Green Building Summit and Expo set to go

Dennis J. Carroll | For The New Mexican

10/17/2009 - 10/18/09

Constructing a truly green, energy-efficient home means much more than just tacking a few solar panels on the roof and installing slow-flow shower heads in the bathrooms.

"You have to understand how a building works," says green home energy guru David Johnston. "How does water impact a building? How does air move through a building and how do you trap it? What's the sun's effect on a building?"

Johnston is president of What's Working, a Boulder, Colo., firm that since the early '90s has been advising governments, builders, Realtors and "anyone who has anything to do with a house" on energy conservation and residential- and commercial-property sustainability.

He will bring his expertise to Santa Fe this weekend as one of three keynote speakers at the second annual Green Building Summit and Expo sponsored by the Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center.

The conference begins Thursday with three days of a wide variety of certification classes for lenders, real estate agents, builders, appraisers, architects, home-building inspectors and energy raters.

The professionals will be able to earn continuing-education credits by attending the courses, taught by local experts on topics that include tax financing for solar systems, understanding energy-rating systems, building biology, building affordable green homes, radon issues and classes for appraisers and lenders on assessing the value of green construction elements.

Other keynote speakers will be Gord Cooke, president of Air Solutions, Inc. of Cambridge, Ontario, and a board member of the Energy and Environmental Building Alliance of Eden Prairie, Minn.; and Cliff Majersik, executive director of the Institute for Market Transformation in Washington, D.C.

The Santa Fe building industry's interest in the green, sustainable building movement has peaked and then waned over the past 10 to 15 years, Johnston said in an interview.

"In the mid-1990's there was lots of interest from Santa Fe," Johnston said, but that faded only a few years later.

"It's been a matter of fits and starts with great intentions (but) without ever taking a leadership position," he said.

Santa Fe has lagged behind other, much larger communities including Austin, Texas; San Francisco and Minneapolis. Johnston said.

Area builders recently have maintained that the Santa Fe building community has taken significant steps toward becoming a national green-building leader.

Johnston applauded the collaborative effort among building industry interests that have once again surfaced behind the city's Residential Green Building Code, passed in July.

Such a code, which Johnston has helped to develop in several cities, ensures that sustainability measures will achieve "100 percent penetration of the market," he said.

The summit's green building expo will be open to the public Saturday and Sunday with local businesses and experts offering advice on green technology relating to solar, geothermal, doors, windows, insulation, green contractors, landscaping and water systems, among others.

Kim Shanahan, president of the home builders association, said he expects about 250 participants in the summit — up from about 180 last year — and 2,500 to 3,000 people at the expo.

Related Web sites include www.whatsworking.com, www.greenbuildingsummit.com and the Santa Fe Home Builders Association at www.sfahba.com or 982-1774.


What: Santa Fe Green Building Summit and Expo
When: Thursday-Saturday — Summit for registered building industry members. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. — Green Expo for public
Where: Santa Fe Community Convention Center, 201 W. Marcy St.