Thousands of global green building and sustainability leaders recently gathered in Atlanta for the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo, where various educational sessions and keynote speeches took place.
The conference, which took place from Nov. 19-22, at the LEED Gold Georgia World Congress Center, was presented by the U.S. Green Building Council, and is and owned and operated by Informa Connect.
Greenbuild 2019 Recap and Updates
According to GBCI, Greenbuild is the largest green building conference and expo in the world and constantly aims to achieve sustainability advancements in the generation’s buildings and communities. Greenbuild is also USGBC’s opportunity to celebrate work achieved, beginning LEED updates and other plans that intend to propel green building in the future.
During the conference, the event also featured a sold-out Women in Green luncheon, the recognition of sustainability all-stars at the Leadership Awards reception and the announcement of 29 new LEED Fellows. Overall, GBCI reports that this year’s conference successfully improved attendees’ connection with the spaces they rely on every day.
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Greenbuild International Conference and Expo
The conference, which took place from Nov. 19-22, at the LEED Gold Georgia World Congress Center, was presented by the U.S. Green Building Council, and is and owned and operated by Informa Connect.
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Greenbuild International Conference and Expo |
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The conference, which took place from Nov. 19-22, at the LEED Gold Georgia World Congress Center, was presented by the U.S. Green Building Council, and is and owned and operated by Informa Connect.
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“Many people may not be thinking about how a building impacts them or their environment,” said Kim Heavner, Vice President, conferences and events at USGBC. “That’s why this year’s theme, ‘A New Living Standard,’ explored how we can broaden that conversation and help connect the dots between people and the places where they live, work, learn and play.”
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To help create the conversation were keynote speakers civil rights activist Dr. Bernice King; architect and MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang; youth climate activist Jamie Margolin; climate and weather expert Dr. Marshall Shepherd; and former President Barack Obama.
In addition to the program’s achievements this year, USGBC also made several announcements about the following program updates:
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USGBC Equity will advance social equity in our communities: a new initiative designed to highlight and bring attention to the spectrum of work that USGBC is doing around social equity and will help determine what individuals are currently doing to advance social equity and how LEED buildings, cities and communities are contributing;
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USGBC Announces Vision for LEED Positive: a vision statement and LEED development roadmap that will lay the foundation for a future of LEED that is regenerative. The LEED Positive vision will guide USGBC in transitioning LEED from strategies that reduce the harm done by buildings to strategies that cause no harm and begin the process of healing and repair;
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Launch of the “Insight” Feature to Help Green Building Projects Prioritize Sustainability Strategies and Improve Performance: a new data-driven feature that highlights building project design features that can lead to better performance, provides information on the design attributes of LEED-certified buildings within a specified geographic region and helps project teams compare and rank potential sustainability strategies to see how they stack up against the performance of other buildings. Insight was created in partnership with Skanska and is available as a feature of the Arc platform;
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Arc Roles Out New Improvements: created to help people design, build and operate buildings and spaces that benefit both people and the environment. This year at Greenbuild, a number of improvements were announced to enhance the Arc user experience, including performance certificates at the energy, water, waste, transportation and human experience levels, improvement scores for continued advancement of Arc projects and “Arc for All,” which makes Arc available free of charge for all users;
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Green Business Certification Inc. Rolls Out ISSP Professional Credentials, Recognizing Expertise in the Field of Sustainability: GBCI added two sustainability credentials to its suite of green business services. Originally developed by the International Society of Sustainability Professionals, GBCI will maintain, promote and deliver the ISSP Sustainability Associate and ISSP Certified Sustainability Professional. The credentials provide third-party verification of competency in the field of sustainability and recognize individuals committed to making the world more economically, socially and environmentally sustainable; and
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City of Atlanta Achieves LEED Certification, Marking 100 Certified LEED Cities and Communities: Atlanta’s Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and USGBC President and CEO Mahesh Ramanujam announced during the conference’s Wednesday keynote that the City of Atlanta earned a LEED Silver certification, making it the 100th certification for LEED for Cities and Communities. USGBC launched LEED for Cities and Communities in 2016 as a globally consistent framework for measuring and tracking sustainability at the city and community scale.
Greenbuild 2020 is slated to take place in November in San Diego.
