The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti

🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: After 42 years at HKS, Kirk Teske reflects on a career that helped shape sustainable design at scale. From leading one of the earliest LEED pilot projects to influencing generations of architects, Kirk shares why responsible design, stakeholder engagement, and courageous leadership remain the foundation of a better built environment. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Susta...

🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick Take: What happens when a LEED Fellow entrepreneur, a Fortune 500 technology executive (turn investor), and a startup growth strategist sit down to discuss the future of building design? You get an inside look at how AI is reshaping architecture, construction, ownership, and the economics of the built environment. In this special episode, Charlie Cichetti, Robin Bi...

🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: AI, data centers, and digital infrastructure are transforming the built environment faster than most of us realize. In this episode, Anya Eydman explains why the future of decarbonization isn't just about technology—it's about trust, education, community engagement, and helping buildings become active participants in a cleaner, more resilient energy ecosystem...

🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: What happens when sustainability stops being about buzzwords — and starts being about healthier kids, stronger schools, and lower operational costs? Architect Bob Morris breaks down how net-zero schools, biophilic design, and human-centered architecture are reshaping the future of education. 🙋 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion **Bob is an architect wh...

♻️ The Green Impact Report Quick take: Tanya Eagle has spent her career proving that sustainability isn't a "nice to have" — it's a smarter way to design, operate, and future-proof buildings. In this episode, the LEED Fellow and JLL sustainability leader shares why the future of green building is bigger than certifications and how decarbonization, wellness, resilience, and material health are conv...

✅ The Green Impact Report Quick take: Most schools talk about sustainability. Jesse Michalski helped build one that actually runs on it. In this episode, the longtime electrician and renewable energy specialist breaks down how a Wisconsin middle school became a net-zero energy success story —without sacrificing practicality, ROI, or resilience. 🤝 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Jesse Mi...

🎙️ The Green Impact Report Quick take: Most sustainability conversations stop at ambition. Sonal Jain is focused on execution. In this episode, the King's Cross sustainability leader breaks down how one of London's most influential mixed-use estates is turning net-zero commitments into operational reality — through electrification, performance-first thinking, and commercially driven sustainability...

♻️ The Green Impact Report Quick take: Sustainability isn't a feature — it's the baseline. Jennifer Wehling breaks down how Embedding Green Strategies into every decision (not waiting for permission) is how firms scale impact fast. 🤝 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion A licensed architect with over 20 years of experience working on a wide variety of project types, Jennifer Wehling 's experi...

📕 The Green Impact Report Quick take: If you care about scaling sustainability beyond one building at a time, this episode is a Masterclass. Efrie Escott shows how decarbonization, AI, and systems thinking are reshaping the entire built environment — fast. 🤗 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Efrie Escott is the Decarbonization Technical Program Leader at Schneider Electric, promoting stra...

📋 The Green Impact Report Quick take: Green homes aren't just about energy anymore — they're about human health. Paul breaks down why indoor air quality, moisture control, and passive house design are the real game changers for the future of housing. 🫂 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Paul Kealey has spent nearly twenty years redefining what home truly means. As the Founder and President...

🧰 The Green Impact Report Quick take: Greece didn't have a word for "sustainability" — and Sandra Bär helped build an entire Green Building Market anyway. This episode is a playbook for creating impact where infrastructure doesn't exist yet. 🙋‍♂️ Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Sandra Bär is the founder of Beyond Sustainability and a pioneering green building consultant in Greece. Origi...

📕 The Green Impact Report Quick take: Net zero isn't the finish line anymore. Jamy Bacchus explains why whole-life carbon — and better decision-making upstream — is now the real battleground for Green Building Professionals. 👷‍♂️ Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Jamy Bacchus started in the industry in 1995 and in 2016 he joined ME Engineers as a mechanical engineer, energy modeler and su...

🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: The wine industry produces mountains of packaging waste most people never see. Megan Hernandez is proving that when vineyards collaborate, that "trash" can become a powerful lever for sustainability — and even revenue. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Megan Hernandez is a wine industry professional based in Sonoma County, California. With a backgro...

✅ The Green Impact Report Quick take: Electrification isn't just about swapping out equipment — it's about rethinking how buildings, transportation, and infrastructure work together. In this episode, Schneider Electric's Jordan Lerner shares how microgrids, fleet electrification, and creative funding strategies are transforming schools, cities, and public facilities. 🙋‍♂️ Meet Your Fellow Sustai...

🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: If you need to transform sustainability from an isolated department into a core business driver, this episode delivers the blueprint. Ethan Arbiser shows how to embed sustainability into daily real estate operations using resource optimization, AI, and high-visibility engagement strategies. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Ethan Arbiser is a Senior...

📣 The Green Impact Report Quick take: This episode is a masterclass in modern construction sustainability. Nicholas Ndah breaks down how eliminating waste, rethinking materials, and simplifying project execution can radically improve both environmental impact and long-term building performance. 🙋‍♂️ Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Nicholas Ndah is a commercial interiors and construction...

📣 The Green Impact Report Quick take: LEED v5 is "around the corner," and Helen Rubinstein (Director of Sustainability at Cosentini Associates) explains what's changing — and how sustainability teams can get ahead by integrating earlier, speaking the construction team's language, and leaning into decarbonization mandates without losing the bigger regenerative vision. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainab...

🌋 The Green Impact Report Quick take: From Buenos Aires to Papua New Guinea, LEED Fellow and architect Andres Schwarz shows how to turn certifications, commissioning, and culture into long-term, resilient green performance — not just plaques on the wall. 🫂 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Andres is a sustainability professional, serving as a sustainability advisor, university educator, p...

🧨 The Green Impact Report Quick take: What if you could eliminate 30% of wasted facility capital spend without sending a single person on-site? Austin Rabine, CEO of Site Technologies, breaks down how AI-powered drone data is transforming exterior inspections, cutting costs, and driving sustainability at scale. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Austin Rabine is the co-founder and CEO of...

📣 The Green Impact Report Quick take: LEED Fellow Theresa Lehman is back on the podcast! Since her first episode in 2021, she's doubled down on big-impact projects — like delivering one of the largest net-zero middle schools in the U.S. and advising on next-gen data center sustainability. If you're navigating LEED v5, IRA funding, or how to scale sustainability within a large firm — this episode...

🧨 The Green Impact Report Quick take: From boutique eco-hotels to 540-hectare industrial parks, Juan Carlos Valenzuela Castañeda is helping Guatemala go green — by proving that regenerative, resilient, and human-centered design isn't just possible in Central America, it's thriving. Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Juan Carlos Valenzuela Castañeda is a LEED Fellow and architect based in Gu...

🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: Umesh Atre shares a powerful journey from India to becoming a LEED Fellow and a sustainability leader at Parkhill. In this episode, he dives into how metrics-driven design, embodied carbon strategies, and infrastructure-focused sustainability are changing the green building landscape — especially in challenging regions like West Texas. 🙋‍♂️ Meet Your Fellow...

🎙️ The Green Impact Report Quick take: Zero carbon isn't a tech problem anymore — it's a business model problem. Fin MacDonald breaks down how developers can hit LEED Platinum + Zero Carbon goals by shifting costs smartly, partnering creatively, and treating finance like an ally instead of a villain. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Fin MacDonald is a newly minted LEED Fellow and zero-c...

🧨 The Green Impact Report Quick take: Alicia Silva Villanueva is back! In this powerful follow-up episode, the renowned sustainability leader from Mexico shares lessons from greening iconic places like Estadio Azteca for the FIFA World Cup, redefining resilience in hospitality, and writing the playbook to inspire the next generation of changemakers. 😎 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Ali...

The Green Impact Report Quick take: This episode shines a light on how youth advocacy and sustainability education are creating ripple effects in the green building world. Julia Pooler shares how empowering children with the right tools and mindset today can shape the carbon-zero leaders of tomorrow. Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Julia Pooler is the executive director of the Carbon Zero...