I had the opportunity to attend Greenbuild in San Fransisco last month. Like most conferences I attend, I like to post a recap here. Of course, this blog also helps me keep track of what, when, and where over time:)
Greenbuild celebrated its 20th anniversary this year! It is the world's largest conference of its kind. You can read more about it here: USGBC - About Greenbuild
2022 Host City - San Fransisco
The conference moves around each year. This year it was in San Fransisco, California, and next year it will be in Washington DC.
I arrived early, the day before the conference, and spent some time at Autodesk's HQ. I then walked (and climbed) from there to Coit Tower. It was a beautiful day and offered a great view of the city.
Before I get into Greenbuild itself, I will share a couple of ancillary events I attended...
BuildingGreen - Green Guru's Meetup
After the first full day of Greenbuild, BuildGreen organized a Green Guru's meetup, which was hosted at Gensler's HQ. This included a social event and some great mini-presentations! If you are not familiar with this group, I highly recommend you check it out and consider membership!
Learn more here: https://www.buildinggreen.com/
🠟🠟🠟Selfie w/ Ellen Mitchell AIA, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP, Director of Sustainability and Applied Research at LPAI serve on a national AIA COTE subcommittee (Climate Action|Climate Justice) with Ellen!
🠟🠟🠟Selfie w/ Barbra BatShalom, Executive Director at Sustainable Performance InstituteI was a co-author with Barbra (and four others) on the new AIA Climate Action Business Playbook released earlier this year.
National and Local AIA COTE Event
On the second evening of the conference, I attended an AIA COTE-sponsored event hosted at EHDD. Hats off to EHDD for all the effort they put into hosting this event, including not using any plastic/single-use items! Oh, and two of my current NDSU architecture students attending Greeenbuild also came to this event, which was fun!
I volunteered to help check guests in when they arrived...
🠟🠟🠟Selfie w/ Kira Gould, Hon. AIA, strategist/writer + Design the Future podcast, co-host
I serve on a national AIA COTE subcommittee (Climate Action|Climate Justice) with Kira!
🠟🠟🠟Selfie w/ Lori Ferriss, AIA, PE, Principal, Director of Sustainability and Climate Action | 2023 Chair AIA COTE
I serve on a national AIA COTE subcommittee (Climate Action|Climate Justice) with Lori... she is also the chair of this subcommittee!
🠟🠟🠟Selfie w/ Jack Rusk, Climate Strategist, EHDD
I presented with Jack earlier this year at the national AIA convention in Chicago! This photo was actually at a different evening event hosted by Atelier Ten.
The Keynotes
Two memorable keynotes were given by Jane Fonda and Robin Carnahan. I did not get any photos of Jane Fonda because I left my cell phone in the hotel room! She is passionate and well-informed about the green movement.
Robin Carnahan is the administrator of the GSA. She mainly spoke about how the federal government plans to spend Inflation Reduction Act monies to promote sustainability and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Exhibit Hall
The exhibit hall was huge. So much to see.
A favorite booth was Building Transparency. They are doing great things related to embodied carbon analysis with tools like EC3, Talley, and the new TallyCat.
They also hosted/sponsored the famous embodied carbon Girl Scouts from Wisconsin. Sharing information about low embodied carbon materials. Even the GSA Administrator, Robin Carnahan, stopped by to hear what they had to say! It is rare to see the person who just delivered the keynote walking around the exhibit hall. So cool.
🠟🠟🠟Photo w/ Stacey Smedley, Exec Directory, Building Transparency
There were so many cool products to see, like this pre-fabricated straw bale wall module!
Presentations
I attended so many great presentations. I will just mention a few here.
Lucia Athens, Chief Sustainability Officer, City of Austin, Texas, shared an overview and quotes from her new book The Sustainability Revolutionists.
I was able to get my copy signed!
Building Reuse is Climate Action
This was a great session highlighting the intrinsic value of existing buildings and their positive role in climate action.
Presenters:
- Billie Faircloth, KieranTimberlake
- Lori Ferriss, Goody Clancy
- Nakita Reed, Quinn Evans
- SiJing Sanchez, EHDD
Lake Flato Dinner
There were four of us from Lake|Flato at Greeenbuild this year...
We had a great dinner Thursday evening, discussing interesting sessions we attended and people we met!
Friday Tour
While Thursday was the last day of the conference at the convention center, there were several half/full-day tours on Friday. I joined a tour of a zero-waste building (meaning no trash cans for stuff going to a landfill) on the UC Berkley campus. This was very interesting, especially given the building has a small commercial kitchen and cafe.
We gathered at the convention center and then walked and used public transportation to get to Berkley.
Here are a few photos from that adventure!
Conclusion
Overall, the conference was amazing and highly recommended for anyone interested or fully working within sustainability and the built environment.
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