Chinese New Year 2018
Chinese New Year 2018
Year of the Yellow Earth Dog
Welcome the year of the Yellow Earth Dog. The Rooster of last year announced the dawn of a new day. The term I hear frequently is “disruption” as the rooster’s crow disrupts the morning peace. While the energy of the Rooster was displayed last year, so will the energy of the Dog be emphasized in 2018. This means that while the characteristics of friendliness, loyalty and service will be increased, so will the traits of attacking, biting, quarreling and fighting. The Earth of this dog year suggests good outcomes for things related to real estate, agriculture, the environment and the like. Let’s hope so. In 2018, treat others with respect and empathy. Pay attention to finances and health. To see the predictions for your Chinese zodiac sign in the Year of the Dog, click here.
2018 commences the tenth anniversary of Doo Consulting!
Doo Consulting was founded in the fall of 2007 to provide sustainability-consulting services to projects, companies and communities. We have contributed to innumerable projects administrating LEED, Green Globes and Living Building Challenge certifications. Our work with companies began with Potomac Valley Brick but now expands in our offering of Corporate Social Responsibility assessments for small businesses (see below). We recently completed the Sustainability Plan for the Town of Bowie and continue to seek opportunities of neighborhood and community collaborations for greater sustainability.
Doo Consulting has opened an office in Denver!
Spencer Bollacker who was a LEED project manager in Baltimore will be heading up the Denver office. We look forward to growing our business in the West. Watch our news feed for updates on our progress there. Doo Consulting is a certified Asian owned business in Colorado.
We are now offering Corporate Social Responsibility services for small businesses.
Led by Rebecca Gullott, early clients include the Furbish Company and Mouth Party Caramels. Focusing on small and start-up businesses, Doo Consulting assists in identifying a company’s environmental and social impact priorities, benchmarking those measures and outlining a plan to achieve corporate goals in those areas. Doo Consulting is collaborating with the Colorado Institute for Social Impact (CI4SI).
Camden Yard Stadium Complex has been submitted for certification under the LEED EBOM rating system.
Doo Consulting, working with Paladino and Company, has submitted the Stadium Complex including the Stadium and the Warehouse. The project utilized the Master Site approach to streamline the documentation and review process. The project is currently under review.
Lisa Julian Miller joins Doo Consulting as marketing director.
Having worked together in the past, Peter and Lisa are pleased to be working together again at Doo Consulting. Lisa has provided marketing and business development services for architects and engineers for more than 30 years. She has been an active member of the Society of Marketing Professionals since 1984 and is a Certified Professional Services Marketer. She is a past president of the Maryland Chapter of the Society and has been a frequent presenter at Society events including for the Maryland and Seattle chapters as well as at the National Convention. Lisa will be coordinating marketing efforts for the Baltimore and Denver offices.
The Doo Consulting staff has achieved new accreditations in 2017.
Lorraine is Fitwel accredited in addition to her previous WELL Building accreditation. LEED v4 accreditations were achieved in LEED Homes, LEED BD+C and LEED ID+C by Mudhar, Rebecca and Peter respectively. Additionally, Megan became a LEED Green Associate and Peter an NGBS Verifier for residential construction. In addition to new accreditations, Doo Consulting is doing code reviews for the International Green Construction Code (IgCC) throughout Maryland and DC. Doo Consulting is now a member of the International Code Council.
What’s Next?
If you’re new to our family, read our past Chinese New Year blogs to see what we’ve been excited about. Each year we have identified innovative products or trends that we see being able to affect greater sustainability. For 2018, we see a number of trends having arrived or coming to a tipping point. Here are five.
1. Net Zero Building
Net zero building has been just over the horizon for a couple of years. We are seeing an increase in the number of requests to explore the possibilities of net zero among our clients. One is reading about an increasing number of NZE projects from affordable housing to schools. A number of schools in the Baltimore/Washington region are net zero or net zero ready including the Discovery School in Arlington, Virginia, Wilde Lake Middle School in Howard County, and Graceland and Holabird Schools in Baltimore, Maryland. As the Discovery School link reveals, many more NZE schools are in the works around the nation. Other types of buildings are lining up as well.
2. Healthy Buildings
Occupant health and well-being are the new pursuits in sustainable architecture. We are learning more about the beneficial effects of improved air quality and healthy building materials. See our previous blog about the Harvard/Syracuse study. Active Design makes it more convenient and pleasant to take the stairs rather than the elevator, provides optional work station designs to accommodate standing desks and other active and ergonomic choices, and encourages building occupants to move around throughout the day. WELL and Fitwel certifications are gaining traction in the marketplace indicating that interest in this benefit of sustainable design is rising.
3. Rating System Crosswalks and Alignments
The past couple of years have seen a proliferation of rating systems. Today, on the Green Business Certification Inc (GBCI) website, there are eight rating systems for everything from parking garages to parks. The International Living Future Institute (ILFI) displays seven certifications from products to cities. In addition to these fifteen rating systems, there is BREEAM, Green Globes, Green Communities, National Green Building Standards, Passive House, Fitwel and the new building codes. We believe 2018 will be the year of rating system integration. Exactly what this will look like is yet to be determined. The WELL Building Institute provides a peek into one possibility with its WELL Crosswalk. Check it out.
4. Resiliency
With the anticipated effects of climate change including more frequent and intense weather events, cities are preparing for everything from fires, drought, floods, storms and the associated functional and economic disruptions. The past year experienced hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, the California drought and fires, and floods in the Midwest. Estimates are that the cost of these natural disasters in 2017 total 306 billion dollars. Barely into 2018, California experienced the Montecito mudslide. Forecasters predict more of the same. Adaptation and resiliency planning is just good preparation. The AIA held its first Resilience Summit in 2015. Architects, landscape architects and planners can mitigate disaster impacts and contribute to greater resilience through thoughtful design.
5. Corporate Social Responsibility
Virtually all-major corporations have integrated corporate social responsibility (CSR) into their operations and culture. But the American economy is driven equally by the many small businesses who have generated 64% of all new jobs since 1995 and paid 44% of the total US private payroll. For many of the reasons mentioned in the other trends mentioned in this blog, small businesses are increasingly interested in their environmental and social impacts. Small business CSR is on the rise. Doo Consulting sees this trend as one that will drive environmental sustainability, resiliency, wellness and other efforts affecting our industry. As a result, we have developed a new package of services to help small businesses get on the path to responsible growth.
None of the trends mentioned above are new, however we see each of these as having reached a tipping point in their development that their adoption will be mainstreamed in 2018. If predictions are correct, the Year of the Yellow Earth Dog bodes well.
For more than a decade, Doo Consulting has retained a leadership role in the green building and business arena locally and nationally. For more information or to inquire about a project, contact us here.
