In conjunction with the ArchitectureBoston Expo, attendees filled the Boston Convention and Exposition Center Nov. 8-10 for the 2017 Greenbuild Expo held by the United States Green Building Council.
More than 500 exhibitors filled Greenbuild’s two-day product expo show to meet with potential clients and showcase their latest energy and water-saving units. Manufacturers such as Greenbuild-mainstay Kohler brought its signature trailer to show off new technologies such as its Revolution 360 swirl flush.
Master Plumber Ed DelGrande showed Kohler booth visitors what the Revolution 360 can do. It uses the company’s AquaPiston canister technology, allowing water to flow out of the tank at 360° thus increasing the power and effectiveness of the flush. Once the flush water flows, the powerful, swirling flush from the Revolution 360 keeps the bowl cleaner for longer than a conventional flush.
Watts Water Technologies, which exhibited at Greenbuild for the first time since 2013, displayed its RainCycle commercial rainwater harvesting system. The RainCycle captures, stores, pumps and treats rainwater that can be used in irrigation, toilet, washing and more applications. Additionally, the RainCycle can be customized to match a project or locations demands.
The more you know
There were more than 200 educational sessions and workshops during Greenbuild 2017. On the final day of the show, Jeff Boldt, director of innovation and quality for Middleton, Wis.-based engineering firm IMEG, and Leonard Sciarra, an architect with Chicago-based firm Gensler, presented “ASHRAE 90.1-2016: Changing How Buildings are Built.” The duo spoke to a full room of nearly 500 attendees to discuss the revisions and additions made to ASHRAE 90.1.
Boldt and Sciarra, both members of the ASHRAE 90.1 committee, noted how the new standard has higher IEER volume for VRF equipment in design, as well as a new section on chilled water plant monitoring to prevent Legionella outbreaks.
According to both Boldt and Sciarra, Life-cycle costs play a major role in developing the standard and in green building design. “Everything we do is based on that,” Boldt stated.
The next step
“All In” was the theme set by the USGBC for Greenbuild 2017. The organization boasts that LEED is the most widely-used green building rating program in the world and is “set to directly contribute $29.8 billion to the United States’ gross domestic product in 2018.” USGBC President and CEO Manhesh Ramanujam noted in the U.S., LEED supports almost 8 million jobs across all 50 states and contributes $554 billion annually to the economy.
The theme, according Ramanujam, “encompasses the breadth of the sustainability and green-building movement. The green-building movement is living proof that real change starts with people — real change starts with you and me.”
The 2018 Greenbuild Expo will be held Nov. 14-16 at McCormick Place in downtown Chicago.
