Greenbuild Denver Blog

Monday, November 13, 2006
4:15 pm: The fun is about to begin!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006
3:00 pm: David Suzuki and Member Day
7:00 pm: Exhibitors galore

Wednesday, November 15, 2006
11:45 am: An inspiring morning
2:00 pm: Education sessions (and rock climbing)

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Monday, November 13, 2006
4:15 pm

We're here! It's official: after months of planning and hard work, the 2006 Greenbuild Conference and Expo has arrived. USGBC has been in Denver for the last few days, working to put the last minute touches on all the events and educational sessions that are lined up for the next few days. Walking around the Colorado Convention Center,  it's hard to believe that we're just hours away from welcoming 12,000 people to Denver. Our exhibitors are still hard at work setting up their booths, presenters are arriving at the airport, and sponsors are setting up their Networking Gardens and Cyber Cafés.  In the midst of all the preparations, the excitement is palpable; the Convention Center—in fact, the entire city--is humming with the anticipation that only Greenbuild can inspire.

There's certainly a lot to be exited about. The week kicks off with USGBC Member Day on Tuesday, which is being keynoted this year by the renowned scientist and environmentalist Dr. David Suzuki. Tuesday evening, we'll cut the ribbon on the exhibit hall, giving our attendees their first chance to see the more than 700 booths that are making this year's exhibit hall the largest in Greenbuild history.

Wednesday's opening plenary session features legendary architect William McDonough. After a full day of educational sessions, the Colorado Host Committee will give Greenbuild's attendees a true taste of Denver at the Welcome Gala. Thursday night is USGBC's annual Leadership Awards Celebration, which this year is being held at the history Fillmore Auditorium with entertainment by the Brand New Heavies. Sponsored by Johns Manville, the event is sure to be the party of the year. On Friday, renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs will provide a thought-provoking end to three jam-packed days. Throughout the week, attendees can also take advantage of green building tours, book signings, workshops, and seminars—not to mention the climbing wall in the exhibit wall! 

We'll be posting updates throughout the week, so whether you're here with us in Denver or waiitng to join us next year in Los Angeles, be sure to check back for the inside scoop on Greenbuild.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006
3:00 pm

Yesterday was a quiet day—relatively—at the Convention Center. We held our annual Chapter Forum, an opportunity for chapter leaders from around the country to share best practices, and it was great to see our friends from around the country. The enthusiasm of our chapters was infectious—we were already excited about Greenbuild, and by the end of the day we truly couldn't wait. Which was a good thing, because today 1,600 USGBC members joined us for USGBC Member Day. Member Day is always popular—it's an opportunity for our members to get the inside track on the latest programs and initiatives, and to give us their feedback about what we should do next—but this year attendance reached record highs. The event actually sold out more than a month in advance!  

No doubt the keynote speaker, Dr. David Suzuki, had a lot to do with it, and he certainly exceeded expectations. Always a passionate and engaging speaker, he was especially inspiring this morning, urging the audience to think critically about how much humans consume and how that consumption contributes to the species extinction, climate change, dwindling water supplies, and the like.  One astonishing fact: in the last 30 years, the average size of a household in Canada has decreased by 50%, while the average size of a home has doubled. So each person has four times as much space to fill with "stuff," stuff that requires vast energy and resources to produce, use, and maintain. But although Dr. Suzuki sounded an alarm about the state of our planet and our environment, his voice is not a voice of despair. Instead, his is a voice of challenge, and of hope; the great distinguishing factor of humans is that we have a sense of the future. This ability is why humans have become a "superspecies," but it is also the reason that we can embrace the need for change and make that change a reality.

7:00pm
One of the most exciting moments of a show is opening the exhibit hall. When we got here over the weekend, it was just a cavernous room, filled only with boxes and the sound of hammering. It never seems possible that the organized chaos is going to turn into a beautiful hall. But this year, just like every year, that's exactly what happened. More incredible, though, is the size of this year's hall—it's the largest in Greenbuild history, with more than 700 booths and nearly 500 exhibiting companies. Walking through during the opening reception, just after the 5:30 pm ribbon cutting, the buzz was electrifying. Thousands more attendees had arrived, and they were as excited to learn about the products and technologies on display as the exhibitors were to talk about them.  The booths and displays themselves are buzz-worthy, featuring everything from low-flow toilets that actually flush, to 24-foot ceiling fans, to entire rooms and ceiling systems built on site. What is truly wonderful, though, is how committed each and every one of our exhibitors is to sustainability. In an effort to earn our Green Exhibitor Award, companies are racing to outdo one another by incorporating more green features into their booths. That's the kind of competition we like to see!

The expo will be open all day Wednesday and Thursday, so our attendees will have ample opportunity to visit with the exhibitors. One-day passes are also available, so people from Denver and the surrounding area can come in and learn more about what's going on in green building. But for now, it's off to the USGBC Chapter Party at Sing Sing!

Wednesday, November 15
11:45 am

Last night, when we cut the ribbon on the exhibit hall, was the official opening reception, but things really kicked off today with the morning plenary session. The  5,000-seat lecture hall was standing room only—so if you had any doubts about the excitement surrounding green building, they would have disappeared this morning! The session opened with Denver mayor John Hickenlooper, one of the country's most progressive mayors.  Under his leadership, Denver has become one of the greenest cities in the U.S.: In July, Mayor Hickenlooper announced Greenprint Denver, http://www.greenprintdenver.org/, a comprehensive action plan for sustainable development in Denver. During his remarks, he challenged other cities across the country to make similar commitments to sustainability, a challenge we hope the audience takes home to their communities.  (Cool fact about Denver: the city has purchased more than 460,000 light emitting diode [LED] lights to use in their downtown holiday decorations. LED technology uses only 10 percent of the electricity required to power traditional incandescent bulbs, and the new lights feature durable plastic encasings. The switch will save the city about $100,000 over the next three years.)

USGBC President and CEO Rick Fedrizzi spoke after the mayor, and shared some of the incredible indicators of USGBC's success: more than 6,000 LEED registered and certified projects; 7,200 member organizations, 33,000 LEED Accredited Professionals. More important, however, he spoke about USGBC's plan to address one of the most important issues of our time: global climate change.  To great applause, Rick unveiled announced the Council's eight-point action plan for reducing CO2 emissions. Among the highlights that drew cheers from the audience was the announcement that all certification fees will be refunded for any project that earns LEED Platinum. "If you reach LEED Platinum, your certification is free!" Rick said. "We challenge you to put us out of business." He also announced that all new construction and core & shell projects will get a free registration for the LEED for Existing Buildings program, to encourage building owners and managers to verify their buildings' ongoing performance. The plan also includes changes to LEED (pending approval by USGBC member ballot) to require CO2 emissions and to raise the requirements for energy performance. (Click here to read the full plan.)

The carbon reduction plan was not the morning's only exciting announcement. Rick also shared the results of new comprehensive scientific study that documents the tremendous health and economic benefits of school construction. Greening America’s Schools, produced by Capital E and co-sponsored by AIA, is available for free here at the conference. If you're not here in Denver, you can also download it here. 

In addition, Rick was joined onstage by Bart Harvey of the Enterprise Community Foundation, who announced a new partnership with USGBC to develop green affordable housing, and by Phil Bernstein of Autodesk, creators of AutoCAD software. Bernstein announced that Autodesk and USGBC will partner on several technology initiatives to make the sustainable design process easier and more efficient, such as Autodesk’s Revit platform for building information modeling (BIM). The first step in the partnership will be the development of an educational curriculum for architecture and engineering students.

The morning has been a blur! Right after the plenary session we started the 100 series of our educational sessions. There was a great range of topics—everything from the developer's perspective on the demand for high performance homes, to ventilation strategies for increasing patient health in hospitals, to a case study of a neighborhood in Seattle that became energy self-sufficient. One of the hightlights of the Master Speakers session on Building Technologies with Chris Luebkeman of Arup. Nearly 1,000 people packed the Four Seasons Ballroom to hear his presentation on smart buildings and the leading edge of building technology.

Now we have a three-hour break to give people time to have lunch and explore the exhibit hall. More than one person was spotted burning off some calories with a trip to the climbing wall at the back of the hall. Tomorrow there's a 5k run—what other conference gives you so many opportunities to get out and play? The fun continues tonight at the Rocky Mountain Rendezvous, organized by the Colorado Host Committee to welcome everyone to Denver. The party is at the Sherman Street Event Complex, a spectacular example of Moorish Revival architecture and one of Denver's premier venues. We'll have local bands, local food, and some of those great local microbrews—no wonder the event is sold out!

Thursday, November 16, 2006
12:30 pm

The day started bright and early with the 300 series of the educational sessions. Although some people looked like they had a little too much fun at the party last night, many of the sessions were standing room only—no one wanted to sleep through the fascinating presentations. The sessions this morning ranged from the first-person experience of a large production homebuilder using LEED for Homes, to an exploration of the challenges and opportunities for sustainable design in displaced communities such as Rwanda, to a discussion on green insurance initiatives and environmentally responsible disaster recovery, to name just a few. The morning also featured two Master Speaker sessions with master designer Peter Bohlin and Dr. Eric Chivian,  Director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School. With so many sessions to choose from, it was tough to make a decision—especially at 8 am!

It didn't get an easier for the second round of sessions at 10:30, which included topics such as developing a carbon-neutral neighborhood, designing restorative landscapes, and greening the building permit process. In addition, Master Speaker Tom Hoyt shared successful case studies and lessons learned from his years of experience developing sustainable neighborhoods.

The primary mission of Greenbuild is to educate, but what trip to Denver would be complete without an outdoor adventure? We're thirty minutes away from the start of the Greenbuild 5k Fun Run, which will take the participants along the Cherry Creek Bike Trail and past Invesco Field, home of the Denver Broncos. It's a gorgeous, warm, sunny day here, so more than 80 people have decided to brave the altitude and sign up for the race. There will be some sweaty people wandering around the exhibit hall this afternoon!  

If they're in the hall at 3 pm, they will see the Passport to Prizes drawing. Every year, this is one of Greenbuild's most popular events. Each attendee gets a card in their conference bag that they can get stamped by participating exhibitors, and the stamped cards are entered into a drawing for some seriously great prizes. This year we're giving away iPods, digital cameras, gift certificates, and even high-end office chairs from Haworth, Herman Miller, and Steelcase—pretty nice souvenirs from Denver!

Thursday is actually chock-full of awards. In addition to the Passport to Prizes, we'll be announcing the winners of the Green Exhibitor Awards. And of course, tonight is the annual Leadership Awards Celebration, where we'll announce the recipients of the 2006 USGBC Leadership Awards. The party is at the Fillmore Auditorium, a spectacular concert venue in downtown Denver. The Brand New Heavies are headlining, and it should be a fantastic event. Hope everyone brought their party clothes!

Friday, November 17, 2006
11:00 pm
Friday morning came much too early—and considering how packed the dance floor still was at midnight last night, there are more than a few people who feel that way. But last night's Leadership Awards Celebration confirmed that this annual event is the green building party of the year, and it was well worth a few lost hours of sleep.

Following an afternoon filled with education sessions and other events, thousands of people rushed to their hotels to get spruced up and catch one of the free shuttles over to the Fillmore Auditorium, a spectacular historic theater in downtown Denve. After a great set by local band Hit and Run Bluegrass, Steven Hochhauser, President and COO of event sponsor Johns Manville, took the stage to share a few words about JM's commitment to green building and support of Greenbuild. Then, it was time for the announcement everyone had been waiting for: the recipients of USGBC's 2006 Leadership Awards. (Cue the drumroll.) And the winners are…

Community
- Robert Fox Jr., Principal, Cook + Fox
Education
- Greg E. Franta, FAIA, Rocky Mountain Institute
- Alliance for a Sustainable Colorado
Advocacy
- Maria Atkinson, Global Head of Sustainability, Lend Lease
- California Department of General Services (DGS)
LEED
- Gary Saulson, Director of Corporate Real Estate at PNC Financial
- Liberty Property Trust
Organizational Excellence
- HOK (Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum)

For more information about the winners, read the full press release.

After the awards were presented, the audience was ready for headliners the Brand New Heavies. Along with 6,000+ other people, USGBC Chair Kevin Hydes took to the dance floor to prove that engineers can dance—and apparently they don't get tired either. Even after the Heavies' energetic set, just about everyone stuck around to keep dancing to 80s and 90s hits from a great cover band.  The Fillmore closed at midnight, at which point much of the crowd headed out for the annual after-party thrown jointly by USGBC's certification review teams. (The party isn't officially part of Greenbuild, but don't tell that to the many people for whom it's a tradition!)

Friday, November 17, 2006
4:00 pm
Friday afternoon has come too early well—it's hard to believe that another Greenbuild has come to a close. Hundreds of volunteers have spent thousands of hours over the last year working to plan this incredible event, and it always goes by too quickly. It's hard to imagine a better way to end, though, than with Jeffrey Sachs' closing plenary address. One of the world's leading economists, Sachs is the director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, which supports pioneering projects in the natural and social sciences with a focus on sustainable development and global poverty. He is also a special advisor to the United Nations, among other international agencies, and is perhaps most famous for his book The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time. With a program theme of "taking green building to a higher elevation," one of the major goals of Greenbuild was to challenge our movement to think beyond buildings, to place our work within the broader context of sustainability and the global community. Sachs' speech was both scary and inspriring; no one who was there will be able to forget the images of children dying from malaria, but no one who was there could fail to leave invigorated by the potential to make a difference. (You can read an excerpt from The End of Povery online.)

That's the thing about Greenbuild. The exhibit hall is empty; the attendees are heading to the airport; the speakers are preparing for a new audience—but Greenbuild isn't over. It continues in the hotels with new recycling programs, in the caterers who have learned how they can conserve water, in the hearts and minds of the thousands of people who have spent the last three days listening, exploring, sharing, challenging, questioning, and learning, and who will spend the next 362 days doing.  We'll see you next year in Los Angeles.

PS: If you just aren't ready to leave Denver, there's actually quite a lot going on this afternoon and tomorrow, including a full complement of LEED workshops and some wonderful green building tours. If you can't change your flight, make sure and leave room in your schedule next year!