Finding the low-hanging fruit of efficiency retrofits
I get asked a lot what are the top opportunities for efficiency retrofits. I never answer that question because there are always SO MANY opportunities for retrofit. Let’s face it, we are only limited...
Contemplating solar
My husband tells me this is a true event, although I do not have any memory of it. In 2017, I had surgery and underwent general anesthesia. When finally allowed to see me, my...
Eat your vegetables!
When my cousin was five, he hated peas. Passionately. I remember one family dinner at my grandmother’s house where he had consumed everything on his plate except a small pile of green peas and...
Zoning sets the foundation for sustainability
Recently, ULI’s Lewis Center for Sustainability hosted a sustainability exchange session, titled: Reshaping the City: Zoning for Sustainability, Health, and Inclusion, in which Sara C. Bronin, author of “Key To The City” discussed how...
The double materiality payoff
The 1944 Film Noir, “Double Indemnity, gets its title from the insurance clause which doubles life insurance payouts due to death occurring in a rare way. Whenever I hear the sustainability term “double materiality”,...
Clearing the air on gas ranges
If you have not watched the movie, “Caddy Shack” I highly recommend it. Not only is it one of Bill Murray’s finest performances, but it also contains one of the most hilarious scenes ever,...
Exploring the energy-water nexus
I am normally not a Dane Cook fan. As far as comedians go, I am more of a George Carlin and Doug Stanhope fan. Stanhope’s “Kick How You Kick” piece basically gave me permission...
Prettiest girl in the room
Did you ever watch a rom-com from the 1990’s? Invariably some super popular hot ultra cool guy is given a dollar to date some bookish, plain-Jane with a ponytail and glasses. At some point...
Who’s afraid of the BPS?
I love that my neighborhood leans into Halloween. The witches, ghosts, and skeletons are filling the yards down our block. Some are animatronic/motion activated with limbs stiffly gesturing, saying phrases like, “I will be...
Does daylight savings save?
When I was in California, I had a famous quote by Albert Einstein on a sign by my door: “Energy cannot be created or destroyed.”
And underneath it in wiggly handwriting I wrote “But it...
Requiem for sustainability?
As a practitioner of sustainability in multifamily, sometimes I hear things that crack me up. My all-time favorite was an article about a town in North Carolina which moved to ban solar because it...
Digital ecosystems for modern apartment communities
A key component of having economically sustainable digital infrastructure in apartment buildings is investing in wiring, according to Dan Myers, the president and founder of Dojo Network.
Myers shared his thoughts along with a panel...
Which is the “worst” is very personal
When it comes to emissions Scopes, which is the worst? I get asked that a lot. I think it is sort of subjective and depends on where you are standing and what “worst” you...
Water management is elemental
Since California got a hose-in-the-sky rain this week, it is a good time for us to think about water. Right now, California has loads of water, possibly more than its infrastructure was designed to...
A matter of location
A recent article on Trellis said that automobile manufacturers are pulling back from electric vehicle production due to lags in sales compared with those of other types of automobiles. This raises the question for...
