Once again, a small delegation of Telluride's green building advocates converged on the world's largest Green Building conference and Expo that happened this year in Phoenix, Arizona. After all, the town of Telluride, Mountain Village and San Miguel County governments have recently adopted Green Building codes for new construction slated to be erected any were in the vicinity of this world class ski resort. Currently, any new commercial construction in Mountain Village now needs to be built according to LEED standards. "LEED is the internationally recognized green building certification which provides third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance in energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental air quality, stewardship of natural resources and sensitivity to their impacts." So it is imperative that some of us living, building, and working towards sustainability in this region, stay abreast to the innovation of this movement.
The National Greenbuild conference takes place every year in a different US city. This year, 27,373 people attended from 78 countries featuring three days of great educational sessions, stirring speeches, inspiring networking, and an Expo hall filled with hundreds of new green products to see. It literally took me two full days to visit over 1,8000 booths touting the latest in green building materials. Of the most impressive products I found this year was a new architectural software called AutoDesk, which enables architects and designers to perform whole building analysis to optimize energy efficiency before the building is even built. There were several advances in photo voltaic technologies including solar panels as thin as a wax paper, cylindrical tubing panels that allow the sun to hit them from any, and full roof systems imbedded with solar panels that come ready to install as one unit. I was impressed with tiles made from recycled airplane metal, and roofing tiles made from recycled rubber tubing used in automobile parts and plastic from baby diapers, and countertops made from recycled glass that are now taking the place of quarried granite. I met the programmers from www.GreenKonnect.com, a new Green Building social network that connects architects, builders and contractors to discuss their opinions after using green building materials new to the industry. This year, we had to beware of a few green-washing manufacturers who were there primarily to take advantage of the economic boom in the green building industries trying to get a piece of the pie. Based on a 2009 study by the USGBC and Booz Allen Hamilton it is projected that green building will pump $554 billion into the American economy over the next four years.
The event included addresses by the Assistant to President Obama for Energy and Climate Change Carol Browner, as well as the keynote speaker, Al Gore. He was preaching to the choir but stated it quite eloquently, "We still have a climate crisis, an economic crisis and a national security crisis ... they are united by the thread of dependence on carbon-based fuel, you pull that thread and the crises unravel."
Anyone I turned to in the Convention Center shared his or her passion for their work in this field. I met with architects who are rebuilding the lower 9th Ward in New Orleans, with green affordable housing for the original tenants. Rani Guram, an architect and designer also working with EcoSpaces, attended workshops on green affordable housing and came out feeling, "That there is an overall movement to make green building affordable to all." I spoke with an engineer from the Coast Guard who was in charge of greening military bases, a mandate now from the Federal government. I discussed the topic of "socially conscious business" with companies who make this a transparent value of their overall business plan. I met a man who specialized in "Green Relief Housing" which are units that can be shipped on a pallet to any disaster or refugee site in need of housing. Sansy Franklin, EcoSpace's showroom manager, was inspired by the Cradle to Cradle manufacturers like FLOR carpet tiles, who she said, "Are being thoughtful about what more they can do (in terms of being an environmentally conscious manufacturing plant) while still putting out quality products while being cost effective." It was enlightening to be exposed to so many people dedicated to this environmental cause.
(If you are interested in taking part in next year's GreenBuild conference taking place in Chicago in November 2010, please contact EcoSpaces who will donate a free pass to attend the Expo to anyone interested in being part of this Telluride delegation for Green Building.)
