05/12/2024
Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers and to Mother Earth! I hope you are all having a wonderful day celebrating.
I think you all know that last year I helped put together a small but mighty team that won a California Energy Commission (CEC) EPIC grant for $1 million to design one of the most sustainable affordable housing complexes. If we did well, we would be in the running for an additional $9 million toward the actual build. We had formidable competitors, like Gensler and Jamboree Housing, but our design for sustainable, energy efficient, and equitable affordable housing for 238 families recently received the notice of the proposed award for the $9 million!
You can see a video description of the project here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i67PbW85lk.
Last week we had an opportunity to present to the CEC along with the other proposed awardees. All the designs were inspiring. I appreciate what the CEC is doing here to foster the next generation of buildings, when too many buildings are just barely code compliant or will never do anything generative for their occupants or the planet. Stasis is powerful and it takes this kind of commitment and effort to break through it.
Many thanks to all the members of the teams from: The Energy Coalition, Innovative Housing Opportunities, Studio 111, Arup Engineering, Winston Engineering, Community Electricity and the California Energy Commission.
We all really have the same mother - Mother Earth. Let’s all work together to protect her. Again, Happy Mother’s Day! More to come!
