USGBC Greenbuild 2011 Social Equity Scholarship

One fine evening, to my most pleasant surprise, I found about my selection as one of the five candidates for the USGBC Greenbuild 2011 Social Equity Scholarship from World Green Building Council (World GBC) to attend World GBC Congress 2011 and USGBC Greenbuild 2011 Conference & Expo. in Toronto, Canada. I remember myself bouncing and jumping all around with joy in reaction to this award. Wow!

I reached Toronto on 1^st October 2011, a day before World GBC Congress 2011. On the first day of the congress, I was exhilarated to see a huge group which comprised members of around eighty Green Building Councils (GBCs) from all over the world, attending and interacting with enormous enthusiasm. There was a profound positivity among the people; everyone was sharing their experiences about the ongoing Green building movement around the world as well as in their countries. Here I met the other four fellow World GBC’s scholarship awardees who came all the way from Tunisia, South Africa, and Trinidad & Tobago. Later in the day, I attended a discussion about the financial challenges which the upcoming GBCs were facing in establishing a market driven model of green buildings in their countries. I was glad to see how older and mature GBCs were helpful in sharing their own learning on how they overcame such challenges in their countries.

The second and last day of the World GBC Congress started with panel discussions and ended up with an award dinner. Here I met the founder of USGBC Mr. David Gottfried and exchanged a few words with him about the ongoing Green building movement across the globe and especially in India.

The next day was the first of the four days of USGBC Greenbuild 2011 Conference & Expo. which was organised in two huge buildings of Toronto Metro Convention Centre. I spent the whole day in the colossal Greenbuild exposition, which was so huge that one needs at least a complete week to visit all the counters. This exposition was my personal favourite, which gave me an opportunity to explore different technologies, which I always wished to understand, such as heat recovery wheel, advanced rain water harvesting system, translucent photovoltaic systems, phase change materials, onsite garbage recycler, outdoor radiant heating systems, green roofs and many more. Apart from the product expo., I also met many professors from different universities such as Prof. Edward Arens, and Prof. Gail Brager from University of California Berkeley and discussed my higher education plans. Later in the day, I met the other twenty five highly motivated Greenbuild 2011 scholarship awardees who were all from different parts of the world. Today even after the Greenbuild, we all are in touch with each other and sharing each other’s progress in the Green field.

Continuing with the Greenbuild - The next three days I attended the following education sessions:

Passivhaus: Bringing German Energy Design Home to LEED

Speakers: Ross Elliott, H Prudence Ferreira, Bronwyn Barry

Can we have our cake and eat it too? Balancing Energy Efficiency and Occupant Comfort

Moderator: Sahar Abbaszadeh | Speakers: Linda Sorrento, Gwelen Paliaga, Dan Int-Hout

Oregon Sustainability Center: A Triple Net Zero Building

Moderator: Dennis Wilde | Speakers: Kyle Andersen, Lisa Petterson, Steve Clem

Implementing Next Generation Cradle to Cradle: Policy & Practice

Moderator: David Johnson | Speakers: Steven Zornetzer, David Orr, David Nieh

Learning from Buildings: Technologies for Measuring, Benchmarking, and Improving Performance

Moderator: Gail Brager | Speakers: Ed Arens, David Lehrer, John Goins

Hospital Configuration and Systems Integration for Reduced Energy Use

Moderator: Andre Kroeger | Speakers: Paul Marmion, Paul Marmion, Dr. Andrew William Woods, Charles Alan Short

Today, back in India, I feel that the whole experience of Greenbuild 2011 in Toronto has motivated me immensely to continue contributing towards Green buildings and sustainability. I am highly thankful to the USGBC, the WorldGBC, and the Indian Green Building Council (CII-IGBC) for providing me this great opportunity. In the last, I would like to say that I will always cherish the memories I received from Greenbuild 2011.

Thank you!!

Vaibhav Jain