Tahoma’s powerED Green Team kicks the year in gear

October 5, 2018 by Spark Staff Leave a Comment

The new school year ushers in Green Team kickoffs for powerED schools across the country. Tahoma School District in Maple Valley, Wash. kicked the year in gear last week with Green Team meetings at schools like Maple View Middle.

Tahoma School District serves more than 8,200 students from pre-kindergarten to grade 12. The district is recognized as innovative in its development and use of curriculum, including a focus on sustainability across all grade levels. Test scores place Tahoma students among Washington’s top five percent on average!

To date, more than 20,500 teachers, students and family members nationwide have pledged to save energy and cut waste through McKinstry’s powerED program. That action has reduced energy consumption 17 percent district wide and avoided 918 metric tons of carbon emissions. Maple View Middle is responsible for an amazing 358 metric tons of carbon avoided—nearly 40 percent of the district’s total!

Congratulations to Tahoma School District and Maple View Middle, and best of luck for another successful Green Team year!

Join McKinstry and our clients as we celebrate Energy Action Month by pledging to take action. If you think you can’t affect the future of energy consumption, you’re wrong. It takes all of us, every day, taking actions small and big. Together, we CAN build a thriving planet.

Here’s how Alison Schwabe takes energy action at work and at home

October 3, 2018 by Spark Staff Leave a Comment

Alison Schwabe joined McKinstry eight years ago and works in our Golden, Colo. office. As powerED program manager for the Mountain region, she works with schools, universities and local governments within the Mountain region to help them save energy and cut waste. She has also been instrumental in building the Mountain Region’s corporate stewardship team including rolling out the office’s composting program.

Q: How do you explain powerED?
A: Our powerED program is all about people and encouraging sustainable behaviors (like this month’s challenge). We drive awareness, action, and impact to help our clients save energy and cut waste through three key components. The first is PEOPLE. We engage building occupants and operators in a campaign to increase awareness and action around energy efficiency. The second is PROCESS, which involves working with our clients to help them identify and implement low- and no-cost energy-saving measures. The third is PERFORMANCE. We’re only as good as our results. We measure impact and demonstrate progress by tracking energy savings, carbon reduction, and other key benchmarks. I’m proud to say that through our powerED program to date, company-wide we’ve helped participating clients save $21.7 million in energy cost and cut carbon by 155,861 metric tons.

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Energized by our future

October 1, 2018 by Ash Awad 1 Comment

October is Energy Action Month. While we take action every day to drive waste out the built environment, Energy Action Month offers an ideal opportunity to reaffirm our commitment. With each action we take, we’re one step closer to our vision of together, building a thriving planet.

McKinstry balances current action with remaining resolute on driving future innovation. Spokane embodies that balance, embracing innovation while honoring its historic buildings and rich past. Every trip to Washington’s Inland Empire inspires me. Here’s why.

The power of net positive energy

Catalyst will be the first net-zero energy building in Eastern Washington.

Net-zero energy buildings and net-positive eco districts are inevitable. State and local governments are now mandating solar photovoltaics as building code, and behind-the-meter energy storage is emerging in both commercial and residential buildings. Technology costs for these renewable energy systems are dropping at an astounding rate. By 2030, we will see net-zero energy system design become the norm in every new construction project with clusters of buildings working together to produce more energy than they consume.

Spokane will soon be home to the future of the built environment. McKinstry and our partners broke ground on the Catalyst Building in August, starting construction on what will become the world’s largest verified net-zero energy building. The five-story, 159,000 square foot building will demonstrate what’s possible in our built environment – and what we’re capable of delivering here at McKinstry.

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National Safety Month Spotlight: Client Praises Bill Leistiko and Troy Zimdars

June 18, 2018 by Spark Staff Leave a Comment

Safety is core to McKinstry’s mission, values and ongoing success. Join us in recognizing June as National Safety Month as we spotlight efforts to keep each other safe 24/7/365.

McKinstry continues to gain attention for our safety efforts. Bill Leistiko and Troy Zimdars were recently recognized by Mared Mechanical. Here’s what Project Manager Ben Bickler had to say:

“Working with Bill Leistiko and Troy Zimdars on several projects over the last few years has been a pleasure, both from an operational standpoint and, more importantly, a safety one. Mared Mechanical prides itself on its safety record and culture. Too often, we find ourselves needing to drive this culture at a jobsite rather than participate in one that already exists. With McKinstry projects, it is McKinstry taking the lead.

We find working with Bill and Troy most enjoyable because we are able to plan and coordinate ahead of time. This allows us to prepare the site, our tooling and our team with safety at the forefront of the discussion.

Bill and Troy are always stressing the culture of safety promoted at McKinstry. This culture is in lock step with that of Mared’s. It assists us in not only reinforcing our own safety plan, but gives our workers confidence about the safety of the job site as a whole.

We at Mared value our partnership with McKinstry. Safety is a cornerstone of that partnership. And I personally value my relationship with Bill and Troy.”

Nice work, Bill and Troy!

Passion and creativity collide at Carson City School District

June 6, 2018 by Spark Staff 1 Comment

Two hundred students, parents, teachers and school administrators from Carson City School District (CCSD) gathered at the Nevada Governor’s Mansion on May 24 to celebrate students taking part in McKinstry’s powerED program and Project ReCharge, a STEM-focused energy and sustainability curriculum program led by Envirolution.

CCSD hired McKinstry in May 2016 to conduct a comprehensive facility audit in search of energy savings. Dozens of potential improvements were identified, kicking off a $6.1 million contract spanning LED lighting retrofits, water conservation measures, heat pump replacements, improved HVAC systems and more.

McKinstry introduced powerED to CCSD students in October 2017. The program augments the district’s sustainability and STEM education initiatives by engaging students, staff and faculty in energy, water and waste conservation efforts. Ten CCSD schools are participating.

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How an inefficient work order management process hurts tenants, operators, and owners—and what to do about it (Part 2)

August 10, 2017 by Alex Ortiz Leave a Comment

In the first part of this two-part article, we discussed the impact on tenants, property managers, operators, and owners of a breakdown in a building’s work order management process. Here, in Part 2, we’ll explore five key questions to answer when fixing or replacing your CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) or work order management process.

An unabridged version of this story was featured in the August 2017 edition of industry website AutomatedBuildings.com and can be viewed here. An edited version is included below.

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How an inefficient work order management process hurts tenants, operators and owners—and what to do about it

April 7, 2017 by Alex Ortiz Leave a Comment

For 16 years, McKinstry has proudly delivered a work order maintenance management solution and service—InfoCentre—to help property managers, facility engineers, and building owners deliver faster service to their tenants, increase operating income, and reduce facility operating costs.

Ahead of our “InfoCentre 4.0” launch this summer, McKinstry Account Executive Alex Ortiz penned the first of a two-part series for industry website AutomatedBuildings.com.

That story—How an Inefficient Work Order Management Process Hurts Tenants, Operators, and Owners – and What to Do About It (Part I)—was featured in the April 2017 edition of AutomatedBuildings.com and is reproduced in its entirety below:

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Why simple incentives are the key to dynamic energy efficiency

February 9, 2017 by Michael Frank 1 Comment

Photo by Mark Turnauckas, via Flickr.

What do you think about when you consider extreme energy efficiency? Perhaps you think about gigantic solar arrays, intricate water reclamation technology, or slick computerized building controls.

While all those measures are well and good, you don’t have to buy fancy equipment or use luxury materials to achieve superior energy savings.

When it comes to lowering energy consumption, I believe that simple utility incentives—which are often just a few lines of text—may very well be our most powerful tool.

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A “passive” look at the future of energy efficiency

December 21, 2015 by Skander Spies Leave a Comment

This Passive House—the “O2Haus” in Portland, Oregon—is one of the more than 120 certified by the Passive House Institute U.S. (PHIUS) since 2001. The house was designed by PDX Living. Interestingly, it’s also available to rent on Airbnb. Photo via Flickr & courtesy of PHIUS.

In writing the 2012 Seattle Energy Code, the Seattle Code Committee did something that is perhaps unprecedented in the history of municipal regulations.

Namely, the new code included a path to compliance that would allow developers to essentially do anything they wanted to a building, so long as the building plans met a few simple prerequisites and a strictly-defined energy performance target. This is a provision that provided developers with a unique degree of flexibility, while also giving the city real leverage in mandating energy efficiency.

While this new compliance path in Seattle is optional (there are three other paths that design teams can use to comply with the code), it represents a shift in energy policy that is truly groundbreaking in America. This alternate compliance path is one of the first true “performance-based” codes in the country, and it represents a glimpse of the future.

Quite frankly, the modern construction industry evolved during a time when high performance wasn’t required in the built environment.

That time, however, is passing.

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If you’re cold at work, don’t blame building standards

September 15, 2015 by Kristina Sing 1 Comment

Photo by midnightcomm, via Flickr.

If you were on the Internet in August, you probably saw the headlines.

From the New York Times: “Chilly at Work? Office Formula Was Devised for Men.”

From CNBC: “Is your office too cold? Blame men.”

From San Diego’s KGTV: “Sexist thermostats: Science proves why women freeze at work.”

All of this coverage springs from a study published Aug. 3 in the journal Nature Climate Change. The study found that women have slightly lower resting metabolic rates than men, further arguing that current standards for designing office air conditioning systems are flawed, since they’re based on men’s metabolic rates and fail to factor in that metabolic difference.

While the narrative of “sexist” building standards conspiring to freeze women is undeniably compelling, I think it’s also extremely simplistic and misleading.

[Read more…]

SPARK

Discoveries, innovations, and insights that illuminate the future of the built environment

Tahoma’s powerED Green Team kicks the year in gear

Here’s how Alison Schwabe takes energy action at work and at home

Energized by our future

National Safety Month Spotlight: Client Praises Bill Leistiko and Troy Zimdars

Passion and creativity collide at Carson City School District

How an inefficient work order management process hurts tenants, operators, and owners—and what to do about it (Part 2)

How an inefficient work order management process hurts tenants, operators and owners—and what to do about it

Why simple incentives are the key to dynamic energy efficiency

A “passive” look at the future of energy efficiency

If you’re cold at work, don’t blame building standards

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