Nov 20 2007
Architects Can Nurture Ideas for Clean Tech Products
At last week’s Cleantech Crossroads* event in San Francisco, architects were well-represented among the attendees. It’s clear that architects play a pivotal role in green building. They do something every day that most businesses, institutions and individuals may undertake only once a decade. Because architects design large and complex building projects that have long-lasting effects on energy and resource use, their recommendations and decisions about everything from construction materials and windows to lighting and HVAC systems have very significant, cumulative impacts on the environment. By and large, architects take their environmental responsibility very seriously. Most large domestic firms have at least some staff accredited by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council. And 88% of architects recently surveyed have received some training in sustainable design.
But what’s really interesting to me is that architects are well-positioned to know the needs of a potentially enormous marketplace for clean technology. In the U.S. alone, the construction business contributes almost 5% of our nearly $14 trillion gross domestic product. That’s a $600-700 billion dollar market!
For cleantech startups and for businesses that aim to develop cleantech products, architects can be a source of ideas. What sorts of lighting problems exist and what are some ideal solutions that architects dream about? What sorts of waste water capture and re-use systems are possible but currently not available? How could roofing be adapted to capture photons for solar energy or to heat water?
Beyond the ideation stages, architects can also vet product concepts, assisting new product developers with practical matters such as explaining when, in a typical project timeline, certain product decisions will be made. They can highlight code-compliance issues and describe how to best reach and influence the architects and others who have a say in the decision process. Architects can also be the connectors to commercial construction firms that could assist in testing products in a real-world environment and evaluating the ease or difficulty of incorporating new cleantech products into the construction process itself.
Developers of cleantech products would do well to ally with forward-looking architects to source new product ideas, improve product concepts and even devise ways to get new products to market.
____________________
* The Cleantech Crossroads event was held on 11/15/07 and jointly hosted by the Bay Area Council, the California Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth and the Urban Land Institute.