Each November, the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo touches down in a different U.S. city for the better part of a week, showering green-thinking around the expo location, certainly – but also to all corners of its host city. Hosted by the USGBCand Informa Exhibitions and billed as the world’s largest conference dedicated to sustainability in the built environment, its wings have grown just as the sustainability movement itself has grown.
The 2018 edition of Greenbuild welcomed 33,000 visitors and local Chicagoans to the McCormick Place Conference Center in Chicago. The conference’s 2018 theme was extremely timely – “Human By Nature”, styled as“Human x Nature: The Intersection of Humanity & The Built Environment.The past five years in particular have seen the sustainability conversation expand its reach into more holistic sustainability visioning, planning and execution, and the Human x Nature theme speaks directly to that shift.
A Human x NatureTheme: The Intersection of Humanity & The Built Environment
“The green building movement embraces all of humanity by making sustainable buildings and environments accessible to everyone, and in doing so, benefits the natural environment all around us. We are helping people understand their role in protecting and preserving the natural environment and leveraging the built environment to:
- Enhance human health and wellbeing
- Ensure resiliency
- Mitigate climate change
- Enhance community and social equity
- Restore and protect our ecosystems
- Enhance building efficiency and performance
- Promote sustainable design
“The future of the human race is interlaced with the future of the planet, and the sustainable practices we celebrate and advance at Greenbuild remind us that our success as sustainability advocates, practitioners and professionals is more than a movement, it is a responsibility.”
Mahesh Ramanujam, president & CEO of the USGBC, officially opened the conference on Tuesday with a discussion of the successes green building has achieved in the last quarter century, and the challenges it still faces in creating a better sustainability plan for all of our fellow human beings. His speech revolved around the measure of quality of lifefor all humans.
Mr. Ramanujam introduced Amal Clooney, the well-known British human rights lawyer and humanitarian, as the opening plenary speaker. Ms. Clooney’s presence placed the Human x Nature theme front and center, guiding the disposition of the rest of the conference.
In addition to practicing international law and human rights law at Doughty Street Chambers in London, Ms. Clooney is also a Visiting Professor at Columbia Law School, where she teaches Human Rights. To learn more about her experience, read Vanity Fair’s article, “Amal Clooney’s Work, Explained by International Human Rights Lawyers.”
Alongside her work in defending government leaders, political prisoners and refugees, and participating in peace negotiations and judge training programs, Ms. Clooney spoke about TrialWatch, a project she and her husband, the actor and humanitarian and activist George Clooney, started at the Clooney Foundation for Justice. TrialWatch is an initiative focused on “monitoring, reporting on, and responding to trials around the world that pose a high risk of human rights violations. We expect to focus on trials in which the law may be used to target a minority or silence a government critic, meaning that there is a likelihood of a politicized, unfair trial.”
“Even with the absence of U.S. leadership in climate change, even when governments fall behind, individual people and companies can continue the work, and your work proves that,” said Ms. Clooney. “Human rights used to be more of state-to-state government issue, but now, it’s evolving to be more global, a more international concern.”
“Within international human rights, there are two main treaties – one that deals with what governments and countries can’t do, and one that addresses individual human rights, such as a right to life, or to privacy. That second treaty is changing with regard to rights related to climate, and the health and safety implications connected to those rights. People are starting to understand that maybe it’s possible to uphold and enforce climate justice.”
USGBC Announcements
During the show, USGBC made a sprinkling of new announcements the introduction of several new programs and updates:
>USGBC launched LEED Zero, a new program that will address net zero operations and resources in buildings.“LEED Zero is open to all LEED projects certified under the BD+C, ID+C or O+M rating systems, or projects registered to pursue LEED O+M certification. LEED projects can achieve LEED Zero certification when they demonstrate any one of the following: net zero carbon emissions, net zero energy use, net zero water use or net zero waste.”
>The USGBC and the BRE Group (BRE) announced a partnership that will promote the expertise of both organizations and harness their combined industry insights, to deliver a new industry approach to green building performance, solutions and benchmarking.“Today, LEED and BRE are the two most widely used green building programs in the world. Collectively they have certified the assessments of over 640,000 buildings across more than 126,000 commercial, residential, infrastructure, community and city projects in 167 countries and territories. To-date there are more than 167,000 projects registered to LEED and BREEAM and collectively both programs help form one of the largest industry networks focused on delivering a better outcome for our built and natural environment.”
>USGBC announced that it will begin offering LEED recertification for all LEED certified projects.“LEED recertification raises the value of ongoing performance in the built environment, critical to the continued evolution of the building industry at large To be eligible for recertification, projects must submit 12 months of data demonstrating continued or improved performance. Once recertified, projects will meet the standards of the newest version of the LEED rating system available. This recertification will be valid for three years.”
>USGBC and the Health Product Declaration® Collaborative (HPDC) announced that they plan to expand their collective efforts to accelerate the global development and use of healthier materials in buildings and communities. “Material ingredient reporting and product transparency are on the rise, as builders and architects strive to improve the health of their buildings and understand the environmental impact of materials. USGBC and HPDC announced the formation of a strategic partnership to advance transparency and material health practices in the building industry.”
>USGBC announced that the STAR Community Rating System, which offers certification for sustainable communities, will be fully integrated into USGBC’s LEED for Cities and LEED for Communities programs.“USGBC’s LEED for Cities and LEED for Communities programs provide third-party verification of the current performance of built-out cities and communities.” Read our adjacent feature in this issue of officeinsight on LEED for Cities & Communities and the STAR Community Rating System.
>This week at the Greenbuild Conference & Expo in Mumbai, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has released LEED green building certification standards for new transit stations.“Using the LEED rating system structure, the LEED Transit system was developed with valuable input from the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in India (DMRC), Shanghai Shentong Metro Group Co. Ltd. for China (Shentong), and Shanghai Green City Architectural Technology Co., Ltd. Today’s release of the certification standards for new transit stations is complemented by USGBC’s LEED guidance that was released in 2017 for existing transit stations. This new offering completes the comprehensive LEED Transit program that can now be used by both new and existing transit stations across the globe.”
A Sustainable Future in Chicago
Greenbuild does a superb job of developing programming around the hosting community – there are many, many opportunities to explore Chicago, through onsite workshops, tours and other events. But even if you choose to stay inside the conference center walls, the programming is set up to offer you an inside look at the host city, and Chicago did not underwhelm.
While the city has a tough time figuring out how to balance its budget, sustainability efforts see great success in Chicago. This year’s Master Speaker Series featured a curated group of influential people who are championing sustainability and green building in Chicago.
Karen Weigert, a Senior Fellow on the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, led a session called, “City in a Garden: Powering Urban Futures in a Low Carbon World.” Ms. Weigert served as the first Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Chicago from 2011 to 2016. When asked by an audience member from Arup, “How do you incite more city departments and organizations to stop dragging their feet and make changes and decisions more quickly?”, Ms. Weigert noted that getting a bigger picture into place is invaluable:
“Whatever city you’re in, you need to begin to implement a bigger picture plan around sustainable goals for that city – because once you put that in place, you’re never starting from square one when presenting individual projects you’re working on. It all fits into a bigger puzzle.”
The second Master Series session was from the guys at Urban Rivers – Nick Wesley, Co-Director & Co-Founder, and George Brigandi, MBA, Director of Marketing. From Urban Rivers:
“Urban Rivers is utilizing innovative solutions to rehabilitate urban waterways, starting with their hometown Chicago River. They started building the first-ever, mile-long, floating eco-park in the world, The Wild Mile, in the North Branch Canal of the Chicago River last year. The park completed the first +2,100 sq.ft. this summer and should be complete by 2020.”
The full schedule of speakers and seminars at Greenbuild 2018 proved to be top notch. Conference attendees could choose among hundreds of options organized into several tracks.In addition to a bundle of new USGBC-related announcements, Greenbuild planned a number of special events, included a Leadership Awards Reception at a space in the Willis (Sears) Tower and a Women in Green Power Luncheon.
The Expo Hall featured hundreds of exhibitors, learning labs, scheduled activities, and specifically themed pavilions that helped provide sense of organization to a massive show floor. The contents of most, if not all, exhibitor booths featured sustainably-focused products and services. The Greenbuild schedule included strategic pockets of time when no sessions were scheduled, encouraging people to explore the Expo Hall and to spend time with the exhibitors there, and traffic on the show floor was robust. A couple of notable Expo Hall features include:
>A Tiny Home Village. Attendees could wander through a collection of tiny homes, “each built with sustainability in mind.”
>Braindates: At the entrance of the show floor was a “Braindates lounge”, a space hosting one-on-one and group conversations on topics of attendees’ choice. Attendees could book these discussions through an online platform, and then show up to the Braindate lounge for their discussion. “With Braindates, you can ask the right questions to the right people, or you can answer queries that line up with your own knowledge, experience, and insight.” Braindates is a brilliant way to ensure your networking interactions are more meaningful and helpful to you – a great way to increase cross-pollination among individuals and groups.
Of course, any legitimate trip to Chicago should include some blues! And on this point, Greenbuild did not disappoint – its signature Thursday night conference celebration at the Field Museum, featured an enchanting performance by the seven-time Grammy Award winner and blues legend Buddy Guy. Performing in the main hall adjacent to the colossal Maximo, the largest dinosaur discovered to date, the blues great and his band put on an excellent show. Mr. Guy is a performer for the ages, sounding great and showing little sign of slowing pace.
Greenbuild’s closing plenary featured Carmen Yulín Cruz, Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico. A native Puerto Rican, Ms. Cruz spent 12 total years pursuing her education in the continental U.S. After earning degrees from Boston University and Carnegie Mellon University, “she returned to Puerto Rico to venture into politics, starting as advisor for the San Juan City Major and for the President of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives. In 2012, she became San Juan’s third female mayor; she won re-election in 2016.”
“In September 2017, Hurricane Maria ravaged the U.S. Commonwealth, leading to widespread power outages, lack of suitable shelter, and unsafe drinking water. Cruz has since become a voice for Puerto Rican citizens, lobbying Congress for aid to restore the power grid and enhance infrastructure.”
Ms.Cruz’s speech book-ended a flawlessly executed “Human x Nature” theme that sought to bridge the sustainably built environment that the USGBC works tirelessly towards, with people, and the natural human rights they have, including climate justice.