Facu lt y Ne ws & R es e a rc h
Why Aren’t More Commercial Buildings Going Green? Commercial buildings are energy sinks, second only to transportation as the largest power user. With modest energy efficiency technologies, they could be made 30 percent more efficient—resulting in a 50 to 80 percent savings on their utility bills. The technology is readily available, proven effective and known to those in the commercial construction industry. Yet it is often ignored. Why? Professor Nicole Biggart presented her research on the topic in her talk “Where are the Green Buildings?” at a seminar for engineering, sociology and transportation scholars hosted by the UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center in February. Biggart, who has studied and published on the commercial building industry with Associate Professor Thomas Beamish of the UC Davis Sociology Department, explained that constructing a building requires an interlocking network of players with different timelines and tasks to get the project done. Developers, design firms, construction managers and subcontractors each have decisions to make and deadlines to meet in the process. And, most importantly, they all have
expectations about the technology and equipment that will be used. This is where industry conventions become critical, Biggart said. “Everyone involved in a construction project looks for reliability, predictability and established reputations for getting the job done—in other words, they follow conventional practices.” These conventions allow buildings to be completed rapidly and profits realized. “Anything that has the potential to slow the process down, like an unfamiliar technology, is rejected out of hand,” Biggart said. Buildings are major investments, and part of Professor portfolios that are expected to generate rents for Nicole Biggart 30 to 50 years. Because developers typically do not occupy the completed building, they do not With modest energy have a vested interest in whether it is energy effiefficiency technologies, cient. Biggart said the best way to convince the commercial buildings industry to adopt more efficient technologies is could be made 30 percent through legislation or by lobbying hedge funds to more efficient—resulting in a 50 to 80 percent invest in commercial buildings that are energy savings on their utility bills. efficient. “Investor revolt is usually quite effective in getting new standards implemented,” she said.
>> www.gsm.ucdavis.edu/biggart
Rethinking Innovation in Clean Tech ideas and building a network of people who can fund these new combinations.” As an invited presenter, moderator and keynote at conferences and industry events worldwide, Hargadon continues to gain international prominence by challenging industry and investors to rethink innovation and energy efficiency. In October, Hargadon traveled to Qatar (pictured right) for the Connected Speaker Series hosted by ictQatar (the Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology). Addressing nearly 300 attendees, Hargadon shared his insights on networked innovation and how it can be applied to energy efficiency and information and communication technology. Hargadon served as a moderator at the “Technology Transactions in the Post-Financial Crisis Economy” symposium sponsored by the UC Davis Law School in March. His next stop: the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance in San Francisco, where he discussed entrepreneurship and teaching entrepreneurship programs.
photo courtesy istQatar
In an effort to boost employment, promote cleaner, more sustainable sources of energy, and give the U.S. a global competitive advantage, governors across the nation are looking to implement policies that spur clean-tech innovation. In February, Professor Andrew Hargadon, faculty director of the UC Davis Center for Entrepreneurship, participated in “Spurring Business Start-ups and Innovation in Clean Technology,” a National Governors’ Association Center for Best Practices webcast co-sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation. Hargadon outlined the two common assumptions about how innovation happens. With the linear model, innovation occurs through research, development and deployment demonstration. In the “great man” model innovation occurs in a single moment and by a single person. “These models,” Hargadon said, “[have] shaped the way governments invest in entrepreneurship and innovation with an eye toward economic growth.” He said both approaches have proven inadequate in fast-tracking wide market adoption of innovative technologies. Hargadon made the case for the network model. “Innovation is finding new combinations of old
Professor Andrew Hargadon
>> http://entrepreneurship.ucdavis.edu/hargadon U C D av i s G raduat e S chool of M anag e m e nt • 9