Pitkin County Adopts 2025 Climate Action Plan
The Pitkin County Board of Commissioners has adopted of the County’s 2025 Climate Action Plan! Lotus completed the County’s community-wide GHG inventory and the municipal GHG inventory is underway. Both inventories are key to accomplishing the goals of the Plan.
January 2025
New Year, New News
We are hiring!
we are hiring!
Visit the Lotus Careers webpage to see the job descriptions for the three open positions. Please help us distribute these new opportunities to your robust network!
Lotus in the news
Photo courtesy of Daniel Bayer Photography, provided by the Community Office for Resource Efficiency (CORE).
Eagle County, Colorado, a collection of mountain communities with a population of about 54.5k people has emerged as a regional leader in sustainable development and green buildings. Lotus, in partnership with Walking Mountains and the Community Office for Regional Efficiency, led a cohort of communities from Eagle, Pitkin, and Garfield counties to develop a regional roadmap to achieve the Eagle County Climate Action Plan’s ambitious goal of achieving a net-zero or all-electric building codes for new construction by 2030. Some of the Roadmap’s objectives include defining a net-zero energy code for new construction, eliminating GHG emissions from new construction, developing building code implementation plans for local governments, and helping the municipalities in the region stay aligned on their building codes. The Vail Daily published an article about the Regional Roadmap that can be found here!
Colorado Green Business Network Certification - Lotus Can Help!
What is the Colorado Green Business Network (CGBN)?
The CGBN is a program that encourages, supports, and rewards organizations that make the move toward the goal of operational sustainability. The program’s goal is to support organizations throughout Colorado at any level of implementation to increase the efficiency and sustainability of operations through assessing opportunities for growth, recognizing success, and providing connections to like-minded businesses. Organizations in Colorado can apply for CGBN recognition and other benefits such as awards and networking, by meeting sustainability requirements and criteria on a point-based reporting application. The CGBN also provides free Technical Assistance to businesses interested in recognition and learning more about how to advance sustainability in their operations. If your organization is based in Colorado, Lotus recommends setting up a meeting with the CGBN team to learn more about the program and learn about growth opportunities.
Lotus was a recognized Silver member of the CGBN in 2023 and is aiming for Gold in 2025. We understand the hard work that can go into meeting sustainability requirements, developing internal policies, and planning projects to become a more sustainable company. As part of our mission to advance climate action locally, we offer support to businesses who are interested in learning more about Lotus’ experience with the CGBN, need help reaching a higher member status, or require assistance with specific criteria they would like to meet for the certification. Lotus is able to provide support with energy, water, waste, and GHG reporting, community outreach, project planning, transportation, and more!
You can email hello@lotussustainability.com or get in touch with us through our website!
Mountain Towns 2030 Climate Solutions Summit
In October, five members of the Lotus staff traveled to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to attend and speak at the Mountain Towns 2030 Climate Solutions Summit. At the Summit, great minds in climate action gathered to discuss and think about environmental solutions for mountain communities who share similar impacts from a changing climate.
Lotus’ Kim Schlaepfer and Eagle County’s Kira Koppel co-presented on Roadmapping to “Net Zero” New Construction. Their presentation focused on multi-county collaboration and redefining net zero alignment on new construction codes, which led to the Net Zero Roadmap for Eagle-Pitkin counties. They also discussed the differences between home-rule and non-home-rule states and advancing sustainability in building codes.
If you are interested in sustainability for mountain communities, consider registering for the Mountain Towns 2030 Climate Network, a peer-to-peer platform that enables collaboration amongst local government officials, staff sustainability teams, ski resorts, local businesses, and nonprofit leaders. In this online community, there are spaces to ask questions, help others, and share ideas. More information on the Climate Network can be found here.
Project Highlights
Deer valley climate action plan
Lotus partnered with Deer Valley to develop a climate action plan for their resort operations. The Deer Valley Climate Action Plan will help the resort address their operational carbon footprint, prioritize implementation strategies, and clearly communicate their climate action commitments to their visitors and staff. Lotus’s approach walked the client through the crafting of a set of prioritization metrics through which the resort can assess its next steps: from proactively addressing climate risks to tackling critical opportunities in their infrastructure to empowering staff to solve problems.
Lotus’s expertise in adapting climate plans to fit a specific culture, environment, and circumstance shines in this resort climate action plan. The scope of work included workshops with the Senior Leadership Team, focus groups and informational interviews with staff, a site visit to meet with all resort departments, a business-as-usual emissions forecast, climate adaptation and mitigation strategies, and a designed climate action plan document.
Wheat Ridge, Colorado Climate Action Plan Update
Lotus worked with the City of Wheat Ridge to update and formally adopt their Sustainability Action Plan. The community was the impetus for the first Plan created in 2018. Lotus led the strategic analysis of the 2018 plan, which involved a comprehensive review of relevant City plans, as well as regional, state, and federal plans and initiatives. This review allowed the City to utilize existing collaborations and funding to force-multiply their sustainability efforts. Lotus also engaged City staff and key stakeholders to contextualize the 2024 plan update and identify critical opportunities. Engagement efforts also garnered community input on sustainability priorities and strategies. Lotus sought to capture the grassroots, community-driven spirit of the plan and ground the plan update in the key implementation details that City staff would champion.
Learn with us!
LOTUS EQUITY PRESENTATIONS OCCUR MONTHLY TO EXPAND OUR LEARNING AND GROWTH. BELOW ARE RESOURCES WE ARE EXCITED TO SHARE.
Equity in hiring practices
This equity presentation discussed hiring practices that help to create the most equitable outcomes for candidates, increase diversity in the workplace, and analyze cultural elements.
The IDI: A Tool for Equity Learning
As part of our mission to expand our equity learning and efforts at Lotus, we partner with Seven Focus to provide each of our team members with an Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) and an individualized Intercultural Development Plan (IDP) with opportunities to learn, reflect, and write goals. The IDI is a tool that can provide information about one’s cultural mindset and competence, with specific focuses on cultural commonalities, differences, and growth. The IDI helps Lotus staff develop internal, company-wide equity activities that initiate dialogues, provide space for reflection, and create outlets for change.
September 2024
The Summer Scoop
New Work, New Services, New Learning
LOTUS NEWS
EXPANDING WORK IN THE SOUTHEAST
In July, the City of Birmingham, Alabama selected Lotus with partner, Hummingbird Firm, as the vendor for the development of the City’s first Sustainability Plan. The project will complement the work that has already taken place for the federal Climate Pollution Reduction Grant for the Birmingham-Hoover Metro Area.
Lotus is also performing ongoing work for Georgia Tech including projects related to GHG inventories, Climate Action and Sustainability planning, and GHG modeling and visualization. We are excited to begin our work with Birmingham and extend our services to communities in the Southeast.
Services We Offer
LOTUS OFFERS GRANT WRITING SERVICES
Lotus offers grant writing services to help our partner communities implement their climate action strategies. This includes research, grant writing, grant management, and grant evaluation. Our client, DRCOG (Denver Regional Council of Governments), shared the following exciting grant opportunities:
Federal Highway Administration: Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grant
Colorado Energy Office: Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant
Please reach out if you need grant research and writing support!
Streamlined Program Impact Reporting and Evaluation Tools
Lotus offers program impact evaluation tools as part of our suite of data visualization services. Program impact dashboards make it simple and efficient to comply with State and Federal reporting requirements, especially when new funding becomes available. These tools can also be used internally to measure program effectiveness.
Lotus breaks program impact evaluations into four steps.
1. Background research and metric identification. Metrics can include GHG emissions reductions, energy use and cost reductions, jobs created, impacts in disproportionately impacted communities, etc.
2. Data collection.
3. Calculation and development of summary dashboard.
4. Reporting and sharing results with stakeholders.
If you are interested in implementing a tool to track your impact, please reach out!
Image: Sample program impact dashboard summarizing impacts of program implementation on energy use, emissions, air pollution, and jobs.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
Mission, Kansas: Climate Action Task Force
As a continuation of the greenhouse gas emissions inventory work we completed in 2023, the City of Mission, Kansas was ready to prioritize its list of recommendations for climate action. Mission reassembled its Climate Action Task Force and Lotus facilitated the Task Force meetings.
Together, the City, Lotus, and the Task Force developed a prioritization matrix to help think through the implementation of the strategies initially developed in 2022. Using metrics such as greenhouse gas emissions reduction, equity, and feasibility, we created a scoring rubric and scored the strategies based on that rubric. Watch out for some amazing work to come from the City of Mission!
Colorado energy office: energy code board
The State’s Energy Code Board reconvened in 2024 to create a Low Energy and Carbon Code for Colorado. This code, based on the recently released 2024 IECC, will be the new State minimum energy code, starting July 1, 2026.
Lotus is facilitating the Board’s process and providing technical support, code drafting, and review with support from Group14 and Shums Coda. Lotus is also convening an equity committee for the Board to ensure the final code advances equity and minimizes unintended consequences.
The Low Energy and Carbon Code will be published in September of 2025. Communities, organizations, and companies across Colorado have the opportunity to weigh in on the Board’s process. Colorado professionals and community members can submit comments at any time using the online comment form. In addition, the public will have two opportunities in 2025 to review and provide input on the draft code language. The first public comment period and draft code will be available in early January 2025, and the second in early April 2025.
Those interested in learning more about the Energy Code Board’s work or discussions can find more information on the Colorado Energy Office's website. Meeting notes and recordings are publicly available for review on the site along with comments and code proposals from the general public submitted to date.
Aspen, Colorado: Construction & Demolition Waste Audit
Construction and Demolition (C&D) debris management can be a considerable challenge for communities with limited landfill space and/or concerns about methane production in their landfill. While most C&D debris is bulky and heavy, it can still be diverted from the landfill to be recycled or repurposed. The City of Aspen has taken this challenge head-on.
In January 2022, the Aspen City Council set a Science Based Target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 63% by 2030 and net zero by 2050. They also set waste reduction targets to reduce organic material going to landfill by 25% by 2025 and 100% by 2050, with a reduction of all waste going to the landfill by 70% by 2050. To continue to work toward these targets, Aspen wanted to better calculate fees based on the environmental impact of C&D materials that should be diverted, but arrive at the landfill instead.
Using an Embodied Carbon dataset for materials and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Social Cost of Carbon, Lotus quantified the present cost of future environmental damage from the material’s life cycle including extraction, production, transportation, and ultimately disposal. Aspen is currently in the process of applying this metric to C&D debris that originates within the City of Aspen.
If you would like to utilize an embodied carbon or Life-Cycle Analysis for your community or company, reach out to the Lotus team!
Learn with Us!
LOTUS EQUITY PRESENTATIONS OCCUR MONTHLY TO EXPAND OUR LEARNING AND GROWTH. BELOW ARE RESOURCES WE ARE EXCITED TO SHARE.
THE DUST BOWL, CAPITALISM, AND INJUSTICE
This equity presentation covered the origins and history of the Dust Bowl, particularly highlighting injustices to indigenous peoples, and the legacy of environmental destruction that still abounds in the area today.
SPIRIT OF THE SUN
This presentation introduced the Lotus team to some of the work Spirit of the Sun is doing around permaculture and mycelium. The content explored not only the benefits of permaculture and mycelium, but their roots in indigenous culture and their role in providing resiliency for BIPOC communities here in Colorado.
U.S. Permaculture and the Legacy of Colonizing Ideologies Reading
May 2024
Welcome to our new team members!
Lotus Engineering & Sustainability
SBA WOSB CERTIFICATION
Lotus is proud to announce national certification as a participant of the The Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program, which helps even the playing field for women-owned businesses. This certification allows Lotus to be eligible to compete for federal contracts set aside for the WOSB Program.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
Town of erie, colorado
Lotus’ Climate Mitigation, Resiliency, and Planning team developed a Sustainable Purchasing Best Management Practice Guide (SPBMP) and an Electric Vehicle (EV) Procurement Policy (EVPP) for the Town of Erie to help them achieve their sustainability goals. The SPBMP will ensure that all products purchased will meet high standards of sustainability, social well-being, and economic vitality. The EVPP will allow Erie to implement an EV-First Policy for their fleet procurement, which will help Erie electrify its fleet over the next 10 to 25 years.
fort collins, COlorado
The Lotus Communications and Engagement team is supporting the City of Fort Collins’s municipal utility in updating their Water Efficiency Plan. This plan will outline goals and strategies for the utility to improve efficiency in the community and in the City’s operations. Lotus, in partnership with Greenprint Partners, is facilitating staff and public engagement as well as developing an equity assessment for the plan’s strategies.
Denver office of CASR
The Lotus Data team is supporting Denver’s Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency (CASR) with greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction strategy modeling to analyze the impact of the Climate Protection Fund. Lotus has calculated the GHG emission impact and marginal carbon abatement cost of sixteen programs across CASR. The results from this project will help ensure consistency in calculating GHG impact across all programs, as well as inform decisions about what programs to scale up and what to scale back to equitably achieve Denver’s zero emissions goal by 2040.
WE HELP OUR CLIENTS PUBLICALLY DISCLOSE AND REPORT CLIMATE AND SUSTAINABILITY ACTIONS.
Many of our clients report on an annual basis to standard reporting platforms such as CDP. We’ve helped clients achieve CDP’s A-List status by preparing their greenhouse gas emissions inventories and assisting with their questionnaire. If you are considering reporting or looking to move your ranking up, send an email to hello@lotussustainability.com.
Equity Resources
Lotus Equity presentations occur monthly to expand our learning and growth. Below are resources we are Excited to share.
Energy Insecurity and Energy Justice in the Southeast
This issue exacerbates social and economic disparities and underscores the need for targeted initiatives to address energy affordability in the region.
White Supremacy Culture
White supremacy culture refers to a set of cultural/societal norms that negatively impact all members of society, no matter one’s racial identity. These norms are dominant in cultural institutions such as schools, universities, work environments, government systems, and within our social lives.
Tourism in Indonesia
Tourism boosts economies, employment, and development, but can tourism become harmful? We explored the background of Indonesia’s tourism and learned how overdevelopment in Bali is threatening the island’s environment, economy, religion, and culture.
Storymap - Over-Exposure to Tourism in Bali, Indonesia
Equity in Planning
Learning about the past helps us to understand how historical inequities impact communities today. We learned about how neighborhood construction impacts racist housing policies, urban renewal, zoning connections to pollution, homelessness, and segregation.
Storymap - Equity in Denver: How History Impacts Equity Today
Welcome to the Team!
Breann Boyle
Breann joins Lotus as a Senior Associate.
Breann grew up in the Northeast with a love for adventure and the outdoors. College internships in Alaska and on a remote island off the coast of Maine solidified her passion for environmental and sustainability work. She received a B.S. and Master of Engineering degree in Bio-Environmental Engineering from Cornell University.
Prior to joining Lotus, Breann worked in local government on stormwater management, green infrastructure, climate action planning, and energy codes in the San Francisco Bay Area, pursuing her dream of serving her community and helping make it a healthier place to live. She recently relocated to Colorado to be closer to friends, family, and the mountains. Breann is excited to apply her intimate knowledge of the challenges and opportunities that local governments face to her work with clients to help them achieve their climate goals.
kara colovich
Kara joins Lotus as a Research Associate.
Kara resides in Lander, Wyoming at the crossroads of rugged mountains, and high mountain deserts. This ecologically and culturally diverse place helped form her identity growing up, and continues to inspire her sense of exploration. Being from a rural and remote area, Kara is an advocate for elevating the needs of these communities as they search for their own path toward sustainability. The first step on this path is learning a community’s energy use and operational systems impact cost, community wellbeing, and GHG emissions. Kara has helped organizations in the nonprofit and municipal sectors quantify these impacts, research funding opportunities, and evaluate cost implications as they set their sights on implementation.
brendan mccarthy
Brendan joins Lotus as the Business Support Specialist.
Brendan grew up in Pittsburgh - a city with a rich history, many bridges, and lots of rain. Looking for sunshine, an outdoor lifestyle, and sustainability, Brendan ventured to Colorado to attend college with focuses on Strategic Communication, Marketing, and Psychology. Brendan’s background in marketing and communications led him to work for a creative advertising agency, Denver nonprofit, and a university in southern Hungary. Brendan’s passion for sustainability blossomed in college where he was part of an environmental sustainability community. The program exposed him to climate-related issues, environmental science, and sustainability initiatives. Brendan is passionate about implementing sustainable practices wherever life takes him.
Get in Touch
February 2024
We Are Certified Women-Owned and Growing!
Lotus Engineering & Sustainability
We are a certified women-owned small business
Lotus is proud to announce national certification as a Women’s Business Enterprise by the Women’s Business Enterprise Council - West, a regional certifying partner of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). WBENC Certification is the gold standard for women-owned business certification in the United States.
We Are Hiring
Lotus is hiring for two positions: Data Research Associate and Part-Time Business Support Specialist. The review of materials is ongoing and will continue until the position is filled. We strongly encourage applicants with diverse backgrounds to apply.
Lotus is committed to providing its team with a work experience that compliments and supports the lives that employees want to live. We pride ourselves in supporting hybrid and remote work; providing essential benefits such as healthcare, a wellness stipend, parental leave, and 401(k); 30 hours of paid volunteer or board time; an annual matched donation to charity; and unlimited paid time off recognizing the value of time away from work for rest, relaxation, and personal pursuits.
Project Highlights
JSI
JSI is a public health organization, and Lotus is excited to join the important work of decarbonizing public health. We partnered with JSI to support climate action initiatives for their eight offices in the United States. This internal Climate Action Program will help JSI identify their carbon footprint, solidify their commitment to climate action, and clearly communicate their commitments to its funders (specifically government funding). This work included focus groups with JSI administration, interviews with funders and partners, a greenhouse gas inventory replete with an Inventory Management Plan, climate mitigation strategies, and an implementation plan.
YMCA of the Rockies
Lotus worked with the YMCA of the Rockies to support the development of a Sustainability Action Plan that addressed the sustainability objectives in their strategic plan. The project actively engaged YMCA of the Rockies staff to foster a culture of sustainability within the organization and facilitate the implementation of effective climate action strategies. To support this work, Lotus conducted a comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions inventory of both campus locations, as well as emissions modeling of sustainability strategies to gain insights into YMCA of the Rockies' environmental footprint and which strategies would be most impactful. Furthermore, Lotus developed a cost evaluation of carbon emission reduction strategies for the YMCA of the Rockies.
Finally, Lotus worked strategically with YMCA staff to bring forward a GHG reduction goal to the YMCA Board of Directors and Senior Leadership to ensure the plan and associated goal were aligned with the mission and values of YMCA of the Rockies and that the Board understood the responsibilities associated with setting a GHG target for the organization. You can view the executive summary of the plan here.
“Over the past year, YMCA of the Rockies has had the pleasure of working with Lotus on the creation of our comprehensive sustainability action plan. Through this process, Lotus has helped us to create a plan that aligns with our needs as a mission-based organization. Their thoughtful approach to creating a plan that encompasses all aspects of our needs has ensured that we are setting goals we feel confident in. From understanding our unique needs as a non-profit, to facilitating meaningful conversations with stakeholders of varying climate expertise, Lotus has successfully navigated through the process of developing a plan molded specifically to who we are as an organization. We are glad we chose to work with Lotus on such an important aspect of our mission.”
DRCOG - Climate Pollution Reduction Grant
Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) was awarded a $1 million Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) from the EPA and hired Lotus to fulfill the requirements of the grant including a Priority Climate Action Plan (complete and available 3/1/24 on the DRCOG website) and Comprehensive Climate Action Plan. To date Lotus has led and facilitated multiple community and stakeholder engagements, as well as completed 12 separate GHG inventories for the region. Future work includes modeling GHG emissions reductions and analyzing costs and benefits of the selected strategies. Lotus is also will support the reporting requirements and development of the Comprehensive Climate Action Plan in the coming months.
Stay up to date on the project and get involved here!
Our continued Commitment to Equity
We are committed to learning and growing in our understanding of equity and environmental justice. We wanted to share a few resources which we have found valuable.
An Environmental Data Justice Syllabus 1.0 - Compiled by EDJ Working Group (2019)
Energy Insecurity in the Southeast - William D. Bryan (2023)
El Apagón - Aquí Vive Gente music video and documentary about Puerto Rico’s energy crisis - Bad Bunny (2022)
Farming in the US for Black (NPR - 2023), Native (Civil Eats - 2022), and Immigrant (Wisconsin Watch - 2023) farmers.
August 2023
August 2023: We Are Hiring!
Lotus Engineering & Sustainability
We Are Hiring
Lotus is hiring a Sustainability Strategy Modeling Associate. The review of materials is ongoing and will continue until the position is filled. Please apply early. We strongly encourage applicants with diverse backgrounds to apply.
Lotus is committed to providing its team with a work experience that compliments and supports the lives that employees want to live. We pride ourselves in supporting hybrid and remote work; providing essential benefits such as healthcare, a wellness stipend, parental leave, and 401(k); 30 hours of paid volunteer or board time; an annual matched donation to charity; and unlimited paid time off recognizing the value of time away from work for rest, relaxation, and personal pursuits.
EPA FLIGHT Facilities from 2010-2021
For many greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting practitioners, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) is a valuable source for finding specific data from large GHG emission sources. Codified into law more than 10 years ago, the GHGRP requires entities that emit more than 25,000 metric tons of stationary CO2e to report those emissions and sources. This includes industry, oil & gas, power sector, landfills, and many more to provide detailed data to be publicly available. Further, these data are searchable within EPA’s Envirofacts and FLIGHT tools. While both tools allow for geographic and sector searches, Lotus has compiled FLIGHT data from each year of reporting to visualize trends across the country.
Visualization of complex data is a valuable way to reach and engage more communities and provide defensible decision-making. If you are a data visualization expert, make sure to apply for the job above! If your community would like to explore more ways to visualize data in pursuit of sustainability and climate action, you can contact Lotus at hello@lotussustainability.com.
Lotus is a Part of the Colorado Green Business Network
The Colorado Green Business Network (CGBN) within the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has recognized Lotus as a Silver CGBN Certified business! It’s important for us to demonstrate to our clients that we are just like them, working to take action for the climate. We are so excited to continue improving on our sustainability goals and to support the vast network of enthusiastic businesses.
Project Highlights
Xero Shoes
Xero Shoes creates a variety of shoe styles that embody the natural feeling of running barefoot. As part of the Recreational Equipment, Inc (REI) Product Standards Climate and Environmental Stewardship Valuation, Xero Shoes has committed to measuring its carbon footprint and reducing its carbon emissions in alignment with the recommendations of the United Nations (UN) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). To help Xero Shoes accomplish this, Lotus completed the company’s 2021 and 2022 operational greenhouse gas inventories, the results of which were shared with REI. In completing both inventories, Lotus followed REI’s requirements using the GHG Protocol and including emissions from scopes 1, 2, and 3. For the 2022 inventory, Lotus helped Xero Shoes translate the energy-use data from their secondary office in Prague, Czech Republic, as well as evaluate the emissions from the addition of a new, larger warehouse in Denver. Lotus also created inventory management plans for both inventories.
Read more about Xero Shoes’ sustainability efforts here.
Summit County Climate Equity Plan
Since completing the County’s Climate Action Plan, the jurisdictions in Summit County embarked on implementation work. Lotus worked with the High Country Conservation Center to update the County’s GHG inventory with 2021 data and develop a climate equity plan that will specifically detail projects and programs to enhance equity in the community through the implementation of climate action work.
Learn more about Lotus’s work in Summit County here.
City and County of Denver
Lotus worked with Denver’s Office of Climate Action, Sustainability, and Resiliency (CASR) to develop an equity-centered stakeholder facilitation and engagement process. This project convened members of the small Equity Priority Building (EPB) community to inform them about the type of services and incentives CASR offers to meet the Energize Denver requirements. Lotus reviewed previous EPB listening sessions, hosted several additional EPB community listening sessions, and conducted informational interviews with building owners, managers, and tenants. At the culmination of these conversations, Lotus produced a report sharing our findings and analysis to support CASR’s Energize Denver goals.
Additionally, Lotus completes Denver’s community and municipal GHG inventories annually. We recently submitted Denver’s CDP response.
For more information about all of our work the with City and County of Denver, click here.
Colorado Energy Code Board
Lotus contracted with the Colorado Energy Office to facilitate an Energy Code Board that created the State’s Model Electric and Solar Ready code. House Bill 22-1662 required the Energy Office to convene the Energy Code Board with diverse representatives from across the state to develop a new state minimum code in conjunction with the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code.
Read more about the process here and check out an article by Colorado Public Radio News about the impacts of the code here.
CEO Energy Code Adoption & Enforcement Grant Program
To support communities in the adoption, implementation, and enforcement of updated building energy codes, the Colorado Energy Office has launched the Energy Code Adoption & Enforcement Grant Program. Local governments, local government partnerships, and government councils (or nonprofits applying on behalf of local governments) are eligible to apply. More funding is available for local government partnerships and match requirements are reduced for smaller jurisdictions.
If you are considering applying for this grant, we would love to work with you! Lotus has extensive experience in supporting local governments with energy code updates. Some of our work includes the facilitation of regional code cohorts, which could be a tactic to both maximize grant program funding and encourage regional collaboration. Code cohorts are effective in establishing consistency in codes within the region, pooling resources and expertise, and helping communities take a unified approach to curbing local GHG emissions. Lotus can assist you in ensuring building code updates that both meet state requirements and incorporate the needs of your community. Recent cohort projects we’ve worked on include the Boulder County Net Zero Codes Cohort and the Eagle County Code Cohort.
Please reach out to us for more information on how you can take advantage of CEO funding and/or how we can partner with you in your code update process.
WE will be there! Will you?
If so, reach out and we would love to connect with you! Email us at hello@lotussustainabilty.com so we can set up a time.
June 2023
Hablamos español!
Lotus Engineering & Sustainability
Embracing Various Carbon Accounting Methods
As many communities work to fully understand the sources of emissions within their community, they eventually turn their eye outward to better understand emissions outside of their community induced by activities within their community - or a Demand Center Life Cycle approach. In the last few years, Lotus Engineering and Sustainability has helped multiple communities understand these emissions from activities that are well outside of their community but are related to either the demand-centered economy or consumption-based behavior of its community. Embodied carbon and consumption-based emissions are two of the most common areas that communities are evaluating today.
Embodied carbon is all the carbon emissions released during the full life cycle of buildings or construction projects. Embodied carbon accounting looks at everything from the products selected through the end-of-life phase when that building or project is deconstructed. Communities and Local Governments have varying levels of influence or control throughout these phases. For example, in the product phase, lower carbon sources of raw materials can be required or incentivized; many local governments have control over building codes or other requirements for low carbon or low water use within buildings when occupied; finally, local governments can also influence the end of life phase in terms of the requirements for deconstruction. For an example of embodied carbon analysis see Pitkin County, CO’s Story Map.
Consumption-based emissions inventories look at the behavior, activity, and choices of a community in terms of the goods and services that they purchase. Some of the most common examples of consumption-based emissions include the upstream emissions of fossil fuels such as natural gas and gasoline. They also typically include upstream emissions of the food that is consumed within a community as well as downstream emissions from product use all the way to disposal, recycling, or reuse. Lotus is currently working with clients on Consumption-Based Emissions Inventories and those will be available later in 2023. Check our website for updated examples.
Updates on Our commitment to Equity
Hablamos español! Three of our team members at Lotus speak Spanish and are making our community engagement and other deliverables more accessible to more community members. This is important to us as we strive to make our company more equitable, both for our clients and our team. We are also translating our website into Spanish. Check back in the coming months for this feature.
We have also completed an Intercultural Development Inventory to better understand each individual's intercultural competence. This learning will help increase our team’s capabilities to shift cultural perspectives and appropriately adapt behavior to cultural differences and commonalities. As part of this work, each employee met one-on-one with Prismatic to review their scores and, as a team, we reviewed our company's findings.
Our commitment to equity is ongoing. We will be updating our website with each practice area’s goals and metrics as well as our progress toward those goals.
Welcome to the team!
Grace Sullivan
Having grown up in Colorado, Grace has a love for the beautiful and diverse landscapes the State has to offer. She loves Palisades peaches and hatch green chiles and enjoys learning about the compelling and diverse parts of Colorado’s historical and cultural fabric. It’s in the unique, geo-sociological setting of the West that Grace began to understand the imperative challenge of climate change and its inextricable ties to race and equity.
Grace’s background and passions continue to meet at the confluence of climate action and social justice. After receiving her master’s degree in International and Intercultural Communications from the University of Denver in 2020, Grace started work consulting in public health and emergency management. She has had the honor of responding to many recent disasters: The COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, Hurricane Ian, and the Surfside Condo Collapse. No matter the incident or landscape, she works to advance issues of sustainability and equity through community engagement and the facilitation of dialogue. When she isn’t working, she loves camping, gardening, crafting recipes from what she grew, and spending time with her many animals.
LIFE GOALS: Complete my US National Parks Passport; Visit as many UNESCO World Heritage Sites as possible; Learn two more languages.
Tom Herrod
Tom’s interest in sustainability was born from the writings of ecologists like John Janovy and Aldo Leopold. That interest grew while spending time in Western Nebraska and fully appreciating the unique beauty of the Sandhills region.
Immediately after graduating from the University of Nebraska, Tom headed west to Colorado to further pursue his interests through graduate school and working for the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Having worked at all levels of government and the non-profit sector, Tom brings a depth of experience and a passion to help clients build internal capacity while pursuing climate and sustainability goals.
FAVORITE PLACES: The North Platte River during Sandhill Crane migrations; any National Park; Maine; any place new.
March 2023
March 2023
Lotus Engineering & Sustainability
For my entire career, I have either worked in the public sector or directly supported the public sector in its environmental work. I know, firsthand, how important the work of the public sector is for sustainability. I also know that so many public sector sustainability professionals work on an island, either by themselves or with a small team, to promote initiatives and policies that have widespread, community impact. This can lead to frequent exhaustion or even burnout for people in roles where the work always feels urgent in the face of climate change.
In early March, I attended the USGBC Green Schools Conference. This one felt different than any other before. While I felt the energy and excitement of colleagues learning from one another, I also experienced a renewed enthusiasm for the work as a result of the conference. There was a sense of revitalization that my peers and I had been missing after so many years of remote connection. The sense of renewed purpose was palpable for all those in attendance.
At Lotus, one of my greatest joys is helping our clients feel like they have a skilled and passionate team behind them to accomplish their sustainability goals. Having a sense of community when we face the collective crisis of climate change is one experience that I know will help us achieve our goals to reduce emissions and build a thriving world for the future. As we move into Spring, I look forward to collaborating with my colleagues and clients as we make our communities more equitable and sustainable.
We are in this together!
Hillary
Welcome to the team!
Natalia Carminelli
Natalia was born and raised in Puerto Rico, surrounded by beaches, amazing food, and rainforests. This exposure instilled in her a fierce respect and appreciation for the natural environment. She later moved to Raleigh to pursue her bachelor’s in Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management. While in college, she was introduced to sustainability and realized all the work that needs to be done. This led her to move to Colorado to pursue her master’s in Sustainability Planning and Management at the University of Colorado Boulder. Through her program she was able to explore and develop skills around stakeholder engagement, business sustainability, and community development.
Natalia has worked in both the private and public sector. As part of her capstone project, she led the efforts to achieve B Corp Certification for a small coconut water company. Through this project, she evaluated every aspect of the business and the impacts on its stakeholders. Her work in the public sector includes developing a sustainable design report for future affordable housing developments and assisting with community engagement in the reimagining process of a sustainable business program.
Natalia is excited to join the Lotus team to support clients set and reach their climate goals while ensuring these are done from an equity lens.
FAVORITE THINGS: Long dinners with loved ones, summer nights, playlists that reflect your mood perfectly, the excitement on a powder day, quiet mornings, a cold coca cola after a hot day, Christmas in Puerto Rico.
molly Marcucilli
Molly earned her B.S. in Geographic Science from James Madison University in 2013. Soon after, she left the east coast and moved to Colorado, chasing her love for nature and the outdoors. While living in Aspen, she was dazzled by the natural beauty, as well as the City's progressive planning and transportation systems. Her fascination with the intersection of natural and built environment inspired her to pursue a master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Colorado-Denver.
After graduating from CU Denver, Molly joined Boulder County's Long-Range Planning & Policy team where she facilitated updates to the County's comprehensive plan and land use codes. From Boulder County she moved to the City of Denver's Community Planning & Development department, building upon her land use planning and zoning skills by conducting zoning review for commercial development around Denver. In her free time, Molly serves as a board member for her local RNO and also volunteers on the RNO's sustainability committee, promoting learning opportunities and community-based solutions surrounding sustainability within the Berkeley neighborhood.
Molly is excited to leverage both her background in land use planning & policy, as well as her passion for the natural world, to the Lotus team, supporting each client in reaching their climate, resiliency, and sustainability goals through the development and implementation of thoughtful, innovative, and client-specific strategies.
PLACES OF INSPIRATION: Anywhere I am walking/hiking with a friend or my dog (Bandit), my shower, a cozy coffee shop, I-70 when I’m stuck in traffic.
Candace Cohen
Candace grew up in Northern New Jersey, where she enjoyed hiking and volunteering for local river cleanups with her family. These experiences, along with much-anticipated visits to her cousins’ farm in rural Colombia, are what inspired her respect and appreciation for nature. This eventually led her to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Science, allowing her to create a concentration in Environmental and Sustainability Studies, at Vanderbilt University.
During her studies, Candace became fascinated with the interactions between society and the environment. She started to combine this with her passion for travel, participating in a field research program in New Zealand and interning at an environmental consulting firm in Tel Aviv. Candace then worked for the Sustainability Division at the Metropolitan Government of Nashville, where she helped with their transportation greenhouse gas inventory and conducted community outreach to promote sustainable practices within the city. Soon after graduating from college, Candace continued to pursue her love for the outdoors and moved to Colorado.
Candace is thrilled to join the Lotus team to provide data analysis support in order to help clients understand the sources of their greenhouse gas emissions and reach their climate goals.
LIFE GOALS: Learn how to produce music; Get better at snowboarding; Visit every place on my bucket list (Japan, Iceland, Vietnam, etc.); and Roadtrip to all of the best national parks out West.
Our commitment to Equity
AT LOTUS, WE KNOW OUR EXPERTISE IS A CATALYST TO ADDRESS THE CURRENT AND FUTURE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE. HOWEVER, THAT IS NOT ENOUGH.
We recognize with humility that our role as consultants is to use that expertise to co-create solutions with communities. With this in mind, we commit to sustained collective action to heal past harms, uplift lived experiences, and dismantle systems of oppression to help all our clients realize a climate-just vision for their futures. We know environmental and climate justice is social and racial justice. We take this responsibility seriously.
TO ACHIEVE THE CLIMATE-JUST OUTCOMES WE SEEK, OUR WORK AS ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANTS INCLUDES:
Working with our clients to recognize and identify actions to address the impact of past injustices and harms caused by inequitable policy decisions, financial investments, and other practices.
Engaging with communities in environmental justice, sustainability, and climate discussions to co-create decision-making approaches and processes that ensure equitable representation.
Using data, science, and engagement to connect sustainability with social and racial justice.
Acting on opportunities within each project we complete to advance equity outcomes for the communities and clients we serve.
Listening, learning, and staying curious to continually improve and advance our equity approach.
Our commitment to equity is ongoing. We will be updating our website with each practice areas’ goals and metrics as well as our progress toward those goals.
December 2022
December 2022
Lotus Engineering & Sustainability
Our Team is Growing!
Lotus is currently hiring! Click on the positions below to read the job description. If you are interested in applying, submit the requested documents in the position description to hello@lotussustainability.com with the following email header: “[Position Title] - [Your Name].” The review of materials is ongoing and will continue until the positions are filled. Early applications are strongly encouraged!
Lotus Dream Job Application
Lotus is always seeking passionate team members to join our group. If you don't currently see a role that aligns with your experience but you're interested in possible future roles - feel free to fill out this application! If we end up needing your expertise in a future role, we'll reach out.
Welcome to the team!
ALLY MARK
Ally is a born and bred California girl, raised on countless hikes, beach trips, and cups of boba around the San Francisco Bay Area. After her mother insisted she get some perspective on real life, Ally moved to Chicago for college, where she earned her Bachelor’s and Master's degrees in environmental engineering, with minors in International Studies and Global/Ecological Health Engineering. Formative experiences during this time include a study abroad trip in South Africa, a strong programmatic focus on user-centered design engineering, and political organizing in Ohio.
After bouncing around several different internships, Ally settled in Minneapolis to work as a water resources engineer at a local consulting firm. She discovered public participation in planning as a field that united her interests in climate resiliency, justice and equity, and communications. These passions brought her to Lotus where she is thrilled to have the opportunity to focus directly on engaging communities, communicating complex issues, and supporting just and equitable climate transitions.
GRATEFUL FOR: My gigantic close-knit family, access to the great outdoors, the activists, artists, and comedians who create the content that gets me through the day.
mILES hOFFMAN
Miles was born into a family of bakers. He was taught from an early age, that sometimes, maybe most times, it's okay to eat dessert first. Of course, the ingredients consisted of the usual: butter, sugar, flour, and eggs. But what was more important was the care and love poured into each batch by the 300 employees that co-existed as one, large, diverse family. At Lotus, Miles brings this ethos to our clients and partners. As a senior associate on the Communications and Engagement team, he leads community conversations and stakeholder engagement to help co-create programs, and action plans for communities and businesses.
Prior to joining Lotus, Miles spent three years at Premier Members Credit Union leading the implementation of sustainable initiatives and employee engagement, and six years with REV, a California consulting firm working with small and mid-size businesses to embed sustainable practices. He holds a bachelor's degree from George Washington University and an MBA from Trinity Washington University. He also sits on the board of Women in Sustainability, The Town of Superior's Advisory Council on Environmental Sustainability (ACES), and is an advisor to Jackie Mays, a plant-based drive-through restaurant startup in Texas.
FAVORITE THINGS: Great sushi, mild weather, date nights, traveling to areas tourists avoid, and wine tasting with friends.
nATALIE cROSS
Natalie grew up in Oklahoma, witnessing firsthand the increasing intensity of springtime tornado events. This awareness of the consequences of a changing climate paralleled her growing appreciation for the natural world, spurred by her family’s love of exploring national parks. She chose to pursue a degree in Environmental Science at Colorado College, in hopes of learning more about the implications of climate change on the environment.
At college, Natalie interned at her school’s Office of Sustainability, leading the annual college-wide emissions inventory process. In this role, she strengthened her data analysis skills and learned many science communication tactics. For her senior thesis project, she focused on the micrometeorology of semi-arid grasslands in order to research the manifestations of climate change in the natural world. This experience gave her GIS and coding skills and sparked her curiosity about the connections between human-induced climate change and ecology.
Natalie is excited about this role in solutions-based climate work; she is ecstatic to utilize her background in environmental science and greenhouse gas accounting to help clients reach their sustainability goals and participate in climate change mitigation.
LIFE GOALS: Travel to every country on my bucket list, gain fluency in at least one other language, read more books and take more photos, and become an interior design expert.
bRIANNA jOHNSON
Brianna was born and raised in the Vail Valley of Colorado. She loves her mountain home but was always intrigued by the city and the rest of the world. She attended the University of Denver with a focus on international studies, Spanish, and geography. She also studied in Quito, Ecuador for a semester. It was during this time that Brianna saw the connections between community empowerment, climate change, and growing local food. Brianna enters the sustainability world from a local lens with a solid foundation in having a global impact.
After graduating, Brianna worked with undergraduate students to cultivate their passions for environmental sustainability. Brianna is most proud when a former student reaches out to let her know about their thriving career in mitigating climate change. Brianna is also an equity practitioner, working predominantly with people who identify as white to build personal and organizational anti-racist practices that work through difficult conversations and make everyone feel that they belong. She recognizes that justice is at the core of sustainability.
Throughout all of this work, Brianna has created a robust graphic design portfolio that emphasizes accessibility and clarity. Her work at Lotus is meaningful because our data-driven, people-centered approach is what creates a lasting impact for a thriving world.
PLACES OF INSPIRATION: Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia; Segrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain; the Great Barrier Reef; any botanic garden; the top of any Colorado ski resort; my hometown.
Staff’s Favorite Holiday Traditions
Hillary: Currently, my favorite tradition is forcing my kids to watch cheesy Christmas movies. Currently loving Last Christmas (2006) and Holiday in the Wild (2019).
Julia: My husband’s mother was an Elvis fanatic, and we keep her memory alive by putting up her “Elvis Village”—a Christmas village complete with the Heartbreak Hotel, Hound Dog Diner, All Shook Up Soda Fountain, and more (see left!)
Kim: My family always does cheese fondue (we've got some Swiss blood in the fam!) on Christmas eve and I love it!
Rachel: Eating aebleskiver (Danish stuffed pancake balls) on Christmas morning with my mom!
Miles: Our family really enjoyed going to Zoo Lights this year!
Nick: My favorite holiday tradition is visiting family in Southern California and going to the beach on Christmas!
Mallory: My favorite holiday tradition is our family's Christmas Eve pasta dinner!
Ally: My family goes all out on making Christmas brunch! It's always something fancy and sweet like crepes, ebelskivers, or french toast and a lot of fruit, paired with a savory egg scramble.
Claire: My new favorite holiday tradition is the elf on a shelf photo contest with my family and holiday cookies.
Natalie: My favorite holiday tradition is baking pecan sticky buns with my family on Christmas morning :)
Brianna: I love all of the lights on peoples’ homes and eating cinnamon rolls on holiday mornings.
July 2022: Lotus is Turning 10!!
This summer will mark Lotus’ 10th year of being in business! Everyone at Lotus is so excited about this achievement and proud of the work that has been accomplished over the past 10 years. A lot has changed about Lotus and the world of sustainability since then, and we’re continually striving to learn and grow wherever the industry takes us. It’s important to look back and celebrate our achievements and see how far we’ve come since 2012, so here are some highlights of the first 10 years of Lotus:
• Grew from 1 employee to 10.
• Had the pleasure of working with over 60 unique clients in multiple countries and dozens of states.
• Worked throughout Colorado with clients ranging from counties to cities to school districts to small companies to billion-dollar companies.
• Created dozens of actionable Climate Action and Resilience Plans.
• Analyzed hundreds of thousands of data points to create countless greenhouse gas emissions inventories.
• Partnered with 13 separate organizations.
• Supported 100s of hours of volunteer time for our employees.
• 2 office moves.
• Consumed too many office baked goods to count.
After 10 years, Emily Artale, the founder of Lotus, has decided to take on new adventures, and Hillary Dobos is taking the role of President and Owner going forward (read more below!). Hillary is committed and excited to build on Lotus’s remarkable foundation.
As we celebrate 10 years of Lotus, we want to take this opportunity to celebrate this anniversary with our clients and those who have supported our efforts! We’re in the process of planning a celebratory Open House to take place in August. Details to come, stay tuned!
We can’t wait to see what the next 10 years bring!
The Lotus Team 😊
A Message from Emily Artale
After ten years with Lotus, I have decided to move on. I have transferred my ownership to Hillary, and I will be leaving Lotus to start a new adventure. This is happy news – Hillary will lead the company as its President, and I will take time to re-evaluate how I can be of the utmost service to our planet.
I am sure there may be questions – Lotus is more successful than ever, and some might be confused as to the timing of my departure.
Ten years ago I started Lotus. I had a newborn, and I was working out of my guest bedroom, trying to figure out how to help local governments become more sustainable. For the next couple of years, I subcontracted with some amazing companies (including Brendle Group, Trident Energy Services, and TerraLogic) and committed many hours to networking. Jonathan Wachtel, the City of Lakewood’s Sustainability Manager, took a chance on me and hired me to provide modeling support for the City’s first sustainability action plan. It was the first Lotus led sustainability project, and it was a success! It also made me realize the importance of peer collaboration, and I asked Hillary Dobos, who had also recently gone out on her own and formed Merrill Group, LLC, to join me as a co-owner and business partner. She accepted, and Lotus took off! We started to grow, hiring Julia Newman (formerly Julia Ferguson) as our first employee. (Thank you, Julia!) We started winning RFPs, took on more projects, and firmly rooted ourselves as sustainability experts. Today, Lotus has a staff of ten and continues to grow!
Ten years ago, there was very little sustainability consulting, and many communities were struggling with the WHY and HOW of sustainability. Today, sustainability is the status quo, and is becoming more and more integrated into the way we live and work. It has been remarkable to witness and an honor to be part of this evolution. Despite what we read in the news, we have come so far, and I hope you all are as proud of our collective progress as I am! This evolution has been an amazing team effort, led by YOU and consultants, nonprofits, equity advocates, community leaders, industry representatives, utility companies, and universities. I have learned so much about taking aggressive action, committing to climate justice, and encouraging continual innovation. I have had the privilege to partner with so many, and I am humbled and forever grateful for your service and contribution and inspired by your passion and ingenuity. Thank you for teaching and inspiring me.
Our world has undergone radical changes over the last two years, and it has forced me to re-evaluate my pace and slow down. It’s time that I soak up the world around me and be present with my children. I will be spending the next few months envisioning what comes next. My former colleagues – Hillary, Julia, Rachel, Nick, Mallory, Kim, Claire, and Shannon – are a dream team of rockstars, and I have full confidence in their ability to take Lotus to the next level!
Please reach out if you would like! You can find me on LinkedIn and, of course, let me know the next time you are in Crested Butte!
Sincerely,
Emily Artale
A Message from our President
In the 7 years since Emily and I have worked as business partners leading our team at Lotus, I’ve always been impressed with Emily’s steadfast commitment to the sustainability field. I’m ever grateful to Emily’s openness and team spirit in welcoming me as her partner and collaborator, and this enduring partnership has allowed us to build out the unique capabilities and mindset of our Lotus team. Emily undoubtedly had a strong vision to press forward in this nascent area 10 years ago, and I have no doubt that her next phase will continue her remarkable contributions in new ways to the sustainability field. With the greatest appreciation, Emily!
Going forward, our team is as committed as ever to simultaneously preserving and evolving our credible voice in the sustainability field for all our clients. We are working hard on expanding our practice areas to meet the mounting needs of our growing client base.
To meet these challenges, our team continues to grow! Look out for announcements in August about our new colleagues.
As always, I’m extremely grateful for the commitment of all of the rock stars that make up our team and are the critical underpinnings of our client’s successes. Thank you all, and onwards together!
Hillary
Staff’s Favorite Memories of Emily
Julia: One of the first projects I worked on with Lotus was the GV HEAT program. Emily spent over a year working with local partners in the Gunnison Valley to develop and fund a program that would support energy efficiency improvements for families in need across the Valley; her dedication to this work and passion for energy justice was palpable! I have very fond memories of working on the GV HEAT project with Emily and witnessing her ability to understand and develop innovative solutions to pressing needs in the community. During the time our team managed the GV HEAT program I had the opportunity to meet many of the families that benefited from free home energy assessments and efficiency improvements. It was wonderful to see the impact of the work we do in a very real way!
Kim: I think one of my favorite things about Emily was her thoughtfulness in the way she approached finding solutions. She encouraged folks to share their perspectives and factored those ideas into her perspective in a meaningful way. I also really appreciated her desire to be creative in the way we approach projects and solutions. She pushed us to come up with a creative process for the Summit County Equity Plan and I think it will really take our equity and engagement work to the next level.
Rachel: One of my favorite memories of Emily is whenever she would find a new chart type/visualization she liked and wanted us to find ways to recreate them! She helped push the data team to learn many different ways to present data and I'm now an expert at making pie/donut charts amongst many others! She also was so passionate about equity and how inequities drive the magnitude of climate impacts on different communities. We mapped a lot of equity-related metrics for the Renewable Heating and Cooling Plan, and I think it helped bolster the plan that wouldn't have happened without her passion.
Nick: During our work together on a statewide renewable energy program evaluation, I was inspired by Emily's ability to truly listen to, and engage with, the stakeholders we interviewed. Emily brings genuine empathy and a passion to develop the most equitable and effective solutions to all of her work. Emily is incredibly thoughtful in how she incorporates the perspectives of the clients and communities we work with into her work.
Mallory: One of my favorite memories of Emily is her leadership in our monthly equity meetings. Emily was always incredibly thoughtful in gathering readings and facilitating powerful discussions related to race, gender, and environmental justice issues. Reflecting on how equity issues influence our work here at Lotus has given our company a really unique perspective on sustainability work, and this wouldn’t have been possible without Emily’s leadership.
Claire: I was so excited to join a company that cares so much about an equitable approach to sustainability and with a recognition that we all must continue to work toward educating ourselves on the issues. Having Emily at the helm for this effort helped us make effective progress! Even in my short time with her, I learned so much from her leadership, from witnessing her facilitation skills, and from my conversations with her. It is clear she cares about the mission behind the work and very clear that she cares deeply about her team.
Shannon: Emily was a guest speaker during a career workshop in my graduate program and hearing her speak to Lotus's work and impact on communities was a huge reason that I was excited to work at Lotus! I live in the Gunnison Valley and have worked closely with the income qualified energy efficiency upgrade program, GVHEAT, that Emily and Lotus started. It is a perfect example of climate justice - a solution that helps reduce energy use and therefore emissions, while improving the quality of life of low-income residents of the Gunnison Valley. I am inspired by this and other projects that Emily has led which focus on equitable solutions to the climate crisis.
June 2022
June 2022
Lotus is hiring!
Collaborative problem solving is a complex human phenomenon. At its ideal, collaborative problem solving weaves together social interaction, individual cognition, and diversity. Those involved gain a shared perception of the problem that needs solving, but they avoid groupthink by keeping their individual perspectives and contributing their expertise. Meanwhile, despite (and hopefully because of) those different perspectives, collaborators must move forward together to close in on a solution. In other words, collaborative problem solving seems to be the personification of Aristotle’s quote “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
When faced with extremely layered and widespread problems like climate change, collaboration is arguably the most important thing we can do to advance solutions. Lately, we’ve been helping communities come together to improve sustainability as a region and increase their positive impact on climate action. Read below for more information.
“Collaboration has no hierarchy. The Sun collaborates with soil to bring flowers on the earth.”
Project Spotlight: Colorado Department of Local Affairs Codes Cohort
Lotus is currently working with Boulder County and with Towns and Cities within and neighboring the County to achieve maximum consistency in building codes between municipalities. Adopting and implementing the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and several amendments that provide additional energy efficiency measures is the first step for municipal members of the cohort. Standardization of the code throughout communities will be accomplished through collaboration on strengthening, updating, and adopting energy codes both now and in future code cycles. Updated codes reduce energy use and carbon emissions in the built environment across the communities, leading to compounding overall benefits.
Next the work will include a unique roadmap for each community to reach 100% net-zero construction by the mid-2030s, helping to create a more efficient, sustainable, and healthier region.
Lotus has grown…
Shannon Hessler learned to ski and walk at the same time. She is also a spreadsheet guru and on the Data Team at Lotus.
Claire Kantor loves that feeling when you hear a new song and you know 10 seconds in that it will be your favorite song for the foreseeable future. She is equally into quantitative and qualitative analysis while supporting our Climate Action and Resiliency team.
…and we are still growing!
Lotus is looking for a Senior Associate to join our Communications and Engagement team! See the position description here. Interested in applying? Submit your resume, cover letter, and writing sample to hillary@lotussustainability.com with the position name in the title followed by your name: “Communications Senior Associate – [Your name]”
Colorado Legislative Update
The Colorado legislature churned out 11 bills in the most recent legislative session that tackle energy efficiency and climate action! These bills address building codes, building materials and HVAC systems, air quality, affordable housing, transit, and more. See a comprehensive summary from the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP) here, or click the bill numbers below to read the legislative language.
HB22-1362 Energy-Efficient Building Codes
SB22-206 Disaster Preparedness and Recovery Resources
SB22-051 Heat Pumps and Building Materials
HB22-1304 Strong Communities and Affordable Housing
SB22-193 Air Quality Investments for Industrial and Manufacturing
SB22-180 Fare-Free Transit, Bustang Expansion and Main Streets
HB22-1026 Alternative Transportation Options Tax Credit
SB22-118 Encourage Geothermal Energy Use
HB22-1381 Colorado Energy Office Geothermal Energy Grant Program
HB22-1218 EV-ready Building Codes
HB22-1355 Producer Responsibility Program For Recycling
Favorite team sport, game, or activity?
In the spirit of collaboration, we asked our team what their favorite team sport, game, or activity is and why.
Kim: Adventuring is my favorite activity to have a partner for because it helps me break out of my mold and try new things I never would have considered on my own.
Rachel: I played doubles tennis all the way through college, it's definitely my favorite sport to play. There is so much collaboration and communication that goes on between partners on the court!
Nick: My favorite team sport is volleyball. It requires everyone on the team to constantly communicate and set each other up for success. Any earth-shattering spike comes from a good pass and a perfect set, one can't happen without the others.
Shannon: Mine is backcountry skiing, where you rely on your partners to communicate effectively for the safety and fun of the whole group.
Julia: Before March of 2020, my husband and I would regularly get together with friends for board game night, and often played a collaborative board game called Pandemic, where all players work together to fight a deadly virus that is spreading across the globe. While we've paused playing that particular game for now (it's felt a little too close to home these past couple of years!), I love the opportunity to come up with creative strategies for solving challenging problems with my friends!
Hillary: Anyone that knows me, knows I would say soccer. I love that no matter where you travel, if you bring a ball, you can find someone to play with. My kids have picked up this habit and have "made friends" in parks all over the world whether or not they spoke the same language.
Claire: Climbing has to be my favorite. Whether you’re bouldering (climbing with no ropes, but on much smaller rocks) or you’re climbing big pitches (with ropes and a belayer), you can collaborate with others on a hard route, and you need great communication to keep everyone safe. It is a great way to build trusting “belaytionships” with others!
Mallory: My favorite team sport is beach volleyball! I'm awful at it, but I love being able to enjoy the sunshine and get a good workout with my friends!
January 2022
Photo credit: Shane Rounce via Unsplash
Photo courtesy of Jelle De Gier via Unsplash
In 2020, artists displayed a prominent clock in New York City’s Union Square with the message, “The Earth has a deadline.” The clock counts down the years, days, hours, minutes, and seconds before the effects of climate change are irreversible. Unfortunately, anxiety-provoking climate news, such as this, have become commonplace, making it difficult to maintain optimism.
That's why it's important to search for hope. In his latest book, scientist Michael Mann, describes hopelessness as the new “climate war.” Hopelessness leads to paralysis, and now more than ever, we need action. In an article published this year titled, “The Search for Environmental Hope,” scientists, nature philosophers, and activists shared sentiments of hope for the planet. The experts stress that optimism is rational and critical; there is still time to avert the worst consequences of climate change, and we are making meaningful progress.
Just recently, the artists of Union Square’s climate clock added a renewable energy calculator next to the countdown. The display shows the steadily increasing percentage of global renewable energy. The latest addition to the climate clock speaks to the significance of hope in climate messaging. This is not to say we should have blind hope, rather it highlights the importance of optimism that is both informed and actionable. Our newsletter this month focuses on positive environmental progress and hope for our planet.
“What is the antidote to irrational, disabling, doom-and-gloom futility messaging? Motivating hope that is grounded in entirely legitimate and defensible reasons for cautious optimism that the worst can still be averted.”
Project Spotlight Kamehameha Schools
At the beginning of July, Lotus began working with Kamehameha Schools (KS), a Native Hawaiian educational trust, to provide a high-level review of top sustainability strategies. KS operates an educational system that includes preschools, three K-12 campuses, community education, and scholarships across the Hawaiian Islands. In addition, KS is the largest private landowner in the state, stewarding 10 percent of Hawaiʻi’s land-base with a major stake in native forestry.
One of KS’ chief values, ‘Āina Ulu, refers to the connection between Native Hawaiian culture and protecting the environment and conservation lands. One of the top priorities for the consulting team was to integrate KS’ rich cultural heritage into our sustainability recommendations.
The Lotus team, in collaboration with the Hawaiʻi-based consulting firm, Sustainable Pacific, conducted a greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory and carbon stock assessment. Guided by this data, we provided carbon reduction recommendations as well as a carbon stock and sequestration opportunities analysis.
Welcome Kim Schlaepfer!
This month, we welcomed the newest member of the Lotus team, Kim Shlaepfer!
Kim has a broad range of experience in the sustainability field from managing climate mitigation and resiliency programs to working with private sector clients on focused sustainability projects. Kim excels in project management for large and small clients, across multiple stakeholder groups, through an integrative process. This includes the facilitation of large stakeholder meetings and managing the people as well as the process to ensure a project achieves its objectives and maintains momentum.
Kim's technical expertise lies in GHG accounting and mitigation strategies for the public and private sectors, and she has a proven track record of implementing and scaling programs to deliver a measurable impact.
Kim's most recent work includes management and facilitation of the Climate Action Collaborative for the Eagle County community, a partnership of over 30 organizations working to reduce carbon pollution in rural Colorado. Prior to that, Kim spent years managing diverse teams to align on and achieve LEED certification targets through project management, documentation coordination, and sustainability consulting to advise on strategy. Kim is a LEED Accredited Professional for Design & Construction and Operations & Maintenance.
One Good Piece of Environmental News from 2021
This month, we asked our team at Lotus to share a piece of 2021 environmental news that made them feel hopeful.
Emily: I appreciate the growing emphasis on promoting building electrification and developing electric-themed building codes. For news that really made me smile, I loved reading about how China’s elephant experts protected a herd of 15 while they meandered 300 miles away from their home. (Click here for more information). Even though our world is facing so many difficulties, people choose to humanely guide the elephants away from communities and let them continue their journey at the costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and significant coordination. This story highlighted the significance of maintaining our connection to and protecting other living creatures.
Hillary: I am loving that the concept of the Circular Economy is becoming a common topic of conversation and a great startup opportunity.
Diane: When it comes to reducing waste, I am all in. The year 2021 brought some great improvements to reduce single-use plastics across Colorado. One example is House Bill 21-1162 signed by our Governor in 2021, which aims to slow the end of plastic bags and single-use foam containers. Although the ban won't go into effect until 2024, it is one step closer to a path to zero waste - yay!
Rachel: Denver's building electrification ordinance! It will require all commercial and multifamily buildings to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency, renewable energy, and building electrification. Combined with the work that will be funded by the Climate Protection Fund, there's a lot of exciting climate action happening in Denver!
Nick: One positive piece of environmental news in 2021 that stood out to me was that 58.9 million hectares (a bit larger than the island of Madagascar) of forest have been regrown since 2000. While deforestation is still happening at a faster rate, this highlighted to me the large-scale impact that collective climate action can have even if it seems small for an individual. Reforesting land, rather than continuing extractive land uses also highlights how shifting away from economics first viewpoints of land is key for nations who have contributed the most to climate change to reduce and reverse their impacts.
Mallory: This last year, there has been significant progress on coral recovery in the Great Barrier Reef! The process has been compared to IVF. Basically, scientists use man-made pools to move coral from abundant reefs to areas that have been hardest hit by coral bleaching. These “baby corals” then reproduce and repopulate the reefs. This last year billions of coral “babies” were born from this process in what has been described as an explosion of color in dying reefs.
Kim: The sustainability news that gave me some hope in 2021 was hearing how a small hedge fund made huge ripples in the energy industry by seating two board nominees, which happened to be climate activists, on the board of a major oil and gas company, ExxonMobil. Click here to learn more. While the fight to get the largest energy providers (and GHG emitters) in the world to curb and stop emissions seems daunting and hopeless at times, this story showcased that levers exist to drive systems-level change. Any systems-level change is absolutely critical in the fight to stop climate change. When the right levers are pulled, real change can be made, and I look forward to seeing how the two climate activists on ExxonMobile's board can push the company to reduce its carbon footprint and invest in renewable energy.
Marshall Fire Donation Links
On December 30, 2021, multiple fires tore through Boulder County, leading to the evacuation of 35,000 people and destroying over 1,000 structures. If you’re looking for a way to support our neighbors who were affected by the fires in Boulder County, here are a few resources:
Donate: Monetary donations can be made to the Boulder County Wildfire Fund.
WildfireFund through the Community Foundation of Boulder County here.
Volunteer: To support recovery efforts, click here to register with Colorado Responds.
Share resources: CSU Extension's After the Disaster Guidebook for Boulder County provides a toolkit for communities impacted by wildfire. This article, How To Help A Friend Who Lost Their Home In A Fire, is helpful for understanding how to sensitively support friends and acquaintances as they work through that loss. And for those directly affected, the Disaster Assistance Center is now open in Lafayette and is a hub for all resources that someone might need (FEMA, insurance, housing, food, etc.)
October 2021
Photo credit: Shane Rounce via Unsplash
Photo courtesy of Mike Scheid via Unsplash
The Covid-19 pandemic exemplified the importance of resilience and adaptation in the face of uncertainty. We now have the opportunity to implement resilience and adaptation measures to prevent the adverse effects of another global crisis, climate change.
Adaptation and growth are key themes of this newsletter. At the beginning of 2020, the Lotus project team began developing Routt County’s Climate Action Plan and demonstrated their ability to adapt and facilitate quality community engagement, despite the constraints of the pandemic. Over the summer, Lotus hired two new Research Associates and is looking to hire a Director of Climate Mitigation and Resilience Planning. As Lotus grows, we are reminded of the urgency of climate action and, equally important, the need to prepare and build resilience amid uncertainty.
“Building true resilience to climate change requires much more than a few changes to our systems and infrastructure. It requires a holistic transition, addressing every aspect of our lives and allowing us to learn, how to live with uncertainty”
Project Spotlight – Routt County Climate Action Plan
At the beginning of 2020, Lotus began the process of developing Routt County’s Climate Action Plan. The top priority for the Lotus team was balancing the needs, desires, and values of a politically, economically, and geographically diverse community.
To align the goals of the climate action plan, the team first worked to identify common community values. Due to the increasing concern over the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, the project team quickly shifted to virtual community engagement. Through online surveys and a virtual open house, Lotus facilitated conversations with community members to understand Routt County’s common goals for the Climate Action Plan. Respect for the landscape and the protection of ecological and cultural assets and heritage emerged as the chief community values.
Guided by these values, the team produced a comprehensive roadmap for climate action in Routt County. Additionally, the project team created an interactive website for the community. If all targets are met, the implementation of the plan is likely to result in a 74% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Lotus is Growing!
Nick Russell
Nick grew up in the Central Valley in Northern California, surrounded by fields of sunflowers, corn, and tomatoes. While in college at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Nick stumbled into a geography class and immediately became enthralled with understanding human-environmental interactions. Prior to Lotus, Nick completed his M.A. in Applied Geography and Geospatial Science at CU-Denver where he studied political ecology and honed his skills in GIS, data analysis, and data visualization. Additionally, he worked both in the nonprofit world, conducting research for electric vehicle projects, and in the public sphere, quantifying air pollution impacts on plants in national parks.
Nick believes in a holistic approach to environmental issues and is passionate about applying GIS and data analysis to create equity-focused solutions. He is excited to help clients understand the sources of their greenhouse gas emissions and to develop innovative ways to communicate results to clients and the public.
Mallory Cannon
Mallory was born in Fort Collins, Colorado and grew up skiing and hiking in the Rocky Mountains. She attended school at the University of Denver where she majored in International Studies and worked as a researcher at the Pardee Center for International Futures. During her time at the Pardee Center, Mallory found her passion for climate change and human development research. She co-authored an academic journal article which was published in the journal, Climate and Development and a chapter of a USAID report on environmental change and food security.
Mallory also worked as a full-time researcher in Geneva, Switzerland where she organized a conference on environmental migration with representatives from the United Nations and the Red Cross. Most recently, Mallory became a Youth Ambassador for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26).
After spending the last 2.5 years researching the devastating potential of climate change, Mallory is excited to leverage her research skills toward solution-driven climate work. She is grateful to have the opportunity to work with clients and colleagues dedicated to creating a more sustainable and resilient future.
Lotus is looking for a Director of Climate Mitigation and Resiliency Planning! Are you interested in joining our team? Apply today! Email Hillary Dobos (hillary@lotussustainability.com) with your materials or with any questions.
Favorite Fall Activity
Diane: My favorite fall activity, like many others, is watching the leaves change. I have always been drawn to the transitions in nature, especially in fall. I also enjoy the feeling of life slowing down a little bit this time of year, so I tend to take longer walks, drink more tea, and read more books.
Mallory: I love hiking in the fall! I think it is the most beautiful time of year in the mountains so I’d love to spend the day outside and end it with a scary movie and some pumpkin chocolate chip dessert.
Nick: My favorite fall activity is baking as much as I can with apples and pumpkin. I try a new pumpkin pie recipe every year with the goal of creating the ultimate pumpkin pie.
Emily: Hiking with my family in an aspen forest with changing leaves and returning home to cook a warm meal and drink apple cider!
Rachel: My favorite fall activity is going to the apple orchard and enjoying all kinds of apple goodies for the rest of the fall season! A very close second is watching football on Sundays, Go Pack Go!
Julia: When the weather turns I love to go hiking in the crisp air and then head home to enjoy a cup of tea and bake something sweet and delicious.
Hillary: I like to decorate for the upcoming holidays way earlier than socially acceptable.
Inspiring and Noteworthy News
This summer’s record-breaking heat-waves and rampant wildfires reminded us of the gravity of climate action. Correspondingly, this summer has been a powerful demonstration of resilience and action. Below are stories of hope and inspiration within our local, national, and global communities:
Local
The City of Denver is looking to implement more efficient heating and cooling systems. In partnership with Lotus, the Denver Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency released a Renewable Heating and Cooling Plan. The plan outlines steps to improve resiliency against rising temperatures, including providing access to air conditioning for the 30% of Denver homes that currently do not have an A/C unit. At the same time, the plan aims to address climate impacts through the installation of efficient and climate-friendly heating and cooling systems.
Beginning in 2022, the Colorado-based brand, Crocs, is redesigning their iconic shoes with bio-based rubber. The company also aims to be net-zero by 2030.
A hydrogen-fueling station is in the works in metro Denver. The Colorado based-company, New Day Hydrogen, is partnering with AAA Colorado to create a fueling station in Centennial or Lone Tree. The company is also working on providing “hydrogen in electrical micro grids, converting gas turbine power plants to plants that produce hydrogen, and using hydrogen as a process to recover curtailed wind and solar power.”
Xcel Energy recently developed electric vehicle incentives available to Colorado residents. There are incentives for workplaces and apartment buildings, and incentives specifically for those that make less than 60% of Colorado's median income.
Colorado just passed HB 21-1303, also known as the Buy Clean Colorado legislation. This bill states that "future public construction projects will have to meet clear environmental criteria for the use of seven common construction materials."
National:
A new report from RMI examines economic opportunities from renewable energy development in rural communities. The report finds that, by 2030, “annual revenue from wind and solar projects could exceed $60 billion- on par with expected revenues from the top three US agricultural commodities: corn, soy, and beef production.” The report also features stories of successful implementation of renewables across rural America.
Harvard University recently announced that it will divest all of its funds in fossil fuels. The investments currently make up 2% of the school's endowment.
A net-zero energy apartment building in New Orleans, housing low-income veterans, was able to keep the power on in the building even after Hurricane Ida made landfall.
A recent report from the US Department of Energy shows that Wind Energy was the largest source of new electricity generation in the US in 2020
National:
Procter and Gamble, the company behind popular cleaning and personal care brands like Tide, Bounty, and Gillette, has pledged to reach net-zero emissions across its operations and supply chain by 2040! It has also joined the UN's Race to Zero campaign and the World Economic Forum's Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders.
Canadian scientists have found a way to make chocolate-making more sustainable! The process eliminates the need for huge energy-consuming tempering machines and can help “level the playing field for small and medium-sized chocolate producers.In early August, the U.N Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). The grim report, titled, “Code Red” describes a bleak future without dramatic emissions reductions. However, the report also contains sentiments of hope, stating there is time to avoid the consequences of worst-case climate scenarios.
Environmental Justice News:
The White House is tackling the equity dimension of climate action, highlighting the economic and racial underpinnings of environmental issues. Cleveland is a leading city in this fight, with a climate action plan centered around social and racial equity.
Cleveland is pushing climate equity issues through a government-funded home improvement program. The project aims to renovate and rehabilitate homes in low-income neighborhoods. Redlining laws have created a disproportionate concentration of air pollution, lead contamination, mold, and low energy efficiency in low-income neighborhoods.
The State of Illinois recently passed the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act. The act outlines a plan for a carbon-free electric grid by 2045. The plan incorporates provisions to ensure the transition away from fossil fuels is equitable for all residents.