We’re Not All Elon Musk

“We're not all Elon Musk in terms of our impact on the world, but we can at least adopt the things that move the world in the right direction to minimize our carbon footprint,” says Graham Swett, Residential Architect and Associate at KGA Studio Architects. With over 40 years of building experience, Graham has seen first-hand the changes to the architectural industry. He notes that changes are being made for the better in regards to environmental impact and safety.

Minimizing our carbon footprint anywhere we can is good for everyone. With the creation of the International Energy Conservation Codes, changes were implemented to make buildings more energy efficient. When buildings are built with tighter codes, there is less environmental impact. When the public is more educated and demands buildings be held to higher standards, that is when we see the greatest push for improvements. 

Tune into this week’s episode of Better Buildings, Better Society for a conversation with Graham and Steven about energy-efficient buildings. Learn more about the changes Graham has observed over the past 40 years working in residential architecture, how the International Energy Conservation codes came about, and how to build better buildings with less environmental impact.

 

Quotes

• “Whenever we can minimize our footprint when it comes to utilizing energy, it is good for everybody.” (3:17-3:23)

• “We're not all Elon Musk in terms of our impact on the world, but we can at least adopt the things that move the world in the right direction to minimize our carbon footprint.” (4:08-4:22)

• “Build tight. Ventilate right.” (14:21-14:23)

• “Our codes are getting tighter and people are building better buildings.” (19:03-19:08)

• “We should be spending a lot more time upfront analyzing and understanding what the decisions we're making are doing and how they're impacting the long term performance of the project.” (32:36-32:50)

• “Never abandon what you already know because of somebody else telling you it's okay.” (42:52-43:01)

• “Having an educated buying public that knows what they should be asking for will drive what our building environment starts to look like because if the demand is there, it'll get built.” (47:30-47:50)

 

Links

https://kgarch.com/

https://kgarch.com/team/graham-swett

 

Learn more about Better Buildings, Better Society:

Website | https://www.dma-eng.com/

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/dma-engineering/

Steven’s Personal LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-forrester-36a91517/

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/dma_engineering/ 

 

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