Green Building Services

GBS principal and 2011 LEED Fellow Alan Scott takes in Toronto architecture during the 2011 Greenbuild conference.

GREEN BUILDING GOES INTERNATIONAL

Although Toronto is only a few steps north of the border, the fact that Greenbuild was held for the first time outside the U.S. was symbolic of the international explosion of the LEED Framework that has occurred over the past few years. The conference drew participants from over 100 nations and conversations both at the podium and in the halls were global in nature. I personally met people from every continent, save Antarctica.

For me, one of the highlights was the opening keynote at the International Summit, where Dr. Nils Kok from Maastricht University presented research he is doing at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley on the economic performance of green buildings through the recent economic downturn. Even, perhaps especially, in hard times, green buildings around the world are commanding higher rents and delivering better returns to their investors.

The World Green Building Council was prominently featured throughout the conference and USGBC CEO Rick Fredrizzi was elected the new Chair of the World GBC. Green Building Councils from several countries, including the Peru GBC , were recognized as established members of the World GBC. There are now green building councils in over 50 nations.

While the old adage, think global, act local still holds true, it is clear that we also need to act globally to tackle environmental, social and economic challenges, whether that be global climate change or helping our neighbors with efforts like the USGBC’s Project Haiti.

Check out our full album of photos from Greenbuild 2011.

Cheers,

Alan

- Alan has attended seven Greenbuilds including the very first Expo in Austin (2002).  At Greenbuild NEXT, Alan was inducted into the inaugural class of LEED Fellows. Alan Scott lives in Portland and may or may not be The Green Lantern.

One of our core green team members, Peter Walker-Keleher (far left), moved with his family to Doha, Qatar to provide sustainability consulting for a large-scale development project.

GBS senior sustainability consultant, Peter Walker-Keleher recently transplanted himself and his family to Doha, Qatar to manage and align the implementation of LEED strategies for the Msheireb Heart of Doha development. As an international consultant, Peter maintains a close relationship with our Portland team and will be periodically sharing his stories about living and working in, virtually, a whole new world.

Before my family and I moved to Doha, a friend, who had spent some time at the U.S. Air Force Base in Qatar, called this place, “the surface of the sun.” Fortunately, we arrived after the hottest months of July and August. By September 2^nd, the day we arrived, the city had cooled down to a balmy, humid, 110 degrees. I feel a bit unoriginal commenting on the heat for my first post, but I cannot avoid it. The heat (much like the rain in Portland) shapes life in Doha.

I knew nothing about Qatar 6 months ago and I am learning new things every day about the economy and culture. Due to the large natural gas reserves, Qatar is the wealthiest country in the world per-capita. This also lends to its highest energy use per capita, which is nearly double that of the United States. It is the only country in the world to have no fresh surface water. Interestingly, non-Qataris out-number Qataris 4 to 1. As an American sustainability consultant, it is quite an interesting context to be working in.

One anecdote that paints a picture of my initial relationship with Qatar’s heat occurred on one of my first nights in Doha. After shopping for groceries in the mall, I took my two children to the car to rest. In line with my commitment to sustainability, I desperately hoped to avoid turning on the air conditioner. I lived through summer in Fort Worth, Texas without it, why would I need it now? In no time the heat took over and I relented (for the comfort of my children, of course). I turned the car’s air conditioning on and pondered the craziness of burning gas that was heating up the garage so I could keep cool inside (many people would leave their cars running with AC on while they went shopping).

I learned that before 1947, there was only one air-conditioner in all of Qatar. Observing the culture of energy-use in Qatar and reflecting on personal experience has contributed to motivation behind my work here. In order to be a highly-efficient sustainability consultant, I need to learn more about the strategies of life before air-conditioning and apply this to modern practices. I’m looking forward to continuing my work and journey here. Stay tuned for more updates in the future!