Eliminating Energy Waste with Smart HVAC Optimization with Brad Pilgrim
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
Release Date: 12/17/2025
Embedding Sustainability Into Core Real Estate Operations with Ethan Arbiser
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: If you need to transform sustainability from an isolated department into a core business driver, this episode delivers the blueprint. Ethan Arbiser shows how to embed sustainability into daily real estate operations using resource optimization, AI, and high-visibility engagement strategies. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Ethan Arbiser is a Senior Manager of Energy & Sustainability at CBRE, bringing a unique blend of environmental science, analytics, carbon accounting, and built-environment project experience. An Atlanta...
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Eliminating Drywall Waste & Reimagining Sustainable Interiors with Nicholas Ndah
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
📣 The Green Impact Report Quick take: This episode is a masterclass in modern construction sustainability. Nicholas Ndah breaks down how eliminating waste, rethinking materials, and simplifying project execution can radically improve both environmental impact and long-term building performance. 🙋♂️ Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Nicholas Ndah is a commercial interiors and construction leader with deep experience spanning residential, industrial, and large-scale commercial projects. As head of the Architectural Solutions division at McCoy Rockford, he...
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Getting Ready for LEED v5 (and Why “Early” Beats “Perfect”) with Helen Rubinstein
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
📣 The Green Impact Report Quick take: LEED v5 is “around the corner,” and Helen Rubinstein (Director of Sustainability at Cosentini Associates) explains what’s changing — and how sustainability teams can get ahead by integrating earlier, speaking the construction team’s language, and leaning into decarbonization mandates without losing the bigger regenerative vision. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Helen is an experienced Sustainability Consultant that joined Cosentini Associates in 2010. She holds a Master of Science in Environmental Management Systems...
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LEED Fellow Andres Schwarz on Keeping the Sustainability Flame Alive
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
🌋 The Green Impact Report Quick take: From Buenos Aires to Papua New Guinea, LEED Fellow and architect Andres Schwarz shows how to turn certifications, commissioning, and culture into long-term, resilient green performance — not just plaques on the wall. 🫂 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Andres is a sustainability professional, serving as a sustainability advisor, university educator, principal at NRG-AR, and co-founder of Green Certification Consultants. Since 2007, he has certified over 100 Green Building projects across 12 countries as a sustainability and...
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Using AI & Drones to Improve Facility Operations with Austin Rabine
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
🧨 The Green Impact Report Quick take: What if you could eliminate 30% of wasted facility capital spend without sending a single person on-site? Austin Rabine, CEO of Site Technologies, breaks down how AI-powered drone data is transforming exterior inspections, cutting costs, and driving sustainability at scale. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Austin Rabine is the co-founder and CEO of Site Technologies, a company rethinking how facility owners manage building exteriors. Austin is an entrepreneurial leader working to drive technology and innovation into old...
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Theresa Lehman Returns: Net-Zero Schools, LEED v5 & Greening the Midwest.
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
📣 The Green Impact Report Quick take: LEED Fellow Theresa Lehman is back on the podcast! Since her first episode in 2021, she’s doubled down on big-impact projects — like delivering one of the largest net-zero middle schools in the U.S. and advising on next-gen data center sustainability. If you're navigating LEED v5, IRA funding, or how to scale sustainability within a large firm — this episode is your roadmap. 🙋♂️ Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Theresa Lehman is one of the original LEED Fellows and a driving force in the Green Building movement across...
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Juan Carlos Valenzuela Castañeda on LEED for Communities & Designing with Nature
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
🧨 The Green Impact Report Quick take: From boutique eco-hotels to 540-hectare industrial parks, Juan Carlos Valenzuela Castañeda is helping Guatemala go green — by proving that regenerative, resilient, and human-centered design isn’t just possible in Central America, it’s thriving. Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Juan Carlos Valenzuela Castañeda is a LEED Fellow and architect based in Guatemala City, where he co-leads a family-run firm with his sister. Their practice has evolved from traditional architecture to sustainability consulting, now focused 80% on...
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Metrics-Driven Design and the Future of Green Infrastructure with Umesh Atre
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: Umesh Atre shares a powerful journey from India to becoming a LEED Fellow and a sustainability leader at Parkhill. In this episode, he dives into how metrics-driven design, embodied carbon strategies, and infrastructure-focused sustainability are changing the green building landscape — especially in challenging regions like West Texas. 🙋♂️ Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Umesh Atre, LEED Fellow, WELL AP, Fitwel Ambassador, is a seasoned sustainability professional with over two decades of experience working across various...
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Making Zero-Carbon Pencil (Without Killing the Pro Forma) with Fin MacDonald
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
🎙️ The Green Impact Report Quick take: Zero carbon isn’t a tech problem anymore — it’s a business model problem. Fin MacDonald breaks down how developers can hit LEED Platinum + Zero Carbon goals by shifting costs smartly, partnering creatively, and treating finance like an ally instead of a villain. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Fin MacDonald is a newly minted LEED Fellow and zero-carbon strategist based in Ontario, Canada. He leads zero-carbon advisory work at Urban Equation (alongside Windmill Development Group), helping developers build the business...
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Returning Guest: Sustainability Visionary Alicia Silva Villanueva on Greening Stadiums, Hospitality, and Resilience
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
🧨 The Green Impact Report Quick take: Alicia Silva Villanueva is back! In this powerful follow-up episode, the renowned sustainability leader from Mexico shares lessons from greening iconic places like Estadio Azteca for the FIFA World Cup, redefining resilience in hospitality, and writing the playbook to inspire the next generation of changemakers. 😎 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Alicia Silva Villanueva is a LEED Fellow and founder of a Mexico City-based consultancy that's been shaping the future of green buildings in Latin America for over 17 years. With 120+ LEED...
info_outline🌍 The Green Impact Report
Quick take:
This episode matters to green building professionals because it shines a spotlight on how grid-interactive buildings and HVAC optimization can eliminate energy waste, generate new revenue, and play a crucial role in decarbonization — right now.
👷 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion
Brad Pilgrim is the founder and CEO of Parity, a Series B company pioneering HVAC optimization and grid interactivity across North America. From his early days as a commercial carpenter to building a 100-million-square-foot energy optimization platform, Brad’s entrepreneurial journey is driven by purpose, efficiency, and a deep love of the outdoors.
🌱 Breaking Ground on Better Building
In this episode, Brad Pilgrim revolutionizes traditional construction approaches:
🧠 Key Insight #1: Turning HVAC inefficiency into an intelligent grid asset
- The Challenge: Traditional HVAC systems run on outdated controls, often wasting energy with start-stop inefficiency.
- The Solution: Parity installs off-the-shelf hardware and proprietary software to align HVAC operations with real-time demand.
- ROI: Buildings slash energy waste, improve comfort, and unlock new revenue via demand response and grid participation.
🧠 Key Insight #2: Building the cleanest energy — by not using it at all
- The Challenge: The green energy conversation often ignores the carbon debt of manufacturing renewables.
- The Solution: Focus on energy efficiency first — reducing consumption before adding generation.
- ROI: Immediate carbon impact with zero added infrastructure. Efficiency is net-zero from day one.
🧠 Key Insight #3: Reimagining the smart grid with peer-to-peer energy flows
- The Challenge: The electrical grid is destabilized by EVs, data centers, and intermittent renewables.
- The Solution: Smart buildings that store, shift, and trade energy to balance grid load in real time.
- ROI: Reduced grid stress, avoided blackouts, and a resilient, decentralized energy ecosystem.
🎧 Sustainable Soundbite
"The cleanest energy is the energy you don’t use."
– Brad Pilgrim
✅ Your Green Building Action Plan
Transform your next project with these steps:
- This Week: Audit HVAC operations — look for inefficiencies and explore retrofit potential.
- This Quarter: Assess your building’s grid readiness and investigate demand response programs.
- This Year: Implement a scalable HVAC optimization strategy that supports both decarbonization and revenue.
🔗 Connect & Learn More
🌿 Access full episode resources: Green Building Matters Podcast
🗒 Read the transcript here
🔗 Connect with Brad Pilgrim:
- Website: https://www.paritygo.com/
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bradpilgrim
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