Sustainability

Putting People and Planet First

IMEG is passionate about people and engineering, but we are also passionate about the planet. With that in mind, our firm has integrated environmentally-friendly policies and practices into our organization that promote energy, water, and carbon emissions conservation, and waste reduction. We also integrate our sustainable stewardship within our design work, helping clients reduce their environmental impact and risk while maximizing value. Visit our Services section to learn more.

As a nationally recognized leader in sustainability, IMEG’s certified experts have designed hundreds of LEED and Net Zero projects and we have several that are WELL certified or seeking certification. In addition to WELL- and LEED-certified designers, IMEG has accredited experts in ASHRAE-Certified Building Energy Modeling and Building Energy Assessment. We are also a founding member of the Carbon Leadership Forum’s newly launched MEP 2040 Challenge, calling on all systems engineers to “advocate for and achieve net zero carbon in their projects: operational carbon by 2030 and embodied carbon by 2040.”

Additionally, recently we signed on to be part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Alliance, the AIA 2030 Commitment, the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Decarbonizing the U.S. Health Sector (Climate Collaborative), and joined the Structural Engineers 2050 Commitment Program to eliminate embodied carbon in our project designs. However, our commitment goes back decades as demonstrated by our many “firsts” in high-performance design.

Working to Make Every Day Earth Day

Just as sustainability is an important aspect of our design philosophy, we also strive to ensure our internal operations emphasize the importance of inclusion, openness, and science as our commitment to people and the planet grows ever stronger. On Earth Day 2018, IMEG launched an internal, corporate-wide sustainability policy to reduce our carbon footprint at all offices. As one of the largest U.S. engineering firms specializing in sustainable design, we recognized a great opportunity — and need — to expand our environmental stewardship. A year into our efforts, we are well on our way to “walking the walk” in the offices in which we design many of the country’s most energy-efficient buildings. Our staff have made great progress toward reaching our policy’s goals, finding innovative ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Our achievements so far include:

  • 300,000+ disposable cups, silverware, and plates diverted from landfills
  • 1,000+ pounds of coffee ground compost delivered to farmers
  • 50% (or higher) recycled content paper used at 50% of IMEG’s offices
  • 2,000+ meals to animal shelters funded through aluminum can donations
  • WELL Gold certification of IMEG’s Denver office