Energy

Electrification of buildings, new and old, furthers environmental responsibility and equity

July 13, 2022
5 min read
Vera Cruz sustainability

New buildings are sexy. They allow architects to explore aesthetic ideas and enable sustainability experts to test carbon-free renewable energy. But there’s one big problem: From-the-ground-up buildings are carbon intensive—the extraction of materials, the processing of those materials into building components, construction vehicle emissions and so on. It’s almost a cliché in our industry, but nonetheless: The greenest building is the one that is already built. 

But whether new or old, electrifying our national building stock, especially housing, is an idea whose time has come. Not only does it bring us closer to carbon neutrality, it can benefit communities of color that are most impacted by “dirty” energy because of placement of energy-generating facilities, like coal plants, near them. These citizens, long the victims of environmental racism, deserve better. 

EFFICIENCY, EFFICIENCY, EFFICIENCY

Technology is nice, but efficiency is better. It doesn’t make sense to electrify a poorly performing existing house or multi-family building without first improving its efficiency. Common energy efficiency improvements include increased insulation in the roof, walls, and crawl space, replacement window systems with low emissivity, insulated glass units, air sealing and other interventions. 

But retrofitting older housing is messy. It can be very invasive and often requires re-building or replacing existing ductwork, addressing issues like mold and asbestos remediation, structural issues and many other complicated and expensive elements that property owners are often reticent to take on. It also requires the removal of existing gas and fuel oil infrastructure. Most developers feel it is easier and more profitable simply to build in greenfield suburbs and exurbia. But this too is a problem. Encroaching on pristine land, farther and farther from city centers, is at cross purposes with the fight for land conservation and maintenance of wildlife habitats. Continued sprawl also creates conditions for catastrophic flooding as development prevents stormwater from naturally flowing to area bodies of water or being absorbed into the ground. Finally, the increased commute times and resulting carbon emissions are other factors to consider. 

AN ANSWER TO THE SKEPTICS 

Many people dismiss the electrification of buildings because they point out that the electricity has to be generated somewhere—possibly even via a “dirty” method. But reality refutes this argument. The state of California has already mandated that the electrical grid be carbon neutral by 2045, and Governor Gavin Newsom has asked state agencies to accelerate that target date by 10 years. As our grids convert to technologies like wind and solar, we’re reducing the costs of renewables. Here again, the more we procure renewable energy, the cheaper it will become. In addition, the 2022 CA Energy Code will require nearly all new buildings to include solar panels and battery storage. And there is the Biden Administration’s commitment to carbon reduction—the $1.2 trillion spending package passed by Congress and signed into law by the president in November 2021, includes billions of dollars in new funding for electric grid upgrades and building retrofits. The more ambitious $1.75 trillion “Build Back Better” bill, still in negotiation, would add even more of both, as well as wind and solar power to wean the nation off fossil fuels. 

THE BUILD PROGRAM 

As important as existing building retrofitting is, especially for traditionally marginalized groups, initiatives for electrification of new buildings must be part of the plan. Both the Association for Energy Affordability (AEA) West and SmithGroup are involved with the Building Initiative for Low-Emissions Development (BUILD), part of a $200 million State of California program to reduce new building emissions. BUILD will be primarily focused on housing for families experiencing economic challenges, with a minimum of 75 percent of these funds set aside for low-income projects and active technical assistance provided to housing developers. The California Energy Commission will administer BUILD, which leverages the commission’s expertise in overseeing the energy code for new buildings and administering deeply impactful energy programs. 

AEA and SmithGroup are part of a team that was recently selected as the Technical Assistance Providers for the BUILD Program. AEA has positioned itself as a trusted advisor to affordable housing developers across the state and to serve as the technical lead in collaboration with SmithGroup and other organizations. The team’s cover letter reads: “With California’s ambitious 2030 targets and significant investment in decarbonization efforts, housing developers and design teams understand the importance of shifting to all-electric design. Yet without additional intervention, electrification may be out of reach for the stakeholders who need it most—historically hard-to-reach affordable multifamily housing developers and their design/construction teams.” 

ELECTRICAL ENERGY FOR THE MANY, NOT JUST THE FEW

All-electric homes for everyone, with an emphasis on low-income people and communities of color, is an urgent imperative. It’s easy to focus on depressing stories about climate change and the world’s sometimes lackadaisical response to it. But we remain optimistic. We in California are going gangbusters in advancing low- or no-carbon buildings across all socioeconomic groups. We are confident that this will spread to the rest of the country in the near future. If you want to see how close that future may be, take a look at the I-35 corridor in the heart of Iowa—it’s lined with wind farms.

We passionately pursue our work because it is the right thing to do. All-electric housing and environmental justice need to be prominent among our national priorities. We as a country have the tools and skills to reverse current warming trends and move our society toward a restorative, and more equitable, environmental future. 

About the Author

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SmithGroup has a rightful claim to the title of the country's oldest architecture/engineering firm. Sheldon Smith founded the firm in Ohio in 1853 and moved to the emerging town of Detroit, Mich., in 1855. Upon his death in 1868, he was followed by his son and grandson. The firm was incorporated in 1903 as Field, Hinchman & Smith and renamed Smith, Hinchman & Grylls in 1907. In 2000, it became SmithGroup.

While justifiably proud of its history, today's SmithGroup has its sights set clearly on the future. The 800-plus-employee firm was ranked seventh in 2006 among A/E firms nationally by Building Design+Construction, with 2005 revenues of $119.9 million. In recent years, SmithGroup has ramped up its sustainable design credentials, snatching green guru Russell Perry, AIA, from William McDonough & Partners, in 2005, to lead its sustainability effort.

With a staff that is inspired by the ability of design to make a difference in some of the most pressing issues facing society, SmithGroup nurtures a vibrant workplace where architects and engineers seek to expand the boundaries of the profession.

The firm concentrates its work in four major areas it calls “national practices”: healthcare, learning (higher education), science & technology, and workplace. It further structures itself into 30 or so design studios. At each of the firm's 10 locations—Ann Arbor and Detroit, Mich.; Chicago; Los Angeles; Madison, Wis.; Minneapolis; Phoenix; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; San Francisco; and Washington, D.C.—one of the design studios makes a presentation on a current project. This multidisciplinary critique provides those who are not working on the project the opportunity to offer input and learn from their colleagues—benefits that are good for morale. “We appreciate competing values,” says Carl Roehling, FAIA, SmithGroup president and CEO since 2002. “We synthesize different points of view into something better.”

Under Roehling, who is based in Detroit, and the firm's chair and design director, David R.H. King, FAIA, LEED AP, who works out of the Washington office, SmithGroup has shown a willingness to give the unconventional a try. By scheduling its standard workday at eight and a half hours, employees can earn the opportunity to take 15 Fridays a year off. According to a companywide survey, the work schedule policy ranks as one of the firm's top benefits among employees.

Roehling maintains that productivity has not suffered under the new schedule, and the numbers bear him out: 37 weeks at 42.5 hours per week plus 15 weeks at 34 hours comes to 2082.5 hours a year—two and a half hours more than if employees worked a conventional 40-hour week. If a client needs attention, then employees are expected to work all or part of what would have been an off-Friday, says Roehling.

Making sustainability a priority

SmithGroup is credited with designing the first LEED Platinum building, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Philip Merrill Environmental Center in Annapolis, Md., and recently earned Platinum for the Science & Technology Facility at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, Colo. Currently, the firm has 60 projects that have either achieved LEED certification, are registered with the USGBC, or were designed using LEED as a guide. SmithGroup is starting to evaluate its green projects on a post-occupancy basis in order to assess the effectiveness of various designs and materials in achieving sustainability goals.

Last year was a watershed, as the firm made an organization-wide commitment to boost its green credentials. In 2006, under Perry's tutelage, the number of LEED Accredited Professionals at SmithGroup jumped 179%, from 87 to 243, meaning that more than 30% of the firm's 800 employees now have that designation.

In order to make that dramatic leap, dozens of employees made a personal commitment to study for the LEED accreditation exam. Coordinators in each business unit spearheaded the ongoing green education effort. This group takes part in monthly videoconferences to coordinate activities. The firm created an Intranet site, “The GreenHouse,” with a searchable database for research, project information, articles, product literature, events, a discussion board, and related information on sustainable design.

Roehling sees the green movement gaining momentum among the firm's clients every year. “It's becoming a mainstream value system,” he says. Recalling the OPEC oil embargo and ensuing energy crisis of the 1970s, he notes that many of today's corporate leaders are the same people who took up the energy conservation mantra back then, “but they're now in a position to put those ideas into practice.” Boosting the firm's sustainability credentials not only makes good business sense, he says, but also helps employees further their careers.

Developing the next generation

SmithGroup's successful internship program is a strong recruiting resource. Each office employs between two and 32 interns each year. Nearly half of all interns eventually join the firm. Interns get exposure to the full gamut of project tasks, including the ability to contribute their own designs.

In 2004, the Detroit and Chicago offices introduced a lunchtime learning program that puts interns together with some of the firm's top managers and studio leaders to hear firsthand about executives' specific roles, how they got started in the industry, and what they feel are the keys to success.

“I had complete submersion and exposure to the various components that make a team, and ultimately the project, a success,” says Lisa Pallo, a former intern who became a full-time employee in Washington. “The generous mentoring and promotion of such a positive team dynamic is the reason I decided to work at SmithGroup full time.”

The firm is open to creative incentives for recruiting. For instance, an employee referral program offered a trip to Paris, France, rather than the usual cash bonus (which usually starts at $1,000 and can go higher).

Serving the community

SmithGroup has a strong commitment to charitable work. Three years ago, every office was encouraged to adopt a nonprofit organization. “We want every office to be involved in their community,” Roehling says. “You can give money, but the gift of time is even more valuable.”

For example, the Phoenix office helped raise over $90,000 last year for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Employees in the San Francisco office have been regular participants in the annual Sand Castle Competition for LEAP, a nonprofit organization that integrates art into Bay Area schools.

For the past six years, SmithGroup's Washington office has participated in the national CANstruction program, an annual event in which design firms compete to build the most creative structure entirely from cans of food, cardboard, tape, rubber bands, and wire. All the food and proceeds from a raffle are donated to the Capital Area Food Bank.

The Detroit staff has adopted Children's Center, an organization that provides medical and counseling services to at-risk children and their parents. SmithGroup employees helped the organization develop a long-term vision and provided master planning services for the center's proposed expansion. “This was a perfect opportunity for the firm to offer help doing what it does best,” says Roehling. “Our challenge was to show how architecture can help with the mission of educating children.”

Many of the office employees in Detroit also give up their lunchtimes on Mondays to volunteer at the city's St. Aloysius Outreach Center, which serves the homeless, the working poor, and the elderly poor. The volunteers make sandwiches, stock shelves, sort clothes, work in the pantry, and prepare hygiene kits.

With a tradition that goes back more than 150 years, SmithGroup still has its eye on the future.

 
More Employee Benefits at SmithGroup
• Employees have 23 days off a year, not including vacation days.

• Employee Activities Teams organize social events such as bowling, ice cream socials, and an engineering version of TV's “Jeopardy!”

• The firm is seeking socially responsible funds for its 401(k) investments and is implementing sustainable practices in day-to-day activities.

• Each office does pro bono work to benefit nonprofit organizations.
Learning for Life
Since 1980, SmithGroup's Detroit office has sponsored the “Learning for Life” initiative for a local Explorer post, a division of the Boy Scouts of America. The program introduces as many as 40 Detroit-area high school students per year to exciting career options. Since 1980, SmithGroup volunteers have worked with more than 700 students.

In the photo, Kizzie Stevenson, a senior at Detroit's Cass Technical High School, gets some helpful advice from SmithGroup architect André Sharon, himself an alumnus of Cass High, the Explorer program, and Lawrence Technological University, in Troy, Mich., which Stevenson will attend in the fall as an early-admission student.

Sharon says his Learning for Life training, under SmithGroup architect Bob Smith, gave him a sense of the day-to-day life of designers, because “we didn't really know what architects and engineers did.” The program also helped him learn how to make presentations. “In college, I was already used to being critiqued, so it was no big deal to defend my projects,” he says. After grad school and a stint at another firm, Sharon joined SmithGroup in 2000 and immediately “enlisted” as a mentor.

“The program has evolved quite a bit since my day,” he says. “We expose the students more to the allied disciplines—structural, lighting, M/E—and it's much more comprehensive. We bring in guest speakers, and we help them with soft skills—working well with others, time management, and so on.” At the end of the two-year program, SmithGroup hosts an awards ceremony for successful participants.
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