Industry veteran John Schaefer is director of capital investments at Graycor Capital, a role focused on finding equity capital investment opportunities in commercial real estate deals across North America.
Schaefer will join a panel of experts at our Buildings Conference in New York, May 22-23, focused on the planning, design and construction of leading-edge net-zero carbon projects.
In advance of the event, Schaefer weighed in on Graycor’s sustainable building practices and goals.
Interview below edited for clarity and brevity.
1. How do sustainability and/or net-zero initiatives impact your organization? How does this impact your day-to-day role?
As a key participant in the built environment, we play an important role in adopting and advancing sustainable business practices within our organization. Many of our clients are also committed to this effort as we have seen increased requests about our sustainability program and our ability to deliver net-zero projects. Some of them require us to complete external assessments (i.e., Ecovadis or S-Rating) to ensure the depth of our efforts are real. The sustainability expectations not only include environmental considerations, but also emphasize the social and governance aspects of our company. We have spent considerable time analyzing how these concepts apply to our organization and how we can support our clients’ goals to create our sustainability playbook. We are also monitoring the environmental legislation and how it affects the construction process.
We were awarded our first net-zero industrial warehouse construction project with a national retail client that will be designed and built to achieve client goals for both building and operational carbon reductions per the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) certification process. The carbon reduction requirements are considered stricter than LEED by the industry.
This has required us to establish a system in the field to track “actual” embodied carbon (EC) emissions of materials as they arrive on the jobsite, material transportation, the construction process, the consumption of different sources of fuel (gasoline, diesel, etc.) of vehicles and equipment, and temporary power emissions on the site. As part of the process, we have engaged subcontractors and suppliers who are required to provide environmental product data that can be used to provide a baseline, as designed, and eventually as-built EC reduction, material quantities, environmental product data, and information to sourcing carbon friendly materials and methods. This project experience will enable both Graycor and our client to create a collaborative blueprint for future delivery of net-zero projects.
The final key to success is knowing we did what was designed and we did what we said we would. Graycor is managing the ILFI program through a rigorous building construction decarbonization validation effort. The result is a project that has a lower EC footprint to achieve our client’s sustainability commitments.
A few items in this project that contribute to the above:
- Using mass timber construction in lieu of traditional materials
- Utilizing low carbon concrete
- Replacing portion of structural steel with mass timber/glulam wood products
- Replacing what is traditionally a metal deck roof with a panelized wood roof system
- Utilizing all electric mechanical equipment
- Installation of electric vehicle systems
- Water harvesting systems
- Plans for solar integration into electrical systems
- Permeable pavement installation in portion of the parking lot
Graycor has been building energy transition projects for many years that focus on renewable fuel production and processing. We have been involved in a couple of pilot test carbon capture projects that are being used to test technology that will be used on a larger scale to dramatically reduce carbon emissions.
2. Where do you see the most opportunity relative to sustainability in the built environment?
Almost any building could pursue sustainability to varying degrees. Nowadays, there are more “green” materials alternatives that could be used. Also, GCs can harvest low-hanging fruit through actions such as reducing the amount of waste in their jobsites, switching to electric equipment (instead of fossil fuel), procuring materials that are nearby to reduce transportation emissions, and sourcing materials from suppliers that show a commitment to decarbonization and hire subcontractors that share the same philosophy.
3. What is a challenge that you feel is facing the built environment today when it comes to net-zero building?
Understanding the practical application of the concept since it is still relatively new in the industry. There is so much information available on sustainability from the ideological perspective, however there is not a lot of information on the practical application. Standards like the International Living Future Institute provide clear expectations, but it is up to the design and construction team to design and build projects so this concept can be applied to a building from a practical standpoint.
Also, the subcontractor community needs to be educated as key participants in the process. The greatest impact is in our project teams who need to actively manage our sustainability program, and train subcontractors and suppliers how to do it. It will take the real-world actions of our clients adopting the net-zero initiatives to motivate others to do the same.
Want to Learn More About New and Advanced Building Materials?
Join us May 22-23 in New York City for our Buildings Conference and hear from John & others about where sustainable building practices are headed.