Maryland's Green Building Conference

Conference Overview by Dr. Mark Bundy
Dr. Mark Bundy welcomes the crowd at the Maryland Green Building Conference Maryland has just entered into a new phase in green building. On September 17th and 18th, nearly 400 attendees, speakers and exhibitors came together at Baltimore’s Maritime Institute near BWI airport to learn and discuss how to build, market and finance green building projects in the Mid-Atlantic region. Nationally recognized local experts used actual case studies to highlight the techniques used and incentives available for both the residential and commercial development communities. The Conference’s “how-to” information was specific to the market, climate and customs of the Mid-Atlantic Region and exhibits and poster sessions featured products, services and the latest design and construction techniques.

Interest in this conference exceeded the facility’s capacity and, unfortunately, we had to close registration a week before the Conference. While we apologize to those who could not register, it is wonderful to have this kind of response. It is really a reflection of how much the interest for designing and constructing better homes and buildings has grown in Maryland over the past several years.

Over the two days a lot was said about this concept of green building. What participants did not hear was a single definition of green building. That’s because there isn’t one. Projects come in all different shades of green. Each building, each project is different and combines a unique set of features that are specific to the location, budget and objectives of that project. However, as expressed by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), there are common threads to all green projects that can be grouped into three broad categories:

    A rain barrel donated by the Maryland Department of the Environment is given to the raffle winner.
  • Environmental Responsiveness - Protection-to-Regeneration
  • Resource Efficiency - Doing more with less: minimizing energy and material flows
  • Community and Cultural Sensitivity - Issues related to Quality of Life, Well Being, Equity, and Engaging Community Participation

RMI refers to this conceptual framework for green development as the application of ecological thinking to development. If William McDonough were commenting on this conceptual framework, he might say it like this:

"If we understand that design leads to the manifestation of human intention, and if what we make with our hands is to be sacred and honor the earth that gives us life, then the things we make must not only rise from the ground but return to it, soil to soil, water to water, so everything that is received from the earth can be freely given back without causing harm to any living system. This is ecology. This is good design."

David Orr of Oberlin College calls this framework Ecological Design, and would describe it this way:

"Ecological design means maximizing resource and energy efficiency, taking advantage of the free services of nature, recycling wastes, making ecologically smarter things, and educating ecologically smarter people. It means incorporating intelligence about how nature works into the way we think, design, build, and live. When human artifacts and systems are well designed, they are in harmony with the larger patterns in which they are embedded. When poorly designed, they undermine those larger patterns, creating pollution, higher costs, and social stress."

Regardless of how it is said, the key features of successful green development is that it establishes and reinforces connections between:

  • People and Place
  • People and Nature
  • Buildings and People
  • Buildings and Nature
MAGCO is one of the forty exhibitors at the Green Building Conference. Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of being on a panel with Bob Berkebile of BNIM Architects in Kansas City, MO. (When he was working with the American Institute of Architects, he founded the Committee on the Environment, which has certainly been instrumental in advancing the green building movement.) I would like to share with you a comment he made that I thought was very interesting. He noted that, if Thomas Jefferson were here today, he might be startled at some of the changes that have occurred since he was in Washington:
  • Back then, he would write a message by hand - send it to Europe on a boat - wait for the response. Today, we could accomplish this, in an instant with a cell phone or a PDA.

  • He might be amazed by devices such as an LCD projector that can selectively suck memory out of a laptop and then display it on a wall.
But then Bob laments that even with all this technology, if Thomas Jefferson looked at how we are constructing houses and buildings today, he would see that they are not unlike what he was doing at Monticello more than 200 years ago. If I can exercise a little editorial license, I think Thomas Jefferson might also be concerned that buildings in US:

Consume:

  • 40% of the US energy
  • 60% our electricity
Account for:
  • 17% total freshwater flows
  • 25% of harvested wood
  • 33% CO2 emissions
  • 40% of landfill material comes from construction waste
  • 1/3 of world’s materials and energy flow.
Nearly 1/3 of all buildings suffer from “sick building” syndrome. (EPA)

That a majority of the streams have habitat quality listed as fair to poor. Much of this is influenced by the amount of impervious land cover upstream. (Jefferson would be deeply distressed to realize that this has occurred even though better site design can prevent as much as 75% of the TSS, ammonia, copper, iron, lead, magnesium and zinc from entering adjacent waterways.)

A $500 gift certificate donated by Homestead Gardens is given away to raffle winner.

I believe this is why the conference auditorium was packed. Just as Jefferson would be, you as architect, design, building professionals and citizens today are concerned about these facts. You recognize that something should be and can be done … that there are better ways to build and develop … that we are capable of creating better places to live and work.

As you look at the Agenda, you will see the two days were packed with great speakers and breakout sessions providing loads of information. Our goal for this conference was to:

  • Broaden the participants understanding of the concept of Green Building
  • Showcase some of the great projects that are being done in and around Maryland
  • Educate participants about new State government programs
  • Connect participants with local “green” products and services
  • Accelerate the process of Market Transformation

From the comments we have received, I think we achieved our goals and then some. We clearly heard from you that this Conference should be an annual event. The success of this Conference was largely due to the tremendous effort of the Steering Committee. They spent a lot of time and thought putting together the agenda and getting the best speakers around for all the topics. My sincere thanks goes out to each of them. A big Thank You also goes out to our sponsors. Events like this are not possible without their contributions. Additionally, this Conference would not have taken place without the continued support of Fred Hoover and his staff at the Maryland Energy Administration, our Conference Co-Host. Lastly, I would like to thank the staff here at the Department of Natural Resources especially Matt Fleming and Sean McGuire for all their tireless hard work.

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Last updated on November 22, 2002