Podcast: How to Make Buildings Better for Our Health and Well-Being

Published by The MIT Press Reader: Welcome to The Sustainable City Podcast. This month, we look at sustainability, health, and wellness in buildings and real estate. Beyond a zero-carbon built environment, what other goals should we be aiming for in creating better, greener, more inclusive cities? And how do we get there?

What should some of these changes be in light of the impact of COVID going forward?

Brad Jacobson: Sure. I’m really excited about just the shift that’s happening in the consciousness that’s changing to going from focusing on energy to carbon. And when we do that, companies that are looking at the concept of 24/7 clean energy, and really digging a little deeper to think about the sources of their electricity, when that electricity is dirty versus clean and how that’s feeding into their building. So, for example, just last month, we opened the Sonoma Clean Power headquarters in Santa Rosa, and that project is a pilot study for something called the GridOptimal Initiative, USBC’s involved in that with New Buildings Institute. And basically we’re going to be running the building in a way where it’s getting a feed of information about the actual carbon content on the grid.