Flux, Capacitating Sustainability

The company Flux is developing collaborative design software for the building industry that will accurately analyze the carbon footprint and the life-cycle costs of buildings while they are still in the design phase. This will assist in curbing the design so that Owners/Developers and Designers can make better, more responsible, more economical decisions that assist in facilitating lenders/investors to see the BIGGER picture of the life-Cycle cost awareness as opposed to merely focusing on short-term construction costs. This has the capacity to be a dramatic game changer in our industry.

We can talk ourselves blue (and we practically have) on the foolishness of VEs to manage mechanical systems that compromise long-term efficiency. But to an Owner, it’s merely “This GC just wants to drive up construction costs for his own increased profit”. With a program like this, which is (ideally) designed by an independent entity or perhaps even better an internal process of the architect who uses it as they design their building systems, it can head off this suspicion and even quantify the cost savings so that they can amortize the construction cost increase and recognize the actual savings in operations for “doing the right thing”.

“For the past year, together with a dedicated group of industry partners, the Flux team has been developing a methodology capable of managing the full complexity of designing site-adapted, high-performance, and healthy buildings. The process starts by constructing a relationship graph between the key building systems driven by owners’ business objectives. By powering the graph with data and algorithms, the system allows building owners to trade-off upfront construction cost with marketability, life-cycle operating cost, occupant experience, and environmental impact.”

– Flux Press Release