Greening the Heartland ’08

For three days this week, St. Louis was host to the US Green Building Council’s Greening the Heartland conference.  Focusing on green building and sustainability, this year’s conference theme was “Embracing Change ’08.”  It featured a strong lineup of speakers and educational programs, workshops, a bike tour of sustainable buildings, a tour of the LEED gold certified St. Louis Community College Wildwood campus, a tour of the LEED platinum certified Alberici headquarters, and a hall for exhibitors.  Educational programs were grouped into government, corporate, green communities, and education tracks.

Though I was mainly interested in kitchen and bath products like IceStone, PaperStone, and Vetrazzo countertops and Koch & Co. cabinets, I found myself sitting down with exhibitors who had something new and interesting to present, like the guys from Huntleigh McGehee, who specialize in Green Insurance, which I plan to write more about next week.  Other exhibitors showed off windmill technology, natural insulation, SIPs panels, sustainable printing, green design/architecture firms, solar shades, green roofs, and much more.

For me, the most impressive part of this year’s conference was the increased expertise of those with whom I spoke.  In past years, it was clear that some exhibitors at green conferences were salespeople who had little idea of what made something green - or worse, they clearly believed that green was just a fad that they could make a quick buck off.  There was a little of that this time around, including someone who, when asked about his product’s VOCs, told me about the company’s carbon credits.  But overall the exhibitors were much more knowledgeable on all aspects of their product, from embodied energy to formaldehyde levels to LEED credits.

The St. Louis chapter of the US Green Building Council, as well as diamond and platinum sponsors Wal-Mart and Interface Flor,  should be commended for this year’s Greening the Heartland convention.  It was well organized, well attended, the food was outstanding, and the party Monday night, sponsored by Landco Construction, was held at the City Museum, one of the coolest venues in the country to hold an event.