{"id":294552,"date":"2026-05-01T06:43:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T06:43:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/294552\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T06:43:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T06:43:22","slug":"berkeley-firms-turn-sustainability-into-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/294552\/","title":{"rendered":"Berkeley firms turn sustainability into reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

Green building in Berkeley has taken root, with businesses founded decades ago thriving today. Sun Light & Power has installed thousands of solar power systems in its half-century history. Arkin Tilt Architects has been designing \u2014 and building \u2014\u00a0 low-carbon straw-bale structures since the 1990s. At McCutcheon Construction, founded in 1980, a healthy building includes a myriad of features, from low-emission heating and power systems to sustainable materials.<\/p>\n

These three firms are also certified green businesses<\/a>, having followed an all-encompassing checklist provided by the Alameda County Green Business Program<\/a> to achieve statewide certification. They bring their ethos into their own offices with measures for energy efficiency, water reduction, sustainable product sourcing, and more.<\/p>\n

Sun Light & Power<\/p>\n

\"\"Claremont Hills homeowner John Dunham on his roof with the solar panel array installed by Sun Light & Power. Credit: Kelly Sullivan for Berkeleyside<\/p>\n

In 1976, recent oil shortages and long gas lines loomed over the national psyche. The environmental movement was gaining ground. And Gary Gerber, just out of UC Berkeley with an engineering degree, had a vision of starting a solar power company.<\/p>\n

To Gerber, the sun was the \u201cone source of power for the human race that made sense. It\u2019s essentially infinite.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back then, a solar power company was a complete outlier.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now in its 50th year, the company Gerber founded, Sun Light & Power<\/a> (SLP), has installed over 3,000 solar power systems<\/a> throughout the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. That includes custom-designed photovoltaic (PV), many with battery storage and solar thermal hot water heating systems.<\/p>\n

\"\"Gary Gerber and his 96 module 11.5kW AstroPower home solar array (2004-2024). Credit: Courtesy of SLP<\/p>\n

Since 2001, in Berkeley alone, the customer-forward business has served 337 homes and businesses, receiving hundreds of four- and five-star reviews online.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ecological impact of Berkeley customers is impressive:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn just their first year of operation, these PV and solar thermal systems generated about 6.5 GWh of energy and prevented the equivalent of 3,064 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere,\u201d says Seamas Brennan, IT specialist and marketing coordinator at SLP. (Based on the EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies calculator for the Berkeley zip code 94710, he estimates these installations offset burning 3.6 million pounds of coal.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a lot of progress since the 1970s, when Gerber built his very first solar project from scratch, using a getup of redwood, copper plate and copper pipes, and installed it atop his parents\u2019 house in Walnut Creek.<\/p>\n

After five decades and thousands of projects, he retired at the end of 2025.\u00a0 The West Berkeley<\/a> company then transitioned to a worker-owned model in 2018<\/a> and now has an executive council instead of a single CEO. SLP is a Certified Benefit Corporation, in addition to a Certified Green Business, which obligates them to consider the greater good beyond the bottom line.<\/p>\n

\u201cSolar is applying the most cost-effective energy in the world,\u201d says Jesse Quay, a senior project developer. \u201cSun Light & Power was born out of an energy crisis. We\u2019re now going through another war over oil.\u201d<\/p>\n

No matter the political winds, SLP stays focused on the goal to bring solar to as many households and businesses as possible. And the team loves a challenge. Devin Weaver, COO and executive council president, asserts that their motto could be \u201cno system too complex.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Weaver says, \u201cWe find creative solutions just as Gary did back in the day. We do stuff other people are unwilling to do. We want people to have solar on their roofs. We treat it like a cause.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Arkin Tilt Architects<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0Anni Tilt demonstrates resizing bales at a \u201cbale raising\u201d for an ADU in Berkeley. \u00a0Credit: Edward Caldwell<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve heard about a barn raising, but how about a straw bale raising? If you hire Arkin Tilt Architects<\/a>, you may very well be called upon to roll up your sleeves and grab a bale or two.<\/p>\n

The firm\u2019s married partners, David Arkin and Anni Tilt, have had straw bale in their design toolbox since the 1990s, with over 50 completed bale projects, including a nature center in the Sierras that just won an honor award from the AIA East Bay. Straw bales are a fire resistant<\/a>, carbon-storing option for insulation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A bale raising takes lots of hands to install. \u201cIt\u2019s a ridiculous amount of fun,\u201d says Arkin. Imagine stacking rows of \u201cfuzzy bricks\u201d as Arkin describes them, into the walls of a house, which are then covered in mesh and plaster. This makes for thick walls that hold warmth in winter and keep the interior cool in summer. In addition to being fun to assemble, it\u2019s also a practical and sustainable practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the exterior it looks like a regular building,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

In Arkin Tilt\u2019s 28 years in business, green design has been the focus \u201call along.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"David Arkin and Anni Tilt in their office created with reclaimed materials, including the table made from bowling lane. Credit: Kelly Sullivan for Berkeleyside<\/p>\n

The duo, who both graduated from UC Berkeley\u2019s College of Environmental Design, teamed up in Nov. 1997 to launch Arkin Tilt Architects \u201cat a time when environmental consciousness was on the rise.\u201d Arkin had worked with Sim Van der Ryn<\/a>, a UC Berkeley professor often called \u201cthe father of green architecture\u201d) and Tilt had worked with esteemed Berkeley architecture firm Fernau + Hartman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nearly three decades in, the pair leads an award-winning architecture firm that specializes in energy and resource efficient design and ecological planning. Says Tilt, \u201cWe work with what\u2019s there. It\u2019s always an important place to start.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, the combination of good design and green philosophy is what attracts their clients.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their design philosophy extends to their office, which they share with their engineering partners, Verdant Structural Engineers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The former Asian furniture showroom in the Gilman District<\/a> is constantly being remodeled, incorporating their green ethos.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Staff members at Arkin Tilt Architects in West Berkeley adjust the angle of their solar panels \u2014 which double as a shade \u2014 to optimize catching the sun\u2019s rays. Credit: Kelly Sullivan for Berkeleyside<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of our partitions are made from salvaged lumber,\u201d Arkin said. The gleaming wood conference table was once a piece of a bowling alley. There are salvaged windows \u2014 repurposed from Urban Ore<\/a> \u2014 in front of a roll-up garage door.<\/p>\n

Even the outdoor awnings are PV panels for both shade and power. In order to optimize the sun\u2019s rays, the awning angle is changed twice a year.<\/p>\n

Beyond their office digs and innovative designs for residential and commercial customers<\/a>, Arkin adds that he and Tilt want the next generation of architects to incorporate green practices.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The couple work to \u201cspread the word by lecturing, hosting webinars, but also trying to create examples that are also beautiful buildings.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

McCutcheon Construction<\/p>\n

\"\"From left, Gaby Rodriguez, Cynthia Pohlman, Julie Moynihan, and Gia Sims-Scott from the McCutcheon Construction team. Credit: Kelly Sullivan for Berkeleyside<\/p>\n

To understand the philosophy McCutcheon Construction Inc.<\/a> espouses on building green, it helps to start with their Berkeley office. The standalone building of the green-certified business features lots of light, a garden, and even reverse osmosis filtered water.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing green means being healthy,\u201d said President Cynthia Pohlman. \u201cAnd being healthy might incorporate something that isn\u2019t necessarily a product.\u201d For the McCutcheon team, that meant creating a stress-free office environment, encouraging work-life balance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And, yes, yoga. Twice a week, employees head out early to the neighboring Berkeley Wellness Center<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Michael McCutcheon in his early years. Courtesy of McCutcheon Construction<\/p>\n

The company was founded in 1980 by Michael McCutcheon<\/a>, a fourth-generation builder from Southern California. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a biology degree, but returned to the family trade by launching a design-build company (one that provides both architectural design and construction) that was gentle on the earth.<\/p>\n

McCutcheon\u2019s interest in transcendental meditation gave him an appreciation for traditions such as \u201cFeng Shui,\u201d the ancient Chinese art of harmoniously arranging buildings, objects and space.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2016, the founder sold his company to his employees. It now operates as a licensed GC, a worker-owned enterprise, structured under an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan).<\/p>\n

Today, the Berkeley-based firm is led by five women, a rarity in a male-dominated industry, says Pohlman, who arrived at the company in 2013 and became president in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to look at what\u2019s important to the homeowner,\u201d Pohlman said about the company\u2019s approach<\/a>. \u201cA healthy home can mean different things, such as the building materials going into the home, and what effect it will have on the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe partner with the homeowner and their design professionals, as to what systems they want in place,\u201d such as heat pumps, ventilation systems, radiant heat. \u201cThose have to be intrinsic to the design.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clients also look to McCutcheon in choosing eco-friendly products like solar panels and renewable products, such as reclaimed wood, carpet tiles, or Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood, which is sustainably harvested. Other considerations include recycled glass in countertops and avoiding household toxins by using non-VOC paint.<\/p>\n

\"\"This Piedmont residence by McCutcheon Construction includes an interior living wall. Courtesy of McCutcheon Construction<\/p>\n

Another aspect to green building: how to deal with the demolition. Pohlman says, \u201cYou don\u2019t just trash everything. Rather than throw out an old sink, if we can, we send it to a place like Omega Salvage<\/a>, Urban Ore<\/a> or Habitat for Humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the renovation, air filtration systems are put in place if the clients are living in the home to keep the interior dust free.\u00a0 Abatement is also carefully addressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we are living in an area with older homes, you could have lead paints, even asbestos tape around your duct work, and it all has to be treated properly,\u201d Pohlman says.<\/p>\n

Under Pohlman, the company has started offering a concierge-style service division called MCare, to maintain homes post-remodel, keeping the systems humming and the structure in pristine shape even a decade on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt allows their home to look just as fresh 10 years after we put it in.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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