Resilience and Window Attachments at BuildingEnergy 2012

Going to BuildingEnergy this year? There are a lot of exciting sessions to choose from.

Alex Wilson, a naturalist as well as a green building expert, knows a thing or two about being prepared.

Interdisciplinary, cutting-edge, and combining high-flown philosophical ideas with practical nuts-and-bolts advice, the BuildingEnergy Conference in Boston is not only close to home but also close to our hearts. Every year, we look forward to meeting with old friends and hearing a lot of new ideas. This year, the conference is slated for March 6 & 7, and we'll be presenting some new ideas of our own.

If you're going, don't forget to stop by our booth--#656--and say hi!

Building Resilience for Climate Risks

BuildingGreen founder and executive editor Alex Wilson will be giving a talk on resilience at 2 p.m. Wednesday, March 7. As in his blog series on the topic and in an upcoming feature article, Alex will address a lot of interrelated issues in this session, including synergies between sustainable design and resilient design as well as the urgency of changing the way we build now. The session also looks beyond buildings to discuss land-use planning and local food systems. It's a hot, emerging topic, and we hope you'll be able to attend to hear the latest on this important issue.

Making Existing Windows Work Better

At 4 p.m. that same day, Peter Yost, our director of residential programs, will be sharing the latest results from research BuildingGreen is participating in with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Peter will take an objective, evidence-based look at which window attachments (a.k.a. window treatments) are proven to offer the highest energy performance in the lab and in the field. This research can help you help clients make informed decisions about existing windows. Making windows work better doesn't have to be expensive and doesn't have to mean replacement.

What's new at BE12

A lot is new at BuildingEnergy this year. The always-exciting keynote address will feature a new TED-talk format, with three speakers sharing their "breakthrough thinking and practice," according to the conference organizers. The new campus sustainability and healthcare tracks also caught our eye.

No armchair green building advice here! Peter Yost has more than 25 years of hands-on construction and building science experience under his coveralls.

Personally, I'm hoping to catch Mark Price and John Straube's building science session on water management for walls as well as the smart grid update with Joel Gordes and Roddy Diotalevi.

Free bus plus early bird registration

Even the transportation options are getting more sustainable, with free charter buses offered from Western Massachusetts both days. You have to be registered to sign up, and seats are going to be limited, so we'd recommend early registration.

Speaking of which, early registration rates end this Friday, February 10.