Regional green conference set for Birmingham July 28-30

07/16/2009

By Dan Carsen

 Heavy industry is so essential to Birmingham, Ala., that in the early 1900s community leaders began planning a statue of Vulcan, god of the forge, to symbolize the city.

That 50-ton cast iron figure still looks down on Birmingham, but a construction insider sees the city poised to become home to a different kind of enterprise that could minimize pollution.

With an eye on making his dream a reality, entrepreneur and sustainable construction advocate James Smith has organized Green Building Focus Conference and Expo 2009.

Set for July 28–30 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, the event is expected to draw 1,500 industry leaders and 200 exhibitors for three days of education, motivation and networking.

Keynote speakers will include actor Ed Begley Jr., who endorses “GreenSwitch,” one of many resource-saving products to be featured at the expo; green building pioneer and conference chair Charles Kibert, the University of Florida professor who has written several green building textbooks for universities; and Karan Grover, who won the U.S. Green Building Council’s Platinum Award for a commercial building in his native India.

Topics addressed will include stimulus package opportunities, weatherization, alternative energy sources, waste disposal, retrofitting, building codes and innovating during a recession. There will be 18 seminars that count toward continuing education credits.

“Green building is the industry’s fastest-growing sector now,” says Smith, a native South African who’s lived in Birmingham on and off for 18 years. “It’s going to be a $60 billion market next year. The conference is going to be educational and motivational. The intent is for construction executives, architects and other building professionals to be able to take advantage of the trend.”

Smith had planned to have the conference in Atlanta, but local representatives of the American Institute of Architects and the USGBC convinced him to move it to his adopted hometown, where lining up hosts and sponsors turned out to be relatively easy. Four large Birmingham construction firms – B.L. Harbert International LLC, BE&K Inc., Brasfield & Gorrie LLC and Hoar Construction – rank nationally in terms of volume of green building projects.

For more information about the conference, go to www.greenbuildingfocus.com/default.aspx?id=681.

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