I would say that I am on track with my Research Plan. This week, I have gotten a feeling for what sustainability is in the way it is used in the term “sustainable housing”. I have defined for myself and compiled a list of a bunch of other terms that are useful to know when exploring this sector. I am going to turn this list into a small chapter/resource for people who are new to or want to learn about this topic. I think my consolidated, easy to understand definitions would be super helpful. 

While doing my research, I have compiled a list of sources and have read through most of them so far (still getting to the rest). Most of these sources have helped me answer the question: Why? Why should anyone care about this project? For example, I found that nationwide, the typical household spends about $2,150 on residential energy bills each year, but LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design)-certified homes are designed to use about 30 to 60 percent less energy. [LEED is the most widely used green building rating system in the world. Available for virtually all building, community and home project types, LEED provides a framework to create healthy, highly efficient and cost-saving green buildings (usgbc.org).] But this statistic proves that we can, a) not only reduce the amount of energy spent (thereby making things better for the Earth), but b) we can cut individual homeowners’ energy costs by up to 60%, thereby saving people money! I mean, even if you aren’t for going green and being a helpful person, who wouldn’t take every chance they get to save money?

Anyways…I have set up a meeting with someone from the Sustainability Institute to ask them questions about the history and current state of our sector. I intend to go into this meeting with some background knowledge of what is going on and prepared a list of questions to ask them. I also have looked into ‘industry events’ nearby that I could attend and have found 2 that are possible to get to. I am counting on the institute to provide me with other events around the area, or to help me decide which of the 2 to attend.

I will be adjusting my Research Plan a bit. I have already researched tools for which to create my project with, and will narrow it down to one after speaking with people from SI. As of now, from talking to a few engineers and designers, I am inclined to pick one of the three: ZBrush, SketchUp, or Rhinoceros to work with. I am currently in the process of creating the 1st draft of my ‘business pitch’ that I need in order to get grants/funding for the project. The first draft will be done by this Thursday (hard deadline as I’m using this project for another class as well), and I plan to visit the Small Business Development Center on Friday or if not, sometime next week (will still be ahead of schedule). I have also begun to research current sustainable designs and have saved a collage of photos with the ones I think are best.

Thanks for reading! (: