Transitioning from LEED to ESG: Sharon Patterson Grant, LEED Fellow

Sharon Patterson Grant, LEED AP BD+C and Homes, has been providing green building consulting and education since 2006. She has consulted on over 100 LEED homes, neighborhoods and commercial buildings across the Pacific Northwest, and has developed and taught numerous LEED workshops. She has also consulted on dozens of projects to reduce energy use in buildings and green organizations, including the largest commercial property management firms in Idaho. Recently, Sharon has taken her expertise and gone all in on ESG (and Corporate Sustainability) with RE Tech Advisors. Sharon has specialized in energy codes, primarily through her work with the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, Bonneville Power Administration and Office of Energy Resources to provide education, co-facilitate a statewide collaborative, perform cost analysis and conduct a statewide market assessment. She also worked on a white paper for PNNL on incorporating orientation into codes. The scope of projects expanded to providing strategic energy management for commercial property owners, cities and school districts. Cities have included Boise, Tacoma, Missoula, Eugene, Providence and Grand Rapids. For the USGBC, Sharon was chair and vice chair of the Idaho Chapter for 4 years,and currently sits on the West Regional Council and is national co-chair for the Build Better Codes campaign. Her other board positions include GreenWorks, Northwest Integrity Housing Company and Idaho Smart Growth. As a Certified Sustainable Building Advisor and a Healthy Homes Specialist, Sharon has taught at BSU and Maui Community College and presented at conferences such as Region 10 EPA, Sun Valley Sustainability and the National Environmental Health Association. As a Provider and Instructor with ID and WY Real Estate Commissions, she has provided green building classes to hundreds of real estate professionals. Sharon has degrees in Ecological Design and Business. Her work received Idaho Grow Smart Awards in 2008, 2009 and 2011 and a Better Bricks Award in 2010. She is a published author on green building topics and was host of “Building a Greener Idaho,” a weekly radio show on Radio Boise.   Show Highlights Benefits of a broad theoretical based ecological design degree. Calculated leaps, travel, and trying different things will shape your career path.  Meaningful impact with affordable housing to educate operational costing and provide training to residents. Green design provides solutions to the drain on our health care system. Whole Neighborhood LEED Platinum project that promotes the value for the environment and educates people to support.  Different ways to provide education to trades to encourage respectful relationships that promote the green building process. Challenges to do renewable energy in a conservative population that doesn’t believe in climate change and has been “blacklisted.” Sharon shares what she is doing now, which has an impact across the nation. Practical business approach to climate change. “It's the most important and critical thing we can do in this day and age. If we don't change the amount of carbon emissions going into our atmosphere we're not going to have a future for our children and my son is eight. I want him to have a future. I want him to experience future generations and I want them to have a prosperous life.” -Sharon Grant     Sharon Grant’s Show Resource and Information       Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES   GBES is excited our membership community is growing. Consider joining our membership community as members are given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions. If you are preparing for an exam, there will be more assurance that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member, and so much more. Go to to learn more about the 4 different levels of access to this one-of-a-kind career-advancing green building community! If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on .  We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the !   Copyright © 2021 GBES