This morning, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. keynoted the BuiltGreen Conference 2009 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. It was not your typical green conference keynote.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Most talks focus on one topic and explore it. At green events, that talk is usually centered around a project, a theory or a problem that we need to fix. This talk was mostly political and discussed everything from the benefits of “true free market capitalism” (many), to how the Bush administration tore down environmental rules and tenets (disastrously), to who was who in Washington, D.C. politics (lobbyists), to how much mercury human beings have in their bodies (a lot), to how the press has covered these issues (very poorly).

Honestly, he spoke about so many different things I don’t really know what to tell you, dear reader. So I’ll start with energy.

Kennedy spoke a lot about the energy grid. The largest technical problem in weaning ourselves off oil, he said, is that we don’t have a grid that can handle new sources of energy like wind or solar. Developing a system that would reach every American home would cost $1 million per mile, he said, or $150 billion. It’s a one-time expenditure, he said, and would benefit national security. He said we’ve done it before with computers and the Internet; all we have to do is make the commitment.

He also said we need to change the way the energy business works. Utilities today, he said, benefit by creating and selling more energy. We need to redevelop it to focus on conservation. “We have to change that incentivized system,” he said, “So that they can make the same money by getting people to conserve, not consume.”

He also spoke a lot about a business he is a part of called Better Place. Better Place is a venture-backed company that seeks to build an electric car network based on today’s technology. Kennedy said the company is beginning with Israel, where it hopes to transform the market over the next three years. The company will give electric cars away for free - made by Renault and Nissan - to anyone who signs a contract with the company. Under the contract, the person owns the car while Better Place owns the car battery (which costs $20,000). The company pays itself back by charging a premium on the power the car needs to run, outlined in the contract. He said the company has similar contracts with Denmark, Australia, Hawaii and north California, and would love for all of North America to follow suit.

“The electric car is the way this country is going to go,” he said.

Kennedy also took a hit at the mainstream media, calling it “negligent” in reporting important stories over the past decade. Instead, he said the media has become entertainment rather than information, which appeals to the prurient interests in the reptilian parts of our brains. Ouch.

Were you there? If so, what did you think was the most interesting thing he said and how would you rate his speech?

P.S. The information Kennedy shared about his personal levels of mercury (if he were a woman, he said a doctor told him his children would have cognitive impairment) was pretty frightening. If you want to test your mercury levels, visit the Waterkeeper Alliance, another organization Kennedy is affiliated with, here.

First off, let’s be clear. I’m not fear mongering, my point isn’t to scare people. But the doomsday scenario of China’s taking over the U.S. housing industry the same way Asia took over the U.S. auto industry was a driving factor behind Parr Lumber’s development of a building science-based efficient home product. 

In case you missed it, I discussed the product (and Asian threat, real or not) in an article last Thursday here.

The product is called the Parr High Performance System. Parr takes an architect’s plans, tweaks them, builds pieces of a house’s frame at a climate controlled plant and assembles the building’s envelope on site. It’s quick, easy and they say more efficient.

Parr says it reduces energy bills, reduces job site lumber waste by 75 percent, shortens the construction schedule, and provides cleaner air and consistent room temperature.

Oh, by the way, Toyota Housing Services has already entered the housing market in San Antonio, Texas.

Apparently, Toyota has been in the housing business since the 1970s. For more information on what the Japanese modular homes look like, see below or click here.

Nate Bond, director of sales at Parr, says houses have been built the same way since the stud frame home was invented in the 1800s. He says something needs to change to keep American homes competitive and efficient. If Asia brings a great, cheap, modular house to the mass American market, he said, “They would take over the U.S. housing market without firing a shot.” What do you think? Is he right?

If he is right, could efficient easy homes be the answer?

For an overview of the housing market from a mortgage planning perspective, check out this post called Brian’s Blog O-Parr-Tunity here.

For more on the Parr product, where the idea came from, how it works and building science, read my story in the DJC here.

Cars, cars and more cars were on the Globe2008 trade show floor, from the buyable 2008 Chevy Malibu Hybrid to Toyota’s futuristic Hybrid X concept car.

As far as fun goes, the Hybrid X was clearly the star of the show. Its design is sleek and sexy with eye-catching seats, steering wheel and lines that made conference attendees gawk and press their noses up against the car’s window panes. But much to the dismay of gawkers asking when they could purchase it, the car will not be manufactured. For more information and pictures, press here.

Other cars at the event looked similar to what you’d see on the road but featured hybrid, fuel cell and cellulosic ethanol propulsion systems. The Ford Focus fuel cell vehicles are hybrid electric fuel cell cars that never use a drop of gas. Ford made 30 of them in 2004 that are currently being tested in different climates like Florida, Michigan, and British Columbia. The hope is to eventually mass produce them.

If cars aren’t your dig, there are always electric scooters and bikes that plug into your wall. Canadian company Ecodrive Technology Group was exhibiting different models.

Other cars from Volkswagon, Chevrolet, General Motors and Peugeot were displayed.

Cars like this will help move the auto industry away from being petroleum-based, said Beth Lowery, vice president for environmental energy with GM’s global operations. And those cars will get more important as the world’s population grows, she said. Today, there are 6.6 billion people in the world and 890 million vehicles, she said, but by 2020, there will be 7.5 billion people and at least 1.1 billion cars.

Lowery also advocated for international and market-based regulations that could be applied on an economy-wide basis, rather than state standards, which impede the auto industry’s ability “to improve our technologies globally,” she said.

What do you think? Will the auto industry ever totally move away from petroleum? Are you despairing that you will never buy the Hybrid X or is its design just too odd? Let us know!