Our team recently completed LEED for Homes Platinum certification for The Grinnell, a 63-unit affordable housing project in Berkeley, California developed by Sa
The Beyond Efficiency Team Reveals...
Katy Hollbacher, Principle:
We need to leverage our hands-on experience with what it takes to achieve zero-energy, carbon-sequestering, life-enhancing, and enduring buildings to have much greater impact than the limited number of projects we're able to work on directly. Our business model is to significantly expand our work in education and training, research, and policy development to make this happen!
Dan Johnson, Sustainability Architect Leader:
We're doing a good job at getting gas combustion out of new buildings - the California electrical grid is an increasingly clean substitute; we've got this! - but 50% of California's carbon pollution is transportation-related, including gasoline refineries, and 70% of this is passenger vehicles. We've got to advocate at every public meeting to dedicate more space to buses, bikes, and walkers by taking this space away from dangerous passenger vehicles in urban areas. The health & safety benefits alone justify this change, even without a climate emergency. 14th Street in New York City shows that it's actually a boon to a city to curtail private cars. Finally, our personal actions need to demonstrate that radical change is required right now; taking an emergency approach to one's lifestyle change needs to be the social norm!
Jennifer Love, Senior Sustainability Engineer:
Helping multifamily design teams incorporate heat pump based domestic hot water systems. Much of the hesitancy of adopting heat pump DHW is lack of understanding of the technological options and costs. We can demystify these systems and help the team feel confident about moving in this direction with all due haste.
Katie Dahlgren, Project Success Manager:
We can continue to ask our clients, stakeholders and partners questions to better understand their perspectives, challenges, opportunities and needs. By listening to the responses we can collaborate to design human centered technical solutions and implementation strategies to create buildings and communities that have a positive impact on people and our environment.
Peter Grant, Research Manager:
Continue to develop and demonstrate solutions that mitigate the effects of climate change while being directly beneficial for the people implementing them. Once people trust in solutions that are directly in their best interests, change will happen naturally and rapidly.
Laken Rush Allen, Operations Manager:
We can take every opportunity to offer solutions that benefit our clients and the planet. Simple solutions like LED lighting, insulation and heat pumps can, cumulatively, have major impacts on reducing emissions.
Nathan Iltis, Energy Engineer:
Beyond Efficiency has the expertise and experience with buildings and energy codes to add valuable insights to the development of new codes and goals in mountain towns, California and beyond. We can be an expert voice of change and provide data-based guidance.
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