HY-brid team member Paul von Paumgartten reflects on what Earth Day means to him. For all of us at HY-brid it is an exciting time to be meeting with and helping businesses understand how to develop and communicate their sustainability platforms to their stakeholders. Happy Earth Day!

For those of us in the green space, Earth Day holds a special place in our minds. For me, it brings back memories of Earth Day 2000. Ten years ago, an exhausted but passionate team of green idealists were about to launch our baby, LEED NC. As everyone in the building industry now knows, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system has become the standard for the design and construction of new buildings across the world. We picked Earth Day 2000, partly because of it’s symbolism, but also because we were tired of debating the merits of various prerequisites and credits. It was time to take this baby for a spin and see if the marketplace would embrace it. Boy, what a ride it has been. Thousands of buildings have been registered and certified, but perhaps the best indicator of market acceptance has been the number of building industry professionals who have studied the rating system and taken a test to become accredited. We now have over 150,000 LEED Accredited Professionals (AP), which is an amazing accomplishment.

Some would say we are in the “Green Century” or the “Age of Energy and the Environment”.
Certainly the green building industry has had a major impact on the whole sustainability movement. Those who launched LEED on Earth Day 2000 are very proud of what has been accomplished as we reflect on Earth Day 2010.

As always, if you would like help understanding your organization’s sustainability efforts and how to talk about them, contact us, it’s why we’re here.

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We’re really excited to share the news that Paul von Paumgartten has joined HY-brid! He brings more than 25 years of energy efficiency, green buildings and green communications experience to the team. We couldn’t be happier that he’s here to share that knowledge with us so we can make your ‘green’ messages even more meaningful to your stakeholders.

Paul’s background includes being an original board member of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). He is active in Alliance for Sustainable Built Environments, and is a board member of the Wisconsin Green Building Alliance. His expertise, paired with HY-brid’s understanding of green communications makes us an attractive partner for communicating your sustainability efforts to stakeholders.

Speaking of your green messages– our EcoMapsm process helps communicate your green efforts to internal and external audiences and turn your environmental responsibility into a competitive advantage. In addition, HY-brid can help your organization identify the ways in which it is already green and provide you with the kind of vision and leadership to help your organization become greener. Paul’s addition to HY-brid allows us to not only help you communicate your efforts but also to uncover the energy and money savings opportunities in your organization.

For more information on the EcoMap process, the questions to ask before you take your message to market or, if you simply want to learn more about HY-brid, send us a message, we’d like to hear from you.

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The following is a guest blog authored by Paul von Paumgartten. Read more about Paul at the end of the post.

It’s hard to believe it’s been 7 years since the 1st Greenbuild in Austin, Texas. In 2002, a little more than 4,000 people attended and there were only a few hundred exhibitors. By the way, we (the USGBC) were thrilled with those numbers for a first year show. This year in Phoenix, we had over 25,000 attendees and more than 1000 exhibitors. Even in a down economy, the “green building movement” is alive and well. There is, however, a major shift occurring in the green world. For the last decade, the green building movement has been dominated by the design community and construction of new buildings.

The focus is now shifting to the existing building market. One obvious reason is the devastating decline in the new construction market. The economic downturn is not expected to turn around anytime soon so the new construction industry is turning to the existing building stock for relief. The challenge for them is that the existing building market is totally different— different players, different drivers, different buyers, different everything. That isn’t stopping everyone from moving in that direction though. One only has to look at the size of our existing building stock – 4.7 million commercial buildings, 70 billion square feet, and the majority use 30% more energy than they need to.

The new trend could be called Retrogreening – the retrofit and greening of existing buildings. The blending of energy efficiency and high performance green buildings was featured in several Greenbuild education sessions. One in particular presented two iconic projects – The Empire State Building and the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower). These highly successful projects are using the retrogreening process to harvest significant energy and operational savings while going through Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. This is clearly an idea whose time has come. One begins to wonder if Greenbuild would be better named Greenbuilt – just a thought.

About Paul von Paumgartten
Senior Green Building Adviser, Johnson Controls, Inc.

As Senior Green Building Adviser for Johnson Controls, Paul von Paumgartten develops business opportunities while leveraging the company’s energy efficiency and environmental record. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and he is also Board President of the Energy Services Coalition. Through his efforts, he assisted Johnson Controls in earning the ENERGY STAR® 1999 Ally of the Year and 2001 Partner of the Year awards. With the USGBC, he is Co-chairman of the LEED–Steering Committee and the committee for developing LEED for Existing Buildings.

Previously, Mr. von Paumgartten served the Building Efficiency, as the National Manager, Lighting Services, and as Director of Performance Contracting. Before joining Johnson Controls, he was in management positions with McGraw Edison Company; and President of his own consulting firm, Productive Environments.

If you’ve thought about Retrogreening, or if you have already taken some steps to make your building more efficient you should be letting your stakeholders know. If you would like to know how, or if you simply want to learn more about HY-brid, send us a message, we would like to hear from you.

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