Unlocking the Adoption of Sustainable Building Practices

One hundred million tons of waste is a quantity almost unfathomable. It is also the annual waste generated by construction and demolition projects in the U.S. alone. It’s time to shed light on the reality that the built environment accounts for over one-third of all global energy consumption and emissions. How can we collectively shift the industry focus toward scalable construction solutions, carbon-neutral buildings, and net-zero energy developments?

“It’s time we stop judging houses on the beauty that is skin-deep. . . . Our goal is for every new project to be a carbon-neutral project.” –Gene Myers

Kohler hosted a powerful panel discussion on unlocking the adoption of sustainable building practices at the 2023 Greenbuild Conference. Shawn Oldenhoff, President – K&B North America, had the opportunity to moderate this discussion with esteemed panelists Yasemin Kologlu, Gene Myers, and Wes Sullens, who brought forward critically important insights and learnings for the audience to take back to their businesses.

In the discussion, Oldenhoff shared key sustainable business practices that Kohler is adopting. Here are the main takeaways:

• Prioritizing sustainable material innovation and building resilience in our communities is our North Star on the path to building a better planet.  
• We can leverage the agility and ingenuity of smaller, more local builders to find technology and processes that work better and can be scaled. 
• Consumer needs and expectations are ahead of the building industry – we must move faster, and we must do it together. 
• Beauty is only skin-deep—our standard of beauty in homes and architecture must be defined by resiliency, circularity, and efficiency.    

The solution to our climate issues is complex – but our own to-do list is very simple: Take responsibility and take action in areas material to your business where you can deliver the most impact.