Sneaker Impact News

Sustainable Architecture & Urbanism with Esteban Martinez of Green Loop

• Esteban Martinez, Bryan The Botanist • Season 1 • Episode 24

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In this enlightening episode of Sneaker Impact News, host Bryan the Botanist sits down with Esteban Martinez, a distinguished architect and co-founder of Green Loop. Esteban shares his remarkable journey from studying at the University de los Andes to becoming a LEED Fellow and leading sustainable practices across Latin America and the U.S. Discover how Green Loop has consulted on over 700 buildings, implementing innovative solutions using recycled materials and sophisticated energy modeling. Learn about the various sustainability rating systems, the impact of global climate agreements, and the evolving demands for eco-friendly practices. Gain insights into cutting-edge trends, historical building techniques, and the critical role of personal actions in combating climate change. This episode serves as a beacon for those interested in the intersection of sustainability, architecture, and modern technology.

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Bryan The Botanist:

Welcome back to Sneaker Impact News. My name is Bryan the Botanist. I have a special guest today, Esteban Martinez. Welcome Esteban. How are you doing? Very good, Bryan. Thank you for having me. We're so excited to get to know you today and learn about Green Loop. So guys, Esteban is an architect and civil engineer who graduated from the University de los Andes and is the co founder of Green Loop with over 15 years of experience in sustainability and engineering applied to construction. He holds the distinction of LEED Fellow, making him one of the few professionals in Colombia with this certification. Additionally, he completed a master's in sustainable design at Boston Architectural College, an MDS Sustainable Design USA program, and has pursued complementary studies in sustainable urbanism and LEED certification at Rotterdam School of Architecture in the Netherlands. Esteban, so great to have you here today. Thank you. I heard you just got in from Columbia. Yeah, actually I flew in yesterday. That's awesome. Awesome. Yeah. So you live in Columbia.

Esteban Martinez:

Yeah, I will. I live in Columbia, but nowadays we have a few projects happening throughout LATAM. So yeah, I spend most of my time in Bogota, but nevertheless, I have to travel around, travel to a lot of

Bryan The Botanist:

Latin American countries in the U. S.

Esteban Martinez:

Yeah. Cool.

Bryan The Botanist:

So we're going to get into your background and identity right now. Why are you so passionate about sustainability and how did you get into the green building industry?

Esteban Martinez:

Okay. It's a funny story, actually, to be honest, because it was probably back in 2008. I just finished my college degree in civil engineer. And it just so happened that the university chose our master's graduation project, as the one that they should send to this biannual architectural contest for universities worldwide. And so they decided, okay, you know what? Your project it's amazing. We think you, you're good enough to represent the university on this international Biennale that it's going to happen about architecture. They decided to send my project it happened in Shanghai, China, back in 2008. It was participants from all over the world. And we were selected among the 30 best projects in the world. And because of that, they decided to give us a three month intensive program about sustainable urbanism in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, back in 2008. Yeah. And it was free. Free of charge, we just needed to be there in present for the three months that this program was happening in 2008. So yeah, I decided to fly in there, we took the course, and I learned a lot about sustainability back in 2008. If you recall, probably nobody was talking about that, to be honest with you. It was a shock for me and to see that actually there in that part of Europe, they were so advanced. They were doing things that nowadays we would consider in today, they were thinking about sustainable urban drainage systems, they were thinking about renewable energy, they were thinking about how to achieve to net zero. And I didn't know what net zero really was, back in 2008. I learned a lot. After that, I returned to Colombia. And my best friend from the university, which is Diego, the other co founder his father bought this office in Bogota, and he said to Diego you know what, you're not going to be an employee. You're going to have to be an entrepreneur. You're going to have to figure out, and I'm going to only help you out by putting you an office. I'm going to buy you two desks and two seats. You figure out what you're going to do with it. And it's your problem. I'm not gonna give you 1 cent to keep the office running. Not for any electricity, not for administration and services and so on and so forth. It's up to you, you're gonna have to figure that out. You got, you started in the

Bryan The Botanist:

space,

Esteban Martinez:

but you wanted

Bryan The Botanist:

to make, it's a sustainably run. Yeah. We had to be

Esteban Martinez:

economically sustainable. So I flew back from Columbia from the Netherlands, and diego approached me in November 2008 and he said, Hey, I have this problem. It's a nice problem to have, so I said, okay, let's go for it. So we started thinking about what we could do as entrepreneurs. And the first thing we thought we could do architecture, because both of us are architectural and civil engineers. We do the two programs. So we said, I don't know if architecture is the right fit for it. Because we feel it's, there's too much competition and it's too hard to be successful at it. And so we said, I'm not sure if that's the good approach for it. So we said what about engineering? And I said and that's when it struck me. I said, Listen, I just re returned from the Netherlands, and they're talking about the sustainable architecture and sustainable urbanism and sustainable buildings. And it involves both things you have to know about architecture and engineering. And these two things. They get married. Yeah. They can work alongside. I said, why don't we give him a shot? He said, you know what? Why don't we do that. And obviously back at that point, we didn't have anywhere where we could study about sustainable in Columbia, sustainable buildings whatsoever. So I flew to San Francisco, where I met one of my big mentors Alex Pilger. he was also an entrepreneur. He used to work for this company called Green Step. And so I learned the ropes about sustainable buildings. And this rating system, a U. S. rating system that is called LEED. After we learned that, yeah, so we brought this knowledge back to Colombia, and then we hit our first LEED project. We were You got a client that wanted that. Yeah, we got a client that was asking for that. And that's how everything started. It was basically Sort of a fluke, but at the same time it was the right time right direction too for you. Nobody was talking about it, not even the universities, the academia, nobody was talking about it. So you were setting

Bryan The Botanist:

this, you

Esteban Martinez:

were

Bryan The Botanist:

Getting it started in Colombia. Yeah, it was amazing. Versus San Francisco or Germany where they're so

Esteban Martinez:

green minded. They were green minded at that point in time. So yeah. So tell us about your company, Green Loop. You're the co founder. Yeah, I'm the co founder. Actually, Diego and me were the two co founders. Yeah, we started back in 2009. We decided, okay, we're going to do sustainable buildings. Okay. And at that point in time we had our first LEED project. And at the same time there was this company that approached to us and they said, listen, I need to do some energy audits. Which means basically that you're going to inspect the whole building, figure out how the energy consumption is, have a pie chart of what's the main driver in terms of energy consumption, and then figure out strategies to reduce the energy consumption. Like heating and

Bryan The Botanist:

cooling. For instance.

Esteban Martinez:

Materials. Yeah, so inspect the boilers, inspect the HVAC system, inspect whatever. Inspect the, even the envelope or the building envelope, it's another big, huge thing that you have to inspect. The building envelope, is that the Yeah, it would be like enclosure.

Bryan The Botanist:

Okay.

Esteban Martinez:

Yeah. The materials, basically The facade. The facade, yeah. The facade. That would be, but technically it's The building envelope. Envelope. Okay. That's the way we call it in terms of building science. So yeah, at that point in time, we had to figure out which one was the biggest driver, and that's how we started working with energy consumption, energy efficiency. LEED Certification, Sustainable Buildings and so on and so forth and everything is start scaling up and yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

I understand you're one of the few LEED Certified Architects and Engineers in Colombia.

Esteban Martinez:

We have, I don't know how many LEED Certified Architects. Professionals are in Colombia, probably. It's probably grown in the last couple of years. Yeah, probably 200 or 300. Nevertheless, me and my business associate we're the only two LEED fellows that have, that they're running a company, because there are two other more that are, so we are only four LEED fellows in Colombia. Four or five. Like a fellow is where you become like a master in it or something? Yeah it means that the USGBC, the US Green Building Council, recognize you as a leader in terms of sustainable and you're a champion and after 10 years of making yourself valuable for the sustainable building industry. Then someone else has to propose you as a LEED fellow, and then you go through a committee that awards you this certification, this. That's very cool. Can, what does LEED mean? It means Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It's an acronym.

Bryan The Botanist:

Leadership in Energy? Energy and Environmental

Esteban Martinez:

Design.

Bryan The Botanist:

Very cool. I know in Wisconsin, where I'm from frank Lloyd Wright and other famous architects. There was LEED buildings up there. I worked at a place called the International Crane Foundation and they save cranes from all over the world. And their building was a LEED designed and LEED certified, state of the art, energy efficient building. And it blended into the landscape, the prairies and the forest, and it wasn't like some, gargantuan, mansion. It was like, everything about LEED means that it is, you meant to cooperate with the world instead of fighting against it. That's one easy way of thinking about it.

Esteban Martinez:

And probably saving money too.

Bryan The Botanist:

You can see, yeah, you

Esteban Martinez:

can save that. Definitely. You can save a lot of money with it. But the cool thing about it is that it's, this is the biggest rating system that it's available for buildings in the world. Wow. Is the most recognized. Label that you can get for a building to prove that they're Is there like a LEED gold and LEED silver? Yeah, there are different levels. It's actually LEED certified, which is the basic level. Then you have silver, gold and platinum. Wow. So it depends on, of how, of your performance, how many points you, you scored and then you get the rating system. Okay, cool. So it's

Bryan The Botanist:

all a meritocracy where it's how you perform, right? Instead of how much money you have. That's really cool. So Green Loop, tell us a little bit more. I know you recently opened up in in the US, but tell us about the company, like the services you offer and your role.

Esteban Martinez:

We started as a sustainable consultancy company, basically working with these rating systems. We do LEED, which is for the sustainable buildings. There are other rating systems that are, have a different focus. For instance, WELL. It's just for healthy and productive spaces for people. There are only a heavily towards people. So they, you have to excel in thermal performance, ventilation, illumination. They're looking for the perfect environment for human beings inside buildings. So that's well. How do you spell that? W E L, W E L L.

Bryan The Botanist:

Wow. Just like it sounds. So that's another classification system for people. Yeah.

Esteban Martinez:

There's another for safety. Yeah, for safety and For healthy environments, Dash as well. There's another one that is called Fitwell, which is basically the same, but it's a, it's, has a little different approach, but at the same it's the same thing. Fitwell, there are another ones like, Florida Green Building Collisions, FGBC, which is, it's a local, It's certification that it's for buildings and it's like a first step in terms of sustainability, that it's good. And it's a good fit actually for residential for instance. So it works really good. And yeah, basically those are the main drivers and we have some others that are Much more stringent like the Living Building Challenge, which means that these are buildings that are zero energy, zero water, zero waste. They're championing everything. And yeah, it's like a water

Bryan The Botanist:

collection, even. And solar. Anything you can think of that's green.

Esteban Martinez:

Yeah. They're well ahead. Yeah. And compared to the other rating systems in terms of performance and so on and so forth. So we started with that, and then we figured out, okay, we need like a department that can predict energy consumption and see how things are going to go. So that's the actual thermal behavior of buildings. That's the energy modeling team. So basically, I have a whole set of engineers with computers, these big computers that can predict, they build the models and they can predict energy consumption, thermal, ventilation, and several different things that are happening within the building and can tell you exactly what's wrong with your building. And what you can do to, oh wow. To upgrade the building. And at the same time we created another department that it's called the commissioning department, basically what they do is inspect all the mechanical and electrical and plumbing systems, HVAC boilers, domestic hot water, so on and so forth, vol tags and renewals. So they. They review the designs, then when you get the bid, during the bidding process, they make sure that you're actually buying what you were supposed to do. Because it may sound obvious, but it doesn't happen like that in the building industry. Because at the end, the developer usually don't know what they're doing. It's that, for instance, You have a developer, then they say, I want an office building. I want to perform well, and that's it. They don't know about systems, about distribution systems, and so on and so forth. The commission team is actually the technical eyes of the owner in the building. Are making sure that you're actually working with the

Bryan The Botanist:

builder.

Esteban Martinez:

Yeah, with the contractor and Supervised

Bryan The Botanist:

to make sure there's not only transparency, but accountability. Questions are answered. There's probably a lot of questions along the way. Yeah.

Esteban Martinez:

And you have to supervise the functional testings. Okay, startup, is it working properly? No, it's not working properly because you have this team of engineers that are mechanical engineers and they're specializing in this kind of thing. So they can tell you exactly what's wrong with this system, why it's not working properly and what you have to do to actually make it work properly. Okay. So that's a commission team. And after that, so we have the project management team, the energy modeling team, and the commission team. So with that, we built a basically a sustainable consultancy company that is focusing on buildings, but at the same time we started a company that is not a company a, That's the department that is looking on the ESG and the corporate sustainability. Okay. So about commercial

Bryan The Botanist:

real

Esteban Martinez:

estate more than residential or? Not, but not precisely that, but for any type of company. So if they want to disclose how they're doing in environmental, social, yeah, ESG metrics. We can do that as well. Greenhouse gas accounting and some other metrics, we can build them for them as well. So yeah, basically we have a whole portfolio of things surrounding sustainability, not only in buildings, now we're doing urbanism, so we're doing master plans, working with cities to improve their sustainability. Basically that's it, that's what we're doing. Sure, like tree cities. Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

They save a lot of energy. Yeah.

Esteban Martinez:

They do. Versus cities that don't have

Bryan The Botanist:

trees. Yeah. So it's very interesting. A lot of people may, might not think about that every day, but it's the windows in your house, but it's also the shade. It's also the absorption of the heat and how you can save the energy, right? You don't want to lose that energy.

Esteban Martinez:

That's precisely what the energy modeling team is doing. And there's one thing that we have seen that usually We see that it's lacking in the buildings that we see out there is that Usually the people don't rely on passive strategies like solar shading devices and okay just picking the right color, sure that saves energy Yeah And sometimes people disregard that and they don't know why they're consuming more and sure a lot of you see that

Bryan The Botanist:

in deserts You see it in the jungle different types of colors and materials and shapes and just everything. For different environments. And the crazy thing about the northern U. S. where it's very cold

Esteban Martinez:

to Miami where

Bryan The Botanist:

it's very hot.

Esteban Martinez:

Yeah. And the crazy thing about sustainability is not actually, we're not trying to create new things. Actually, we're looking at the past to see how the native habitants were doing it. Okay. And we're trying to replicate that. With new technology, new materials and not, under the same circumstances that we're living now, but using that old technology. Knowledge from other cultures. Yeah. It's crazy. For instance, eh, last week I was in, in my, actually in my, it's my grandmother's eh, town. She grew up there. It's in the northern part of Columbia. And I saw this house that was probably from the 1800s or something. And the technology, I'm calling technology because, but they knew how to work with this climate because it was so hot and humid. And they, so the house is built out of wood, just wood. They don't have any insulation. They don't have any HVAC systems, they didn't have anything, and it's perfectly

Bryan The Botanist:

comfortable. It modulates the heat, because it could be how they place it, the directional east facing, south facing, you get more sunlight at south facing,

Esteban Martinez:

obviously. These big overhangs. they can draw air all day and all night. They have these small vents throughout. surrounding the whole building that allows the air to pass through so that you don't accumulate heat. It's so comfortable. Wow. I was blown away to see, okay, these people in the 18 hundreds, wow. They knew how to deal with these extreme climates. And they don't rely on mechanical means whatsoever, so yeah, we have to learn a lot from the people that used to use that.

Bryan The Botanist:

It's looking at history and culture to get ideas. So tell us a little bit about your clients, because I know you guys have won some awards.

Esteban Martinez:

Yeah we have been in business for 15 years. Wow. And so we, yeah, we started as a Colombian company, but probably six or seven years ago, we started growing our business because for some reason the word spread out and they started saying, Hey, these guys are, they're doing the things the right way. So we started. We landed our first project in Ecuador, then Panama, then Costa Rica, then Dominican Republic, and afterwards, back in 2016 some US based companies started looking at us and say, Hey. We need you guys to support our projects because we don't have an energy modeling team. So please do us the energy model or sometimes they were doing. Hey, listen, we don't know how we could approach these designs and optimize them from the HVAC perspective. so much for joining us today, and we hope to see you in the next one. Bye. Bye. Bye. intended to support other companies that were doing what we were doing in Colombia here in the US. And it was crazy for us to find out that actually that knowledge that we have been working on and creating throughout these years was it was a good fit for the U. S. market. So that, that, that was crazy. And yeah, after that, we started landing these really nice clients. For instance, we started working with Google, Apple corporations. Seeing how important

Bryan The Botanist:

this is. Not just environmentalists.

Esteban Martinez:

No. Big companies that are starting working. So we have, four or five projects with Google, two projects with Apple, with Microsoft, two other projects and so on and so forth. So these big companies started working with us and helping to support them because they wanted their offices, their headquarters in Colombia. They wanted to be a green building and sustainable and be LEED certified and so on and so forth. So yeah, the word started spreading and we found out that a few of these clients have really good knowledge about sustainability and they know what they're looking for. They know what they want in their materials, about the healthy for their employees. Bamboo, or hemp, or

Bryan The Botanist:

recycled materials, obviously.

Esteban Martinez:

Obviously. Do you use a lot

Bryan The Botanist:

of recycled materials?

Esteban Martinez:

Yeah, that's part of what we do. Actually, we support the architects to say, hey, listen, don't do this. You can do this with recycled materials or local materials. Timber

Bryan The Botanist:

that's been salvaged. Yeah, for instance. I know they do that in Wisconsin. They take barns that are no longer being used and they use the barn wood for a new home. That might be and that,

Esteban Martinez:

that wood is perfectly good. So

Bryan The Botanist:

you

Esteban Martinez:

can reuse it. And yeah. But they have ideas is what you're saying, they tell you what they want and then you give them some advice too? Yeah, and sometimes they let us work alongside so they say, hey, why don't we do a workshop around this and you can bring some ideas. Okay. So basically Involve

Bryan The Botanist:

students basically or involve Is it involving students or is it more of the professional level?

Esteban Martinez:

More on the professional level. However, we have done it with universities because they like to learn this. Hey, why don't you set up like this, I don't know, four week course with students about this and bounce ideas and create teams and reflect and think about new materials and new opportunities. At the end, that's what we do. We actually help them to do that. Shake their heads a little bit, so to speak, and see the picture in some other way. Figure out the vision. Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

Get their vision to match the vision of what Green Loop can offer with their vision. Because they have a vision, probably, of what they want their building or their company to look like.

Esteban Martinez:

Yeah, and sometimes they are only looking for ideas because sometimes they want sustainability but they don't know where to start. Okay. And for instance, we don't sell anything. We just sold knowledge and that's it. So when they say, hey listen, I want a a recycled flooring system. Okay, I know these three, four companies that do it. Why don't you get in touch with them? By the way, I know this and this company and we have used them in these projects and they're working perfectly. I can hook you up with these developers and they can tell you how is it doing this much better. You have a directory

Bryan The Botanist:

of trust and resources and partners that are working with you.

Esteban Martinez:

After 15 years, you get to know the entire industry, so you know who's doing the right things, who you can support, and sometimes who you might not support, because sometimes they're not doing it right. Shaky reputations. Yeah. So yeah, basically that's what we do. So we support that and we provide knowledge and that's it. So

Bryan The Botanist:

you're U. S.? Do you have your main office for the U. S. in Aventura, I understand, in Miami? Yeah for those that don't know, Aventura is like the northern part of Miami, right on the border of Broward County. North of downtown Miami by about, what, 20 minutes,

Esteban Martinez:

25 minutes. So you're

Bryan The Botanist:

in Aventura?

Esteban Martinez:

Yeah, we're in Aventura right now. And, yeah, we're basically starting to grow in these, because, Obviously, we started as a company that was supporting other companies outside the state of Florida, but we have seen a huge increase in companies looking Florida as their home office. Since the pandemic, some offices have moved to Florida because of the nice weather and so on and so forth. And we know economically wise, Florida, it's booming, it's like they're 15 minutes of fame. We know, because probably 10 years ago, probably you could do a little bit about sustainability on the residential market in Florida and that was it. How much? A little bit. A tiny little bit. Yeah, a tiny little

Bryan The Botanist:

bit. Less than a percent.

Esteban Martinez:

Yeah. Only on the residential market, and that was it. Nowadays, we know they're doing commercial, educational, healthcare, because things are happening in Florida. Yeah, we started the business here just for, it was basically, again, another fluke. But we started thinking, you know what, the Florida market is looking really good. Why don't we start looking for it? And that's why we decided to, okay, let's open our office and let's start bringing and delivering this knowledge that it's it's in need. in Florida. So that's why we're here.

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah. It's friendly to businesses like Green Loop. And also there's a big community of Colombians and other Hispanic people in South Florida. That is that part of the reason? Or was it more just the favorable? Business, environment.

Esteban Martinez:

It's more about the favorable environment, but nevertheless, yeah, we do have you can see them for you. It's also

Bryan The Botanist:

closer to fly from Columbia to Miami than to Portland or somewhere in New York City. It's

Esteban Martinez:

cheaper, it's the cheapest one to get to the US. It's a three hour flight, so it's basically, I was flying at 7 a. m. and I was here at noon, so yeah, you can figure out, it works really good, and the other thing, you cannot disregard the Latin American background that South Florida, especially South Florida, has, because when you get to meetings and so on and so forth, yeah it's so easy to connect because you have This cultural bind that connects us, so it helps, it definitely helps. It was not the main driver, but nevertheless, it's the capital of the U.

Bryan The Botanist:

S. for, For Latin America. Yeah. I believe.

Esteban Martinez:

Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

There's a lot of industry based here that operates throughout. So tell us about what drew you to Sneaker Impact. I know we met Barbara, one of your colleagues at a Chamber of Commerce event, but and you got to get a tour today from our, Founder of Moe, and you get to see our new floors that are made out of recycled shoes and how we create a second life and economic opportunities with the shoes, rather than going in the landfill or just grinding them. We're actually helping to prevent them from needing to get made a new shoe because like we were talking about with timber, like what have you learned about Sneaker Impact that caught your interest today?

Esteban Martinez:

To be honest. It's the same thing. It's so impressive how close we are in terms of sneakers and buildings, because at the end, we only do a small amount of new construction per year worldwide. There's only a small portion of new construction that is happening worldwide. Most of the building stock is already done. 95 percent of the buildings are already done.

Bryan The Botanist:

And

Esteban Martinez:

they're going to be there for the next 50, 60, 70 years. And we have to figure out how we can up cycle and recycle those buildings. Because we cannot deconstruct, create waste, and then build a new building. It doesn't make any sense. Not even Tremendous amount

Bryan The Botanist:

of

Esteban Martinez:

energy would be spent doing that.

Bryan The Botanist:

It's

Esteban Martinez:

crazy. And people are

Bryan The Botanist:

doing that. Sure.

Esteban Martinez:

Oh

Bryan The Botanist:

yeah,

Esteban Martinez:

rich people. Oh, destroy that

Bryan The Botanist:

house

Esteban Martinez:

and just build

Bryan The Botanist:

my

Esteban Martinez:

mega mansion. I don't mind. I don't mind. Yeah. And it doesn't make any sense. And they're paying a lot of money to do that. Yeah. Yeah. So at the end, we're so close because we have so much work to do as you guys are doing with the sneakers. We have to do it with buildings. It's a big problem to solve. Yeah, it is. It is. And you have to figure out. How we can reduce waste that's produced when you're actually turn, deconstructing these buildings. And sometimes, eh, you have to start thinking about to, how you can deconstruct buildings because, eh, you can demolish, yeah? So you can bring this big machinery and you can tear everything apart and then you have the small pieces, sometimes are usable, sometimes they're not. What about if we start thinking about buildings in a way that we can deconstruct, you can deconstruct things and, Take things that are usable and use it somewhere else, as we were talking about with the wood, for instance. That was something that you could use, you could do in the past. Nowadays, the buildings are so complicated. Again, in the facade, in the building envelope, and these materials that we're doing are so technically Why is that? It's so hard to deconstruct that we don't know what we're going to do with it. So we have to figure out. We have to think the same way that you guys are thinking about sneakers. We have to think about building.

Bryan The Botanist:

There's different parts of the shoe. There's different. Yeah, modern sneakers are a lot more complicated than what we're used to. Leather ones from the 80 years ago.

Esteban Martinez:

It's the same thing. Yeah. It's exactly the same

Bryan The Botanist:

thing.

Esteban Martinez:

So you have to figure out, so wow. That's so cool that we're so close. Yeah. And in terms of synergies and partnership opportunities too, some of these sneakers can go into buildings. Definitely. Definitely. I just saw your flooring systems and definitely can go within a building. And so at the end. It's all about looking for opportunities to close the loop. Okay. And recycle and upcycle and bring back to life these whole buildings that probably you don't see the value in it, but nevertheless, they do. So at the end we think we have a common way to see things. That are the main driver for us at the same time,

Bryan The Botanist:

that's really cool. You mentioned Google, apple. Who are some of the other brands and organizations you've partnered with over the years and what have you learned from these collaborations?

Esteban Martinez:

Okay. Probably from these big companies we have worked also with hotel Brands Hilton. Okay. Four Seasons. Sure. And I don't remember the other ones, but nevertheless, these big companies usually have a good knowledge of sustainability. I don't know if they're doing it. And on purpose of the they only have about in the news, maybe

Bryan The Botanist:

Oh, you can get wind energy or you can get solar energy from FPL, Florida power. Yeah. Or you could use you can compost, or there's Green Star. In the U. S. we're making a green star, appliances and, the windows are gonna, better windows are gonna keep the air, the heat from the A. C. in the U. S., in the, in Miami from going out, but what have you learned mainly from these collaborations with these bigger companies? Yeah,

Esteban Martinez:

what I was about to tell you is that these big companies usually have these manuals about sustainability. Oh, wow. Yeah, they have figured out that. Some of these companies are actually asking you to do manuals. The right things, which is, it's really good to see. Sometimes they say, hey, listen, I want this and this. Can you give us an example of something a client has? For instance, Google has this own platform, internal platform about materials. It's only about materials and they have done, A tremendous work, years and years of building this database of materials that you can only use on Google facilities. So they have, and they have figured out if those are, if they have harmful materials, they're not allowed to it. to use it within the

Bryan The Botanist:

Is that from studying the buildings they made and the materials they use, or is it from like research that's been done around the world? From the research. From the research.

Esteban Martinez:

And talking with manufacturers and saying, Hey, what's in it? And they disclose what's in it. And they say, Hey, listen, you can be within a Google facility. So they have done a tremendous work. Only for them because it's not an open public database, but nevertheless, they are working, they're pushing their manufacturers and their suppliers. That's good to hear. They're good. They're one of the

Bryan The Botanist:

biggest companies in the world. Yeah. Magnificent seven. And you named a couple, Apple, Google. Yeah. There's Meta. There's a couple others. Microsoft as well. Microsoft, Tesla. Tesla's leading the way too. Yeah. And energy efficiency.

Esteban Martinez:

So these guys are doing their homework, which is really good. Yeah. And sometimes you, you get some knowledge that you can spread it to some other companies that they don't know what they're doing in terms of, it's not that they're, they don't care. It's just, they don't know where to start. They don't have the level of Google. And they don't have the resources because there's a lot of economical resources going to research and development. So at the end you get this knowledge and you can spread it to other companies that don't have the same capacity to level up and be, Hey, listen, this is what Google is doing. What about you guys? Are you guys doing something similar to it? And sometimes they say, Hey, I might be interested. Why don't we do that? And it's not only in the material side, it's also on the mechanical side, about lightings, about HVAC systems, about heating, about noise suppression, about thermal comfort, ventilation, safety, these kind of things. They're worried, truly worried about it, so you get to learn what they're worried about and you can help them spread to other clients about what they're doing. And to see if they want to approach.

Bryan The Botanist:

Have you noticed a big acceleration in the knowledge base in the last 10 years, especially with AI in the last couple of years, have you noticed cause I think the green revolution has really taken off in the last 20 years, but in the last, I've been in environmental, I got a degree in environmental sciences from the university of Wisconsin, like 2002. And back then I was like an outlier. There weren't a lot of people, like I was a little bit of an outsider. Most people weren't thinking about that in the, late nineties, but now it's just on the forefront of everyone's mind. And it's possibly because the earth needs this. And also people are getting smarter and they, everyone wants to save money, but have you noticed a big acceleration? How has AI helped?

Esteban Martinez:

Definitely. It has accelerated. Yeah. And I think it's the fact that people one way or the other have seen the impact of climate change. One way or the other, especially in Florida, the floodings, we have bigger hurricanes, over and over and over, and you know that we're in danger, because of climate change. And one way or the other, people have been touched with this climate change, that it's happening and it's happening. We can no longer disregard that. We can no longer say, Hey, it's not happening. It's definitely happening and we have to do something about it. So I think that's part of the reason why people are starting to push forward their sustainability and they, obviously the new generations. Come with a different chip.

Bryan The Botanist:

So they're getting smarter.

Esteban Martinez:

Yeah, definitely. They're getting smarter. And for instance, my little girl, she's four years old. And two weeks ago, she approached me and and she said, Daddy, did you know that the Earth is sick? And I said, what do you mean? Yeah, and my teacher told me that the Earth is sick because we're doing things wrong as a humanity and we have to do something about it. And she's only four years old. So then again, you think, okay what she's going to be thinking about in just 10, 15 years when she gets to college. Definitely, they have an advantage, they know what they're talking about, and obviously, they're pushing. They

Bryan The Botanist:

also look for brands and to support and buy things that are environmental. I think that was a stat. 70 percent care about the purchases they make, that sustainability is at the forefront of the whole thing. That they don't just want fast fashion anymore. They want to support, fair labor. For Yeah. Fair treatment of everyone from animals to people. And I think that's really cool.

Esteban Martinez:

And actually I saw a study. It's probably the same study. It was 78 percent of the people that are buying consumer goods and so on and so forth, they prefer, Whoever is doing something about sustainability, so it's just in the mouth of everyone.

Bryan The Botanist:

Yeah, I think another stat, like over 90 percent of Americans want to recycle, like 92 to 94 percent. Everyone wants to recycle, but you have to make it easy. And you have to make it, just make sense, to them, like, how do they do it easily because they're busy.

Esteban Martinez:

It makes sense. So that's why I think it, it has accelerated, definitely

Bryan The Botanist:

has accelerated. And the media has probably also helped a little bit with just education. Everyone thinks of the media as bad, but actually the media is good too, like it's important. They're watching what's going on too. I wish they'd

Esteban Martinez:

talk a little bit more about this. To be honest with you, for instance, when this huge cup happening, are happening in 2016. And so it was in Glasgow. It was a huge cup. They were talking about a climate change, how we were gonna face the next five years. The Paris accord? Yeah. The Paris accord that happened in 2015. That was the COP 21. Okay. The 26th happening in Glasgow. To get all the countries to come together. Yeah. They

Bryan The Botanist:

have to. What we've done to the earth. Yeah,

Esteban Martinez:

they have to get together every five years With these big cops to talk about what they have been doing and what can we do to? To stop the climate change. So in 20, in 2021 actually the COP26 happened. So and sadly, they I To my, as my opinion, we should have heard more about what was happening there, because it was a huge thing. Yeah, we didn't hear a lot.

Bryan The Botanist:

I did hear the US backed out, which is sad.

Esteban Martinez:

Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist:

Because, and it doesn't matter who the president is, I think it's just sometimes corporate interest. That, they don't, it's like we produce so much emissions in the U. S. and we consume so much, like one thing, and I've been advised not to make it seem like, we're worse or better than anyone else, not by my boss, but more just about just people who are like, Bryan, don't make it like that. We're perfect. But the U. S. is less than 5 percent of the world. So we're like 4. 5 percent of the world's population, but we consume about 25 percent of global resources and the amount of greenhouse gases we create is probably like 50 percent or 30 other countries too have some issues, with, Like whether it's China or whether it's Guatemala or whether it's Columbia, or Russia, there, it's a very complex world we live in with geopolitical, so I think it's, and ESG has become like a trigger word almost a little bit, unfortunately, and it shouldn't be. It's a sustainability, it's not a political issue. It should be a humanitarian issue, we're going to have some serious problems in even 50 years if we don't start.

Esteban Martinez:

And I think it's going to be, it's going to happen in a shorter time, timeframe.

Bryan The Botanist:

What have been some of the biggest challenges you think you've had to overcome and, with Green Loop, like as a business and just in general, like what is like maybe the biggest or

Esteban Martinez:

Probably the biggest challenge, which is probably our biggest strength at the same time, was the fact that when we started back in 2009, We started talking about LEED rating system and U. S. rating system in Latin America. And to give you some more perspective, back in Colombia, for instance, where we started, we don't have any type of energy codes whatsoever. There are no energy codes. So you have to figure out, okay, I have this energy code that is required. to comply with LEED, but at the same time I have these buildings that have no energy code whatsoever. They have no requirements in terms of energy performance. So how we can make this building, this Colombian building I mean comply with this rate this energy code that they're imposed by the rating system. For a country that doesn't have the same realities, the same climates, and the same conditions. We had to figure out how we can understand what the building is actually, what is happening with the, again, with the envelope, with the systems, what are they stressed about, and tackle those systems to make it as efficient as possible to comply with the Synergy Code. Okay, so we had to basically learn the ropes of how we can actually diagnose a building. And pinpoint exactly what it needs to be done to actually be energy efficient. And that's the kind of knowledge that has really helped us. Brought up the, it has elevated us as knowledgeable people because sometimes in here in the US, and I don't mean to say that you don't have people because I know you have tremendous people that know what they're doing, but at the same time, you have the energy code. So sometimes the architects only work by code and they're doing what the code is, it's asking for and they don't ask questions. They don't think if they're not critical thinkers, they're not critical thinkers. I'm not saying it's wrong, it's just it's They're following the law. Yeah. They're following the law. That's exactly what The regulations

Bryan The Botanist:

and the code. And that's different in every country.

Esteban Martinez:

And I There's a learning

Bryan The Botanist:

curve to

Esteban Martinez:

operating in different countries. And I totally get it because at the end they have to comply with the law. So you, so this is the code, I'm gonna, I'm gonna combine with it, that's it. But then again in Columbus, since you don't have those codes, you're free to operate and figure out, and that kind of things, that was probably the biggest challenge at the, at first, it became our biggest strength, because nowadays we know how we can diagnose a building, and pinpoint exactly what needs to be done. to push a little bit forward on energy, on water, on whatever it needs to be done.

Bryan The Botanist:

Wow. So mastering the diagnostic angle was the initial challenge.

Esteban Martinez:

And be proficient in what we call building science. Because at the end, yeah, at the end, understanding how a building behaves. It's a science, it's about energy flows, it's about dynamics, hydraulics air moving, so you have to know about thermodynamics and these kind of things that are really hard to learn and understand how everything fits out within a building. It's like interdisciplinary science. Yeah,

Bryan The Botanist:

it is. You're combining a lot of different. It is. Landscape, architecture, urbanism. That's so cool. Yeah. And and the recycling industry. What is your personal mentality as a community LEEDer and as someone who serves yourself? It

Esteban Martinez:

has changed throughout the years, but probably where I'm standing right now is that And I think we have we have a commitment and we have to serve the people. We have to do, one way or the other, we have to figure out how people can be more, more conscious about what's happening and how they can help out. And I see it, for instance, with the people, with my team, the team that I have at Greenland, we, by the way, we're 43 engineers in our office. So we have a good strong team in, in, yeah, you're operating in multiple countries.

Bryan The Botanist:

Like you said, Costa Rica, all these cool places that are.

Esteban Martinez:

So I have my team and I see myself or I see Green Lopez and myself as a LEEDer, as a platform to improve and upgrade the people knowledge and the people sensitivity towards sustainability. And if I can make them better people with better choices and yeah, at the end that they're doing the right thing. And if they're doing the right thing, we're doing the right thing and we all are doing the right thing. So at the end, I see myself as someone who likes people to, to see them grow on the sustainable matters. Personal growth. Yeah. Personal and professional. And if they grow I consider myself that I'm growing at the same time. So it has changed over the years, but that's where I'm signing right now. That's what

Bryan The Botanist:

a LEEDer should

Esteban Martinez:

be

Bryan The Botanist:

doing is helping to grow. Help their community grow. What are your future goals for Green Loop, Esteban?

Esteban Martinez:

I don't have a specific goal. I don't think Diego has one either. It's a boilerplate question, but yeah. No but nevertheless, I, if you ask me. You'll see yourselves in five years. Yeah, if you ask me, I want to have a My mind at peace. What I mean is that I want to feel that I did my part. I did whatever it was within my reach, within my knowledge to spread the word and put this little signature impact. Yeah. A small impact. In those buildings that I have touched, throughout these 15 years, we have touched over 700 buildings. It's over 70 million square feet that we have consulted and we have done something about sustainability. I know for a fact that I might be impacting 0. 001 percent of the entire world. Greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, but nevertheless, I, at least I feel I'm

Bryan The Botanist:

doing something. You're one person, one company, but it's also a example for the industry and it's growing. There's probably, in Columbia there's, it's growing more in the last 10 years, but in the U S it's. Growing fast in Europe. It's already probably big deal there, for many years to the construction of homes. Before we close out, I want to learn a little bit more about you as well as a man. So you have some, you have a couple of children.

Esteban Martinez:

Yeah, I have one, one small. And you were born in Bogota. I was born in Bogota.

Bryan The Botanist:

Okay. And I went there in the last year. We talked about that before. So I love Bogota. And what do you notice what do you like about Miami and is there anything you really like to do here? What are your favorite things to do when you visit?

Esteban Martinez:

It's been a long time since the last time I was here, on vacation. Okay. It's been mostly about work. But nevertheless, I truly enjoy South Florida especially. I like the people, I like the places, I like the way it feels. It feels so, again, I think it's because of this cultural background that we're tied together. Because at the end, even though, it's a big city, it's hugely developed Bogota's

Bryan The Botanist:

21 million.

Esteban Martinez:

Yeah, it is. We're like three. Yeah, but at the end, it feels Almost the same. Okay. In one way or the other. Yeah, I know. I see it's a big metropolitan area. Yeah, it is. It is Fort Lauderdale, Miami. Yeah, it is. Yeah. So at the end it feels like home. Okay. So I truly enjoy it and I enjoy the weather. Obviously nevertheless I'm, you have been in Bogota, so you know, we have a temper, it's a little cooler, 9,

Bryan The Botanist:

000 feet, yeah, 9, 000 feet, we're at zero, yeah but at the end, seven, zero to seven, right? I think it's, yeah, it's seven feet of elevation change in South Florida. I don't know, there's more than that on a bridge or a hill, but like man made hill, but like the Everglades was naturally like a seven foot or something. It's almost nothing. But yeah, Bogota is a little different. I love the food. I love the people of Columbia and I'm going back in January, so I'm looking forward to hanging out and checking out Green Loop down in Bogota.

Esteban Martinez:

Definitely. Please make sure to reach out to me and I'll give you a quick tour. How

Bryan The Botanist:

do people connect with you and learn more?

Esteban Martinez:

They can reach out to us through our web page, www. green loop. com and through me LinkedIn probably is the best way. Are you guys on

Bryan The Botanist:

social media?

Esteban Martinez:

Yeah, LinkedIn for me, in Martinez, you can look for me, Esteban Martinez. Esteban Martinez, we'll

Bryan The Botanist:

look you up because I don't think we're friends yet. Yeah, on social media, but we're friends because, yeah. And do you showcase what you're doing on like Instagram or Facebook or Twitter? Actually, we

Esteban Martinez:

used to be, it's not that we're shy. No. It's that we thought that, no, we felt that we were like bragging about it. Oh, okay. So we were. Don't be humble. Yeah. We were that. But nevertheless, we figured out actually I met this, I think he's the vice president of Sloan, this big manufacturer of I've heard of Sloan, yep. Yeah. And he told me one thing that is stuck in my mind, and he said if you have it, you brag about it, right? And I said he's right. It's not that we're doing something wrong. Actually, we're doing something quite good. You can brag the right way. And you can educate through social media. That's what I meant. You can brag the right way and at the same time educate. We're starting with that and definitely reach out through, I know we're going to have an Instagram in a US Green Loop, Instagram account. I

Bryan The Botanist:

follow your

Esteban Martinez:

Instagram, yeah. We're going to be, we're going to focus solely on educational and these kind of things. So people know more about the technical side behind a sustainable building. Yeah. Like I see a lot of YouTube

Bryan The Botanist:

shorts where they show you science and they show you things about the ocean or about construction or, stuff you can do in your home, like gardening and just things that, improve your life. So I think it could be a really cool thing for a short, on YouTube of this is the dissection of a home. Oh, this is how we tell if it's efficient or not.

Esteban Martinez:

Yeah. Yeah. I think it can be for good purposes. That definitely. We're going to, we're going to start seeing some type of.

Bryan The Botanist:

This has been a really interesting conversation because we don't get to talk to an architect, an engineer very often here. I talked to a lot of sneaker heads, which I love my sneaker heads. I love my runners. We talked to a lot of runners, a running company, and we have artists, we have, We have we're really into recycling. It sounds like there's some collaboration opportunities between the two companies. So I'm really excited about what the future holds and we'll definitely have you and your colleagues on again. And in the meantime what inspiring message would you like to share with our audience before you leave?

Esteban Martinez:

I think probably one of the biggest message that we could leave here is that it doesn't matter if you think you're not or if you see, for instance, that your country is not doing enough. If each one of us start doing the right thing. Perhaps we can change something. We don't need the countries or the governments to start asking us. We should start doing that by ourselves, and that's the only way we're going to achieve true changes and achieve and revert this climate change and yeah, this crisis. Small

Bryan The Botanist:

actions can make a big difference too, right? That's why we say Sneaker Impact is thousands of, millions of small actions make a huge impact. I think that's it. Americans sending us their shoes five at a time. When we talked about earlier that there's 3 billion shoes brought into the U S every year to sell but 87 percent of them don't get recycled. There's something like if it's a snowball effect too. And I think. What you're saying too, is that you don't have to be perfect right away. Just get started and you're going to learn along the way. You guys have learned a ton, I'm sure. And since you started in 2009, in your master's and your certifications, and now look at 15 years later, it's pretty awesome, I think, to think about how far you've probably come as a company and yet there's so much further to go, but if you would have worried in the first day about being perfect, you wouldn't have gotten started. So it's never about being perfect. It's about growing, right?

Esteban Martinez:

And there's one thing that actually some of the people within our team says to me and Diego, my, my business associate is that definitely we're we are not afraid about looking new alternatives or new opportunities. Yeah. And it doesn't matter if we don't actually have figured everything out, just do it. Test it out. Yeah. During the, you have enough time to, to actually start learning the ropes and you won't be perfect the first time, but definitely the second or the third time you'll be better and better and better. And that's the only way to start doing some changes.

Bryan The Botanist:

Very cool. I love it. I love your attitude. I love the services you offer. I'm excited to share Green Loop with with the world and we're going to be, this episode will be out soon on YouTube. Thank you so much Esteban for your time. Thank you, Bryan. Pleasure to meet you. Alright, keep up the great work at Green Loop. Okay, we'll see you again soon. Thank you.

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Bryan “The Botanist” Huberty

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