Exploring Life & Business with Ryan McEvoy of GAIA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan McEvoy. They and their team shared their story with us below:

Ryan McEvoy brings over two decades of experience in real estate development, sustainable energy systems, and high-performance buildings. He is responsible for the growth, direction, and diversification of GAIA’s offerings.

GAIA is a leading sustainability and high-performance building consultancy dedicated to transforming the way we design, develop, and build our communities. With a team of technical and accredited consultants, GAIA empowers developers, property owners, architects, contractors, and end-users to achieve their energy efficiency, sustainability, and ESG goals.

Since its inception, GAIA has worked on over 600 buildings across the U.S and internationally, providing a wide range of services and solutions to help clients create buildings that are energy and water efficient and environmentally and socially responsible.

Prior to founding GAIA, Ryan was the Development Project Manager and Sustainability Coordinator for Yorkshire Development, an early adopter of sustainable building practices. Under McEvoy’s management, Yorkshire Development’s Tricom Office Building in Pasadena became the first LEED speculative commercial building in the world, was the 15th LEED-certified building in California and the 225th LEED project ever certified. During this undertaking, he dedicated his time to change Pasadena’s building codes to require that all buildings, public or private, be LEED certified, which was adopted in late 2004.

McEvoy is an established thought leader within the industry is a contributing author and workshop presenter for the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). He created and taught a course at California State University Dominguez Hills, and he has been a guest lecturer at universities including UCLA, USC, and the University of Melbourne. McEvoy has spoken at conferences such as International Living Future, the Wall Street Green Summit, NAIOP, MyGBCE, and the Los Angeles Business Council Sustainability Summit, to name a few. He has twice been a presenter at the Greenbuild International Conference & Expo.

McEvoy worked on the largest solar Feed-in Tariff program of its kind with Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). He did so while serving as co-chair of the Los Angeles Business Council Energy and Environment Committee. In this role, one of his main tasks was to facilitate the organization of the Sustainability Summit.

McEvoy founded a non-profit organization, Collective Solutions. The organization provided workshops on how to meet basic human needs through sustainable technologies to rural communities in Latin America. While this non-profit is no longer operational, this effort illustrates McEvoy’s passion to be of service to the environment.

Additionally, McEvoy created and owns a fully operational 77 kW solar power purchase agreement (PPA), which is installed at a Los Angeles private school and provides the power at 10% below utility rate. He also created an innovative company to sell machines that make water out of air, called Atmospheric Water Generators (AWGs), and has sold them nationally and internationally.

Currently, Ryan McEvoy is pursuing the world’s most rigorous building certification, The Living Building Challenge, by retrofitting a 1947 Southern California residential home to be self-sustainable. His journey is an inspiring story demonstrating the power of one person’s efforts and dedication to promote environmental stewardship and create significant impact on the world around us.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Challenge 1: Despite the innovative solution to drought challenges which Atmospheric Water Generators provide, the market has not responded. No large companies have stepped in to support its implementation and distribution. As a result, some makers of the machines have stopped making them and now there are limited replacement parts and technicians available to repair any machines owned by individuals.

Challenge 2: ESG investing and reporting and government net-zero targets are driving real estate developers to invest in sustainable building certifications such as LEED and incorporating sustainable building practices to decarbonize their portfolio. However, with the availability of “RECs” (renewable energy credits), developers and owners have the option to purchase them instead of implementing true sustainability practices, essentially greenwashing their way to net-zero goals. Meanwhile, there is backlash from some state leaders, mostly conservatives, who are fighting to hold on to their fossil-fuel based economies and boycott the transition to renewable energy systems.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Once you’re aware of the environmental atrocities happening today, it leaves you with no choice but to walk the walk and push the envelope as far as you can.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.gaiadevelopment.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaiadevelopment/

Image Credits
Photographer: Maria “Luna” Rangel | mariaphotography.com