Session Moderator: Eric Anderson, Axis Architecture


Mark Heirbrandt, Ameresco : An energy services firm that provides renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy management services for governments, companies, etc.


Cameron Smith, Shiel Sexton (general contractor/construction management) a variety of projects construction and retrofit/renovation projects that focus on attaining LEED certification and energy/water/waste reduction. Some example projects presented:

* Keep Indianapolis Beautiful retrofit project Included rainwater collection, LEED gold certification, wind turbines (which efficiency of which has been criticized). Overall this project acheived 20% energy effiiciency and 35.7 water efficiency.

* Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics 50% energy efficiency; 75% waste reduction

Vop Osili, A2so4 Architecture, LLC As an architect who is now running for Indianapolis City Council, Vop advocated for building owners to start a dialogue with policy makers around this issue. We need incentives, regulations, financing, etc. to drive more sustainable design, construction and retrofitting.



Questions and Discussion:

* Are companies more interested in efficiency now?
Government officials and building owners are more interested in now, but are really just scratching the surface now with what is possible.

* Does it have to cost more, to retrofit or build a building to high efficiency standards, than a standard build or remodel?
A tricky question, and the answer is "it depends," but the opportunity absolutely does exist to build to high efficiency standards for the same cost or with very attractive payback/ROI rates on the investments in efficiency.

-- Vop suggests that a new commercial development could cost 15% more if building to the highest standards.

* How to finance sustainability and how to engage lenders in this conversation?

- Commerical lenders need to be engaged. They are the ones that need to consider making these investments available and manage the risk.
- Current interest rates are low, perhaps too low to attract lenders.

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next step:
Financing
Staying in touch
possibly broaden the conversation (perhaps too much on energy)