It never fails to amaze me that all green building people will somehow decide to host all their events on the same day or in the same week, making for something that I call green insanity. This week, my friends, is no exception.

Today (Monday): In case you missed it, the Puget Sound Partnership published

These events will keep you running!

its much awaited Action Agenda that outlines the health of Puget Sound. There was a huge brouhaha at the aquarium this afternoon. To reach the huge report, click here or read my article in the DJC tomorrow. To read my past writings on the agenda, click the Puget Sound tag below.

Tuesday: Noel Harding “artist and urban innovator” will speak as part of Transformational Lecture Series. His lecture will discuss art’s role in raising public awareness. The talk is free and begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Seattle Central Library. More info here.

Wednesday: The Northwest Environmental Business Council is hosting a luncheon at McCormick & Schmick’s Harborside restaurant about environmental issues during the state Legislature’s 2009 session. State Senator Dabbie Regala of Tacoma, Jerry Smedes of Smedes & Associates and Rep. David Upthegrove, D-Des Moines, will speak. It costs $35 for NEBC members and $48 for all others and runs from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more info, click here.

Thursday: The Master Builder’s Association of King and Snohomish Counties is hosting a sustainability breakfast that looks like classic green fare. It’s called ‘Integrating Sustainability into Your Business Planning’ and features Brenda Nunes giving the environmental case, Carolyn Hope giving the social and economic case and Cheryl Isen speaking about ways to leverage and promote sustainable practices. It’s at the MBA Housing Center in Bellevue from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. and costs $45 per person. More info here.

Then, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Triad Associates in Kirkland, the Associated Builders & Contractors’ Green Council  hosts a free roundtable discussion on green roofs. Wondering about ’em? Patrick Carey of Hadj Design will tell you all you need to know. More info here.

Later in the day, at 5:30 p.m., Tom Paladino of Paladino & Co., will speak about the triple bottom line and creating abundance through green building. This also, is part of the Transformational Lecture Series. It’s free and is at the Tacoma Public Utilities Auditorium. More info here.

Still later in the evening (if you want a really busy day) David Dicks, executive director of the Puget Sound Partnership, will discuss the projects and programs outlined in the action agenda and how they will be funded. Hosted by People by Puget Sound, it costs $6 for PSP members and $8 for nonmembers. IT is at REI at 7 p.m. For more info, call (206) 382-7007.

And heck, if you want to keep running, the Cascade Land Conservancy is hosting its annual holiday party for King County today from 4:30 to 8 p.m. Refreshments and appetizers will be served, and there is no RSVP required. It’s at 615 2nd Ave, Suite 600 in Seattle. Click here for more.

And that, my friends, should keep you busy!

Last year was my first Greenbuild in Chicago and man, was I overwhelmed! Heck, I know I wasn’t the only one, based on the article here I wrote in the DJC. I tell you, me and 23,000 of my closest friends really got to know each other better.

The criticism of that Greenbuild, as quoted in the above article, is that the

This was Greenbuild 2007

conference was “best for beginners,” “too touchy-feely” and too “focused on commercialism.” It will be interesting to see how these issues play out at Greenbuild 2008.

This year in Boston, I’m betting the crowds will be just as big. And thankfully (to my amazing employer), I will be there to witness it yet again and share the experience with you. So if you’re not going, keep your Internet tuned to the DJC Green Building Blog for daily updates on talks, sessions and whatever else comes my way.

If you are going however, and you want to have more than snowball’s chance in a hot sauna of meeting other people from Seattle (last year I recognized a colleague out of the corner of my eye and went running after him, arms flailing so as not to lose sight of him amongst thousands of bodies)… I suggest you visit the Web site Konstructr and sign up for Greenbuild - The Konstructr Delegation. Billed as “the place for construction professionals to connect,” the site is exactly that — plus interesting commentary, events and news articles. If you’re interested in green building at all, you might want to check this out as it seems a great resource.

As for the Greenbuild group, the invitation in my in box cordially invited me to join with this handy description by Vik Duggal:

Anyone who has attended Greenbuild in the past can identify with the
overwhelming number of programs available. And if you are like us, you
probably remember being energized and full of ideas, only to return to
your routine without further discussing or developing these ideas.  We are forming the Konstructr Delegation, which is an offline manifestation of the online community of design professionals we are building, to encourage more interaction during and after the conference.

Sound good? Join up. If you’re going, I’ll see you there (as long as you’re part of this group, that is). And if you’re not, tell me why. And what you’d like me to cover. I can’t promise anything but you never know what you might get if you just ask.

For anyone who looks to Denmark as a beacon of shining light in green and efficient design, tomorrow is there an event for you!

The University of Washington is hosting a free talk on sustainable design in the Pacific Northwest and in Denmark. Speakers are Louise Grassov of Gehl Architects in Copenhagen, Jim Huffman of Busby Perkings + Will, and Roger Geller of the city of Portland’s Office of Transportation. Peter Steinbrueck of Urban Strategies will moderate. The talk is called “Urban Design for Walkable, Bikable Cities.”

This lecture series, called Global Green, is presented by the Green Futures Research and Design Lab. I’ve been to two of them so far and I highly recommend them. For more information, visit http://greenfutures.washington.edu/events.php.

Readers, I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a couple days here, but like I mentioned in an earlier post, September is CRAZY. Tuesday, that craziness was exemplified by my calendar, which had me rushing from the Urban Land Institute’s launch of the Quality

Busy, busy times!

Growth Alliance in downtown Seattle, to a panel discussion (that I moderated) in Bellevue, and back to our offices in Pioneer Square to write up the story. Whew.

In case you missed both those events (and the recommendations put out by the Western Climate Initiative to boot) here is a rundown for your viewing pleasure:

The Quality Growth Alliance. Anyone remember Reality Check in April? The huge event that got 250 big-wigs playing with Legos? At that event (DJC story on it here), I spoke with Jim Potter of Kauri Investments who told me it was a great planning exercise as long as the results didn’t fade away into the sunset. Well the alliance is the attempt of prominent groups - from the UW’s College of Architecture and Urban Planning to NAIOP - to make sure the results stick around and influence future planning policy. More info in my story in today’s DJC or at their Web site.

The Panel Discussion. In case you missed this one, it was a lot of fun. Hosted by SMPS, panelists represented various fields of the AEC community (architecture, engineering, construction) and were Eric Anderson of MulvannyG2, Jeffrey Cox of Triad Associates, Rae Anne Rushing of Rushing and Yancy Wright of Sellen Construction Co. Among some of the interesting tidbits:

• Collectively, panelists said sustainable or green design is changing so quickly, that as soon as you read about it, it’s old. If you want to know what’s going on you need to work to educate yourself. This is true for everyone, and especially for marketers.
• Marketing and public relations professionals, they said, need to be really careful about sounding really stupid. Oftentimes they (and I incidentally) get press releases that virtually make no sense. If you’re going to write about green systems or projects, understand it, otherwise you run the risk of major embarrassments (I can’t tell you how often I get press releases that tell me a product will get me 10 “Leeds” points).
• Green building doesn’t have to be more expensive if you start from the beginning and have the right leaders on board. If you start thinking about integrative design and green systems midway through a project, there’s a good chance it’s going to be more expensive.
• Everyone needs to be on board with green building, even those who have been in the industry for many years and are hesitant to change the way they work. Panelists said they need all disciplines at an eco-charette and that bringing and open mind really, really helps.
• Definitions aren’t clear and because everyone has different definitions…. it’s hard to understand what a word, be it ‘eco-charette,’ ’sustainability’ or ‘integrative design,’ means to a specific person. Define those definitions for your project, or your company.

Western Climate Initiative. And don’t forget yesterday’s announced recomendations by the Western Climate Initiative for a regional cap and trade system. If you want to learn more about this one, read the Seattle Times or the PI.

Also, if you’re looking for an interesting way to fill your Thursday evening, Patrick Bellew of Atelier Ten will speak at the downtown Seattle Library at 5:30.

That’s all for today folks. If I don’t thank you enough, thanks for reading!

If you, like me, are interested in green building, live in the Seattle area and always have your ears perked up for a good party, I’ve got a scoop for you.

Wednesday, CascadeBuilt debuts its Alley House (at left) in Madison Valley at a free open house. It’s at 222 26th Ave. E., Seattle, and runs from 5 to 8 p.m.

I wrote about the Alley House at the end of June in the DJC here. In case you missed it, it’s a pretty interesting project. The house itself is going for LEED platinum through your usual green suspects… SIPs, healthy finishes, solar heating that pre-heats water etc.

In Seattle, LEED platinum houses are still pretty rare - there’s only two (so far) in the Seattle area… Ashworth Cottages and Mike Mastro’s personal residence (more on that in the DJC next week).

But what I found most interesting about the project was the developer - Sloan Ritchie. First, the Alley House is infill and was built in Ritchie’s back yard. Second, Ritchie has only been a developer for three years (wireless engineer before that). Third, he talked about LEED platinum not at all being the pinnacle of green design, but rather the best he could achieve at this time. His goal, he said, is to keep pushing each project further. I hear this a lot from big firms but it’s a whole different story coming from the little guy. Next up (at some point) will be a netzero project.

To RSVP to the open house, e-mail 222@cascadebuilt.com. To learn more about the project, visit its Web site here. To read Ritchie’s blog on project progress, go here.

P.S. It’s priced at $770,000. Also, if for some reason you can’t make it Wednesday, there will be a Greendrinks tour of it on Aug. 23 (more here).

How much trash does a “green” event produce? Evidently, a lot if you’re the U.S. Green Building Council’s GreenBuild 2007. The annual conference, held in Chicago last year, created 44 tons of waste.

Granted, 91 percent of it - or 40 tons -  did not end up in the landfill, according to Dan Bulley, chair of the Volunteer Committee for Greenbuild in 2007. Instead 300 college students sorted through the waste.

Of the 40 tons of waste diverted, Bulley said seven tons were food scrap, and six tons were wood from expo displays in the exhibit hall.

What’s 40 tons of waste? For people around Seattle, it’s all the dog droppings left in Snohomish County over two days. For out of towners, it’s 260,000 items that washed up on New Jersey’s beaches over a year. For the U.S., it’s on the low end of the total waste a person produces in a year.

When you rationalize the numbers out, the mass waste makes some sense…. it was a week long conference and expo with an exhibit hall and 25,000 participants, so Bulley says it works out to about 3.5 pounds of waste per person (nevermind most people only stayed three days but we’ll go with it….).

But does mass waste ever make sense? The diversion fact is commendable. And the image of college students rifling through my waste (yes, I was at GreenBuild) is something to ponder. But did that 44 tons of waste need to be created in the first place?

Think about it… thousands of people gathering together to figure out how to save the environment and how to build green. And yet they still can’t not use things. 44 tons of things. Thrown away. Isn’t green building all about the idea that the little things - like 44 tons of waste - matter?

No wonder right wing talk show hosts call greenies hypocrites.

Remembering back, the hefty 187-page program could have been …. digital! Or it could have been easier to compost food scraps, or recycle nametags.  Those participating in the expos could have used less literature or cards that pointed attendees to a Web site.

Or, as a green building consultant said to me the other day, the entire conference could have been virtual. If 44 tons of trash sounds like a lot, imagine the carbon emissions from the millions of miles of air travel. (I for one met people from the U.K, Japan, Canada….)

This is by no means an isolated event, just a high profile one. But it seems to me an example of the kinks, shall we say, in the green building movement. Do I have something here or is it too much to think that people promoting green … could change the way they do things? It’s like not seeing the forest for the trees (that were at least, diverted).

For more, Building Design + C0ntruction runs the full press release here. FrontBurner asks if green trash is still green here. Or in another scenario from Wired Magazine here, Brandon Keim explores a Japanese city that just stopped waste collection. Now there’s an idea. 

Environment meetings are interesting but they can tend to be a tad dry. To make them a little more interesting, some groups are adding… well alcohol, to make the party rock.

The only problem? Both these parties are on the same date of July 17!!! What a time to get your eco-groove on.

The Northwest Environmental Business Council hosts a rooftop mixer from 5 to 7:30 on the seventh floor outdoor deck of K&L Gates. This party promises hobnobbing with NEBC board of directors, NEBC members and other colleagues. It also features two drinks per person and hors d’oeuvres by Pyramid Catering. It costs $35 for NEBC members and $45 for non members.

That same day from 5 to 8 p.m., there’s the Seattle Great City Initiative’s Summer Street Scene Party. This one is at the South Lake Union Discovery Center and features food and drink from local companies, local musicians, an “urban design corner” of locally designed sustainability projects, exhibitors on alternative energy and transportation choices, and a “street for people” competition” (click here for more on that).  As far as I can tell, this one is free.

Unfortunately, like I said, both are on the same day so you’re going to have to choose one… unless you’re a particularly active party-goer. Sadly, I won’t be at either as I’ll be on vacation that day, so if you go, tell me how it went!

If you, like me, can’t make it to either, there’s also monthly Greendrinks, which on July 8 only will be hosted in multiple locations. To see if green people are gathering at a bar in your Seattle neighborhood, click here.

Happy eco partying and networking!

Green awards, green awards. There’s lots of them out there but what’s the point? And what’s the responsibility of people doling them out?

That is the topic, to some extent, of an AIA Seattle forum I’m presenting at tomorrow. I am a guest panelist - the token architectural outsider - along with Lucia Athens of Seattle’s Green Building Team and a host of locally known architects including Marc Jenefsky, Anne Schopf, Peter Steinbrueck, Dan Williams and Rick Zieve. Jerome Diepenbrock, chair of the AIA ethics and practice committee will moderate. (more…)

If you’re already a LEED AP, or just want to take your green building education to the next level, the Cascadia chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council has a great opportunity for you.

In June, Cascadia launches ‘Living Building Leader.’ A program designed to go further than LEED and educate participants about the different parts of a living building. The very, very best part of this for people interested in living buildings across the country is it’s an online course, so even if you live in New York City let’s say, you can take it too!

The first session is June 4th. The topic is “spirit and meaning in design” and examines how buildings can celebrate place, culture and the environment. Jason McLennan, CEO of Cascadia, is presenting this topic.

For more about the program, click more (more…)

Monday: The University of Washington’s College of Architecture and Urban Planing and Scan| Design Foundation are hosting an event called “Energy and design: sustainable approaches for climate protection.” The event is from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Kane Hall, Room 110.  Panelists will look at sustainable energy in Scandinavia, net-zero energy and photovolatic applications in Europe. For more, click here.

Tuesday:A tad last minute for me to tell you, but there’s a comprehensive tour of Bellevue City Hall today that goes from 10 to 11 a.m. For more, click here.

Tuesday:Seattle Leed User’s Group meets at the Lighting Design Lab this morning at 7:30. They’re discussion green schools and the speaker is the U.S. Green Building Council’s green school guy for this region, Gregg Hepp.  More info, click here.

Tuesday:The Washington Climate Action Team is meeting today in Seattle. The team is working to turn the most promising recommendation’s from last year’s version of this process into policies and actions. For more, click here.

Thursday: AIA Seattle is hosting a forum called “Chicken houses, churches and change: adaptive re-use of rural and vernacular buildings.” It will look at King County’s reuse of agricultural buildings and costs $5 for members and $20 for non-members. For more info, click here.