Expertise

Building Resiliency: ASHRAE 241 and Its Impact on Climate and IAQ

Indoor air quality has a major role to play in resilient building design. As the COVID-19 pandemic and the growing presence of climate-related disasters converged in recent years, the need for our indoor spaces to keep us safe, together, and working has become more apparent than ever. Recently, we were joined by Dr. William Bahnfleth of […]

Concepts

How Will California’s New Energy Code Affect School Design and Construction?

Recently, Michael Adams of Glumac’s Energy team sat down with HMC Architects to discuss the impacts of Title 24 code updates on the design of education spaces. His interview is reproduced here with HMC’s permission. Every three years, the California Energy Commission (CEC) updates its section of the Building Standards Code, Title 24 Part 6 […]

Concepts

The Carbon Reduction Opportunity of Adaptive Reuse is Too Large to Ignore

We’ve discussed building embodied carbon a lot at Glumac, stating its overall necessity as part of a global carbon drawdown, strategies for reducing it in new buildings, and even the impact material choices have on a building’s life-long carbon footprint. And that materials challenge looms large. Though many manufacturers still do not disclose the embodied […]

Expertise

Reflections on COP27 – Decarbonization

This post was made in part of a series along side our partners in Tetra Tech’s High Performance Buildings Group. You can read the rest of the group’s posts here. COP27 is focused on action this year. As global leaders gather, the priorities to are twofold: accountability, and; solutions to implement now. Accountability  Loss and damage […]

Expertise

Impacts of Inflation Reduction Act

The climate provisions in the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are substantial. The sustainable design community’s advocacy efforts and demonstrated projects promoting efficient, low carbon, resilient and healthy buildings has finally manifested into U.S. policy creating new climate funding resources and extending existing programs. For a quick understanding of IRA’s climate provisions, we like […]
WELL Building Standard

Announcements

Glumac Joins AIA 2030 and CLF MEP 2040 Challenges

As of February 2022, Glumac is officially participating in the AIA 2030 and Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF) MEP 2040 challenges. Over the next 18 years, our engineers will be committed to low carbon building design and operation. Nicole Isle, Chief Sustainability Strategist for Glumac says our participation in these challenges is vital to slow global […]

Concepts

Carbon Drawdown: An Imperative in the Built Environment

Human influence on warming the atmosphere, ocean, and land is an unequivocal fact. Each of the last four decades has been successively warmer than any decade that preceded it since 1850 as greenhouse gas (GHG) have continued to concentrate in the atmosphere. In 2019, atmospheric CO2 concentrations were higher than at any time in at […]

Great Projects

ULI Northwest: Burnside Boardwalk project focuses on energy efficiency and solar energy production

To see innovation on display, take the Blue Line on Portland’s light rail train to the East 162nd station. Directly across the street is Burnside Boardwalk, a carbon-neutral, affordable housing project that is expected to be complete by the end of 2021. SEED LLC, the firm building Burnside Boardwalk, began the project with a focus on […]

Expertise

Expert Interview: The Benefits of On-Site Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

We spoke with Scott Clemons, a electrical engineer with Glumac who breaks down the environmental and financial benefits of owning on-site electric vehicle charging stations and why they offer unique opportunities for those who purchase them. ### There are a few different types of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. Can you describe them? Level 1 […]

Expertise

Data-Driven Design Series | Analyzing Water Use and Reuse

For our latest installment in our Data-Driven Design Series, we spoke with Jon Robertson, Glumac’s Lone Star Region Plumbing Manager, about strategies for reaching net zero water and how we’re improving the water efficiency of our projects. Water reuse and conservation is a major aspect of resilient design in the face of climate change. In […]

Concepts

Materials: Beyond Energy’s Impact on a Building’s Carbon Footprint

While a lot of attention is paid to the role transportation plays in the massive carbon draw down necessary to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, designers in the built environment actually have a much larger piece of the carbon pie to slice: Building materials. Expanded public transit and electric vehicles definitely play a […]

Concepts

Data-Driven Design Series | The Impact of Building Electrification

For our latest installment in our Data-Driven Design Series, we spoke with Brian Goldcrump, Glumac’s Northern Region Energy Director, about the impact our power grid has on building decarbonization. With the recent efforts by states on the West Coast to divorce their energy grid from fossil fuels, building system electrification now presents a real and […]

Expertise

Rainwater Harvesting Rebates Now Available in Austin

Austin, TX, has implemented a series of rebates and guidelines to improve the rainwater harvesting capacities of residential and commercial buildings. As much as $100,000 is available per project, including $5,000 for rainwater harvesting equipment, and $5,000 to conduct a water efficiency audit. The immediate impacts on a building’s efficiency and performance are obvious, but […]

Expertise

Data Driven Design: Harnessing Building Analytics to Deliver a Low Carbon Future

We’re introducing the first episode of our new Data-Driven Design Series, where we discuss with various experts both in and outside Glumac on cutting edge concepts we are currently integrating on building design projects across the world. Here, we talk with Glumac Energy Engineer Gordon Stewart about his work building interactive dashboards that help owners […]

Expertise

Focus on Climate Change Ramps Up With New West Coast Building Energy Initiatives

As the energy grid across the West Coast becomes more reliant on clean power sources, Washington, Oregon, and California are responding with legislation that will push new and existing buildings to improve their energy efficiencies and carbon emissions. Our Energy team is here to help you chart a path to compliance and carbon reduction. Here […]

Concepts

Personal Environments to Mitigate the Spread of COVID-19

As part of our work with Tetra Tech’s COVID-19 Task Force, we discussed with Dr. Willaim Bahnfleth, Chairman of the ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force, and Dr. Michael Kaiser, esteemed infectious disease expert, how personal environment style air purifiers can mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in the built environment, and create healthier spaces in the future. […]

Concepts

Design Challenge: Focus on Future Occupants

Over the next several weeks, we will be publishing a series on Sustainable Building Design Challenges and how our Sustainability Consulting Team responds to them. We asked the group a series of questions related to building design. This is the first entry in that series. How do we make sure today’s big picture thinking results […]

Concepts

Bipolar Ionization & COVID-19: Our Experts Weigh In

Bipolar Ionization has been claimed to potentially mitigate, or reduce, the spread of bacteria and viruses throughout a space. Bipolar Ionization works by introducing positive and negative ions into the air. The ionization causes production of clusters of hydroxyl (OH) radicals, which are formed on the surface of microbes, removing hydrogen from the microbes’ cell […]

Concepts

Expert Interview: The Role MEP Design Plays in Designing Equitable Spaces

We spoke to Mechanical Engineer Staci Atwater on how MEP engineers and architects can work together to create more equitable spaces for occupants. Staci is certified as a WELL Accredited Professional and Living Future Ambassador. She specializes in sustainable projects, such as net zero energy (NZE) buildings and projects pursuing LEED, WELL, or Living Building […]

Concepts

Fresh Air & Daylight: The Importance of Healthy Buildings in a Pandemic

Wellness may finally be having its day as a critical function of building design. Over the last decade, architects and engineers have been working to educate owners and developers on the wellness impacts of sustainable building design approaches in creating healthier and more productive lives for their occupants. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that […]