I recently attended the West Coast Green conference in San Francisco and came out enthused and confused.

I was enthused about the progress the green building industry is making. That over 14,000 people from all over the country came to learn about the new innovations in green building is huge for an industry, which in many ways, is in its infancy.

I listened to speakers from all sides of the business, real estate experts, government officials, green building consultants, and contractors to list only a few. They all provided interesting insights on where the industry was and should be going and a bit about it how it was going to get there.

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Article by Amy Hengst appearing courtesy of Matter Network.

Termite mounds may look like ugly piles of dirt, but they provide important clues for architects designing energy-efficient buildings.

Termite mounds are built six to 30 feet high off the ground in hot ecosystems and are riddled with tunnels at their peaks that provide passive ventilation, allowing cool air to flow through. Architects in Zimbabwe have used the termites’ model in building a large, beautiful building with a similar ventilation system.

By imitating nature’s model, they were able to save 90 percent in energy costs because they didn’t need to install any air conditioning, according to designer Jeremy Faludi.

This process of emulating nature is called biomimicry. Speaking at the West Coast Green conference last week in San Francisco, Faludi said biomimicry could help us create products and buildings that are more material and energy-efficient, robust, flexible, and long-lasting.

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Article by Amy Hengst appearing courtesy of Matter Network.

Once upon a time, the levies along the rivers in Sacramento, California were becoming unstable, so the city planted Eastern white oak trees to help root and hold them in place. The trees grew to maturity, but eventually the city re-evaluated them and realized they were no longer stabilizing the levies. The trees needed to be taken out.

Such is the story from Earth Source Forest Products, an organization that stepped in and bought up all the old oak wood, to recycle and resell. The company claims to be one of the first companies certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an independent, non-profit organization that strives to make sure its members harvest and manufacture their hardwood products responsibly. According to Earth Source, the FSC is the strictest of the standards-setting bodies for responsible forest management.

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Like many Americans who don’t realize that every time you flip the switch on a television or light, it results in the burning of coal or natural gas at a power plant, Britney Spears does not prioritize the use of energy in her life.

Why? A) She is crazy, B) Like so many others she doesn’t recognize that she personally is responsible for the pollution that is generated through her energy use, or C) All of the above.

If you answered A or C, shame on you. Similar to you or myself, without recognizing that she has a problem, it wouldn’t occur to Britney to change her behavior.

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With the recent surge in money going towards renewable energy research and implementation, many people are forgetting a key factor in reducing our impact on the environment: energy efficiency.

Utilizing renewable energy in your home or commercial building is great, don’t get me wrong, but before this expensive option is employed, you should first look at the efficiency of your home or building’s energy systems.

If your building wastes energy, you should prioritize improving this aspect and use the money that you had set aside for a renewable project to accomplish the task.

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Next week one of the premier events in the world of green building, water, energy, clean tech, social innovation and what many call the “new economy” will occur in San Francisco at the Fort Mason Center.

Billed as the “world’s largest conference on green innovation” for buildings, West Coast Green runs from Oct 1-3. It’s packed with presentations such as “Greening Existing Buildings: The Biggest Piece of the Low Carbon Puzzle,” “The Smart Grid Meets Smart Buildings” and “The Water & Energy Nexus.”

The conference is expected to draw over 14,000 attendees and a veritable who’s who in the world of green and clean technologies. Authors, CEOs, government representatives, entrepreneurs and inventors will show off and discuss innovative new products that can help us create a more sustainable world.

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