| It’s official – Greenprints
has made its mark on Georgia. On Monday, March 15, Georgia
Governor Sonny Perdue signed a proclamation declaring
March 14-20 Green Week in Georgia. The Governor acknowledged
Southface’s history of collaboration with GEFA and the
Georgia Department of Natural Resources, particularly
citing Geenprints and its related activities as a valuable
forum for educational opportunities and other activities
centered around sustainable design and construction
practices, as well as ways to protect and improve the
environment.
Some highlights of Green Week included
two LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
workshops on Wednesday. More than 100 design and construction
professionals, as well as manufacturers and service
providers participated. Bob Kobet, Greg Franta and Southface’s
own Mike Barcik shared many of the intermediate and
advanced principles associated with the U.S. Green Building
Council’s program.
Also on Wednesday, The Home Depot Foundation
and Southface sponsored a day-long symposium for the
Foundation’s affordable housing grantees from across
the country. Southface’s Dennis Creech and EarthCraft
House Director Jim Hackler were among the facilitators
of the workshop, which focused upon the importance of
energy efficiency as a fundamental component of affordable
housing.
Left to Right. Holley Henderson, Interface,
Susie Spivey-Tillson, Skanska USA Building, Polly Sattler,
Earth Share of Georgia, and Sam Williams, MACOC at the
pre-dinner sponsor reception.
John Costello, The Home Depot Foundation,
welcomes our guests.
Chris Poulos, Brown-Forman Beverages
Worldwide and Russ Benblatt, Whole Foods Market, discuss
food and wine pairings guests enjoyed at the Visionary
Dinner.
Paul Dolan, President, Fetzer Vineyards,
speaks candidly about his journey toward sustainable
business practices.
Wednesday evening, 800 business, civic
and environmental leaders supported Southface and “savored
the sustainable table” at the sixth annual Visionary
Dinner. Co-hosted by Southface and the Metro Atlanta
Chamber of Commerce, the Visionary Dinner is the only
event which draws this particular cross-section of Atlantans
(and some Greenprints attendees from across the nation)
for a meal prepared by local culinary experts, made
from regionally harvested ingredients. The evening also
includes a message on sustainable business strategies
from a visionary leader—this year from Paul Dolan, President
of Fetzer Vineyards, whose wines have been a feature
of the dinner for many years. Dolan delivered a heartfelt,
personal account of his journey toward sustainable business
practices, and the successes and challenges he is seeing
as he implements six sustainable business strategies
at his company.
The evening also saw a special presentation
of the Argon Award for Success in Sustainability. Sponsored
by Atlantic Station and Jacoby Development, the award
has been presented each year since 2000 to a Georgia-based
business leader or institution that has demonstrated
environmental leadership. This year, however, Southface
presented two awards, and since one of them was to our
sponsor, Jim Jacoby, we enlisted our friends at the
City of Atlanta to assist. Mayor Shirley Franklin presented
the Argon Award to Jacoby, citing Atlantic Station’s
importance to Atlanta as indicative of what we can achieve
as a sustainable city. “It represents what the public
and private sectors — city, county, state and federal
government, hand-in-hand with developers, lenders, investors
and others — can do with a common goal in sight,” Mayor
Franklin commented. “It represents not just the highest
and best use of a piece of land but the highest and
best use of our time, talent and resources as citizens.
And for that, we should all be quite proud.”
Pam Sessions, President and Co?Founder
of Hedgewood Properties, also received the Argon Award
for her vision and leadership in environmentally responsible
home building. Sessions accepted personally, and on
behalf of her colleagues at Hedgewood, remarking, “We
have grown to understand our role in our larger system,
our environment, and have accepted the responsibility
that comes with that understanding.” She further challenged
the audience saying, “Businesses that lead with their
values recognize that the greatest potential for giving
back to society is in its operations… As your business
supports the community, the community will support your
business.”
Master Speakers and an opening keynote
punctuate the learning at Greenprints.
Green Week activities continued through
the tremendous learning opportunities offered Thursday
and Friday, when design and construction professionals,
policy makers and concerned citizens gathered for engaging,
hands-on education at the seventh annual Greenprints
Conference. At the opening plenary session, Greenprints
Co-Host Elizabeth Robertson, Director of the State Energy
Office (GEFA), asked for a show of hands from first-time
attendees. Almost half the hands in the ballroom went
up. This is a great testament to Southface’s ability
to continue attracting new and talented individuals
committed to creating a sustainable future. Our attendees
joined us from across the country, including several
who traveled from beautiful Hawaii.
ULI National Chairman Harry Frampton’s
opening keynote address set a meaningful tone for the
conference. He discussed how, through passionate vision,
he has overcome obstacles to sustainable development.
The Greenprints audience embraced the message and involved
themselves by partaking in discussion after the keynote.
Greenprints attendees chose sessions from
four educational tracks, including residential green
building, green building policy, sustainable communities
and commercial green building. “Master speakers” were
dotted through the curriculum, and some classes included
engaging, hands-on components.
Jenifer Seal from the Rocky Mountain Institute,
also home to visionary Amory Lovins, delivered a presentation
on the current state of “biomimicry” in building and
construction processes. Biomimicry is the imitation
of nature’s evolved solutions to problems like passively
cooling a structure in the African savannah (as termite
mounds do) or minimizing water flow resistance across
a surface (as shark skins do). Seal’s presentation showed
how biomimicry has succeeded in a number of construction
test cases.
USGBC Deputy Director Peter Templeton
addressed a packed house on various updates from the
technical committees working on LEED. While in another
session Jori Zimmerman of Renewable Choice Energy clearly
explained how purchasing Green Power was accessible
for all LEED projects. Either one or two points can
be obtained (the second is innovation) by buying “green
tags” for two years that satisfy either 50% or 100%
of the building’s electricity needs.
Some case studies included analysis of
urban and rural sustainable development challenges from
Atlantic Station in Atlanta and Chattahoochee Hill Country
in South Fulton County. Both Brian Leary and Steve Nygren
emphasized involving surrounding community members in
the process, and picking your battles in order to keep
the greater context and impact in mind. In another session,
Emory University’s Laura Case led a discussion by a
team of professionals on Emory’s current LEED projects
and in particular, how energy modelling is being used
throughout the process. Holley Henderson presented a
fascinating case study - fielding questions and sharing
insights as they explored the pilot program of LEED-
CI (Commercial Interiors) for Interface’s new showroom
building in Midtown Atlanta.
In one of Greenprints’ final sessions,
Walter Brown of Green Street Properties, Greg Giornelli
of the Atlanta Development Authority and others spoke
about the centrality of Smart Growth to sustainable
growth. Giornelli emphasized that no matter how green
one’s home is, if you have to drive 30 miles to get
to it, it’s not sustainable. Brown spoke about a number
of towns and areas that have insisted on walkable, people-friendly
developments that also prove friendly to the environment.
This session argued persuasively that green building
must be placed in the larger context of smart city planning.
A sampling of booths at the Greenprints
Green Tradeshow, clockwise from top left: Trane; ACT,
Inc. Metlund Systems; Kone Inc. and the Greenprints
Bookstore.
In addition to the learning, there was
plenty of time to visit the Green Tradeshow, where 80
exhibitors shared the latest green products and services
with the group. There was also time for relaxation and
fun. Thursday evening, Carapace sponsored an evening
social at Barley’s Billiards. Almost 200 Greenprints
participants enjoyed anecdotes, refreshments and a game
of pool at Barley’s smoke-free, environmentally friendly
venue. Friday evening, The Winter Construction Company
sponsored the closing reception and Alternative Fuel
Vehicle Show. Along with good food and door prizes,
folks took a turn around the block on a Segway, and
learned about biodiesel, electric and hybrid automobiles.
Green Week concluded with the third annual
Green Charrette. Attendees joined Georgia Tech faculty
and staff to work together on a daylong master planning
exercise, including site, energy and water goals for
Tech’s Cobb County Research Facility in Smyrna. The
Georgia Tech Research Institute is in the beginning
stages of planning a major renovation to the campus
and a 30,000 square foot building. They were impressed
by the insight and creative ideas the charrette participants
brought to the table.
By combining efforts of four like-minded,
sustainable development organizations—EarthCraft House,
USGBC and ULI and Southface—Greenprints 2004 proved
to be a tremendous educational success. Through the
support of our numerous sponsors, the conference was
a fantastic value to newcomers and seasoned professionals
in the field of sustainability. In 2005, Southface will
continue the momentum by serving as host and educator
to the national community of residential and commercial
builders, design professionals and developers participating
in the USGBC’s GreenBuild Conference and the National
Association of Home Builders’ Green Building Conference
in Atlanta. Stay in touch with us for further developments.
Over 1,200 people from across the nation
participated in Green Week activities, marking another
banner year for delivering the Southface mission through
these premier events. To our participants, thank you
for your energy and insights, but most of all, we appreciate
what you will accomplish in your communities as you
take back what you learned. To our sponsors and exhibitors,
thank you for your support of our work and the role
you play in transforming the market for sustainable
development. We look forward to next year when we will
have several opportunities to come together and set
the stage for the future.
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