The Ron Swanson’s and Tom Haverford’s of Green Buildings

Here’s hoping that the team from Parks and Recreation will do a Greenbuildings-themed spin-off. I’m putting the idea out there today on the chance it will catch the eye of the show’s creators and sponsors in time for Greenbuild 2015 in Washington DC this week. That would be a great place to put out a casting call. There they’ll find many ernest, enthusiastic problem-solvers like Amy Poehler’s Leslie Knope, as well as fast-talking, idea-spewing Tom Haverford‘s and men and women of few words and many talents like Ron Swanson.

It’s a huge generalization, (but I’ll say it anyway) the Internet of Things era has brought many entrepreneurial Tom Haverfords into the buildings industries, and Ron Swansons are well represented in traditional commercial building design, construction, operations and maintenance. The combination makes for great comedy and, actually, spurs innovation too. Having both types of people in one industry is propelling us into the future as they work together toward a digital strategy for keeping buildings running at top energy and comfort performance. The Tom’s and Ron’s balance each other out on topics like the meaning of work, the seeking of fame, the value of social media, Here’s what I mean: