Reporting from Greenbuild

The green building community gathers annual to share ideas and promote new innovation at the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo. The 2013 conference was held in Philadelphia, PA, November 20th through the 22nd. New SEI Sustainability Committee member Lori Koch was there to inspire attendees to "reThink Wood."

(Lori Koch, November 25, 2013) I had a great time at Greenbuild. I was working the reThink Wood Pavilion in the expo hall, and got to spend a good deal of time talking to attendees about using wood in sustainable structures. 

One of the big draws to our booth was the model of a 40-story tower that had a hybrid structural system of concrete and CLT (cross-laminated timber). The prospect of wooden skyscrapers really intrigued a lot of people, and led to some great discussions. 

I was lucky enough to have some down time to walk around the expo hall and see some of the other exhibitors (and I was lucky enough to win an iPad mini from the Office Depot booth!). One of the more impressive displays was the Kohler RV, it had working models of about a dozen different toilets and the rep talked about the lower water consumption models they have available. It was very interesting just from a standpoint of being a fixture that we all use every day, yet give very little thought to what’s at work with the system (or maybe that’s just me being a narrow-minded structural engineer!). 

I also got a chance to talk to folks interested in sustainable buildings from nearly every angle: wood products, steel producers, plumbing fixtures, educational programs, windows… the list goes on and on. It was a great experience and I’m looking forward to doing it again next year.