PART 2: Dashboards of Regeneration
What a building owner sees when their façade is alive
Imagine opening an app and seeing: "Your living wall captured 2,400 liters of stormwater this month, hosted 12 pollinator species, and saved $847 in cooling costs." That's not science fiction, it's the dashboard regenerative buildings deserve. Let's design it.
Insight of the Week: Making the Invisible Visible
Last week we introduced metrics beyond kWh and CO₂. But metrics without visualization are just numbers in a spreadsheet. The real unlock? Dashboards that tell the story of a living building.
Here's a concept mock-up of what a regenerative building dashboard could display:
🌡️ COMFORT ZONE
Thermal comfort score: 87% (↑ 4% from last month)
Hours in optimal range: 1,847 / 2,160
Alert: Zone 3B trending warm — consider irrigation adjustment
🦋 BIODIVERSITY TRACKER
Species detected this month: 23 (8 birds, 11 insects, 4 other)
Pollinator visits logged: 1,247
New arrival: House martin nesting confirmed (Level 4)
💧 WATER SYSTEMS
Stormwater captured: 12,400 L
Runoff avoided: 94%
Irrigation water saved vs. baseline: 3,200 L
💰 VALUE GENERATED
Cooling energy avoided: $1,240
Stormwater fee credits: $380
Estimated asset value uplift: +2.1% (green premium)
Why this matters: Building owners don't manage what they can't see. When regenerative performance becomes as visible as energy bills, it becomes manageable—and valuable. This is how we shift from "nice to have" green features to "core business intelligence."
The key insight: Alerts and avoided costs speak the language of facility managers. Biodiversity counts and comfort scores speak to tenants and ESG teams.
A good dashboard serves both.
Regeneration Thought
"Sustainability is about doing less harm. Regeneration is about doing more good." Is Your Business Healing the Planet or Just Hurting It Less?
A regenerative dashboard embodies this shift. Traditional building management systems (BMS) are designed around preventing problems—equipment failures, energy waste, and complaints. A regenerative dashboard celebrates positive contributions—life hosted, water cleaned, comfort created.
The three pillars in action:
Stewardship — Real-time visibility creates accountability
Partnership — Data shared with tenants builds community around building performance
Long-term vitality — Trend lines show compounding benefits over years
Tech Toolbox: Building Your Regenerative Dashboard
Low-code options to get started:
Grafana (open-source) — Connect IoT sensors, create custom visualizations, set alerts
Microsoft Power BI — If your organization already uses Microsoft, this integrates well with existing data
Notion + Zapier — For smaller projects, a simple database that auto-updates from sensor feeds
Pro tip: Start with 3-5 metrics maximum. A cluttered dashboard is an ignored dashboard. Add complexity only as stakeholders ask for it.
Actionable Tips
Sketch your dream dashboard — Before touching software, draw what you'd want to see every morning. What would make you proud? What would trigger action?
Identify one "hero metric" — The single number that best captures your building's regenerative contribution. Make it prominent.
Share a monthly "building health report" with tenants — Even a simple email with 3 stats builds engagement and justifies green investments.
Resource Spotlight
Grafana Open Source — Free, powerful dashboarding for IoT data. Grafana
"The Economics of Enough" — Why making regenerative value visible changes behavior. The Regenerative Brief
Closing CTA
We showed you a concept, now show us yours. What would YOUR regenerative dashboard display?
Reply with a screenshot, sketch, or just a list of metrics. The best ideas get featured in Part 3.
Stay regenerative!
Let Us Help You Lead the Shift
Whether you're in strategy, ESG reporting, operations or innovation—
This is your moment to shape not just a better business, but a better future.
Curious where regeneration fits into your model?
Let’s explore the possibilities together.
This isn't about saving trees.
This is about saving the conditions that make business possible.
This is regeneration.
