Greenbuild by the numbers:
- 13,500 attendees from 50 states and more than 25 countries
- 500+ on site volunteers
- 480 exhibitors in 750 booths in 187,000 sq ft of exhibit hall space
- 75 concurrent education sessions
- 22 LEED Workshops
- 38 seminars, tours, and specialty sessions
Greenbuild's many educational sessions covered topics related to every aspect of green building, but the dominant story was climate change and what the green building industry can do to address this important issue. During the opening plenary session, USGBC President, CEO, & Founding Chairman Rick Fedrizzi announced the Council's 8-step action, which includes specific proposals to further increase energy performance and reduce C02 emissions from LEED buildings, and to encourage greater adoption of LEED standards. The most popular announcement—if the applause was any indication—was that certification will now be free for any building that achieves LEED Platinum. Rick also announced several major new partnerships that will dramatically accelerate green building:
- USGBC and Enterprise Community Partners will increase green affordable housing via education programs for affordable housing developers; evaluate the costs, benefits, and performance of green affordable housing; and align LEED for Homes and Enterprise's Green Communities initiative.
- Autodesk®, maker of AutoCAD® software, is partnering with USGBC to expand the use of technology (such as Autodesk's Revit® platform) to make sustainable design easier and more efficient. Autodesk and USGBC are also developing an educational curriculum for architecture and engineering students.
- USGBC and the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) are collaborating to promote sustainable building operations and maintenance, including delivering shared education sessions at Greenbuild 2007 and BOMA's 2007 Congress and Office Building Show.
The full text of Rick's address can be found at http://www.usgbc.org/Docs/News/openplenaryrick.pdf
Rick wasn’t the only person talking about climate change. Also during Greenbuild, USGBC’s chapter leaders came together to discuss how they can have an impact in their communities, in particular how they can support the 2030 Challenge. This challenge, issued by Architecture 2030, is asking the global design and building community to adopt aggressive targets for reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Meeting the 2030 Challenge was also the subject of a special meeting between a variety of building industry associations and leaders, including USGBC, ASHRAE, AIA, and others.
If you’re interested in attending Greenbuild 2007 in Chicago, the website www.greenbuildexpo.org has more information. Immediately following Greenbuild 2007, USGBC will be looking for green building professionals to submit proposals and to assist in reviewing proposals for Greenbuild 2008.