west coast green

I attended West Coast Green this weekend, in San Jose, CA. The usual suspects of brilliant green architects, builders, and all things green related were there. The presentations were great and getting to experience the products in the trade show is always so helpful.

I was happy to see Greg Thorsen, of Environmental Lights. He is so knowledgeable and able to speak in layman’s terms to anyone who wants to know more about LED technology that is now ready for full deployment in our homes. A new day is dawning.

Kevin

Here's another great event to look forward to. Though it's not for 6 months, mark your calendars for West Coast Green, scheduled for September 25-27 at the San Jose Convention Center. WCG was by far our favorite green building show in 2007, featuring the fabulous Michelle Kaufmann and her unveiling of the mkLotus, an impressive list of speakers including Ed Begley Jr and Van Jones, and how shall we say it... an overall great vibe.

So it is with mixed feelings that we see the show move from San Francisco's Bill Graham Auditorium to San Jose's convention center, a move that adds an additional 110K+ square footage of exhibor space and walking area. We'll miss the intimacy of before, but are happy to sacrifice that for the increased interest in residential green building. The event organizers explain the move as an effort to be closer to the center of technology and Cleantech innovation: "Moving to the heart of innovation enables us to deliver the type of brilliant, out-of-the-box ideas from thought leaders, to the people who seek solutions."

Hopefully the new venue will attract more-better exhibitors, making the show perhaps the largest residential green building show in the country and possibly worth making a special trip for if you are new to green building. One thing staying consistent is a solid line-up of speakers, which is enough to get us excited to give the new set-up a shot.

Greetings Greenies,

If you enjoyed the West Coast Green Residential Building Conference + Expo, then you will enjoy their latest endeaver at the Western Interiors Design + Home Show. Western Interiors is renowned for their classic and contemporary take on high end design and interior decor. However, this year they have taken a big step in the green direction, and with the help of Wet Coast Green have incorporated a "green home pavilion" into their tradeshow.

The 1,500 square foot staged home, complete with living room, dining room and outdoor area, will be arranged and designed by Interior Designers Deborah Coburn of Naturally Inspired and Tamara Blackstone of HomeLife.

There will also be an "ask the experts" booth with representatives from west coast green to answer green building questions, and give green living advice.

Eric Corey Freed will be giving another of his renowned keynote presentations on the inevitable future of green building and design, and well as distributing his own expert advice.

The green home will feature:

• Complimentary consultations with green home professionals

• Large selection of high quality eco-friendly products and furnishings

• On site examples of how to increase your homes energy efficiency while
decreasing its ecological footprint

**Compact Fluorescent light bulb giveaway to the first 2,000 attendees, provided by Sylvania

For more information check out www.westerninteriorshomeshow.com

WESTERN INTERIORS DESIGN + HOME SHOW INFORMATION

LOCATION: Herbst Pavilion at Fort Mason Center
San Francisco, CA 94123-1382

HOURS: Friday, October 26 – 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. VIP preview breakfast reception
Friday, October 26 –10:00 a.m – 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, October 27 – 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 28 – 12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Tickets: Tickets are $15 day, $35 for a three-day pass and can be purchased online at www.westerninteriorshomeshow.com. For more information, call 323.549.3449 x229.

The wait is over.

Last Thursday, at West Coast Green, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) presented the Lifecycle Building Challenge Awards. Lifecycle Building is defined as: Design of building materials, components, information systems, and management practices to create buildings that facilitate and anticipate future changes to and eventual adaptation or dismantling for recovery of all systems, components, and materials. In other words: building green and smart.

Unfortunately, it was one of the few events at the conference that we weren't able to catch.

As it turns out, that's not a problem: All the winners and honorable mentions are listed and profiled at the Lifecycle Building Challenge site.

In the Professional Built category, Seattle's Pavilion in the Park took first honors.

In the Professional Unbuilt, plans for The GreenMobile™ won out.

And, in the Student category (as we sort of predicted?), first prize goes to the groHome.

Click through the site to see more fantastic photos/drawings of the winning entries, as well as the honorable mentions and the People's Choice Award.

"The greenest thing you can build is a home someone loves." That was the main theme of designer Marianne Cusato's talk "The Katrina Cottage Story: The Value of Design," this afternoon at West Coast Green.

It follows then that the least green thing you can build is a home no one loves -- a FEMA trailer in post-Katrina New Orleans perhaps?

It was the poorly designed FEMA trailer that inspired Cusato to create an alternative type of dignified, but affordable emergency housing. The result? The Katrina Cottage -- a 300 - 1,800 sq-foot cottage-style home (there are a range of sizes available) designed specifically for victims of hurricane Katrina.

The cottages are now available to the general public through Lowe's, and FEMA will be entering into a pilot program with Cusato that involves building hundreds of them in the Gulf region.

Cusato's design philosophy is founded on three key principles: A home should be functional, affordable and well-designed. It's easy to find two of these criteria in U.S. homes, but often difficult to find all three.

The philosophy is nicely reflected in the cottages which cost approximately $55/sq.-foot, are built so that families can buy small units and easily add-on more space when they need/can afford it, and are bright, charming cottages that most would be happy to call home.

Cusato is a fascinating designer and speaker and you can read more about her here.