Tag: climateaction

IIDA Northern California Wins Catalyst Grant

Posted on by Heather

Empowering Climate Action in Interior Design

In a world increasingly aware of the urgent need for environmental action, the interior design industry is stepping up to the challenge. IIDA Northern California Chapter, through its Climate Action Committee, has been at the forefront of this movement. Recently, the chapter secured a significant win—the IIDA Catalyst Grant—based on its compelling submission outlining an innovative project aimed at advancing sustainable design practices and fostering community engagement.

Project Purpose

At the core of the winning submission lies the IIDA Northern California Chapter Climate Action Committee’s vision to amplify its Climate Crawl series impact through the creation of an annual Climate Crawl Zine. This project represents a natural progression from the committee’s previous endeavors, particularly the Climate Crawl Series—a bi-monthly collaborative forum focusing on climate action initiatives and sustainability best practices within interior design.

The Climate Crawl Zine serves as a dynamic platform for sharing insights, strategies, and case studies, nurturing a community of environmentally conscious interior designers. Each edition of the Zine will delve into various facets of climate action in interior design, from building deconstruction to sustainable materials, fostering diverse perspectives and featuring thought-provoking articles, interviews with industry leaders, and exemplary sustainable projects within the chapter.

By intertwining the Climate Crawl series with the annual Zine, the project aims to create a vibrant, accessible, and evolving resource that propels the interior design community towards a greener, more responsible future.

Project Goal

The project sets forth several measurable goals:

  • Raising Awareness: Increasing awareness of climate action within the interior design industry.
  • Knowledge Expansion: Extending the reach of the Climate Crawl series to IIDA members across the chapter and the entire IIDA organization.
  • Educational Platform: Demonstrating IIDA as a platform for meaningful and educational content.
  • Community Expansion: Expanding Climate Crawl Series participation to a minimum of three new City Centers.
  • Advocacy Integration: Linking Climate Action activities with Advocacy efforts, enhancing IIDA’s value to the communities it serves.

In securing the Catalyst Grant, IIDA Northern California Chapter has not only gained financial support but also validation of its commitment to advancing sustainable design practices and fostering community engagement. This project stands as a testament to the chapter’s dedication to driving positive change within the interior design industry.

As the Climate Crawl Zine takes shape, it holds the promise of inspiring and empowering interior designers to embrace sustainable practices, ultimately contributing to a healthier, more resilient planet. Through collaboration, education, and advocacy, IIDA Northern California Chapter continues to lead the charge towards a greener future—one page at a time.

March 2023 Climate Crawl

Posted on by Heather
March 2023

Event Recap

March Climate Crawl

RMW

A Presentation on the Success and Challenges of Tally and EC3 – an Interior Material Carbon Calculator

RMW’s objective for every interior project is to consider the health and wellness of our clients and most importantly the impact we have on the planet when building these beautiful interior spaces. Every project we strive to learn from our past projects and build in a more efficient climate conscious way. It is an arduous task to calculate and quantify our climate impact for each project, completely on our own.

Through much trial and error, our team found Tally, a carbon calculator tool. This tool can use our project information from Revit and give us a rough measurement of our climate impact. Tally is not a perfect tool and comes with its own challenges. We found it is a great tool for comparing design options in the beginning phases of a project. To really delve into specific interior materials, we found we needed to combine the use of Tally with EC3. EC3 is another program that connects with Tally and allows us to take the design to a DD level and compare specific products and their climate impact. We are currently working with a repeat client on a new interior buildout. With the use of Tally and EC3, we can compare our past projects with this new one. We can compare the specific materials used in the past projects with the new materials we want to use. This allows us to see if we improved our climate impact and how we can reduce even more. We hope to continue using these tools to evaluate our design and material choices throughout the design process for every project.

September 2023 Climate Crawl

Posted on by Heather
September 2022

Event Recap

September Climate Crawl

EHDD

Early Phase Integrated Carbon (EPIC)

EHDD’s approach to sustainability has evolved over the firm’s 75-year history, from an early emphasis on “appropriate design” to designing some of the first net zero projects to our current focus on climate positive design.  Since we launched the open access Early Phase Integrated Carbon (EPIC) assessment last summer, we’ve also been thinking beyond our own practice. Now, our low-carbon design tools are used by over 1,800 architects, engineers, real estate professionals, and designers across the country.

Our recent work has focused on giving interior designers a greater opportunity to participate in climate action. Opt.In (a tool to opt in to climate action by optimizing interiors) will offer designers a hot spot map to understand and lower the carbon emissions related to their design by exploring the effects of reuse, material efficiency, and product selection. Currently under development, we expect an open access version of Opt.In to be released sometime in 2023.

IIDA Applauds Governor’s Budget with Major Investment in Built Spaces and Climate Action

Posted on by Heather
January 20, 2022

Governor Newsom released his budget proposal for 2022-23, which includes billions of dollars in proposed investments to fight and prepare for climate change, and to tackle the growing challenges surrounding homelessness and access to housing.  

The Governor’s climate change action plan includes a tremendous infusion of resources for Zero-Emission Vehicles, transit, clean energy,  and sustainable planning. You can read more about the Governor’s climate related budget proposal here. As these proposed investments are discussed in the legislature over the next several months, IIDA will continue to champion climate and energy solutions, and work with policymakers to make sure they know the role interior designers have in reaching our state’s climate goals. 

Building off prior years’ investments, the Governor proposes to spend around $2 billion to help local governments tackle homeless and housing instability, which Newsom has declared one of California’s major “existential crises.” In tackling both climate change

and housing availability, the Governor envisions robust partnerships with local governments to find and develop housing sites near jobs, services, and schools. He hopes to accomplish this through programs such as infill and adaptive reuse grants, and mixed-income housing loans for developers. Acknowledging the linkage between homelessness and mental health, Newsom proposes $2 billion over two years to provide housing support for those with complex behavioral health considerations and people living in encampments. More detail on the Governor’s vision on housing and homelessness can be found here.

There are clear connections between the Administration’s policy priorities and the work of interior designers, and IIDA shares the Governor’s commitment to making meaningful progress on climate change, housing, and mental health. Smart and sustainable planning and design will be crucial to meeting the state’s goals, and we look forward to staying engaged as these budget proposals are considered and hopefully included in the final budget deal.