Green Building Festival Coming to Toronto
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 10.17.07
Notwithstanding my rant about their sponsor, I still hope they will let me into the Green Building Festival on October 24 in Toronto. It is "a two day event focused on bringing green building to the mainstream. This year's program, Building Performance, Building Value looks at the real world impacts of green building." So many of the speakers have been on TreeHugger before:
- Barry Sampson is talking about the Thomas Wells Public School;
Gordon Stratford of HOK in Greening the Workplace;
David Sisam of Montgomery Sisam on The Impact of Urban Form on Public Health;
Luigi Ferrara on the World House Project;
and the keynote speaker is Avi Friedman on Sustainable Urban Planning.
Toss in an overview of the Equilibrium Houses and the solar suburban town of Okotoks and there is a full slate of TreeHugger goodies. ::Green Building Festival
Yeah Lloyd, I'll let you in. But I'll be giving you my rant re cement. It's a life cycle issue. Yes cement production releases CO2 at the start of its life cycle. BUT when used intelligently I firmly believe it ends up reducing a lot more CO2 than it released. Radiant thermal heating and cooling, the most durable buildings, and high-rise density (how do you build tall without concrete?) are major contributors to using LESS energy, materials and land.
Do an analysis of how many positives there are for every high-rise murb in terms of land not developed in the far suburbs. Eco-systems are kept intact, the water table recharges, there are fewer commuters spewing CO2, more trees to hug and absorb CO2.
I started 15 years ago with straw bale construction and looked for alternatives to concrete. When I figured out the life cycle angle, concrete made perfect sense- and I'm not exactly a lightweight in green buildings in Canada. I'm also 100% independant.
Kudos to the Cement Association and all our sponsors. They may not be perfect but they are making a positive difference by allowing me and my colleagues to put on the conference and transfer green knowledge to you and all the other professionals who want to build a better world. Without their financial support, there is no conference and you would not get to see all the great speakers I've lined up. And I am glad you like the program.
Tom Ponessa, M Arch
Director of Programs, Sustainable Buildings Canada
Director, Green Building Festival Secretariat