The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti

🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: What does it really take to deliver LEED Platinum projects across the Middle East and Africa — at scale, in extreme climates, and without blowing budgets? Newly minted LEED Fellow Dr. Hoda Ibrahim shares how impact-driven sustainability, material transparency, and market transformation are reshaping the built environment worldwide. 👷‍♂️ Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Dr. Hoda Ibrahim is a LEED Fellow, sustainability executive, architect, researcher, and global green building leader based in Cairo. With nearly two decades of experience spanning Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Africa, Hoda has delivered some of the region's most complex LEED Platinum, WELL, and high-performance developments. She currently serves as Head of Sustainability & Climate Change at a leading multidisciplinary consultancy, while also contributing to the evolution of LEED itself through USGBC technical advisory roles. 🌱 Breaking Ground on Better Building In this episode, Dr. Hoda Ibrahim redefines what sustainable building looks like when performance, people, and planet are all treated as non-negotiables. 🎯 Key Insight #1: Sustainability Is No Longer a Checklist — It's a Decision-Making System The Challenge: Sustainability is treated as a box-checking exercise focused only on certification points. The Solution: Integrating sustainability into early design thinking, construction coordination, and long-term operational strategy. ROI: Buildings that perform better, last longer, reduce operational costs, and deliver real climate and human-health benefits. 🎯 Key Insight #2: LEED Platinum Is Achievable — Even in Emerging Markets The Challenge: The perception that LEED Platinum is too expensive or unrealistic in regions with extreme climates or limited resources. The Solution: Strategic credit selection, early planning, regional material sourcing, and leveraging "no-cost" opportunities tied to site, energy, and water. ROI: Landmark projects such as Africa's first LEED Platinum building, large-scale Saudi developments, and multi-city sustainable master plans. 🎯 Key Insight #3: Material Transparency Is the Next Sustainability Frontier The Challenge: Limited disclosure around embodied carbon, health impacts, and end-of-life material performance. The Solution: Driving adoption of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), Health Product Declarations (HPDs), and circular economy principles. ROI: Lower embodied carbon, healthier interiors, market transformation, and stronger alignment with LEED v5 and future regulations. 💬 Sustainable Soundbite "Buildings can either protect nature — or damage it. Sustainability for me was never a trend. It was a continuation of values I grew up with." — Dr. Hoda Ibrahim ✅ Your Green Building Action Plan Transform your next project with these steps: This Week: Review your current projects for "no-cost" LEED and performance opportunities already on the table. This Quarter: Engage manufacturers early to discuss EPDs, VOC limits, and material transparency pathways. This Year: Shift from certification-first thinking to impact-first design focused on decarbonization, health, and resilience. 🔗 Connect & Learn More 🌿 Access full episode resources**:** Green Building Matters Podcast 🗒 Read the transcript here 🔗 Connect with Dr. Hoda Ibrahim: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/hoda-ibrahim-ba924b50 Facebook: m.facebook.com/leedaccreditedprofessionals/ 💚 Join the Green Building Movement: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe ♻️ Want More Green Building Insights? Get sustainability tips 2x a week. 👉 Subscribe to our FREE newsletter here: **https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe** Green Building Matters, Inc © 2025 | Good Green Fun.

🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: From rural Peru to the skyline of Austin, Texas, Julio Carrillo shares how planners can be powerful sustainability changemakers. In this episode, learn how a LEED Fellow is pushing the green building movement beyond buildings — and into data-driven, community-scale transformation. 👷‍♂️ Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Julio Carrillo is a Peruvian-born architect, urban planner, and newly named LEED Fellow based in Austin, Texas. With a passion for sustainable urbanism, Julio has helped launch the Peru Green Building Council, works at Parkhill as a planner tackling large-scale urban projects, and lectures at UT Austin on AI and planning. His career is defined by actionable ideas, metric-driven innovation, and a relentless drive to move fast on meaningful change. 🌱 Breaking Ground on Better Building In this episode, Julio Carrillo revolutionizes traditional construction and planning approaches: 🧠 Key Insight #1: Founding the Peru Green Building Council to ignite LEED adoption at a national level The Challenge: Lack of local sustainability infrastructure and LEED awareness in Peru. The Solution: Co-founding the Peru GBC and launching a consulting firm. ROI: Grew from 1 to 100+ LEED projects in just two years; national transformation and market momentum. 🧠 Key Insight #2: Creating the Planning Challenge to scale sustainability across communities The Challenge: Cities lacked tools to track decarbonization and climate goals. The Solution: Built a dashboard platform inspired by Architecture 2030 to track 100+ metrics across 15+ cities. ROI: Expanded nationally and internationally, empowering cities to benchmark and scale climate solutions. 🧠 Key Insight #3: Teaching planners to leverage AI for public good The Challenge: AI is often personalized, not built for community impact. The Solution: Developed and now teaches a UT Austin course on AI & planning. ROI: Equips future planners with tools to use AI for equity, access, and sustainable development. 🗣 Sustainable Soundbite "Every building is a little piece of the big puzzle. We've done great with green buildings — now we need green communities." — Julio Carrillo ✅ Your Green Building Action Plan Transform your next project with these steps: This Week: Explore the LEED for Cities and Communities framework This Quarter: Begin tracking key sustainability metrics for your city or district This Year: Launch or support a data-driven sustainability initiative like the Planning Challenge 🔗 Connect & Learn More 🌿 Access full episode resources: Green Building Matters Podcast 🗒 Read the transcript here 👩🏻‍💻 Connect with Julio Carrillo: Website: urbanammo.wordpress.com , perugbc.org.pe LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julio-carrillo-aicp-leed-fellow-83636529/ 💚 Join the Green Building Movement: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe ♻️ Want More Green Building Insights? Get sustainability tips 2x a week. Subscribe to our FREE newsletter here: 👉 https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe Green Building Matters, Inc © 2025 | Good Green Fun.

🌍 The Green Impact Report Quick take: This episode matters to green building professionals because it shines a spotlight on how grid-interactive buildings and HVAC optimization can eliminate energy waste, generate new revenue, and play a crucial role in decarbonization — right now. 👷 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Brad Pilgrim is the founder and CEO of Parity, a Series B company pioneering HVAC optimization and grid interactivity across North America. From his early days as a commercial carpenter to building a 100-million-square-foot energy optimization platform, Brad's entrepreneurial journey is driven by purpose, efficiency, and a deep love of the outdoors. 🌱 Breaking Ground on Better Building In this episode, Brad Pilgrim revolutionizes traditional construction approaches: 🧠 Key Insight #1: Turning HVAC inefficiency into an intelligent grid asset The Challenge: Traditional HVAC systems run on outdated controls, often wasting energy with start-stop inefficiency. The Solution: Parity installs off-the-shelf hardware and proprietary software to align HVAC operations with real-time demand. ROI: Buildings slash energy waste, improve comfort, and unlock new revenue via demand response and grid participation. 🧠 Key Insight #2: Building the cleanest energy — by not using it at all The Challenge: The green energy conversation often ignores the carbon debt of manufacturing renewables. The Solution: Focus on energy efficiency first — reducing consumption before adding generation. ROI: Immediate carbon impact with zero added infrastructure. Efficiency is net-zero from day one. 🧠 Key Insight #3: Reimagining the smart grid with peer-to-peer energy flows The Challenge: The electrical grid is destabilized by EVs, data centers, and intermittent renewables. The Solution: Smart buildings that store, shift, and trade energy to balance grid load in real time. ROI: Reduced grid stress, avoided blackouts, and a resilient, decentralized energy ecosystem. 🎧 Sustainable Soundbite "The cleanest energy is the energy you don't use." – Brad Pilgrim ✅ Your Green Building Action Plan Transform your next project with these steps: This Week: Audit HVAC operations — look for inefficiencies and explore retrofit potential. This Quarter: Assess your building's grid readiness and investigate demand response programs. This Year: Implement a scalable HVAC optimization strategy that supports both decarbonization and revenue. 🔗 Connect & Learn More 🌿 Access full episode resources: Green Building Matters Podcast 🗒 Read the transcript here 🔗 Connect with Brad Pilgrim: Website: https://www.paritygo.com/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bradpilgrim 💚 Join the Green Building Movement: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe 💡 Want More Green Building Insights? Get sustainability tips 2x a week. Subscribe to our FREE newsletter here: 👉 https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe Green Building Matters, Inc © 2025 | Good Green Fun.

🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: How can we protect people as our buildings face hotter climates and evolving chemical risks? Dr. Christa Wright from UL's Chemical Insights Research Institute shares how predictive science, empathy in research, and bio-based solutions are shaping the future of healthier indoor environments. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Dr. Christa Wright is the Senior Research Director at the Chemical Insights Research Institute, part of UL Research Institutes. A trained environmental toxicologist and strategist, she leads the Center for Toxicology and Human Health, where her team studies how chemicals in products and materials affect people — and how data and partnerships can create safer, healthier spaces. 🌱 Breaking Ground on Better Building In this episode, Dr. Wright transforms how we think about healthy spaces — connecting human health, materials, and predictive modeling for a new era of safety science. 🧠 Key Insight #1: Heat Changes Chemistry Indoors The Challenge: Building materials were never designed for today's rising temperatures. The Solution: Research from Chemical Insights shows even a 2°F temperature rise can release higher levels of formaldehyde from paints, flooring, and drywall — prompting a call for new standards and smarter material choices. ROI: Healthier air, longer material lifespan, and proactive protection from climate-related indoor pollution. 🧠 Key Insight #2: Nature Still Works The Challenge: Pandemic-era health strategies leaned too heavily on chemicals and filtration alone. The Solution: Wright's team is testing hydroponic classroom systems in New York, exploring how plants can filter toxins and improve indoor air quality naturally. ROI: Better student focus, cleaner air, and green innovation that reconnects sustainability and wellness. 🧠 Key Insight #3: Forecasting the Next Risk The Challenge: Most safety research is reactive — waiting for harm before changing standards. The Solution: Wright's team uses predictive modeling, AI, and machine learning to forecast future chemical and environmental risks. ROI: A proactive path for architects, product developers, and policymakers to prevent the next crisis before it happens. 💬 Sustainable Soundbite "Our behaviors drive our exposures — and understanding them is key to building healthier environments." — Dr. Christa Wright 🏋️ Your Green Building Action Plan Transform your next project with these steps: This Week: Audit how your materials perform under rising temperatures. Identify potential sources of indoor pollutants. This Quarter: Incorporate biophilic or plant-based filtration strategies into your next renovation or classroom design. This Year: Build partnerships that integrate predictive data and AI modeling into sustainability planning and certification. 🔗 Connect & Learn More 🌿 Access full episode resources here 🗒 Read the transcript here 💚 Join the Green Building Movement: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe 🔗 Connect with Dr. Christa Wright: Chemical Insights Research Institute (CIRI) Website LinkedIn 💌 Want More Green Building Insights? Get sustainability tips twice a week. 👉 Subscribe to our FREE newsletter: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe Green Building Matters, Inc © 2025 | Good Green Fun.