. 

According to Paul, the goal for any building should be for it to last for a minimum of 100 years. While fixing up old buildings to make them more energy efficient should be a priority, there isn’t enough of them to rely solely on solar panels. Many people make the mistake of thinking that solar panels are the first step to making their home more efficient. But Paul explains that If a building is made like swiss cheese, putting solar panels on is not going to fix the underlying problem. The best way to begin making a home or building more environmentally efficient is to tighten up the building by adding better insulation and fixing air leakage.

Tune into this week’s episode of Better Buildings, Better Society for a conversation to learn more about how to improve buildings without solar panels and what other options are available to you, so you can begin to increase energy efficiency in both new construction and renovations. 

Quotes

• “Even people building custom homes are building them really poorly. When it comes to performance, I have been asking, “where are the engineers working on this?” (9:34-9:44)
• “The best way to get some replication of great projects is to share the stories.” (12:20-12:25)
• “100 year construction is what we should be aiming for. Fix those old buildings. We don’t want to tear them down because of the embodied carbon that’s in them.” (23:54-24:17 | Host)
• “If you are a financially-minded person, and you are in development, you have to look at passive houses.” (25:20-25:26)
• “I believe the built environment is responding. It moves and shifts slowly, but it is shifting.” (39:35-39:44)
• “Without a question, we need better air tightness and better insulation. That is the best place to spend your dollars.” (52:15-52:21)
• “I wish I would have been wise enough to look for help in areas where we are still learning.” (55:03-55:09)

Learn more about Paul Kriescher:

Phone: (303) 525-1158

Email: PaulK@heartofabuilding.com

Heart of a Building’s website – www.HeartofaBuilding.com

Heart of a Building on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/heartofabuilding/

Heart of a Building on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR-nkC9oPAE98ZoPO0AucPA

Heart of a Building on Linked-In – https://www.linkedin.com/company/heart-of-a-building/?viewAsMember=true

Learn more about Better Buildings, Better Society:

Website | https://www.dma-eng.com/

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/dma-engineering/

Steven’s Personal LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-forrester-36a91517/

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/dma_engineering/ 

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“Ultimately, I consider the ledger of my life to be my ultimate measure of accountability and responsibility. And on that ledger, in fairly bright numbers, is my total carbon balance,” shares Conor Merrigan, Sustainability Program Manager at Spirit Environmental Consulting. Conor has seen the shift in thinking from big companies, primarily in the oil and gas industry, towards desiring a lower carbon footprint. Similarly, individuals are thinking more about the impact of their actions and are also aiming for a lower carbon output and a healthier environment. With the right data, it is possible for buildings to be constructed in a way that lowers the carbon footprint. 

Part of Conor’s job is to guide clients through the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) criteria for company operations. These standards include benchmarks for carbon emissions, energy efficiency, sustainability, and air quality. People want to know that the buildings they are entering are healthy, and this can be achieved by building with specific criteria in mind from the start. With simple improvements such as HEPA filtration systems and renewable energy sources, buildings can be built in a way that is healthier for both individuals and the environment.

Tune into this week’s episode of Better Buildings, Better Society for a conversation with Conor and Steven about the importance utilizing data to build better buildings. Learn more about the criteria required by the ESG and simple ways we can make buildings healthier while also lowering the carbon footprint. 

Quotes

• “The biggest challenge I’m facing in my work is trying to sort through the ‘ACRONYM SOUP’ of ESG methodologies to align on a single set of them to recommend to our clients and give them a clear path forward.” (5:36-6:01)

REGARDING REPORTING STANDARDS

• “What is your total energy use intensity? What is your consumption on a monthly basis? If you really want to geek out, talk about your demand.” (10:47-10:55)

FUTURE PROOFING

• “The single biggest opportunity we have is already cost effective – more renewables on the electric grid coupled with electrification of vehicles in homes.” (44:21-44:34)
• “Everybody sees and hates local air pollution– so get an electric car! It’s not that complicated.” (45:06-45:13)
• “The renewed focus on air quality is timely. I think that healthy spaces are what people want.” (49:07-49:13)

Links

Learn more about Conor Merrigan:

Personal LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/conormerrigan/

Website: Spirit Environmental | https://spiritenv.com/

Company LinkedIn |  https://www.linkedin.com/company/spirit-environmental

Learn more about Better Buildings, Better Society:

Website | https://www.dma-eng.com/

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/dma-engineering/

Steven’s Personal LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-forrester-36a91517/

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/dma_engineering/ 

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“We’re not all Elon Musk in terms of our impact on the world, but we can at least adopt the things that move the world in the right direction to minimize our carbon footprint,” says Graham Swett, Residential Architect and Associate at KGA Studio Architects. With over 40 years of building experience, Graham has seen first-hand the changes to the architectural industry. He notes that changes are being made for the better in regards to environmental impact and safety.

Minimizing our carbon footprint anywhere we can is good for everyone. With the creation of the International Energy Conservation Codes, changes were implemented to make buildings more energy efficient. When buildings are built with tighter codes, there is less environmental impact. When the public is more educated and demands buildings be held to higher standards, that is when we see the greatest push for improvements. 

Tune into this week’s episode of Better Buildings, Better Society for a conversation with Graham and Steven about energy-efficient buildings. Learn more about the changes Graham has observed over the past 40 years working in residential architecture, how the International Energy Conservation codes came about, and how to build better buildings with less environmental impact.

Quotes

• “Whenever we can minimize our footprint when it comes to utilizing energy, it is good for everybody.” (3:17-3:23)
• “We’re not all Elon Musk in terms of our impact on the world, but we can at least adopt the things that move the world in the right direction to minimize our carbon footprint.” (4:08-4:22)
• “Build tight. Ventilate right.” (14:21-14:23)
• “Our codes are getting tighter and people are building better buildings.” (19:03-19:08)
• “We should be spending a lot more time upfront analyzing and understanding what the decisions we’re making are doing and how they’re impacting the long term performance of the project.” (32:36-32:50)
• “Never abandon what you already know because of somebody else telling you it’s okay.” (42:52-43:01)
• “Having an educated buying public that knows what they should be asking for will drive what our building environment starts to look like because if the demand is there, it’ll get built.” (47:30-47:50)

Links

https://kgarch.com/

https://kgarch.com/team/graham-swett

Learn more about Better Buildings, Better Society:

Website | https://www.dma-eng.com/

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/dma-engineering/

Steven’s Personal LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-forrester-36a91517/

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/dma_engineering/ 

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“All the sub-niches are really our focus. We are all about having products or providing products that help us achieve much better energy efficiency,” says Todd Collins, Founder of AE Building System. Starting his career in technology, Todd had the concept of passive solar design in the back of his mind. After completing his Passive House training, Todd now works to provide energy-efficient products that set up future generations for a positive environmental future.

Todd explains the reasons why the population is moving toward the Passive House design. Besides many municipalities now moving toward a Zero-Energy Ready direction, many others also realize that energy-efficient homes are quieter, more comfortable, and longer-lasting in addition to environmentally friendly. With building codes improving over time, Todd recognizes there’s a real opportunity for our society to move in a better direction for generations to come.

Tune into this week’s episode of Better Buildings, Better Society for a conversation with Todd and Steven about passive solar design. Learn more about Todd’s start in the solar industry, Passive Houses’ environmental and quality benefits, and his advice to those considering buying and building a home for the first time.

Quotes

• “All the sub-niches are really our focus. We’re all about having products or providing products that help us achieve much better energy efficiency.” (6:18 – 6:30)
• “Code is getting better in general. But the real opportunity is about setting our future generations up in a positive way.” (6:43 – 6:58)
• “There are most certainly altruistic people out there that say, ‘Hey, this is what we should do, it’s the right thing to do, and we’re going to do it. It’s going to cost more, but we’re going to do it anyway.’ And then they can justify it with, ‘I want a more comfortable house, a quieter house, better indoor air quality, and a house that lasts forever so that I can give it to my kids, and they can live in it forever.’ So you throw in the other benefits and you’ve got a really good value proposition.” (17:52 – 18:18)
• “They’re doing what’s referred to as this step code. They’re making incremental steps towards a much higher performance requirement.” (19:52 – 19:59)
• “The five principles are relevant no matter whether you go for a certified Passive House or not. It’s for building a house, it’s going to last for a very long time, and it’s giving us less energy. So we have a lot of clients that leverage the concepts, but don’t necessarily go the entire distance.” (28:22 – 28:45)
• “We’re resilient from a different standpoint. You have the resilience of the envelope because it’s designed correctly. So, you’ve got resilience and the durability and longevity of the building itself that’s resilient in its own way. And then you look at energy prices, and you’re basically hedging today’s construction costs against tomorrow’s operating costs.” (41:27 – 41:55)

Links

Learn more about Todd Collins: 

Company Website | https://aebuildingsystems.com/ 

Company LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/a&e-building-systems/ 

Personal LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/todd-collins-a5ba778/ 

Learn more about Better Buildings, Better Society:

Website | https://www.dma-eng.com/ 

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/dma-engineering/ 

Steven’s Personal LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-forrester-36a91517/ 

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/dma_engineering/ 

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“It was back in the 80s when I started learning about thermal solar because it just made sense to try to draw power sources from places that weren’t traditional,” says Phil Jensen, Co-Owner of Sensible Heating and Cooling. Phil started his engineering career in the 80s with thermal solar and soon transitioned into working on traditional HVAC systems. His time working on thermal solar created the foundation of his passion for energy efficiency and the need to move towards energy conservation in buildings. 

Phil explains the growing crisis of lack of interest in the mechanical engineering field, specifically from younger generations. He explains that younger generations aren’t aware of the large spectrum of jobs available to them with a mechanical engineering degree. Not every mechanical position defaults to an office job, and Phil shares that his own role in mechanical contracting always keeps him engaged and on his toes. 

Tune into the premiere episode of Better Buildings, Better Society for a conversation with Phil Jensen about energy efficiency. Learn more about Phil’s advice to his younger self, the benefit of integrating household systems, and the importance of educating your customers on the benefits of your products. 

Quotes

• “Well, as far as the labor goes, I think, as an industry, what I’ve seen is we’ve done just a terrible job of recruiting people and getting them interested in this industry.” (06:05-06:14)
• “It was back in the 80s when I started learning about thermal solar because it just made sense to  try to draw power sources from places that weren’t traditional.” (14:19-14:32)
• “Thinking of the building itself as a system is really important.” (19:43-19:46)
• “It’s been really interesting talking to potential customers because when they talk to my competitors, my competitors are always trying to downgrade the value of the heat pump system. So, I think what’s really interesting about that is just trying to educate people about how to integrate all the systems in their house and not look at them as separate things.” (22:10-22:34)
• “Really pay attention and do some investigation, especially on existing buildings, you know, do some investigation and figure out what was there before you start doing anything.” (36:41-36:48) 

Links

Sensible Heating

Website | https://sensibleheat.net/ 

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/sensible-heating-cooling/ 

Phil Jensen’s LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/philjensen/ 

Learn more about Better Buildings, Better Society:

Website | https://www.dma-eng.com/ 

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/dma-engineering/ 

Steven’s Personal LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-forrester-36a91517/ 

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/dma_engineering/ 

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“Consciousness is the basis of all systems,” says Jason Knoll, Founder of Being Imaginal. Business models and the built space could learn a lot from the natural system of things and from the focus on regenerative building practices that are receiving a lot of attention lately. It all starts with consciousness, and recognizing, especially in a time when society is becoming increasingly separated and tribal, that we are interconnected. Like everything in nature, we each have a genius and something to contribute, and businesses should work to put the right workers in their right positions. When everyone shows up mindfully and authentically, each person thrives as does the whole system. When businesses try to plant themselves where they don’t belong, they fail to thrive and what could have been successful never gets the chance. Often, you must know when to step back, allow old things to die so that new things can thrive in their place. 

Everyone essentially has the same core values and the sooner we recognize this and meet together on common ground, the better. When belief systems are put ahead of progress, the natural world suffers as well. Jason discusses legislation in certain countries where localized livestock practices prevent nature from resetting itself. And as it turns out, bare ground causes drought not the other way around, and other precious species will never return to a setting when certain animals are allowed to strip the land to nothing. 

Jason and Matt consider what cities, particularly Boulder and Denver will look like as more conscious and community-minded systems are incorporated into the urban space. Life is like a tapestry, Jason says. It’s hard to see the big picture in the weaving stage, and only in stepping back do all the synchronicities become evident. 

Quotes

• “If we have technology that is truly supporting living systems and supporting life, then it can really add value. If we think that technology will help us dominate nature, or have control over nature, or trick or fool nature, we’re going to end up, continuing down the same path that we’re on, which is unsustainable.” (6:40-7:05 | Jason)
• “The right approach is to really, as you said, take this into account as we plan something, as we design something. If we’re looking in the built environment, how do we take a holistic approach to that project? How do we consider the community in which that project is being built and then bring all of the components of that project from its conceptualization to design into one holistic view, so that we can have a final project that really exists in harmony with life and with nature itself?” (8:44-9:29 | Jason )
• “How do we get to the point where we let things die when they need to die? Sometimes I think one of the greatest challenges that I’ve seen in businesses is continuing to try and do the same thing even when it doesn’t work.” (27:05-27:20 | Jason)
• “The beginning of any given project is to sit down with all of those players, all the people who are the stakeholders in that project, and come up with a shared context of what is this project? What do we really want this project to represent? What is the purpose of this project? And then how do we work together in that shared understanding to create the structures for communication, and all of these other things so that things flow more seamlessly.” (34:56-35:28 | Jason) 

Links

Learn more about Jason Knoll:

Website | https://www.beingimaginal.com/

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonbknoll/

Learn more about Better Buildings, Better Society:

Website | https://www.dma-eng.com/

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/dma-engineering/

Steven’s Personal LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-forrester-36a91517/

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/dma_engineering/