Small Steps to an Energy Independent World, Montpelier's Electric Vehicle Charging Station

All-Electric Vehicle Charging Station in Montpelier, VT

     Yesterday while downtown in Montpelier, I walked behind City Hall and literally ran into something I've never seen before and which given April 22nd and Earth Day is just around the corner it's definitely worth sharing. It's also just another reason why I think Montpelier is the best place to live in Vermont. We do stuff.  Seriously good stuff.  

     In February, the City and Green Mountain Power teamed up to install a free solar powered electric vehicle charging station behind city hall.  It's the third one for GMP so far, with one installed in South Burlington and Colchester.  Last week I pumped over $4.00/ gallon gas into my cars for the second time in my life, the last being in 2008.  I read yesterday how hybrids and all electric vehicles had there best month ever in the Burlington Free Press and here as described in the March 2012 Hybrid Dashboard.  I believe it.  While the current percentage of the total vehicle sales pie is small at 3.5% or so it's a rapidly growing segment of the market fed by high prices at the gas pumps.  

Advanced Social Media Workshop Tips and Tricks from the VTSBDC and e-commerce vermont

Pat Ripley, presenter from e-commerce VT

     This morning I'm at an advanced social media workshop presented by Pat Ripley, State Broadband Adviser and e-commerce liason to the VtSBDC.  He provides workshops like this around the state to large and small communities helping Vermont businesses with their web presence, social media and media marketing efforts.
      We're located in the beautiful TW Wood Gallery at the VCFA on the Vermont College campus.  Pat's sharing both basics and best practices for small and large businesses to work with sites such as facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIN, Hootsuite, Google + among many.
      Sitting in the audience are business people running retail businesses, service firms, small and large non-profits all seeking to learn and energize their social media activity.  I'm here because I'm a self-admitted social media explorer.  I tend to try out new services, be an early adopter and spread myself thin with less focus than maybe is helpful.  I'm here to find more coherence in my business strategy.
     So in the space of the first 45 mins we've done an overview of the social media universe, how old style "Push style" advertising where businesses push out via traditional media with advertising where you're telling people about your business versus "Pull Style" interactions where relationships matter.  Pat's mantra is it's all about building and maintaining relationships whatever the media source.  He shared data people trust advertising 14% of the time while personal recommendations and referrals garner something like 90% or more of the time.  People trust other people's opinions.
     For me this resonates with my belief of how I try to work with various social media sites.  Rather than blindly voice updates about how cool and great your business is it's a lot more engaging, fun and real if you share information you actually find compelling which other's might enjoy or find useful.  It's the cosmic bank, where sharing and giving is intrinsic to success.
   
So it's all about relationships and creating quality interactions.  Not quantity.

Workplace, Innovation and Technology; A Trio of New York Times Articles

Two different friends (Thanks Dave and Chris!) involved in creating and cultivating work communities and workplaces here in VT mentioned I would enjoy reading some articles from last Sunday's New York Times. 

Sunday's Business section had a big spread on workplace, innovation and grappling with a technology overloaded world.  I suggest you find 20 mins of quality away time to peruse them. It'll be well worth your while. You'll learn how Google, DreamWorks and General Electric innovate with their workplaces.  

Whether you're considering renovating, adding or building out your workplace, unifying your brand messaging while building a stronger work community or all three and more, this is a must read moment! 

Creating choices of workspace and amplifying engagement was a key takeaway for me among many. It'a about providing your work community a wide range of choices of work spaces, moving beyond the 8x8 cube into a range of formal meeting rooms of various sizes, smaller 1-3 person away spaces such as phone booths or just in time rooms, then on to more informal "backyard" areas with a collection of easy chairs or sofas, mobile white boards and places to put coffee cups and snacks the fuel seeding innovation and collaboration. 

As these articles so eloquently share and our experiences working with clients show, plan on a lot more informal meeting area, collaboration spaces, away spaces while allocating less square footage for dedicated or non dedicated workstations. Perhaps 50/50 or 60/40 ratios accordingly. 15 years ago it was more like 20/80 or 30/70, but not any more. The new normal is to provide more choices in the workspace, there by cultivating innovation, collaboration and creativity. 

Today's tactical everyday business needs shift with evolution of mobile technology, collaborative surfaces, tele-phresence and cloud computing. Adaptive, flexible workspace along with quiet high focus large and small spaces are essential to building effective high performing, engaged work communities. The NBBJ designed Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Campus in Seattle directly related to the specifics of the business needs of their team and supporting getting the work done as effectively as possible while also supporting vastly different work style and collaboration needs.

Design for flexibility and plan for change from the get go. It means considering using movable architectural wall products which like workstation furniture can adapt to fast changing business and organizational needs where sizes, numbers and types of spaces may rapidly shift over the course of 3-5 years. Investing in metal stud, drywall and glass side lites may be more affordable at move-in but severely diminishes future flexibility for rapid adaption to organizational change.

And that workstation may not need to be as big as it used to be. With digital technologies and paperless transactions more normal than ever workstation storage demands are much less than five or ten years ago. And the sizes of stations are shrinking to fit the reduced paper needs while providing desk space for 1 to 2 additional monitors to facilitate paperless work. 

Anyway, I digress away from the big picture the New York Times presents in their suite of Sunday Business articles. Focus on providing choice and flexibility to enhance work community engagement coupled with three dimensional branding which resonates with core company mission, values and messaging.

Casio G-Shock Watch Design Offers Escapist Fun(ction)

I have four Casio G-shock watches. I buy them because they are great underwater down to 200 meters. They last a really long time and withstand lots of punishment.

Ok, I'm not a Navy Seal nor am I a deep sea diver. I'm currently wearing a bright red Rescue series watch with moon phases and tides for my location. This along with a myriad of other timekeeping features. I also can look at times adjusted for different world cities in 29 different time zones.

Something about the romance of water and far a way places! And the red color. I'm really a big kid. The red is great fun. I wear this watch everywhere, even when I put on a suit and tie.

Casio G-Shock - G7900A-4

Wearing it reminds me I'm supposed to be having fun and not be so serious. The one thing it lacks (right now) is smart phone capability where I can talk into it like Dick Tracy used to talk into his watch (acutally a two-way wrist radio)  I'd imagine it would have to coordinate with a bluetooth ear piece design wise.  Is this in the works Casio watch and technology designers?  I hope so.  Question is can you make a submersible to 200 meters phone watch with a touch screen?  Wouldn't that be something?

Keeping Posts Simple

A Simple Line -Winter's Frosting
copyright Stephen M. Frey, 2011

Is writing a blog post a good idea with an Apple iTouch? Or a similar smart device? I think so.

Here's why.

Maybe it maximizes the reader's experience of whatever I'm sharing and is respectful of their time. Writing from such a device ensures I say only so much as I am not fluent in typing on such a small screen.  Yet.  Or maybe never.  So the device helps focus the writer's attention on saying only what matters most.

The small size also means it's portable so it can go with me wherever I go.  Perhaps having it around will make it easier to post more frequently about ideas, trends, people influencing designcultivation.blogspot.com.

The small form factor shapes how you respond to the urge to write about something essentially.  Here's a question; what if you adopt this mentality using a laptop or writing an email?

See the recent Email Charter or the movement to keep emails short with voluntary following of the three sentences or five sentences rule (see threesentences.com, foursentences.com, fivesentences.com)?  In the interest of promoting quality time away from email you can do your best to adhere to the policy of writing and responding in 3-5 sentences.

Writing in the active rather than passive voice while using simple verbs and adjectives, energizes your text not deadens it.  Maybe this will activate the conversation?  Can't hurt?

Over the last year I have steadily seen people write emails to me with much simpler language.  Usually they    have only one or two ideas they're focusing on.  Maybe I'm a little slow but I figured out recently they're writing from a smart phone or texting from a cell phone.  Detail is out.  Brevity in.  They don't have a choice. The device drives the communication style.

They also might be using their intuition when they realize they're writing something very detailed and recognize its better to cut to the chase and call someone or visit them face to face about what you're writing about or responding to.  Try it, especially before you hit the send button, before you inflict irreversible pain on yourself and others.  Life is too short.  I have learned the hard way, believe me.

So since I'm not very bright but catch on after a while I'm thinking this is a good idea.  So look for simpler communications of all types from designcultivation, Stephen M. Frey on LinkedIN, @designcultivate or  @arocordisdesign on Twitter, or arorcordisdesign on Facebook.

I include an image from last Winter in keeping with the spirit of this post.  "A Simple Line".  That's my mantra for 2012 and beyond.  What's yours?

Do you have any communication tips and suggestions balancing the needs of short and long form online media, paper media, especially as it relates to the design fields?  Please share!

Innovating Our Way Through Lunch at Tech Jam VT 2011

     Recently, just this past Saturday I ate my way through the most innovative lunch and learn session I've experienced in years.  I sat near the front of a very receptive crowd upstairs in the recently vacated Borders retail space now hosting for two days the fifth annual Tech Jam VT.
     While eating we waited for what was soon to become a very unusual and informative learning session to begin.  Even though technical difficulties delayed the start, those waiting didn't seem to mind. The added time gave us all extra moments to talk to one another and mingle a bit with nearby exhibitors.
     We were there to listen to representatives from Google and Dealer.Com to speak and share insight on "Fostering Innovation in the Workplace"and hopefully learn some things to apply to our businesses and workplaces.  Organizers designed the session to be highly interactive with panelists briefly highlighting key aspects of how innovation happens in their workplaces followed by ample time for audience Q&A.
     The panel was brought to us by the organizers of the 5th Annual Tech Jam VT.  It featured Craig Neville-Manning, engineering director for Google New York and Matt Dunne, head of community affairs for Google (a former Democratic Gubernatorial candidate from Vermont).  The panel also featured Luke Dion, senior director of product development and Mike DeCecco, director of business development both from Dealer.Com the major sponsor of TechJam.
     Craig couldn't physically be there because of family obligations and the Nor' Easter pounding at that moment the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut areas.  Craig joined us by live audio and video  feed.  It really didn't matter and actually added to the vibe in the room.
     Luke and Mike from Dealer kicked off the session by highlighting how key aspects of their fast growing company culture and workplace supported their work in a "Google Lite" manner.  Through a combination of open collaborative work areas, meeting spaces, common areas like cafes, wellness spaces and yes even a full-size indoor tennis court and an open door management style they set the stage for innovative interactions at the core of their innovative work culture.
     Through a seemingly extraordinary focus on people, place and process Dealer fosters a spirit of openness, creativity and trust.  Bright high intensity colors and a sparse modern feel of the spaces echo the dynamic pulse of the business and cheerfulness of their team based approach to work.
     As their space forms the physical backbone of the business their Life program supports the softer side by helping employees eat healthier, exercise more and take care of their minds and bodies in a more holistic people centered approach.  Similarly they said "Their work culture is set up so no one is more special than anyone else".  They practice an open door management style where management's job is to provide the best inspiration and resources to their teams and quickly "get out of the way and to let them do their jobs".

Dear Klout, Can You Help Me?

Dear Klout,

My Klout score algorithms must be out of wack! My badge score has gone from the thirties, forties & now in the teens in the space of days? Should I stay with you if your algorithms create daily changes all over the map? Each day it seems I'm in totally different categories with back histories & trending showing completely different patterns. If the Klout Badge is to be trustworthy this shouldn't happen. Right?

However, if you're a dynamic ever growing social media tool this might be happening.  My question is if its unstable like it has been recently will badge holders like me go elsewhere?  You might explain on your website more in detail how and why things change so much.

Here's some details.....

What Steve Jobs Means to Me and Us

    Losing Steve Jobs today is sad for so many.  I grew up with Apple first as an upstart hip some would say way out of bounds computer company in the early 80's.  My dad worked for IBM and was everything Big Blue.  So of course when I read about and saw early stuff about Apple, the two Steve's, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniack I was all ears.
    Steve and Steve inspired me then to think outside the box, that's its ok to innovate, heck you can even start something in your garage.  Maybe you didn't know how to run a business but if you had an idea,  ingenuity and a whole lot of chutzpah  you could imagine and act on making a better world.
     Today I am parent of 13 year and 11 year old boys and am so excited to share with them some of the interesting, game changing Apple products and tools so many of us seem unable to live without, our iPods, iTouches, MacBooks.  My boys ironically feel the same I did way back when about all of these things.  They're inspired as I am only for different reasons I think.
     Peering down into our new iTouch screen light lighting up their eyes and faces they see a world of possibilities I never dreamed of when I was their age.  As they dance circles around me showing intuitively how the iTouch works, where to find things in the interfaces and such, I say to myself under my breath, what technologies and how will they be living with them as they age and mature?
     How will they work?  Will there be "offices" as we understand them today? Will their kids when they are the same age as they are now and they're adults seem the same to them as they do to me?  Given what I've seen the answer is so far is a resounding yes.  Saying so cause the hair on my neck rise in excitement and my pulse quicken.
     Reflecting again on the passing of Steve Jobs and thinking about the world of possibilities before us, the sense of invention and inspiration surrounding us I can't think of a more fitting epitaph and legacy for this giant of technology and cultural change.  We owe so much to you and your drive to explore. We'll miss your unbounded passion, always surpassing the boundaries of the possible, seeking new places filled with invention, innovation and more gracefulness.

    Thanks Steve.  

Workplace and Innovation - Some Thoughts

     Fall is upon Vermont in its wondrous glory.  We transition from the outward focused time of summer to the more inward reflective moments we experience with the change of seasons.  Maybe this is why even in adulthood we're still wired to "back to school time".

A Fiery Maple Tree - Crimson Abundance 

     Maybe that's why I so much enjoyed a recent seminar on Innovation, Culture and Workplace issues given by Rich Benoit from Steelcase's Applied Research and Consulting group at Business Interiors, their local dealership in Northern Vermont.
     Rich started the conversation out by asking us about what innovation, an all too common buzzwords in business circles today meant to us.  A participant shared how they thought inventions are things we consumers don't buy while we willingly pay for innovations such as iPads, iPhones, Sony Walkman's from a generation or two ago, IBM personal computer and iMac's.  Similarly the Toyota Prius also comes to mind.  The phenomena of Google and Facebook were also touched on by our group.
     This ice-breaking question led Rich to share findings from Steelcase's research about different innovation types moving from the incremental betterment of an existing product to the reductive, then to the break through to expansive and self-evolving.  The earlier examples our group came up with were mostly in the breakthrough and expansive category.  These products and services all altered how we live, play and work.  In some way they acted as game changers deeply resonating with consumer culture and the marketplace.
     What then is the secret sauce for cultivating work cultures which innovate?  Everyone talks about innovation being critical to business success but how do leaders make it happen?  Surprisingly Rich said effective workplace design done well can help set the stage for work cultures to innovate.  
     First off, as Rich shared with us and as found in the illuminating white paper published by Steelcase last fall "How the Workplace Fosters Innovation", you must  understand the DNA and behavioral tendencies of your organization before proceeding to deeply into workplace design.  Essentially you must know how your work culture ticks and why it works your way rather than another.  This is critical when designing buildings and interior spaces filled with expensive workplace equipment and furniture.  Wishful thinking with miss matched design choices can short circuit best intentions for organizational change and innovation efforts.
     So how and where do you and your organization begin? It's simple.  Seek to understand what kind of innovative organization you are now and identify the culture of innovation you can realistically become over time.  By combining best practices in work process, workplace design and integration of work tools supporting work and the workplace you can build organizational muscle memory expanding capabilities in collaboration, team and individual effectiveness, and enhancing speed of ideas and products to market.

Inspiration in Sky Blue and Yellow

     Rich shared an interesting graphic which is also found in the white paper on page 5.  It shows the spectrum of Models of Innovation ranging from centralized do it from within efforts to off-site to more  decentralized examples relying on outside consultants to provide innovation to the most decentralized of them all, the network model.  Wikipedia is a great example of a service and product being built in a peer enabled user community located in the cloud.  In this model there is very little physical workspace as the service is dispersed across the internet in a virtual community.  
     These models of innovation also sync with the developmental age of the business or organization.  An early stage do it yourself garage innovator may naturally need to transition to differing models of innovation to stay successful as the company matures, takes on more employees, begins to grow into larger more independent workgroup and expanding its facitilies.  As you can imagine matching physical design to ever evolving businesses, their leadership models and work cultures can be very tricky.  I believe successful work cultures try new things, are willing to fail and "fail forward", believing in the quality of their ideas, people and their core business offer.
     Rich then showed a variety of tantilizing images aligning collaborative workspace with these different Innovation Models.  The physical design very clearly depicted the Innovation Model in design of informal, formal meeting spaces, how much openness there was versus closed broken up spaces, how furniture and tables were organized, surface heights, lighting design.  For me it was extremely gratifying to see the translation of the Models of Innovation spectrum into physical form.
     The presentation led me back to re-examining the white paper more closely as I'm working with a variety of work cultures now located on various parts of the Innovation Model Spectrum.  I want to be sure to guide them to workplace and workspace design aligning with where they are today and where they hope to be tomorrow and years to come.  This research I believe will help me help them.  Maybe it will help you too!
     Thanks Rich and the team at Business Interiors, an Office Environments of New England company for this learning opportunity.  The experience satisfied my back to school needs for learning and helped to build greater awareness how I can best help our customers in the coming months.  I say be sure to focus on understanding how they tick and why and then take this learning to work together to shape appropriate high performing work spaces helping their organizations to soar in years to come!




 

Choosing Office Task Chairs - Aeron by Herman Miller

     As part of what I do from time to time I try out office task chairs. I do so because I used to have an old-fashioned wooden office chair which while swiveled hurt my back while not being adjustable.  I have set off on a quest to try out various task chairs made by some of the more renowned manufacturer's in the country.  As an architect working in workspace design it's important to cultivate a real understanding of what's out there and how the chairs really work.  Good task chairs especially I believe are less about good looks and more about performance, helping us do our work more effectively.
     Ironically the chair I begin with is the iconic Herman Miller Aeron. Bill Stumph designed it.  Click on the link I provided and you can find a video of him telling the story of its design.  It's a compelling and timeless one for those seeking a look into the process of innovation, product development and market adoption.
     The local dealership, Creative Office Pavilion located in downtown Burlington lent me this seat to try out for a couple of weeks.  I've really enjoyed this chair and if you're someone who  spends a great deal of time multi-tasking in front of a computer, phones, desks, drafting tables (for me) this chair may be for you.
      It's innovative and very ergonomic, with a generationally trendsetting webbing called the Pellicle, which provides a firm yet giving, breathable back and seat to sit in. Overall the chair is fairly light weight and easy to adjust.  The yellow block you see in the back ground is the foot rest I use to accommodate my higher work surface and not dangle my legs which strains my back with nothing to rest upon.  I recommend tinkering with this with any seating you're looking at.
     I find the seat controls easy to use and understand to adjust the chair to my body type and liking.  The lumbar support you see transparently behind the seat back webbing between the two rotating arms really, really works for my back.  The wide proportions of upper part of the seatback work well with my broad back and "give" with me as I move side to side.   The armrests rounded shapes are easy on my forearms when doing heavy duty repetitive tasks such as typing.
     Environmentally the chair has Green guard certification, it's 94% recyclable and 66% of the chair's materials are derived from recycled sources.  It's a silver MBDC Cradle to Cradle certified chair. As the Aeron Environmental Summary states, "[The]...Aeron is composed of environmentally safe and healthy materials, is designed for material reuse in a closed-loop system, such as recycling or composting, and is assembled using 100% renewable energy."

For all of these reasons  I recommend this chair.

      Next month I'll write about another chair in my quest to cultivate a clearer, real world understanding of the best of the best of task seating out there.  If you have any Aeron stories or comments I welcome them. Have you had any challenges with the Aeron in your workplace or success stories to share?  Don't hesitate to let us know.
 

An Artful New Sign For Montpelier's Drawing Board

Note the picture frame and paint brush blade sign
at upper left, note 4th of July banners aren't
always there!

         About a month ago, our local artist materials and framing store, the Drawing Board in Montpelier, VT installed a new decorative sign supplementing the tasteful sign band already in place above the store.  The sign intrigued me with its artful whimsy and simple yet complex design.  

         Exterior store signage design can if done right serve to really extend the brand promise of the  business.  Done wrong it does nothing but drive people and business away on the street. Your store sign is the first thing many see about your business.  It's your symbolic front door.  It should be memorable and unique while tastefully designed and communicative.

       In the case of the Drawing Board, their new blade sign protrudes out of a corner brick pier in line with their sign band further enhancing the original signage in three dimensions. 

        Being a cultivator of good design, I took pictures and promised myself I'd ask the owners about it later and share what I found out.  So I sent them a few questions which Judy Brown, a co-owner of the store with her husband Ray Brown kindly answered.  

Blade sign depicting the essence of an art
supply & framing store

So here goes....

DC: Why did you add a new sign to the front of your store?  Who designed your sign?  What was the process you and the store went through. 

DB: Ray and I always liked the idea of a blade sign but it was not an option until Montpelier changed the rules fairly recently. My decision was based on a desire to draw attention to the store from the street, particularly to pull people from the center of town down Main Street. I also wanted to add an element of action and fun to the very classical, professional look of our logo and signage.

DC: Who fabricated the sign for you and installed it.

DB: We worked with Sparky Potter and his team at Wood & Wood in Waitsfield. They are incredibly talented and professional. It was a joint design effort. The design that they first came up with felt too conservative and so we came up with the angled frame and color idea.

Reviewing "Toward a Zero Energy Home"

A few months ago in late spring I read Toward a Zero Energy Home - A Complete Guide to Energy Self-Sufficiency at Home by David Johnston and Scott Gibson.  Or shall I say devoured it hungrily.  I read it on a cross-country flight in one sitting.

2010, The Taunton Press

The book begins by making a great case for the zero energy house by framing the view through the energy price bubble of 2008 and the need to shift behaviors moving forward.  Ironically in the spring of 2011 we were experiencing another price bubble seeded by political instability driven by the unprecedented democratic spring of Egypt, Syria, Libya and elsewhere.  Once again prices spiked ever higher over the course of late winter and spring.  Fairly quickly it seemed, world-wide strategic oil reserves were tapped to temper the price spikes and people's fears abated but high prices linger.  Today, the US Energy Information Agency says gas prices are up $0.91 from a year ago.

If you consult the EIA's interactive tables and build predictions out to 2035 you'll find an average yearly growth rate of 3.5% for residential fuel oil costs.  So in about ten years prices may rise 35% over today's already high rates.  With the unpredictability of the global geo-political climate and growing effects of global warming, growing population pressures and scarcity in fossil fuels, radically reducing energy consumption is urgent.  More predictable energy costs and growth in resource conservation is critical to creating a more sustainable future "softening the hard landing to come" as said by Bill McKibben in his recent book, Eaarth.

While residential delivered energy consumption has been going down historically in a gentle slope since 1990 the EIA forecasts four different scenarios showing reductions.  The reference light blue line models this continuing fall while the magenta (high tech usage) and green (best available technology) go even lower.

As energy costs continue to escalate residential users will naturally seek to conserve.  The space between the purple and green line is where Toward A Zero Energy Home plays an important role today in driving best practices  in zero energy home design into the marketplace towards consumer acceptance.

The book is organized into five chapters; The Building Envelope, Passive Solar Design, Renewable Energy, Heating-Cooling-Ventilation, Living a Zero Energy Life.  In each chapter they provide helpful overviews going over the basic components, design strategies and approaches with insightful case studies from around the country relating to the chapter focus.  The case studies provide wisdom from the field about how projects develop and mature between owners, architects, builders and energy consultants.

I recommend this book.  It tackles a very complex subject and breaks it down to basic elements where the complexity supports the big picture of why certain strategies are valuable varying by budget, climate, owner likes and dislikes, project delivery methods scalable for a variety of situations.  Whether seeking to do a custom design and build home, or hybridized process with some level of factory panelization and custom building, or finally, full out factory built and controlled modular home with quick onsite assembly the book has insights valuable for all.

The book also shows how fast moving high performance building science and knowledge truly is.  After this book came out, Alex Wilson's published a groundbreaking article in Environmental Building News on the Global Warming Potential of Foam Insulation.  Their research led to a wholesale re-evaluation of the viability of using closed expanding cell foam and related insulation materials in building envelopes because of the long-term costs of using fossil fuel as blowing agents.  Many of the case studies homes in the Toward a Zero Energy Home used closed cell insulation in some aspects of the building envelope.  The new research indicated the need to look more closely at using open cell insulation or other more benign alternatives such as cellulose insulation instead going forward.  Hindsight is 20/20 though and admittedly best practices will always be evolving to ever-higher standards.

Mindmapping Vermont's Energy Planning, a Beginning

Brainstorming Vermont's Energy Planning c.Steve Frey 2011

I missed the VT Energy Plan June 1st workshop and information gathering session held at National Life last week. So I thought I'd contribute a mind map or visual brainstorm of my recent thoughts about the planning effort and areas of focus I see as important to ensuring a sustainable and bright future for generations to come.  Check out a link to Renewable Energy Vermont's recent interview on VPR for other perspectives.  

So often in our overwhelming information overloaded world it's helpful to find ways to distill the issues quickly.  Visual thinking offers a quick pictorial way to lay it all out there and show connections and relationships not easy to make easily in writing or speaking.  Thus I offer these two brainstorming sketches which while inherently incomplete offer a "take" on the issues and opportunities before us in our great state.

We have precious natural resources here in Vermont with first and foremost the bright passionate and well educated people in Vermont.  I wonder if there's a way to crowd source feedback to the public service board in parallel to helpful meetings being held across the state?  By using Twitter and LinkedIn and other social media sites perhaps we can collect together perspectives and ideas not easily obtained otherwise.  Last night on Twitter I started a hashtage called #vermontenergyplan to help track the conversation.  I also used the hashtag #vermont as well.  Put either of these tags into Twitter's search function and you will see this growing conversation!

By tackling this effort with an integrated and systematic planning, public and private partnerships and ultimately actions we take, we can build a more sustainable visionary Vermont. 

The Promise of Deep Energy Retrofits

As an architect and designer I'm very interested in cultivating my knowledge of choices or strategies I can call upon in projects of various scales and types.  As we are collectively aging in place so are our commercial buildings, our schools, homes and service buildings.  In 2011 we face yet another spiking and upward trending in energy costs which increasingly drive up the operational costs of our buildings.  We look at our building energy bills each month, how much we're spending at the gas pumps and utter gasps of disbelief.

As the cost of gas goes up so to does Milk and on and on.

Those of you who run aging office building, schools, apartment buildings, college campuses, technology parks and manufacturing facilities with high energy costs and a longer view likely wonder how you're going to afford next year's fuel costs. Do you pass on the higher operating costs to customers? Or absorb these costs and seek to balance it elsewhere?

Will you defer yet again routine maintenance, any kind of capital building projects, or cut salaries or defer raises to staff to loosen up funds to pay for future unpredictable energy costs?  Well, you've likely already have been doing that with diminishing returns each time.

Many of you may not have the choice to look for a new building site in your community and build a much better more predictably performing building to insulate your business from escalating energy costs over the long term.  So what really are your options when really you only have one, live with your existing building and make the best of it.  Can that be good enough?  Seems like a sinking ship doesn't it?  

How long can you pass on those costs in the form of higher rents to your tenants until they decide to leave?  Or conversely, how can you attract and retain them when they ask you what your energy bills are, their eyes glaze over and they leave quickly?  What if you could cut your energy use by at least 50% or beyond 75%?  How would this effect your business planning, pricing and overall success of your business?  Now you could actually focus on what you do best, run your business and operations focusing on your business and planning goals not finding ways month to month to stem unpredictably changing energy costs.

Over the last few years the concept of Deep Energy Retrofits (DER) have stirred up media attention and grabbed headlines.  While deep energy retrofits defy definition they represent a promising way of redeveloping existing building infrastructure we can all benefit from learning more about.  

While the experts have differing opinions on definitions, generally they involve the substantial re-use and renovation of an existing building shell with significant investments in high levels of insulation or super-insulation, very efficient heating and cooling systems, higher performing windows and energy efficient lighting with controls.   The energy savings can run from 50% to over 75% over typical bad or baseline comparative buildings, the so-called "base case" code compliant building.  

Deep energy retrofits do something really special and low-impact environmentally.  Instead of building a new building you reuse in place an existing structure substantially reducing the project's global warming potential and cost picture in general.  A large cost center for any construction project is its structure, frame,  prep and final site work and central energy plant.   By not building the hard stuff there is cost avoidance and impacts elsewhere.  Some easy to measure some not so easy.  

Yes it is more complex to renovate often times requiring working with tenants and building occupants who remain in place during construction but ultimately I think it requires less resources and  money and by not building new outside of city centers and neighborhoods it helps keep communities together.

You may have read about the US Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design ) system and wonder how it relates to Deep Energy Retrofits.  Well it does and it doesn't.  In the case of existing buildings (EB) , it can be very helpful as a tool to help guide the process and get everyone on the team on board sharing common goals along with the accountability which comes with meeting its requirements on down from the owner, design team, contractor and sub-contractor.  Plus, many municipalities, state governments and the federal government require following it to at least some level of certification.  Whether or not you go through with the LEED system, its very helpful to use the LEED checklists in the design process to structure thinking about the integrated design strategies and best practices to follow in your your project.  

But there is a bigger conversation.

It's about the values of your project and how you ensure energy cost predictability for your operations and ultimately the sustainability of your business model or enterprise.  This is where the Deep Energy Retrofit concept comes in handy for your existing building stock.  By spending a bit more now and thinking of your construction costs today as investments in a better more stable tomorrow you can transform the conversation away from first costs trumping everything else, kicking the "ball" down the field for the next generation to deal with.

Imagine telling your board of directors you only have to fund raise today for the building and its systems when its operational costs are slated to be really low in the future.  Fundraising for ongoing operations might become a thing of the past and instead can be refocused on supporting your key organizational missions, salaries and other benefits.  Perhaps this is overly simplistic but I enjoy thinking about this aspect.  Who wants to raise money year after year to pay for escalating fuel costs and mistaken short-sightedness in not going ahead with a high performing building while saving money today?

In the coming weeks, I'll be writing about some exciting Deep Energy Retrofit projects and initiatives I've been learning about putting these concepts into action.  It's critical we expand our thinking and strategies to fight global warming increasingly lack of cohesion in our existing communities.  Building new isn't always the answer.  Renewing and rebuilding certainly can be a vital part of it though.

Interested in learning more? 

You can find us at www.arocordisdesign.com, the website of our Montpelier, Vermont-based residential architecture firm practice Arocordis Design. If you want to contact us there, click on this link. 

#netzero #homedesign #arocordisdesign #vermont #vermontarchitect #architecture #climateaction

Collaborative Consumption, A third way out of over consumption?

Watch Rachel speak about Collaborative Consumption and the potential power to transform our everyday excess capacity of the stuff which surrounds us, our skills laying dormant with the powerful forces of sharing and trust building.  My family and I are ideal candidates for this game changing shift in thinking...  "What's mine is yours, what's yours is mine".  You probably are too!  Take 15 minutes, watch and shift your thinking!

I first heard about this on Treehugger radio on a podcast a few months ago and have enjoyed replaying it often.  The concept stuck in my head so solidly I mentally noted to check out www.collaborativeconsumption.org later and learn more.  Go there and see for your self.  It's genuinely heartwarming stuff.

There's a book you can buy or seek out in your community to read about Collaborative Consumption movement in detail.  It operates like a library book.  There's a library card in it which shows the path of those who've read it and passed it on to others to read.  If there's anyone in central Vermont who has a copy to lend please let me know.  I would like to read it and pass it on.  Meanwhile, enjoy Rachel's presentation!

After you've watched tell me what do you think?  Have you read the book yet? Do you have anything you'd like to share in your garage?  Would you do this in your community?  Share your thoughts with dc and other readers.  Don't be bashful.  It would be delightful to hear from you.

Take my Strategic Workplace Survey

Winter trees in Vermont
symbolizing the web of information

As you know, I'm interested in cultivating awareness about the high performance workplace and ways to increase organizational effectiveness as a key goal of designcultivation.blogspot.com

Since I wrote earlier about goals for the workplace in 2011 and recommending taking the time to survey and talk to your work teams and staff this year, I thought might I try out Survey Monkey for myself and show you what I mean.  So I developed a Strategic Workplace Survey for you the readers of designcultivation to fill out.  I'm curious where you live and work, how you work and how your workplace can be improved.  Tell me so I can share with our readers and others how to improve workplace design, work processes and interfacing with technology going into 2011.
Click to go to the survey.

With less than ten questions it will probably take 5 minutes or so of your time. I really appreciate your  insight into your work, work processes and workplace.  As you know, I'm very interested in cultivating the high performance workplace as one of my goals of this blog.  Maybe by taking the survey it'll stir some thoughts and ideas in your mind you can bring to work.

I will collect information over the next week and see where we are with the goal of writing about what you tell me is important to you and the way you work and the kind of workplace you work within.  I know many of you hail from all over the world like India, Russia, Indonesia as well as close to home here in Vermont and across the US.  Add your voice to help us all be better designers and consumers of workspace in 2011!

Click to go to the survey.

Contact me at 802-448-0056 if you have any questions or comments.  As always, please share your feedback.  And never be shy!  Tell me what I left out and how I can do better next time.
Thanks!  Steve

Idea Paint - Leads to Creativity and Collaboration

What if you could paint your office walls with dryerase paint to enhance your visualizing and brainstorming at work, school at home?  I just recently learned about an innovative formaldehyde free water based paint product which does just this.  My brother Jim, an Osram Sylvania Market Manager in Lighting Controls sent me this link.  Thanks Jim!

It's called IdeaPaint.   It's a single application rolled on paint product which costs $30 for a home kit which covers 6 square feet or $60 for one which covers 20 square feet.  You can go to the website to learn more about installation, costs and where to buy.

Whether you paint your office walls, your menu board overhead of checkout, worktable surface or your creative studio here's an interesting way to leverage individual and team creativity.  There are galleries on the website which show uses in offices, schools and the home with plenty of ideas on how and where to use it.  

I can see applications for this for businesses which promote an innovative work culture and community valuing visual thinking, brainstorming and organizational transparency.  What a great way to cultivate a creative minded and acting work community.  And for kids, watch out! I can see elementary schools eating this paint product up applying on kids desk and tables, walls instead of blackboards etc. What fun!

Cre-8 is their product which costs $175 per kit and covers 50 square feet.  It comes in 8 standard colors.  It's not just white, but light green, an orange, beige, offwhite among others.  So it can be coordinated with interior color palettes a bit more flexibly.  

It's also environmentally friendly having achieved Greenguard certification.   It's PTPA tested as well.  It received a best of NEOCON award as well!

I haven't personally tested this yet but I will ask Santa for a test kit to try out.  I have a perfect place in mind in my home office!  Or better yet, my son's new desk we made.  I bet he may like to draw on his desk and illustrate it with his crazy pokemon characters.  Watch out Picasso!

  

Green Innovation - Look to Existing Technologies, Products & Services

Innovating Green

Stream - Rumney, Vermont. 2010

I was reading the HBR blog, The Conversation this morning and found a great post, "A New Approach to Green Tech Opportunities".  The authors Marc Gruber, James Thompson, and Ian MacMillan offer a surprisingly simple yet powerful suggestion for companies and entrepreneurs seeking to come into the "Green Space".  They suggest instead of spending untold resources on R&D on innovating new ideas, products services look first at what your company is already doing for kernels of possibilities.  "Our studies of several hundred technological innovations tell us that we can benefit hugely if we stop equating innovation with new R&D effort, and instead revisit the buried potential of already existing technologies. "

So examine fallow technologies that perhaps dormant now could with a little brainstorming and outside-the-box thinking, be reapplied in an environmentally beneficial manner, helping both your bottom line and be a positive contribution to the sustainability conversation. If you think about it, following this course also conserves resources beyond the time and money already invested in past offerings.  

The Power of Visuals on Private Sector Employment, A prime-time message which didn't

Regardless of your politics, it's interesting the powerful message of this graph never made it to prime-time somehow.  Maybe I missed it, but nobody was talking about the big picture of this bell-curve and the trend it seems to indicate.  

I include it here because it's a simple, well designed graphic illustrating a series of facts, here fairly convincingly shown.  It's baffling how underutilized this message was, but oh well.  Maybe we can all take solace that the economic situation while still grim in a sense is a bit more positive than in the last quarter of 2008.  Perhaps we can put that time behind us and focus instead on the future, trying to get back to business. 

Workspring and the benefits of Third Places

Last summer while attending NEOCON 2010 in Chicago I visited Workspring just a few blocks away from the Merchandise Mart.  Prior to visiting I had been talking on and off with Mark Greiner Workspring's General Manager and the Chief Experience Officer (CXO),Steelcase Inc. and a Senior VP. 

 Entry looking into reception area 

He told me how the business developed out of an idea he and a group of  others at Steelcase's Workplace Futures consulting group had, how they found support within Steelcase and Venture Capital funding to build a functioning prototype of research work to test ideas on the value of collaborative work experiences in and  off-site from traditional workplaces.  As Mark and others I've met at Workplace Futures have said, this projects comes out the Steelcase business ethos of Understand, Observe, Synthesize, Realize, Prototype and Measure.   The purpose of the space, equipment and people providing services there are to assist businesses in having memorable and valuable collaboration experiences bettering their organization.  The space has been online for over two years now and the positive reviews are coming in as seen from customer testimonials on the website.

I'd missed seeing it the year before and wanted very much to see Workspring, "a high-performance for fee work experience".  Or saying it another way, a "Third place" to hold collaborative off-site meetings whether for an intimate group of 2 or 3, a large geographically dispersed project team working on rolling out a new product or service, or renting the whole space for a large multi-faceted multi-day work experiences.