ENR 2024 Top 25 Newsmakers
Tommy Linstroth: Accelerating Environmentally Responsible Construction with Technology that Automates and Reports Metrics
Linstroth wanted to find a way to reduce the laboriousness of trying to track sustainable practices in design and construction, including eliminating the need for endless spreadsheets.
Photo courtesy of Green Badger
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While studying at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, Tommy Linstroth began noticing that the forests he had played in growing up in were disappearing, overtaken by urban sprawl. That realization sparked a lifelong interest in sustainability. And that led to a career with Melaver Inc., a sustainability focused, family-owned real estate developer in Savannah, Ga.—back in the early 2000s when LEED was in its infancy.
The real estate experience “gave me a great insight into strategies to design and build [sustainable structures] that work in the long term, not just look good on paper,” says the founder and CEO of Green Badger. Melaver built the first LEED-certified shopping center and McDonald’s restaurant in the country, plus affordable housing and historical preservation projects.
In 2010, Linstroth launched a consulting business, Trident Sustainability Group. But as he helped companies strive for LEED compliance, he found that “my eyes were popping out of my head, staring at the lines of Excel spreadsheets. I thought, there has to be a better way to do this.”
After researching and not finding one, Linstroth decided to make a better way. In 2013, he founded Green Badger, a software-as-a-service platform that equips the built industry with affordable technology and knowledge to automate and easily report LEED compliance and environmental-social-governance (ESG) metrics. The cloud-based dashboard eliminates needing separate spreadsheets for different aspects of compliance, such as materials, air quality and other metrics.
To date, Green Badger has supported more than 2,100 projects in six countries, representing more than $40 billion worth of construction. The company provides a library of free educational resources and free webinars.
“The integration of Green Badger into our LEED submission process was more than a technological upgrade; it was a catalyst for profound operational efficiency and strategic clarity,” says Simran Safer, sustainability coordinator with FCA, an architectural, interior design and planning firm. “By streamlining complex calculations and ensuring precise compliance, Green Badger didn’t just make the process easier—it enhanced our ability to see the bigger picture of sustainable project management.”
Emily Moody, sustainability director with Jacobs, says the technology typically saves 30% of time spent researching LEED credits and 50% on product tracking in the design phase, and up to 75% savings in the contractor submittal review process.
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“Being able to see what the contractor is up to throughout the construction phase is a fine sanity-check tool instead of having to wait until a monthly or quarterly update meeting,” Moody notes. “By using Green Badger over the years, we’ve had numerous project teams here at Jacobs easily save hundreds of hours of labor and frustration. I personally recommend its use on all of my LEED projects.”
Lauren Richardson, Green Badger’s sustainability manager, adds: “For the past 20 years, Tommy has been dedicated to making sustainable construction easier and more efficient. His passion for innovation and environmental responsibility has helped transform the industry, turning sustainability into something practical and achievable for construction professionals.”
In addition to keeping up with LEED versions, Green Badger has extended its capacities to include reporting on embodied carbon, DBE project participation and wellness programs, among others. As for the name? “It really all came back to my roots in the Badger State,” Linstroth says. “It’s tenacious and it’s fighting for all of your sustainability goals.
