Greenbuild is the most exciting week of the year for USGBC when industry professionals converge to share ideas and celebrate the accomplishments of the past year. This year, members of the green building community and beyond gathered in Los Angeles, California on October 5-7 for the industry’s premier event.
Didn’t have the opportunity to attend Grenbuild 2016? Check out the recaps from your fellow Texas Chapter members below, from first-time Greenbuild newbies to Emerging Professionals to seasoned conference goers.
"The two big USGBC announcements from Greenbuild were the "arc" platform that bridges all the GBCI certifications using big data and LEED for Cities (no details yet!). The expo was as informative as ever and featured several tiny houses. The two big electrochromic glazing competitors tried to outdo each other with View offering a virtual product experience at their booth while Sage glass gave tours of the 71 Above restaurant outfitted with their product in L.A.'s tallest building. The educational sessions were decidedly more technical than in the past and I left each one with new ideas and tools to implement them. I took two tours that were uniquely L.A.. The first showed the polar opposites of the Hollywood neighborhood with a new housing project for homeless and then a Class A+ residential tower incorporating historical buildings of the old CBS radio / TV studio. That tour ended at Morphosis' Emerson College, a dorm and classroom building for the student's L.A. internships, overlooking the Hollywood sign. The second tour was of UCLA with its 30 LEED certified projects on campus and its system wide goal of carbon neutrality by 2025. Keynote Speakers Bjarke Ingels shared his latest projects while Sebastian Junger told us of war-time loyalties that tapped into our instinctive need for tribal belonging and how these groups can make true change possible. Fun was had too, from Pokemon hunting on Santa Monica Pier to Celebration performances by X Ambassadors and Aloe Blacc." - Tim Murray, USGBC Texas Board of Directors - Secretary
"When I first learned about Greenbuild, it was described to me as “Disney World for people in our industry”. It most definitely did not disappoint.
My Greenbuild days looked like this: I reached my daily 10,000 step goal by lunchtime, jumped from one interesting education session to another learning about what new projects and technologies are changing our industry, and was exposed to the most innovative green products on today’s market. However, as amazing as all that was, what really made it “Disney World” for me was being surrounded by thousands of people who genuinely cared about the environment, interacting with leaders that were paving the way so we could all make a difference, and having the opportunity to collaborate and share ideas across all areas of sustainable design." - Marianna Verlage, First Time Greenbuild Attendee
"It was great to attend Greenbuild this year in LA. I always enjoying going to Greenbuild to see new sustainable and innovate products, attending great educational sessions and networking with other sustainable leaders from around the world!
This year, I noticed a continued emphasis on Health and Wellness. We are still learning just how important our buildings and spaces can have a big impact on human health. We need to focus on improving the environment that we live in." - Chris Mundell, North Texas Regional Council - Chairman
"Greenbuild this year offered a lot of LEED v4 informational sessions. There was concern expressed by many conference attendees about how project teams will handle the new challenges and how the market will accept the new standards. There was also a subtle transition in the USGBC’s vision and focus with a new CEO taking over for Rick Fedrizzi, Mahesh Ramanujam. Mahesh gave an official acceptance speech at the Closing Plenary session where he expressed concerns about growing social issues facing the world. He originally comes from India and is personally touched by the extreme poverty many people live in and the unequal access to sustainable living environments. I think in the future we’re going to see a lot more advocacy for gripping social issues from the USGBC… or at least more edgier Master Speaker Sessions at Greenbuild!" - Courtney Brinegar, ADVANCE Ambassador
Thank you, Los Angeles – it was definitely an Iconic Green event! For those of you who missed out this year, mark your calendars for Greenbuild 2017 in Boston on November 8-10, 2017.
Did you attend Greenbuild 2016? Leave us your thoughts in the comments below! (You must be logged in to leave a comment).
