Emerging Trends in the Transportation Sector

The transportation sector accounted for roughly 28 percent of the United States’ total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2016 and the majority of these emissions (60 percent) come from light-duty vehicles, like the car you likely drive to work every day. Given the significant share of national emissions that result from our daily driving habits and personal transportation activities, many cities and regional governments are exploring how to reduce transportation emissions through infrastructure planning and policy development. Investing in electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure, increasing vehicle emissions standards, and using financial tools to encourage less fuel consumption will ensure cleaner vehicles and fewer emissions. Meanwhile, planners and engineers are beginning to consider what the fabric of our cities will look like as transportation modalities shift and reliance on a personal vehicle, in urban areas at least, will hopefully diminish. We are keeping an eye on several emerging trends that are likely to shape and define how communities work towards reducing their transportation-related emissions.

Electric Vehicle Policies and Incentives

The growth of the EV market over the past few years has been slowly but steadily increasing and is expected to continue to grow more rapidly and at exponential levels in the coming years; Morgan Stanley predicts that 80 percent of vehicles sold worldwide will be electric by 2050. Based on consumer feedback, the biggest deterrents to purchasing an EV (after increased sticker price over a traditional internal combustion engine) is limited range and access to charging stations. A less-cited concern is that most EVs on the market today are smaller cars, not the SUVs and pick-up trucks that many American consumers prefer to drive. Rivian Automotive hopes to change that by releasing the first-ever fully electric pick-up truck on the market by the end of 2020 (and Tesla plans on a pick-up prototype by mid-2019). Additionally, the public sector is investing in EV infrastructure that will hopefully mitigate consumer concerns about range anxiety and increase the speed of EV adoption. The State of Colorado’s EV Plan, released in January of this year, calls for building out the network of Level 3 charging stations (Level 3 stations are those that can provide a full charge in roughly 15 minutes) across the state and working cooperatively with other states in the Intermountain West Electric Corridor (which includes the states of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming and focuses on the main interstates in the region) to ensure a consistent user experience at these stations.

To further support EV adoption, cities and local governments are developing policies and incentive programs that will green their own fleets and make transitioning to an EV an easy choice for the average consumer. In November, Boulder County became the first local government in the country to adopt a GoEV Resolution that supports community-wide vehicle electrification. The resolution includes commitments to electrify the County’s fleet, support broad development of charging and EV infrastructure throughout the County, work with partners to electrify taxi and ride hailing fleets, and work with the Regional Transportation District and the Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley School Districts to electrify their transit and school bus fleets. New York City, Sacramento County, and other communities are also working towards transitioning their transit and school bus fleets to electric, and New York City’s three largest airports are also electrifying their diesel fleet. These organizations were encouraged by both the air quality and emissions reduction benefits of the electric vehicles, as well as the significant economic benefits of the switch. While the electric buses cost more upfront, transit operators are paying roughly 19 cents per mile to operate the EV buses, while a traditional diesel bus costs roughly 82 cents per mile. With 480,000 yellow school buses and another 65,000 public transit buses on the road currently, the potential to drastically cut emissions from these vehicles by replacing them with all-electric alternatives is significant. Of course, these emissions reductions are contingent upon the electric vehicles being charged on an electricity grid that is primarily carbon-free, which many cities are also working towards.

Vehicle Standards and Emissions Cap Programs

Many state governments are adopting or considering policies that will reduce vehicle emissions. In November 2018, Colorado became the most recent state to adopt California’s Low-Emissions Vehicle standards, joining 12 other states and the District of Columbia; this brings the share of new automobile purchases impacted by these regulations to 40 percent of the market. Colorado’s new standards will go into effect for the 2022 model year. Vehicle emissions standards have traditionally been effective in improving air quality and ensuring that vehicles become cleaner over the years, but some states are interested in how to directly target transportation emissions reductions through policy.

Nine Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states and the District of Columbia have collaborated through the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) to hold focus sessions and engage with hundreds of stakeholders throughout 2018, resulting in an announcement that the jurisdictions will design a regional low-carbon transportation policy proposal that would reduce transportation emissions through a cap-and-invest program and other pricing mechanisms. While many of the specific details of these programs are still in the works, the member states of TCI intend the program to be one in which the use of heavily polluting fossil fuels will incur a fee; the proceeds of the program would be provided to the member states to invest in low-carbon and more resilient transportation infrastructure systems. As the imposition of a fuel fee on producers and distributors would likely be passed onto the consumer at the pump, the TCI states will conduct further analysis and invite comments from stakeholders to ensure that the burden of this policy does not negatively impact low-income populations and creates opportunities for jobs and economic growth. TCI states may also consider the design and implementation of complimentary policies regarding land use and infrastructure planning to ensure the designed programs have the greatest positive benefit in terms of emissions reductions possible.

Autonomous Vehicles, Ride Sharing, and Modality Shifts

While there is quite a bit of debate about what the urban landscapes of our future will look like and how people will travel to and through them, there is general consensus that the rise of autonomous vehicles (AVs), ride sharing, and alternative mobility options (like e-bikes and e-scooters) will fundamentally change how we move through and interact with our built environments. Given the relatively rapid transition that our transportation infrastructure is likely to experience, many communities are not prepared for the impact of AVs and modality shifts on the fabric of their urban cores—in a review of the transportation plans of the 68 most populous cities in the U.S., only 6 percent of these communities have transportation plans that address self-driving cars, and the vast majority had planning horizons for 2030 and beyond.

Most projections show that fully automated vehicles will be available to the consumer market by 2025, with on-road testing already occurring in some cities; between this and the continued increase in adoption of ride-hailing (e.g. Lyft, Uber) and ride-sharing (e.g. UberPool and LyftLine) transportation services among urban residents, cities and developers are re-thinking the urban landscape. It is clear that the way that people get around is changing, and even models of traditional personal vehicle ownership are evolving through personal car rental services like Turo (think AirBnB for your car). In some cases, cities are relaxing the parking requirements for new urban developments and architects are designing buildings with parking structures that can be easily converted to office or retail space once the need for parking is diminished. This could mean that urban land previously dedicated to parking can be redeveloped more densely once that parking isn’t needed; alternatively, the more pleasant commute in a self-driving car (as opposed to one you have to drive yourself) may mean that people will be willing to travel further for work and other activities, further increasing urban sprawl.

In addition to changing patterns of vehicle use, cities and states are trying to understand how to regulate newer multi-modal transportation options like electric scooters and bikes. These modes are gaining popularity among young people and urban dwellers specifically, and the option to use multiple modes of transportation to reach a destination (e.g. scooter to a bus stop, ride the bus, pick up a ride share to the final destination) is beginning to outweigh the benefits of personal vehicle ownership for many people. While shifting from owning a personal vehicle to ride-hailing alone will not lead to a reduction in emissions, shifting the way that people get around and specifically increasing the use of ride-sharing transit services and multi-modal options will likely lead to not only reduced transportation emissions, but also reduced road congestion. In order to increase adoption of these modes, which generally may require more effort and time on the part of the individual, cities and regional governments can work to develop carrot and stick policies that encourage more people to reduce their time in a single occupancy vehicle and discover alternative transportation options.

As transportation activities represent a huge share of global GHG emissions and therefore contribute significantly to climate change, the potential to mitigate this impact through smart policy and planning practices at the local level cannot be understated. The team at Lotus loves to explore innovative and impactful transportation policies and projects that will reduce GHG emissions with our clients, and we remain committed to providing the most up-to-date and relevant insights on policies, projects, and programs that will have a net positive impact on community emissions. Using localized data and information unique to each community we can help to develop policies and programs, model the impact of these efforts, and support the implementation of effective emissions reduction activities.

The Power of Municipalities

Over the last 10+ years, we have worked with dozens of municipalities throughout the US on their sustainability initiatives. What are cities doing to address their impact? Everything! From studying their greenhouse gas emissions to setting reduction targets to implementing water and energy efficiency improvements to increasing renewable energy usage to increasing public transit, cities are reducing their impact. An impact that is being amplified as urbanization increases rapidly throughout the US and world.

Why are municipalities so powerful?

• Population Growth: Municipalities’ population growth is growing at unprecedented levels. According to the World Health Organization the “urban population in 2014 accounted for 54% of the total global population, up from 34% in 1960, and continues to grow.” Some estimates guess that 80% of the world population will live in cities by 2050. That is over 1 billion new people living in urbanized areas by 2050.

• Gross Domestic Product (GDP): Cities produce the majority of global GDP (we have seen estimates ranging from 60% to 80%!). This number is only supposed to increase as population increases.

• Resource consumption: The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that cities currently consume 75% of all natural resources and produce about 50% of global waste. This number once again is expected to rise.

• Greenhouse Gas Emissions: UNEP also estimates that cities currently produce between 60% and 80% of all GHG emissions making cities a critical participant and partner in the sustainability movement.

Per the statistics above, cities have the ability to make a huge impact but they also have a key advantage. Most (not all) municipalities have the freedom and ability to set goals and initiatives that directly resonate with their local audience by having a deep understanding of the various values, demographics, services available, cost of services, and available resources within their community. In return, they are able to set and make substantial headway on far reaching goals more efficiently and effectively.

In addition, cities act as a lab for innovative initiatives. Their successes (i.e., reduced costs, pollution control, etc.) and lessons learned help other governments (local, state, federal) improve upon their own sustainability initiatives (see ICLEI-USA for hundreds of great examples).

If you are looking for support on your sustainability initiatives contact us at emily@lotussustainability.com  or hillary@lotussustainabiliity.com. We can help define sustainability initiatives and bring relevance and insight into setting community sustainability targets.

DISCLAIMER

Disclaimer: The information presented above is based on the opinions and experience of the authors. The authors are not liable for any errors or omissions in this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.

AUTHORS

Emily Artale, PE, CEM, LEED AP is Principal Engineer and Owner at Lotus Engineering and Sustainability, LLC. Emily has been working in the industry for nearly a decade and she has a background in energy management, sustainability planning, and water quality. Emily helps teams develop action-oriented solutions that will improve efficiency and integrate sustainability into current processes. She received her undergraduate and graduate degrees in environmental engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She is a Colorado native and spends most of her time outdoors with her family.

Hillary Dobos, MBA, LEED GA is Principal and Owner at Lotus Engineering and Sustainability, LLC. Hillary brings both expertise and creative thinking to working with clients which she draws from her experience as a consultant advising public and private clients throughout the United States, as well as the one tasked with embedding sustainability throughout a 25,000+ person organization.  Hillary has served on various local and national boards focused on conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. Hillary earned her B.A. in Art History and Economics from Bowdoin College in Maine and her MBA from the University of Colorado-Boulder. Hillary was born and raised in Denver, Colorado, where she currently enjoys life with her husband, sons, and moderately trained canine, Mr. Smiles.

Achieving Substantial Sustainability Goals: You might be doing better than you think

By Hillary Dobos and Emily Artale

Many sustainability professionals have inherited far-reaching sustainability goals that they did not create or they have aligned their goals to meet national goals such as the Better Buildings Challenge with little understanding of how to actually achieve their goals. This can pose an intimidating proposition that can result in entities giving up on their goals because they are seen as impossible to achieve. However, before giving up on goals or setting less lofty new ones know that there are many external trends that are already helping you and you might be doing better than you think.

Greenhouse Gas Reductions: Utilities Might Help You Achieve Your Goal

Due to increased (actual and projected) regulations, cheaper renewable energy and natural gas, and grid improvements the CO2 emission factors for electricity have reduced almost universally across the US. Therefore, when calculating your GHG emissions for electricity you will most likely see a decrease in emissions over time even if your electricity use remained constant or increased slightly. Sometimes this CO2 emission factor decrease is so substantial that an entity could meet much of their GHG reduction goal based on the reductions in the emission factor alone. For example, Xcel (Colorado subsidiary) reduced their CO2 emission rate per MWh generated by 22% between 2005 and 2013 and expect to see a 35% reduction by 2020 compared to 2005. Therefore, an entity with facilities in Xcel’s territory will experience a substantial decrease in GHG emissions even if their electricity use remains constant. 

Renewable Energy is Cheaper and Easier to Purchase

Historically, many entities have shied away from purchasing renewable energy to meet their goals because of procurement costs. However, due to large leaps in technology, tax benefits, new financing mechanisms, and competition renewable energy is quickly becoming or is already cost effective. See our past blogs An Overview of Solar Power Procurement Options, Increasing Transparency of the Solar Garden Process, and Renewable Energy Credits (REC): A Review of the Basics and Questions to Ask before Utilizing RECs as a Way to Meet Renewable Energy Goals for a review of how to purchase renewable energy.

Cars in the U.S. are more Fuel-Efficiency than Ever

Almost every year the United States hits a new record for fuel efficiency. This is driven by consumer demand, new technologies (hybrid vehicles, lighter vehicles, gasoline direct injections, etc.), international competition, oil prices (current and expected), and strict new fuel-economy standards.  As such, many fleets have become fuel efficient without even intending to and, as with electricity CO2 emission factors, this universal increase in efficiency has led to reduced transportation CO2 emission factors.

Normalize Data: Don’t be penalized for success or growth

Many goals do not take into account growth (population, employees, building stock square footage, etc.). Without normalizing goals for growth an organization can be unfairly penalized for success. For example, if a company’s building stock grows by 20% during their energy reduction goals timeline they will be unfairly penalized for this growth unless they normalize by square feet.  While we still encourage an overall reduction in resource usage, if a company or public entity is having trouble meeting their goals, it is important to see if some of this is caused by growth. If so, normalize the data and you might not be as far away from your goals as you had thought.  

If you are trying to set, achieve, or calculate your sustainability goals, we are here to help. For more information please contact us at hillary@merrillgroupllc.com or emily.artale@lotussustainability.com. 

Disclaimer

Disclaimer: The information presented above is based on the opinions and experience of the authors. The authors are not liable for any errors or omissions in this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.

Authors

Emily Artale, PE, CEM, LEED AP is Principal and Owner at Lotus Engineering and Sustainability, LLC, www.lotussustainability.com. She has been working in the industry for nearly a decade and she has a background in energy management, sustainability planning, and water quality. Emily helps teams develop action-oriented solutions that will improve efficiency and integrate sustainability into current processes. She received her undergraduate and graduate degrees in environmental engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She is a Colorado native and spends most of her time outdoors with her family.

Hillary Dobos is Principal and Owner of Merrill Group, LLC, www.merrillgroupllc.com. Hillary brings both expertise and creative thinking to working with clients which she draws from her experience as a consultant advising public and private clients throughout the United States, as well as the one tasked with embedding sustainability throughout a 25,000+ person organization (Colorado State Government). Hillary earned her B.A. in Art History and Economics from Bowdoin College in Maine and her MBA from the University of Colorado-Boulder. Hillary was born and raised in Denver, Colorado, where she currently enjoys life with her husband, sons, and moderately trained canine, Mr. Smiles.

Selling Sustainability

By Emily Artale and Hillary Dobos

There are skeptics everywhere. How do we, as energy and sustainability professionals, convince them that pursuing sustainability is not only the right thing to do, but it can also be profitable?

One approach has been to share the dozens of case stories of big businesses and progressive municipalities saving money through sustainability initiatives (think Dow Chemical, Interface, City of Boulder, City of San Francisco, King County, etc…). But, for some reason these stories do not always result in a massive buy-in of sustainability and sometimes you may even lose the attention of your audience.

And why does this happen? Perhaps these stories do not provide a roadmap that is relevant to the values, demographics, location, and other unique factors of the community that you are speaking to. For instance, although the City of San Francisco may be a good example of what should or could be done (e.g., 80 percent waste diversion goal!), it may not provide the roadmap necessary to sell your audience on what they can do locally.

To recapture the attention of your audience and to convince them that sustainability does have value to them and to their stakeholders, we need to make this conversation relevant. And we can do that by basing our plans, projections, and best guesses on data that is pertinent and specific to the needs of your audience.

Look at what initiatives may resonate with your audience by considering the values, demographics, services available, cost of services, and available resources within your community. Start by asking some simple questions, for instance:

• Does your community have a history of progressive change or do they prefer to keep things “as they always have been”? Are they willing to change?

• How willing is your utility company to work with your community in reducing energy?

• What resources exist in the community to help guide and maintain change?

Use the answers to these questions to help shape your sustainability initiatives. But, don’t stop there, do your homework and look at the performance data from the entities and individuals that have been in your shoes to help define sustainability targets. Research, analyze data, question data, interview communities and professionals, evaluate your results, and discuss with your community. From this data you can tell what worked, what didn’t, what target levels were achieved, and most importantly, how these target levels were achieved.

Based on your research, consider offering a menu of options and let your audience decide which initiates most resonate with them. Even though all initiatives may share the common theme of sustainability, people may naturally rally behind certain initiatives because they support their values.

Not sure how to create a menu of sustainability initiatives specific to your community? Contact us: emily.artale@lotussustainability.com or hillary@merrillgroupllc.com; we can help define sustainability initiatives and bring relevance and insight into setting community sustainability targets.

Storytelling with Utility Data

By Emily Artale and Hillary Dobos

One of the first steps of any successful energy management program should be an analysis and review of your building’s utility data. This is one way in which your building tells a story of its performance. We, as Energy Managers, use this story to verify personal narratives of your building’s operation, evaluate opportunities for improvement, identify patterns and trends of energy consumption, and benchmark against similar facilities. And, sometimes we can use this data to identify immediate solutions for cost savings.

How can such a seemingly simple resource provide so much valuable information? Utility data is objective and accurate; it documents actual consumption values and actual costs with an infallible memory. It can tell us when the building becomes occupied, when the building is reaching its peak demand, and when abnormalities in use and costs occur.

IMAGE COURTESY OF CLEER

For example, a building operator believes that the Administration complex “turns on” at 5:30 a.m., ahead of when most occupants will be in the building, however when reviewing real-time utility data we notice that a large spike in use begins at 4:00 a.m.! During discussions with building staff it was revealed that the building’s energy systems were turned on at 4:00 am a few months ago in advance of an early morning meeting, but the building’s systems were never reset. Changing the settings back to the original time will result in annual energy and cost savings.

In another real-life example, a review of utility data shows that a local government agency has consistently been charged for taxes over the last five years.  A summary of this data was brought to the attention of the utility company and all tax payments were refunded.

In both instances, a review and analysis of utility data resulted in annual cost savings with no upfront payment!

Likewise, you, as a manager of a building, can use utility data to encourage investments in efficiency improvements. Once building improvements have been made, you can continue to track utility data to identify energy savings from the building improvements themselves. Some organizations also use utility data as an innovative way to promote changes in occupant behavior. In lieu of sharing actual utility bills, these organizations may publicly share energy consumption through a dashboard tool in hopes that a demonstration of energy use will encourage better occupant behavior.

And, as you review your utility data be sure to benchmark it. This can give you additional insight as to how your building is performing against its peers or how several buildings compare against one another on a large campus.

For a relatively simple data analysis there are a variety of free tools from which to choose such as ENERGY STAR’s Portfolio Manager and EnergyCAP’s GreenQuest or even a simple Excel spreadsheet. For a more robust analysis consider a more sophisticated tool such as EnergyCAP or CLEER’s ultra-useful Building Energy Navigator tool.

There are hundreds of utility tools available to you. We are both experienced at selecting appropriate utility tools, implementing them, and analyzing the resulting data. Feel free to contact us at emily.artale@lotussustainability.com or hillay@merrillgroupllc.com. 

Authors

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Emily Artale, PE, CEM, LEED AP is Principal and Owner at Lotus Engineering and Sustainability, LLC, www.lotussustainability.com. She has been working in the industry for nearly a decade and she has a background in energy management, sustainability planning, and water quality. Emily helps teams develop action-oriented solutions that will improve efficiency and integrate sustainability into current processes. She received her undergraduate and graduate degrees in environmental engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She is a Colorado native and spends most of her time outdoors with her family.

Hillary Dobos is Principal and Owner of Merrill Group, LLC, www.merrillgroupllc.com. Hillary brings both expertise and creative thinking to working with clients which she draws from her experience as a consultant advising public and private clients throughout the United States, as well as the one tasked with embedding sustainability throughout a 25,000+ person organization (Colorado State Government). Hillary earned her B.A. in Art History and Economics from Bowdoin College in Maine and her MBA from the University of Colorado-Boulder. Hillary was born and raised in Denver, Colorado, where she currently enjoys life with her husband, son, and moderately trained canine, Mr. Smiles.

Setting Reduction Targets with Limited Information

By Hillary Dobos and Emily Artale

Setting sustainability targets can be one of the most intimidating and invaluable steps in creating a robust sustainability program.  Goals need to be measurable and have real appeal to constituents and decision makers, but most importantly, goals need to be credible.  We define a credible goal as one that can be realized while pushing the organization to make meaningful, aggressive changes where real benefits accumulate.  But, how can an organization identify quantifiable, credible targets with limited information? How can they ensure that their goals are achievable so they do not miss their targets, while ensuring that they are not so easy that they are perceived as pointless?

The following is a list of tips that we have found helpful through our experiences helping clients – large and small - set credible, impactful and quantifiable goals with little or no information:

• Ask facility and fleet managers what they think is possible. Often these employees are much closer to the day-to-day activities of existing procedures and they are among the first to recognize opportunities. In addition, they will (hopefully) be able to provide an overview of recent or expected upgrades that might affect the reduction potential. For example, if a fleet has switched over 25% of their vehicles to electric vehicles, then a goal for petroleum reduction must reflect this recent change. Lastly, facility and fleet managers will also play a critical part in achieving these goals so their input and buy-in is invaluable.

• Research your competitors. Competitors that have set goals (internal and external) provide a wealth of knowledge of what can be accomplished and what goals speak to your constituent. Companies that have reported on whether or not they have met their goals are especially valuable examples.  In addition, if competition with competitors is one of the drivers for your sustainability efforts, you will want to make sure that your company has equivalent (or close to) goals as competitors.

• Be creative on where to acquire past data. Most sustainability managers that are creating plans from scratch have very little data to base their goals on; however a lot of data might be more accessible then one thinks.  For example, most companies have tracked their utility costs through their accounting system. Using some “back of the envelope” calculations, a manager can understand if their overall utility costs have been going up at a quicker or slower rate than normal utility cost increases. As long as the process is consistent and transparent overtime your goals will be sound.

• Understand your budget.  Many goals will cost money upfront even if they have a great return-on-investment. Understanding where and how that budget will be allocated will help you know what is realistic.

• Align goals with national goals.  Many public and private sector entities have simply matched/joined on to national goals such as the Better Buildings Challenge with the thought process of “they will figure it out as they go”. While this can be risky many companies and public sector agencies have signed on to these goals and have risen to the challenge to meet these targets because the 1) goals come off as credible; and 2) are very public.

Lastly, before setting sustainability targets, we recommend that an organization familiarizes itself with the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time Bound) framework for setting goals. The following shows how the framework would be used for a goal for energy reductions for a company.

• Specific: We will reduce energy use per square foot (kBtu/sq. ft.) by 20% by 2030 for our entire building stock. (Note: Make sure your goals can be normalized for growth to ensure that you are not penalized for company’s successes. For example, if a company’s building stock grows by 20% during their energy reduction goals timeline they will be unfairly penalized for this growth unless they normalize by square feet.)

• Measurable: We will track data through software on a monthly basis. (Note: Never underestimate the time consuming nature of tracking data. If you can’t find a transparent, realistic way to track data, then you might want to look at qualitative goals instead. Note: see our last blog titled Why You Should Never Overlook Qualitative Achievements When Developing Your Sustainability Goals to understand why qualitative goals are really important.)

• Achievable: We believe we can achieve this through low-cost upgrades and behavioral change.

• Relevant: Energy reduction supports the company’s goals of leading by example, transparency, and reducing costs.

• Time Bound: The 20% reduction goal will be broken down into intermediate goals of 5% reduction by 2015, 10% reduction by 2020, 15% reduction by 2025, 20% by 2030.

For more information on goal setting see our webinar “How to Set Effective and Measurable Sustainability Goals” and contact us at emily.artale@lotussustainability.com  or hillary@merrillgroupllc.com.  

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Authors

Emily Artale is Principal and Owner at Lotus Engineering and Sustainability, LLC. She has been working in the industry for nearly a decade and she has a background in energy management, sustainability planning, and water quality. Emily helps teams develop action-oriented solutions that will improve efficiency and integrate sustainability into current processes. She received her undergraduate and graduate degrees in environmental engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She is a Colorado native and spends most of her time outdoors with her family.

Hillary Dobos is Principal and Owner of Merrill Group, LLC. Hillary brings both expertise and creative thinking to working with clients which she draws from her experience as a consultant advising public and private clients throughout the United States, as well as the one tasked with embedding sustainability throughout a 25,000+ person organization (Colorado State Government). Hillary earned her B.A. in Art History and Economics from Bowdoin College in Maine and her MBA from the University of Colorado-Boulder. Hillary was born and raised in Denver, Colorado, where she currently enjoys life with her husband, son, and moderately trained canine, Mr. Smiles.

Disclaimer: The information presented above is based on the opinions and experience of the authors. The authors are not liable for any errors or omissions in this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.