Verge: Greenbuild sharpens focus on health and transparency

VERGE

By Elaine Hsieh, Program Director & Senior Analyst – VERGE

Greenbuild – the world’s largest green building conference – officially kicks off in Philadelphia today, and I’m excited to be here with about 40,000 others to take it all in.

This is my eighth year attending, so it’s a reunion of sorts as I get to catch up with old green building friends and former colleagues. In addition, I’m planning to attend sessions, visit exhibitors, conduct interviews, and live-tweet anything I find interesting, entertaining, or insightful. I’ll also be rocking out to Bon Jovi after Hilary Clinton’s keynote Thursday night.

From a VERGE standpoint, I will be on the lookout for practical, scalable new technologies and solutions that are gaining traction in the green building market and have the potential to translate to other industries, like energy, water, and transportation systems. Big data players and business innovators: I’m looking at you.

Building material health and transparency is gaining momentum this year, which I find very encouraging. Getting building product manufacturers to be more transparent about the chemicals they use and the life-cycle impact of their materials is still seen as a Sisyphean endeavor, but there are signs it might get easier, as described in myGreenbuild preview story yesterday. This is a hot topic, so stay tuned.

One more thing: Happy 20th anniversary to our VERGE partner the U.S. Green Building Council. Looking forward to celebrating with you this week!

Greener Building

Greenbuild 2013: Focus sharpens on health and transparency
By Elaine Hsieh

Before the blockbuster green building event kicks off this week in the “workshop of the world,” these unique themes are already emerging.

The iPhone maker’s master plan features extensive green space, aggressive water conservation and one of the largest corporate solar arrays in the world.

What does ‘green’ really mean? This guide spells out, letter by letter, how the U.S. Green Building Council is pushing the definition.

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New VERGE Video Worth Watching

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