April 30, 2025
I was in New York City earlier this month and went rowing in Central Park with my 10-year-old son one sunny afternoon. Walking to the Park, we crossed a group of people protesting outside the law offices of Paul, Weiss — shouting, beating drums, asking them to stand up to the new administration. The same evening, I was taking pictures of the Solaire multifamily buildings in Battery Park City from the river and excitedly telling my kids about the energy models I built of these first “green” multifamily buildings back in the day when they were in design and still called Buildings 18A and 19B.
The Solaire at Battery Park City (picture taken from a boat, April 2025)
Such parallel experiences of joy and discontent felt heightened this past year. So much has happened and I haven’t had a chance to catch up with you all through my seasonal newsletter. (If you’d like to see these highlights as they happen, do follow our Energy Shrink LinkedIn page.) My book project, Decarbonizing Buildings, for the systems thinker, has a lot to do with my silence as well.
I hope you’ll find time to savor a cup of tea while joining me in this look back at some key highlights from the past year. And if you are in a rush, feel free to scroll through for the pictures (and resources at the end!)
In the midst of major changes in our country, I am grateful for the steadfastness in mission, faith, and loyalty of our clients and partners who have helped us stay the course. I am grateful to continue the work that my kids are proud of enough to welcome me to their schools for Career Day (from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for that.)
It’s Spring once again. It’s Earth Month. And here are some highlights and pictures I’d like to share with you.
Global Highlights
UNEP-FI (Finance Initiative) has been continuing its work with banks to offer green financing. Remember the paper we wrote and presented for UNEP-FI last year, “Banking on Green Buildings”? That’s now available online (PDF) In fact, looks like UNEP decided to call their latest initiative “Banking on Sustainability”. Love it when something in our work just clicks for our clients!
IFC (member of the World Bank Group) has issued a new version of the course Designing for Greater Efficiency (DfGE)” to match the latest version of their free green building design software EDGE to transform the green buildings market through design. We were proud to update the course we have worked on since its inception. The DfGE course is available online for free and has been taken by more than 7,000 students globally, not counting the dozens of students who have taken it in person at universities around the world. As of this month, our team has also translated the course into Spanish, which required a seasoned Building Scientist and native writer on our team to help make the content make sense.
Image courtesy IIA
The Indian Institute of Architects invited me to keynote at their annual research conference, Anveshan, for the theme The Projected Future.
Did you know that India has the fastest growing real estate sector in the world?
India’s built up area is projected to more than quadruple in the next 50 years.
Easter egg: Can you spot the T-square?
1 billion+ Indians are aspiring to thrive economically and keep their families comfortable in the face of ever hotter days. (It is hard for kids to study if they are too hot. And that’s not cool, not in India.) In fact, the country is on track to become the largest contributor to global warming if it continues on its current trajectory of increasing air conditioning use. My hope is that Indians will draw on their native knowledge of passive design to avert this outcome.
The gist of my talk as it unfolded is captured in this graphic
I am told the talk was well received. I sure hope so (you can watch the talk here) because we need designers in India, and other countries that are rapidly warming, to be inspired and think afresh.
Here in the US
I was, in turn, inspired by the closing note by Louisa Rettew at the Montgomery County Energy Summit this month about the need for science and climate action. An engineer from Baltimore, not a public speaker, she prepared and gave it her all. (When introverts speak, there’s a passion behind their struggle to get the message out, that I recognize all too well.) I was so inspired that I sent her a “Hoptimist’ as a personal thank-you gift for her courage.
The original Hoptimist (read its story at the link) was part of a raffle draw that Energy Shrink sponsored at the Summit along with some inspiring books. If you’d like your own Hoptimist next year, the next Summit is on April 28-29, 2026. Mark your calendars. See you there!
On the Federal Front
On a new frontier, Energy Shrink has won a place on the GSA Oasis+ contract vehicle, both on the Small Business (SB) as well as the Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) tracks. Energy Shrink, and our partner Illume, look forward to providing technical and program management services for High Performance Buildings to the Federal government.
In fact, we were on three separate teams with well-established Primes and certain to launch into the Federal space this year in a big way, until the plane nosedived. But we are in this for the long haul and pulling the nose up slowly but surely.
State and Local Highlights – Policy
So glad that we’ve been able to contribute our bit to the work of decarbonization on the ground at the State and Local levels. And I love the variety in the work we have been able to perform over the last year!
- BCA Analysis. DC Public Service Commission has created their maiden Benefit-Cost Analysis Model! Energy Shrink has been privileged to assist DCPSC in their mission to evaluate utility proposals equitably. We designed and built the BCA tool for ease of use, transparency, integrity, and flexibility, in partnership with the talented energy economists at E3. The model is out for public comments, and we look forward to its official release later this year. Want techno-economic tools for green buildings/programs/policies? Talk to us. We love building user-friendly tools such as these.
A snapshot of the BCA Model UX (user experience) created for DC Public Service Commission by the Energy Shrink Team
- Policy Analysis and Facilitation. The climate work NYSERDA is doing is inspiring. We feel fortunate to be selected as a partner for their policy analysis and facilitation work under an umbrella contract.
Energy Efficiency Programs and Strategy
- Climate Action Plan (CAP). New York is leading on building decarbonization, and we are excited to be part of this journey. We were selected to create the first CAP for the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation and are looking forward to getting started on this exciting project.
- Energy and Climate Action Research, Analysis, Advisory and Consulting Services. Massachusetts, another national leader in decarbonization, has awarded us a successful bidder contract for Statewide work. The Small Business office (such a nice group of people!), also held a networking event that I flew to Boston for. We have started establishing relationships in MA to deliver success for our clients.
The Energy Shrink Team is excited to be entering Massachusetts!
- Technical Assistance/Due Diligence. Maryland State Energy Administration/Maryland Environmental Services offer several innovative programs to Marylanders to spur the transition to clean energy. Our team is pleased to be selected to provide Technical Assistance for the Commercial and Industrial programs. This type of work has our name written all over it – providing technical due diligence, keeping the program organized and on track. We made it through stiff competition to win the privilege, and with the highest technical score. Proud of our team for making the cut.
Diving Deeper, Technically
A LEED energy modeling report by the Energy Shrink energy modeling team
- Energy models! (we geek out on building robust energy models) Thanks to the popular local LEED consulting firm Sustainable Design Consulting for bringing us on the team for energy modeling on their LEED projects. Our team built energy models for the design teams of a Porsche showroom in New Jersey, and a library for the Department of Blind and Visually Impaired in Richmond, Virginia, for SRP MEP Engineers.
A LEED energy model by the Energy Shrink energy modeling team
- Building envelope. Prince George’s County Parks is upgrading the roof on the historic Oxon Hill Manor. They had the foresight to look at insulation and mitigation of moisture issues for their new roof and have brought us in for that analysis. We look forward to visiting it soon. It’s also a lovely place to do weddings by the way. Check it out.
- Prince George’s County in Maryland is benchmarking their building portfolio, crafting a strategy for three deep upgrades, and performing solar outreach. We are pleased to serve as their contractor. Also grateful for our relationships with other local small businesses that we partner with to deliver each facet of these projects successfully.
- Thanks also to the Montgomery County Green Bank for their innovative and customer-centric Technical Assistance Provider program, we are performing benchmarking for several clients in MD, and DC of course where we are headquartered, and now, thanks to referrals from our colleagues, in several states around the country.
Q. Do you know why green buildings are quieter?
A. Because they let their energy bills do the talking. - Technical Support. We continue to provide technical support for outreach work with Brick & Story on behalf of DC DOEE. Our conversations with residential building owners around electrification have been most enlightening.
- What do apartment owners want? (Hint: ROI is high on the list)
- What do homeowners want? (Hint: Clean air, comfort, and the health of their families are high on their list).
- Financing continues to be the biggest hurdle.
Speaking of Financing
Our upcoming webinar
You might remember that my colleague Kara Hausamann and I presented on “BEPS Compliance and Building Codes for Futureproofing” as part of DCSEU’s Train Green program last year (watch a recording here.) The question we heard loud and clear was: Where is the money for this? So, this year, we are presenting the webinar: “Where is the Money for BEPS Compliance?” I will be illustrating a cash flow example for retrofits in DC; my colleague Kara will be sharing all the financial resources for building owners. And we are also thrilled to have highly knowledgeable guests from DC Green Bank, DCSEU, IMT, and GreenGen joining the Q&A panel to answer audience questions.
Get an access code here, and register here to join us on May 21.
Around Town
The AIA DC chapter held a “Carbon + The City” Symposium last year. Part of the program was my talk on “Slashing Carbon With an Analytical Sword” from existing buildings, where I shared three case studies of local buildings that we have analyzed for practical steps to decarbonize them successfully. (Deep decarbonization is possible! Talk to us about it.)
Slashing Carbon at AIA DC
“Carbon + The City” Symposium
USGBC held their first Local Government Policy Forum in DC last year and invited me to speak on the panel for Climate Strategies for Small and Medium-Sized Governments (thank you, USGBC). We discussed climate action, resilience, financing, and equity in the near and long term and the impact of IRA funding.
USGBC Local Government Policy Forum
Panel: Climate Strategies for Small and Medium-sized Governments
Team Member Spotlight
Needless to say, the scale at which our small business is producing quality work would not be possible without my competent team at Energy Shrink. The spotlight this time is on Aditya Desai — an Environmental Engineer with experience in expanding energy efficiency, clean and renewable energy, equity and environmental justice, and building decarbonization. Outside of work, you might spot Aditya at Central Park or Hudson Yards, at the beach, or watching F1 and Sumo and sharing his love of cooking.
In the past, Aditya has worked with the state government of Maharashtra in India on its comprehensive climate action planning, and supported the development of Mumbai’s climate action plan. With Energy Shrink, he has worked on policy research for building and utility decarbonization in the mid-Atlantic region; and worked on a UNDP and UN University supported program on SDG and sustainability education in metro-Atlanta. Aditya holds a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering with a certificate in Energy and Environmental Policy from Georgia Tech, and a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Biotechnology from India.
Glad to have his thoughtful contributions to our projects.
Will You Do Me a Favor?
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for your attention. Now I have a favor to ask of you. This is our tenth year in business. We are a mission-driven practice, and we couldn’t have made it this far without the support of the wonderful relationships we have built in the industry. We are a small business and you have the power to keep our doors open.
You know how much I love what we do here at Energy Shrink. We want to keep doing this work, and do more of it. So, will you please do these three things for me?
Introduce me to one person who you think can use our services
Follow our LinkedIn page (this helps us stay in touch with you)
Talk about how you like our work, and leave your kind comments on LinkedIn.
I hope to see shoots of hope spring forth over the next few weeks and months.
Wish you a good Spring season!
One thing that never fails to cheer me up is our family’s annual visit to the cherry blossoms in full bloom at the Tidal Basin in DC. Did you get to see them too? (picture from April 2025)
Wish you a wonderful, green Spring season. Drop me a note to catch up!
Warmly,
Smita Chandra Thomas
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