SPARK

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

We’re ‘walking in’ for climate change

by 1 Comment

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.

[Read more…]
FacebookTwitterLinkedInGoogle GmailPocketGoogle+Share

University of Northern Colorado saves big with energy action

by Leave a Comment

unc_ppp

The University of Northern Colorado (UNC) turned to McKinstry to identify energy-saving measures spanning 1.3 million square feet of campus space and 18 buildings on campus. The effort also included powerED, McKinstry’s behavior-focused energy management program, to boost their sustainability goals.

UNC leveraged powerED to challenge students, staff and faculty to take action in eliminating waste and reducing energy use. A steering committee of more than 25 students and staff assembled to guide the program, and members of UNC’s Green Team volunteered to lead various activities such as a carbon cube demonstration and building energy use tours. Much of the effort focused on demonstrating how small changes – such as turning off lights, unplugging unnecessary electronics, system improvements and conserving energy – can make a big difference.

More than 800 students and staff signed up for a People.Power.Planet account at UNC, checking off over 1,800 routine and 150 key actions to save energy. Through this effort and close collaboration with the facilities team and other departments, UNC has since reduced energy use by 25 percent campus-wide and avoided $1,335,000 in associated energy costs.

[Read more…]