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We’re ‘walking in’ for climate change

September 20, 2019 by 1 Comment

We’re ‘walking in’ for climate change

By Dean Allen, CEO, McKinstry

Today, millions of students, tech workers and others across the globe will be walking out of their classrooms, places of work and homes to join together in a Global Climate Strike to demand action against the looming climate crisis. We at McKinstry applaud these efforts, and I’m personally inspired by the youth leading this movement and hopeful for their future.

Today, as we do every day at McKinstry, we’ll be spending our time innovating the waste out of the built environment; designing projects with aggressive energy and carbon reduction goals leveraging renewables, shared energy, and other leading-edge technologies; and constructing, renovating and servicing building systems in ways that create less impact to the earth’s fragile ecosystems. This work is critical to the fight against climate change.

We are part of an industry that greatly contributes to the climate crisis despite having the power to do something about it. But, because of persistent silos, slow innovation and poor organization, the construction industry has so far been ineffective at embracing what’s possible in the fight for our planet. The time to act is now, which is why McKinstry is working hard to change the paradigm and lead the way to a carbon-free future.

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Filed Under: Better Buildings, Big Ideas, Home Tagged With: Arkansas, Catalyst, Catalyst Building, Climate Change, CLT, Denver, Global Climate Strike, Howard County, Net-Zero, Renewables, Shared Energy, Silos, Solar, South Landing, Spokane, Zero Carbon, Zero Energy

Sylvia McIvor is passionate about helping save our planet

October 8, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Sylvia McIvor is passionate about helping save our planet

sylviacollage

Sylvia McIvor joined McKinstry in March of 2018. Based out of our Chicago office, Sylvia is a senior account executive with the Illinois Energy Services team. In her role, she manages the development of business strategies for education and municipal customers in the Midwest region.

Q: Why did you choose McKinstry?
A: What drew me to McKinstry was the company’s cutting-edge view on sustainability as well as the environmental leadership and stewardship. There is so much opportunity here to grow the business, help our customers reduce their environmental impact and make a difference while doing it.

Q: I understand you are involved in the Climate Reality Project. Tell me more about that.
A: I’m fortunate to be working for a company (McKinstry) that supported me in applying for the opportunity, and I was thrilled to have been accepted into the Climate Reality Leadership Corps training. I was one of more than 2,200 attendees who joined former Vice President Al Gore in Los Angeles from Aug. 28-30 of this year (see the collage image above) to learn how to help lead the global fight for climate solutions.

It was a life-changing and awe-inspiring three days. The information and data presented were eye-opening, compelling and frightening, but also very hopeful. If we take action now to address carbon emissions, we can stop the damage and help the planet heal itself.

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Filed Under: Big Ideas, Home Tagged With: Al Gore, Chicago, Climate Change, Climate Reality Project, Energy Action Month, Energy Efficiency, Energy Savings, Illinois, powerED

Saving the planet, one light bulb at a time

April 22, 2017 by 1 Comment

Saving the planet, one light bulb at a time

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Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Ash Awad, P.E., is McKinstry’s Chief Market Officer.

Every year on Earth Day, your newsfeed is probably dominated by stories about the grand sweeping changes underway (or not) to save our planet. We’ve seen global-scale environmental promises from Kyoto to Paris, paired with a deep-seated skepticism of man-made climate change.

So, where may we find common ground? The answer could be simple: Speak to everyone’s values without preaching to convert.

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Filed Under: Big Ideas, Home Tagged With: Climate Change, Earth Day, Kilowatt, LED, Light Bulbs, Lighting

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