The Trends in Building Green panel last Thursday morning was a great success. There were a couple interesting take-aways from the panel’s materials and presentations:
- Smart property owners need to be taking energy savings seriously; Tommy Russo, Chief Technology Officer of Akridge, described their highly detailed efforts to analyze and implement projects with a reasonable return of investment horizon;
- Per Tom Mawson, Executive Director of the USGBC National Capital Region Chapter, the “USGBC is all about market transformation”
- Bobby Christian, CEO of Green 20 Now, LLC, and Mike Scelzi, President of Net Metering, Inc. demonstrated just how far we have come with access to energy metering information, and its implications on operations and cost savings
- Chris Pyke, Director of Research for USGBC, provided a wonderful overview of where LEED has been and where it may be going, in particular in the context of on-going performance of buildings and where those measures may not match design. For Chris and USGBC, the question primary question: “Is there a commitment to demonstrated performance … which is leadership” with regards to energy efficiency and sustainability.
- I covered some of the press crititiques of LEED, what the actual projects demonstrated, and finally where the performance debate may create significant liability issues in the future
My presentation is here for those who are interested. Mike Scelzi was also kind to provide his presntation as well. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or are interested in tracking down some of the participants or issues we covered.