Autumn is here. As the weather cools off and the days get shorter, the first thing I think of is our culture’s obsession with pumpkin spice. These days it seems like everything is pumpkin spice flavored – whiskey, cheerios, and even English muffins (I’m not joking). If there is one thing I wish more people thought of in the fall, it’s energy. Who are we kidding - if you read enough of these blogs, you’ll find all I think about is energy.

Mike and Matt host Season 4 of the MicroVlogCast and discuss the ins and outs of solar energy. Shot in front of the rooftop array on the Foresight headquarters in Grand Rapids, MI, they cover everything from additionality to net-metering to biomimicry - all in episodes under three minutes.

If 2020 was the year of hearing people talk about COVID19 constantly, 2021 is the year people are talking about inflation and the supply chain. It is hard to go through a day without hearing someone talk about supply chain issues or inflation. Unfortunately, the natural gas and electricity markets are suffering from price inflation as well.

After 45+ years of professional engineering practice, everything comes out perfect the first time, just like I expect... That's a lie (and you knew it as soon as you read it). We all know that NOTHING comes out perfect the first time, so why do we often act as though it were true?

Matt and Mike took to the roof last week to film Season 4 backdropped by our rooftop solar array. Before we roll out the entire season, here are a few of our favorite resources for understanding the present day landscape of solar energy and the eagerly anticipated future-innovations.

I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and our electricity provider rolled out a different way to bill residential customers this year. I kept hearing friends gripe about how Consumers Energy is increasing rates by 50%. As a professional who nerds out about energy, I was excited to hear others digging into electricity rates.

First thing I remind anyone trying to understand LEVEL Certification is that it is a sustainable product certification. By LEVEL’s definition, a product certification is not a sustainable building certification like LEED or sustainable company certification like B Corp; the scope of a product certification includes a product, building and a company.

Sustainability is a business model that has taken more prominence in the business world recently. Investors like Larry Fink at BlackRock have identified sustainability as a "new standard for investing" to manage and minimize business risk. There has been a lot of buzz around defining, structuring, and organizing this new business model. At Foresight, we have been asked by many CEO, CFOs, and Vice Presidents of Sales, "Where do we start?"

What you aim for… matters. Even if you aim at nothing, you still get what you aim for! Better to aim carefully. Energy use in a facility is “modeled” in a computational environment (i.e., software). It is a prediction of facility energy use and, just as importantly, energy cost.

I’ve been providing sustainable building design consulting services for almost two decades. Most of this time has been directly collaborating with designers, engineers, contractors, and building owners. Over the years, I’ve noticed two dominant yet elusive opportunities for meaningful, amplified impact within the life cycle of any given building…

While there are many avenues for improving your facility’s energy efficiency, you must implement them in the correct order. It may be tempting to start with onsite solar to prove your enthusiasm for sustainability or appeal to your stakeholders’ requests. Still, it won’t have the RIO you intend without taking the proper steps beforehand.

In my recent conversations with businesses leaders and manufacturers, one question has been repeated: What is the difference between Sustainability and ESG? While both terms have been around for a decade-plus, their infiltration into the marketplace is just now hitting a tipping point for companies of all sizes.

Back in the day, design architects and engineers were involved “cradle to grave” with new building construction. They designed the building, negotiated with the contractors, visited the site numerous times during construction, and conducted or supervised testing of everything to confirm proper installation and operation. That was the norm 50 or more years ago. But things have changed since then…

Disclosing your ESG efforts to your stakeholders builds trust. Mechanisms like certifications, standards, and sustainability reports provide a framework for sharing your values, efforts, and goals with your stakeholders.

Have you ever noticed that the IRS seems to love using three numbers and sometimes a letter to describe funds, policies, or codes? Many of us immediately think 401k, 503b, or 529 plan. However, there is a lesser-known IRS tax code that can save you significantly when you invest in energy efficiency for your commercial building…