Visit to the GreenBuild Show in San Francisco
20 Nov 2012 |
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By Gary Hedden, Volunteer – GreenTown Los Altos
I stepped into Moscone Center in mid November and was overwhelmed. The exhibit hall seemed to go on forever! So many people, so many booths – really, it was all too much.
GreenBuild sign at Moscone north
And then it struck me – they are all interested in our sustainable future. That is so cool.
The GreenBuild Show covered everything from building design to product life cycle analysis to energy management tools to the latest and greatest earth friendly materials. Materials like recycled containers, forest sustainable wood products, glass with a reflective film that birds can see and we can’t, pre-fab net zero homes and efficient toilets. Lots of toilets.
Here are a few of the stops, with links, that caught my eye – out of at least a thousand.
Building Design:
- MBDC – Cradle to Cradle Consulting. “Practice humility in the face of nature.” mbdc.com
- How intelligent is your building? QAS has software to provide the answer. qualityattributes.com
- Quantis. “…quickly compare your design to a reference building.” quantis-intl.com
- UC Berkeley, Center for the Built Environment – “We have developed new tools and methods to measure the performance of buildings…” cbe.berkeley.edu
Energy Management Tools:
Checking out toilets
- Sustainability Dashboards – track your energy use. green2sustainable.com
- Modlet. A simple plug-in wireless control to manage plug loads. thinkeco.com
- HVAC controls. millennialnet.com
- Integrated facility solutions. abm.com
Sustainably Built Homes:
- Healthy Buildings Tech Group – located in Napa. hbtg.com
- Pre-fab homes. unityhomes.com
Products:
- Bird protective glass. ornilux.com
- Sustainable wood products. richlite.com
- Green roofs. cetco.com
- Rainwater tanks. rainharvest.com
- Efficient toilets. totousa.com
- Charge Pro, commercial charger, 30A, 7.2kW@240VAC. semaconnect.com
Reference materials:
Sustainability Dashboards
- EDC – “the official magazine for the LEED professional.” edcmag.com
- Island Press. A source for many relevant books, get a 20% discount w/ promotion code 5GBC. islandpress.org
Continuing Education:
- Pacific Energy Center. Many free classes, typically one day, offered by PG&E. pge.com/pec
- Sustainable Building Advisor Program. sbaprogram.com
- Leadership advocacy tools. emergeleadership.net
It was quite a show. Very inspiring.
