Spring Break
Preparing for a green future
Chris Curry
Issue date: 9/30/08 Section: News
|
Attendees, exhibitors and speakers gathered for West Coast Green 2008, which combined an expo of materials and green building technology with a conference of educational programming and speakers.
A panel of glass covered in 3M window film protected people from the glare and heat of a bright red food-warming lamp.
People passing by were handed paper cups and urged to taste the results of the Multi-Pure water purification system.
Eight-foot-tall barricades of straw and recycled steel called Straw Wall building panels surrounded the Green Design Systems booth.
People rested their feet and legs while checking out the seats of the electric scooters on display from ELV motors. ELV said $1 can get a person 400 miles out of one of its scooters.
Jennifer Thomson, marketing director of West Coast Green, said the event recently moved from San Francisco to San Jose.
"The Silicon Valley being the heart of clean technology and really the mover behind driving this industry, we felt that it was important to be here among those innovators," she said.
The largest illustration of green building technology was the Harbinger House, a two-story building built from shipping containers complete with furnishings. The full landscaping included several 20-foot-tall olive trees.
John Dunnihoo, a member of the West Coast Green staff in exhibit sales, said his throat was getting sore from answering questions about the house all day.
"The idea really is specifically to show the general public as much about green building as we can do in one house - in the case of this house, not to just make a green house that's a box, but to make it beautiful as well," Dunnihoo said.
The house was constructed from five used metal shipping containers and, according to Dunnihoo, was assembled on-site in less than five hours. It showcased many of the green products that were being displayed on the expo floor surrounding it.
Agilewaves, a Menlo Park company, installed its resource and energy monitoring system in the house. The exterior of the house was painted in Kelly-Moore recycled, low-volatile-organic-compound paint. The outdoor kitchen countertops were made of PaperStone, a stone-like material made from paper and a cashew oil binding agent. LIVE Textiles manufactured the master bedroom curtains from pineapple husks. Modwalls tiled the bathrooms in recycled glass. Speaking across the street at the San Jose Civic Auditorium were former Vice President Al Gore and California Attorney General Jerry Brown.
Be the first to comment on this story