2008 Greenbuild Tradeshow Boston

From LoveToKnow GreenLiving

The Greenbuild Boston 2008 tradeshow and exposition hosted approximately 30,000 people this year. They started lining up at 6 a.m., two hours before the show opened. They came to hear about issues affecting the environment and how the green building industry was addressing those issues. They came to learn about new, green products for both homeowners and commercial builders. Finally, they came to find out about the future of green building.

About GreenBuild Boston 2008

The Greenbuild Boston 2008 event was organized by the U.S. Green Build Council (USGBC), the organization behind the popular Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating program. LEED has become one of the driving forces transforming the building industry into an environmentally sensitive business.

The conference was headline by keynote speaker Archbishop Desmond Tutu. In his address the Nobel Peace Laureate likened abusing the environment to a human rights violation.

Green Building Materials

The GreenBuild Boston 2008 exhibit hall did not have any inspirational speeches, but the plans of the exhibitors were equally inspiring. Hundreds of companies promoted and demonstrated the latest developments in green building materials. There were carpet and flooring companies, low VOC paint makers, reclamation companies, low flow toilet and wind turbine manufacturers, recycling and reclamation facilities, green roof products and landscapers. Big name exhibitors included Dow, Dupont, Sherwin Williams, Interface and Herman Miller.

One of the most interesting exhibitors was a company that manufacturers dome-shaped homes. Solaleya sells these homes from its U.S. headquarters in Florida. The domes are built out of wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. This means the wood companies follow an environmentally responsible chain of custody for the wood. They have huge solar panels for windows and the houses actually rotate so that the panels receive maximum sunlight all day. Supposedly these homes are earthquake and hurricane proof too.

Building a Green Home

The home building market was a big focus for the show this year. The USGBC featured its first-ever Green Home Builder's Day on the third day of the show. The event was focused on residential building topics and included educational sessions, panel discussion and networking opportunities. Some of the topics that were covered included:

Financing green building for homeowners
How to retrofit old homes
High Performance Green Renovations
The future of the American home.

Kevin O'Connor, host of This Old House, Tedd Benson, founder of woodworking company Bensonwood, and Steve Kieran, founding partner of architectural firm Kieran Timberlake Associates, LLP, gave the keynote address.

Future of Green Building

Another highlight of the event, was the releases of The Green Building Impact Report, a progress report on the impact of the LEED program. The report was done by Greener Buildings, a web resource for green building created in partnership with the USGBC. The report found that LEED buildings consume approximately 25% less on average than comparable commercial buildings and that LEED certified projects represent approximately 30% of the market. Perhaps the future of green building will also mean no more green trade shows. If all of the product manufacturers, building contractors and homeowners incorporate environmentally sound practices and products into their building, the idea of a green build conference will seem redundant.

This could be a win-win for the planet. Although the USGBC strives to offset all of the emissions from the attendees' travel and use of the conference center, the event still takes a tremendous amount of energy to produce. There is something hypocritical about companies shipping, building and lighting elaborate, energy-sucking tradeshow booths to promote environmentally responsible products.

In the meantime GreenBuild Phoenix is slated for fall 2009.

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