Green-builders outgrow Greenbuild Expo

[depakid]

The world's biggest conference for the green building industry may have become too basic by Portland standards.

Last year, Portland's green building industry geared up to make a big splash at the Greenbuild Expo in Chicago, the world's largest gathering of developers, architects and others involved in sustainable real estate development. The city had sent at least 15 people and organized nearly 60 Oregon companies in a 20,000-square-foot showroom to show off the state's sustainable businesses.

This week, however, the massive conference was held in Boston - and many Portlanders didn't bother to go. The city known worldwide for its green credentials only sent two staffers, and many firms just sent one or two employees.

For Portland firms, staying home didn't mean abandoning the design of energy efficient buildings and use of recycled materials. Instead, it showed frustration that the program wasn't advanced enough.

Take Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects, Oregon's largest architecture firm. It sent 16 employees to the conference last year, hoping to hear some cutting edge ideas about earth-friendly building designs. This year, ZGF sent just six staffers - four to lead workshops, and two who work in the firm's nearby Washington D.C. office.

"We just didn't see it," said Johanna Brickman, director of sustainability for ZGF. "People that have been practicing this for 5 or 10 years or more will know most of the things that are presented."

Greenbuild is the annual conference of the U.S. Green Building Council, which created and implements the leading certification program for environmental building practices, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED. Portland has more green buildings per capita than any other major city, and its largest developer, Gerding Edlen Development, is the biggest producer of LEED-certified buildings in the world.

In part, a poor turnout from Portland is also a reflection of the cost of attending a conference on the other side of the country. And many small businesses have indicated they didn't feel ready to use the conference to enter East Coast markets.

But for many, the largest green building conference in the world has grown so big and unwieldy as to be, in a way, unsustainable.

"You're in a city that's from the early adopters, and many people were at the first Greenbuild," said Paul Schwer, president of PAE Consulting Engineers Inc. in Portland. "So, to see it go from a few thousand people to 20 or 30,000 is a big adjustment."

More: http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2008/11/greenbuilders_outgrow_greenbui.html

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2008/11/greenbuilders_outgrow_greenbui.html