As I mentioned in my earlier “Postcards” from the show, my first trip to Greenbuild afforded a great deal of insight. First, the products. From recycled materials to apparatuses that optimize daylighting, the eco-friendly goods on display showcased efforts among manufacturers of all sizes to meet today’s need for sustainable building products.
The star-studded presentations and educational sessions, too, offered new perspectives from individuals tackling sustainable design and construction in unique ways. But Hillary Rodham Clinton and Nate Silver weren’t the only speakers to pique the crowd’s interest. Avery Bang, executive director of bridge construction nonprofit Bridges to Prosperity, discussed the work by her teams to build physical bridges connecting communities worldwide to local resources; a trio of architects and engineers shared ways that the design-build community could work with natural-disaster response crews to facilitate the preservation and eventual reuse of materials from buildings razed by storms; and USGBC gave a behind-the-scenes look at the new LEED Online portal for v4 projects as well as at its updated reference guides, which will offered in a web-based format that will update with new addenda quarterly. And in a surprise visit, Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, discussed how government-sponsored affordable housing is vying to meet new sustainability goals set by the Obama administration’s Climate Action Plan.
Though I wasn’t able to visit every manufacturer’s booth and I couldn’t attend every session, I left the show inspired, tired, and with new ideas and viewpoints to inform my prospective reporting.
Editor’s note: Ecobuildingpulse.com’s parent company, Hanley Wood, recently entered into a strategic partnership with USGBC regarding the management of Greenbuild International Conference and Expo. for more information on that relationship, click here.
