With 1,700 exhibitors, 23,000 attendees and countless ideas, it’s official: This year’s Greenbuild International Conference & Expo in Toronto was a resounding success.

Of course, we’re still beaming a little. Our product-free booth—which illustrated our sustainable processes, achievements and goals—was called “refreshing” and “museum-esque” by visitors and was awarded a USGBC Green Exhibitor Award at the Advocate level.

While we’re thrilled with the award, we’re even more excited to reflect on the ultimate goal of Greenbuild NEXT: the future of green building

Going boldly where few have gone before, Sholem Prasow, Teknion’s Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Planning, offers a few predictions on where our industry is headed:

1. We’re shifting from “do no harm” to “do good.”
According to Prasow, the green building movement is graduating from a minimal-harm approach and working toward “the healing of human beings and animal populations, maybe even flora.” And it’s a good sign. Because, in order for the movement to mature, we can’t rest on our laurels. We need to look ahead and create new goals.

2. Human health will drive our sustainability efforts.
We’re hearing less about “eco-friendly buildings” and more about “healthy environments.” Take, for example, the Healthy Product Declaration, which is looking to create product labels that outline harmful materials or processes used to manufacture them. This, however, is no simple matter of swapping questionable materials for environmentally friendly ones. Says Prasow: “The most ‘sustainable’ materials in one person’s eyes may not be the materials that work in the manufacturing process. Which is ‘better’—a material that is more ‘sustainable’ on one measure, such as reduced emissions, but less so on others, such as durability, and has to be replaced more often?”

3. The best environmental solution is not a product—it’s education.
Prasow believes that it’s not up to manufacturers to make these “trade-off decisions” between functionality and sustainability. Instead, choices must be made by “customers armed with the knowledge of the consequences.” If manufacturers provide the information, customers can then weigh the functionality of a product against its potential drawbacks. When they’re empowered to make decisions, customers become a greater part of the solution.

4. Collaboration is key.
Similarly, “market transformation needs to be a partnership with our customers.” Here, Prasow marries two of our favorite topics: collaboration and sustainability. Progress is only possible when all parties—from designers to end users—collectively formulate, articulate and work toward big-picture goals. He sums it up in true Teknion fashion: “Ideas from multiple levels is what is important. Ask not what we can do for you; let’s get together and solve the problem.”

Obviously, we don’t have a crystal ball. But attempting to define these shifts helps to clarify everyone’s part in making our environments more healthy and more sustainable.

And, since we’re dreaming of the future, we can’t wait to see what Greenbuild has in store next year.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 12th, 2011 at 11:53 am and is filed under Trends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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