Steve McDowell, an architect with BNIM Architects in Kansas City, argued that the public and its client group have fully accepted the need to be more efficient. So the challenge that BNIM is now facing is “how do we actually get there?”
In some ways, said McDowell, change has come more easily than anticipated. Projects like the IRS have actually achieved more than fifty per-cent energy savings than comparable past projects. The industry is just be-ginning to take full advantage of new tools and new building technologies.
The Mid-America Regional Council’s David Warm was less sanguine about change. He contended that “at least half the town is belabored by inertia; doing things the same way that we have always done them.”
The challenge, as he sees it, is to develop some sense of awareness about the need to break out of current patterns of behavior. To facilitate that change, he believes incentives are needed as well as a reformed regulatory framework.
“Right now,” Warm argued, “the inertia part of our system is set up simply to get more money by consuming more energy. We have got to change the business model, the regulatory model, so it allows for those people interested in making change to do that more costeffectively.”
Jason Holsman, who represents South Kansas City and Grandview in the Missouri House of Representat-
ives and serves on the Energy and Environment Committee, observed that right now Missouri has one of the lowest rates for energy consumption
in the country.
“That has to change” said Holsman. He acknowledged telling people they are going to have to pay more for energy is a difficult thing to do. “But,” he added, “I don’t see any other way to really solve one of the greatest issues that my generation faces, unless we start to talk about getting solutions.”
When asked what exactly the critical issue was, Holsman observed that the three major energy producing resources—coal, oil, and natural gas—are finite, and all three of them “produce the carbon emissions that we’re trying to move away from.”
Mike Deggendorf, vice president of public affairs at KCP&L, elaborated on the issue in question. He saw a confluence of three forces coming together at one juncture. The first is that a segment of the public is focused on affordably meeting the increasing demand for energy. The second force is generated by those eager to act on the greenhouse gas issue and environmental concerns. And the third force is powered by those focused on energy independence.
“The challenge,” said Deggendorf, “is that they all intersect—heavily intersect—around this issue of energy.” He cautioned against the natural tendency of any one of the constituencies behind those forces to assume that their perceived solutions should be obvious to the others, and suggested that a portfolio of solutions will meet the needs of all three groups.
Gary Schlotzhauer, with Kessinger Hunter, a commercial real estate firm in Kansas City, commended KCP&L
for its role as a national leader in the energy conservation movement. Added Schlotzhauer, “That makes it easier for us to do things now moving forward.”
He too sees low cost as a “hurdle.” Real estate investment people look for return on investment. “Up to this point,” said Schlotzhauer, “it hasn’t really been in capital improvements for energy management.”
Schlotzhauer believes, however, that the paradigm is changing and that environmental issues are now driving the energy management agenda. “We realize as a company that we have to be good corporate citizens,” said Schlotzhauer. “Doing it the old fashioned way, putting our heads in the sand, isn’t going to work.”
The energy manager of the Olathe School District, Bob Courtney, has been concentrating on the reduction of consumption for some time, which is not easy in a district growing as fast as Olathe’s.
As a non-profit, he explained, some of the tax incentives that are available don’t do the school district any good at all. Courtney and his colleagues try to be the best stewards of taxpayer money as possible. And they would rather have that money spent on educational purposes than on operating costs.
Courtney sees a push for green technology coming from the students themselves. “The students are ready to charge ahead,” said Courtney. “With the right programs in place, the right regulations in place, the potential is there. I look forward to being a part of that.”
Speaking for KCP&L, Bill Downey described “an enormous shift” on a wide range of public policy issues in the energy arena. Today, he noted, “If we’re making an energy decision, we’re making an environmental decision as well.”
He added, however, that over the last two decades, energy consumption has continued to increase, and yet the portfolio of energy solutions has not changed much. Despite all the media attention to solar and other renewables, they still represent a tiny fraction of what is available and affordable.
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