Greenbuild , the United States Green Building Council’s annual conference and exposition, will be happening from October 21-23 this year as the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. Already well-known for educational presentations and exhibits featured on the showroom floor, Greenbuild is enhancing its educational offerings with three summits at this year’s expo.
The Affordable Homes and Sustainable Communities Summit will take place on Tuesday, October 21, 2014 from 9:00 AM-5:30 PM. Dedicated to sharing knowledge and problem-solving about green affordable housing and sustainable community development, attendees are dedicated to “expediting the economic, social, and ecological health of underserved communities. Dr. Antwi A. Akom, associate professor of Environmental Sociology at San Francisco State University and co-founder of the Institute for Sustainable economic, Educational, Environmental Design will deliver the opening address. Sessions on healthy housing, community engagement, profitability and affordable green housing, gentrification, and investment in underserved communities will be featured at the summit.
The Materials and Human Health Summit will also take place on Tuesday October 21, from 9:00AM-5:30PM. Internationally renowned designer, strategist, and sustainable growth pioneer William McDonough will present the opening address. Sessions will focus on on purchasing and spec transactions, life-cycle assessment for whole buildings, LEED v4’s impact on the materials market, how to interpret environmental product descriptions (EPD) & health product declarations (HPD) when crafting a bill of materials, and building a sustainable materials workforce.
Both the Materials and Human Health Summit and the Affordable Homes and Sustainable Communities Summit will share a closing keynote address by Acting U.S. Surgeon General, Rear Admiral Boris D. Lushniak, MD, MPH, who will be discussing the role of the U.S. Public Health Service in collaborating to with the building and materials industries to improve and promote the health of individuals, families, and communities.
The Vision 2020 Sustainability Summit also takes place on Tuesday the 21st, but runs from 7:45AM-4:30PM. This summit offers continuing education units to maintain your LEED certification, and affords networking opportunities for those working in sustainable building. The focus of Vision 2020 is to demarcate critical sustainability goals and determine what needs to happen in order to meet these goals by 2020. Energy and water efficiency, building science, indoor environmental health, materials and products, design, economics and financing, underwriters, codes and regulations, and sustainable communities will be discussed at this summit.