Wilfrid Laurier University
IN-25: Innovation B

Green buildings work to lower emissions and energy use, but consistently fall short of meeting their forecast targets due to the performance gap, which occurs when the people side of sustainable buildings is not sufficiently addressed. Wilfrid Laurier University Psychology Associate Professor Manuel Riemer, York University faculty member Joel Marcus and their research partners have received nearly $1 million in funding for their research into closing this gap through a Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science Ontario Research Fund - Research Excellence (ORF-RE) grant. This five-year project entitled, “Closing the performance gap in high-performance green buildings by cultivating a culture of sustainability,” will be based in evolv1, a LEED Platinum and net positive energy multi-tenant office building. The building, designed and owned by the Cora Group and envisioned in partnership with Sustainable Waterloo Region, is located within David Johnston Research and Technology Park. “The building will act as a living laboratory to understand how best to engage the inhabitants of sustainable buildings in sustainable practices,” said Riemer. “There are ways to nudge people towards more sustainable habits, such as the physical design of the building, but there is also a social aspect we’re looking at to encourage engagement in all aspects of sustainability.” Riemer and his partners will create an evidence-based engagement strategy to develop a culture of sustainability in green office buildings that can be successfully transferred to other commercial building projects. He says innovative approaches like this must be part of the strategy to reach the ambitious carbon reduction goals set by the Ontario and Canadian governments. - Excerpt taken from https://www.wlu.ca/news/news-releases/2018/may/laurier-psychology-researcher-receives-nearly-1-million-in-funding-to-study-sustainable-behaviour-in-evolv1-building.html