The amount of greenhouse gas emissions that buildings are responsible for is unbelievable. Construction and operations of buildings account for up to 50% of global emissions. Everything from heating and cooling a building, to keeping the lights on, to the materials it’s made out of contribute to climate change. But luckily, there’s a movement toward more sustainable architecture.
In today’s episode, we explore green buildings with one of the OG architects in the space, Eric Corey Freed. He’s the Principal and Director of Sustainability for CannonDesign and author of “Green Building & Remodeling for Dummies.” Eric has won countless awards and titles relating to green architecture.
On the show, we talked about the pros and cons of retrofitting versus building new and how we can construct more climate resilient buildings.
In recent years, climate-minded companies all over the world have made commitments to reach net zero emissions. That means cutting emissions as close to zero as possible and then funding carbon capture and carbon removal to make up for the rest.
Brennan Spellacy is the founder of a software company called Patch. Patch helps businesses reach net zero by connecting them with carbon removal developers. In this episode, we get into Brennan’s journey as an entrepreneur, his version of a book recommendation, and the idea of ‘undoing’ pollution by funding carbon removal and carbon capture projects.
Will mining ever be sustainable? How do we deal with the sins of the past and move forward in a responsible way?
We explore this in today’s episode with Rohitesh Dhawan, President and CEO of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM). ICMM brings together 26 of the world's largest mining and metals companies to work collectively on issues of sustainable development.
We talked to Rohitesh about the work he’s doing at ICMM and the commitments the council is making. We get into how mining and the circular economy intersect, misconceptions about the mining industry, and the increased demand for metals that the sustainability sector creates.
This week’s guest has been watching and writing about the sustainability world for over 30 years and he provided us with some unique perspectives.
Joel Makower is a journalist and the chairman and co-founder of GreenBiz, a media and events company focusing on the intersection of business and the clean economy. He had a syndicated newspaper column, he contributes to the radio show, Marketplace, and he has authored over a dozen books.
This episode really feels more like we had a third host than a guest. He also brought up new subjects for the podcast, including, what a green consumer is, criticisms of the sustainability industry, and changing economic systems.
Startups are looking at the climate challenge from all angles. For today’s episode, we’re talking to one that’s helping facilitate the move to clean energy through intelligent software. Peter Knowles is the president of Financial Machines. In our conversation, he told me about how his startup evolved from a consultancy to software based advisory, which is a feat in itself.
On the show, Peter and I also dove deep into energy storage, renewable energy and the challenges of fundraising for a startup.
