Stapleton & Mangham: USGBC-LA’s Net Zero Accelerator
Recognizing that buildings remain a stubborn sector to decarbonize and one of the most difficult spaces to bring new technologies to market, USGBC-LA's Net-Zero Accelerator is a one-of-kind 7-month program that utilizes LA's resources as an innovation ecosystem to propel a cohort of pilot-ready technologies to market and drive measurable adoption of net-zero solutions. With the unveiling of 2021's NZA Cohort at the Municipal Green Building Conference & Expo this week, TPR interviews USGBC-LA Executive Director Ben Stapleton and Net Zero Accelerator Director Colin Mangham to offer readers an inside look into LA's hub of green building innovation.
EXCERPTS:
BEN STAPLETON: We're trying to help enable a net zero future today. We're the only Net Zero Accelerator in the world focusing on zero carbon, zero energy, zero water, and zero waste. We want to take the technologies that exist today and help them scale, and the goal is that we can achieve a net zero, or perhaps even a net positive, future. For us, it's really reflected in the companies that we select. We're trying to pick companies that are going to help us get there faster.
COLIN MANGHAM: I think what’s unique about the Net Zero Accelerator is our focus on real world pilot projects, ones that leverage the strength and diversity of our community of sustainability practitioners, green builders, and other stakeholders. With USGBC-LA as a member-driven organization, we're the only ones we know of that are specifically focused on working with the green building community to help pilot-ready companies speed commercialization. Our NZA cohort members have functional prototypes we help to de-risk, stress-test, refine, sometimes pivot, and overall prepare for scaled adoption. Or, if they’re already having some success commercializing in another geographical market, we help them pilot it into a building or site in a large portfolio, prove a success case, validate with data, and move further into that client opportunity here in the Los Angeles area.