Green Building convergence in Atlanta gives new impetus to sustainable building

LEED in Context

Since March 2000, the USGBC has certified buildings on the basis of their compliance to green building techniques based on the green building/sustainable design rating system known as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). At present, the USGB grants four different levels of LEED building certifications for commercial, institutional, and high-rise residential buildings (Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum) based on achievement. In the US there are 188 LEED certified buildings and the host city of Atlanta, with its 25 LEED projects, leads the South in the amount of existing and planned green construction.

Inspiring Conference Kickoff

The conference began with inspirational kickoff from three thought-leaders: Ray Anderson, Janine Benyus, and Paul Hawken. Ray began the keynotes with a critique of society's “general view of reality.” He contrasted the notion that “what we do to the web of life, we do to ourselves,” with the accumulating acts of destruction done by humans on the planets, risking a “death by a thousand cuts.” Ray, who put Interface, one of the largest modular carpet companies, on a path to be the leader in industrial ecology and sustainability, challenged the drive for ever-increasing labor productivity in the economy at a time when we have more people on the planet than ever, yet dwindling resources.  Janine followed with stories about how millions of years of practice have helped nature perfect many solutions that society could benefit from, a practice known as Biomimicry, which she avidly promotes. She shared her vision for the green building movement as a learning community, and gave many examples of leading research and product development where nature's solutions provide cleaner, safer, better solutions, from car and wing design to adhesives and self-cleaning building coatings. She described LEED as a “genetic code” that defined best practices to be replicated, and that like nature, we should seek to codify what is done well. In light of recent disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, Janine turned to study how nature heals. She honored 1200 year old live oaks on the Gulf Coast, and showed how, by interlacing roots, less than 1% of the live oaks on St. Charles in New Orleans were lost. Paul Hawken, author of The Ecology of Commerce and Natural Capitalism, concluded with his speach entitled "Chicken Big." He showed how a name-less, leader-less, grass-roots movement has arisen in search of economic and social justice and environmental sustainability. Composed of millions of organizations and individuals, it has become one of the largest movements, yet is hardly aware of itself, as it is not about "-isms" or ideologies, but about processes. He showed how this movement is found throughout the global civil society sector, and then went on to highlight how it is also happening in business, though often "under the radar." As an example, he pointed out that Lee Scott, WalMart's CEO, had recently committed the US's largest corporation to 100% renewable energy, but that was entirely unreported in the media. The last element of the movement, according to Paul, is the cities. He challenged the USGBC to extend LEED to cover "green cities" as well, and promote the creation of "conditions that are conducive to life," just as nature does. Paul, who practices "optimism in action," reminds us of the amazing capacity for healing that we have. 

Initiatives and Conference Results

One of the major announcements made at the conference was related to the new submittal process currently available to request a LEED certification. The USGBC now offers the possibility of carrying out the data submittal process entirely online, thus doing away with the paperwork. Moreover, those interested in obtaining a LEED certification can apply either during the design stage or after construction, instead of just at the end of a project. In addition to the exhibition, the workshops, and the technical sessions on the latest initiatives of sustainable building, Greenbuild 2005 attendees had the opportunity of touring Atlanta’s LEED certified buildings. Also, several design charrettes occurred during the event, with a special series on rebuilding New Orleans.

Mexico Green Building Council (MexicoGBC), an independent non-profit organization that promotes building technologies with the aim of helping to reduce the environmental impact and move the industry towards sustainability, was among the main representatives from the Latin American region. MexicoGBC, which was founded in the last Greenbuild Expo held in Portland, Oregon, is currently organizing the World Congress on Sustainable Building scheduled to take place in Mexico, November 2006.

Better Products and Services

The Expo featured a large area of vendors, with products and services for the GreenBuilding industry. Part of achieving LEED certification means having products that support sustainable design and operation and earn LEED points. The products showcase featured those made from recycled materials, such as the fine countertop and wall materials from IceStone, made from recycled glass. Also, natural products that improved building performance, such as Whisper Wool for floor underlays made from sheep's wool. Other products improved ways to improve building monitoring and user education, such as the system provided by Lucid Design Group. Also, reclaimed materials such as the beautiful wood reclaimed from around the world offered by TerraMai. For a full list of exhibitors (in a pretty poor format, but not our fault!), see the GreenBuild expo list. ifPeople also provides services and technology for the green building industry, including Marketing and Internet Strategy, Dynamic Web sites, web GIS systems, and business process consulting.

Local Organizing

Southface and the Atlanta Chapter of the Green Building Council chapter led on-the-ground organizing efforts that coordinated with the national USGBC staff. ifPeople participated in the organization of the conference through the local collaborative efforts. Christopher Johnson served on the Host Committee of the International delegates and hosted representatives of Australia, New Zealand, and Puerto Rico. Tirza Hollenhorst served on the “greening” of the conference committee, finding ways to reduce the environmental impacts of hosting over ten thousand people in the city for the multi-day event.

Legacy in Atlanta

In the tradition of the GreenBuild events, a local “legacy” project was organized to create lasting impact. However, as opposed to the tradition of that legacy being in the form of a building, the Atlanta organizers took a different approach. “Legacy Atlanta 2005: Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn” is a sustainable development training module for the local, diverse communities of Atlanta. It is designed to build on the economic and environmental case for green building, and extend to address the social side of sustainability by targeting communities with less access to green building knowledge and skills.  The program, presented by George Bandy of Interface, will last 18 months, and will be coordinated with local educational efforts and leverage the concentration of black talent in higher education in Atlanta.

Future
GreenBuild 2006 will be held in Denver, CO. Check the event web site for future details.

For more information on events like GreenBuild, see ifPeople's Calendar of Events.