By Lanna Carter Broyles

The economic downturn, plus the rain and chill may have put a damper on the number of participants who showed up to Ecobuild-America's annual fall convention in Washington, D.C., in mid-December, but those who did attend were not disappointed. Four days of educational sessions and break-out groups plus an exhibit hall brimming with sustainable products and building information modeling technology offered plenty of valuable information for novices and experts alike.

The four-day event, held semi-annually by AEC Science & Technology (AEC-ST) and in conjunction with a handful of other co-sponsored events, is an informational free-for-all of two of the industry's hottest topics: sustainability and building information modeling (BIM). From ratings discussions to BIM in education, solar panels to testbeds, high performance buildings to government building budgets, life cycle assessments to technology integrations, attendees from the public and private sectors were offered a smorgasbord of seminars to fill their convention schedules.

With more than 120 sessions, 120 booth exhibitors and four keynotes to choose from, the consensus among attendees is that there was more than enough information to take in. "There are too many good sessions to choose from," was an iteration that echoed the halls of the Washington Convention Center throughout the conference.

The Rise in Green Building
Four years ago, sustainability experts had to "beg [home builders] to show up" to free seminars, said Sophia Greenbaum, executive director of the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC). "Now, homebuilders come from all over the country because clients are asking for it." Those shifts in attitude and client demand are what have helped catapult the sustainability industry to mainstream building practices.

The fact that end users are seeing upfront financial advantages hasn't hurt the cause either. Dispelling the myth that building green is inherently more expensive, Pat Noonan, product development manager for Knauf Insulation, said that sustainable products don't have to cost more. "It's more sustainable," he said. "Why wouldn't you pay the same price?"

Proving that innovative green building ideas do not come from just the experts, presenters looked to participants for new and evolving ideas. In a very interactive "How to Build Green" session, presenters Kara Strong and Beth Ridout of Sustainable Design Consulting asked participants to form groups and determine three green priorities of a hypothetical building, as well as six strategies to meet those goals. Other sessions highlighted successful green building projects, products and theories.

Coming on the heels of the USGBC's Greenbuild Convention in Boston just a few weeks earlier, many vendors found the low numbers a little discouraging. However, Paul Bertram, environment and sustainability director for the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association (NAIMA), was upbeat about those who stopped by his booth: "The quality of people, it's a much higher caliber," he said, comparing the two shows.

Denny Alexander, vice president of sales at Sonitec, echoed the sentiment: "It's a small show but it's been damn good."

BIM Continues to Excel
Like their green building counterparts across the exhibit hall floor, BIM vendors were disappointed by the lackluster numbers. Luis Ruiz, a marketing specialist for Nemetschek VectorWorks, said, "I'm hearing BIM everywhere, but where are the people?" Ruiz suggests that BIM professionals need to get the word out to the next generation of BIM users. "We need to see students," he said. "They want to see demos. They want to see the software."

Though students were few, they will soon catch on as the building industry goes more and more high tech. In one case study, the presenter showed how BIM technology enabled the Utah Department of Transportation and Wadsworth Construction to use a staging area to build a highway overpass before moving the entire structure into place. The freeway closure spanned a three-day weekend instead of the typical nine months. And in another example, the presenter extolled the benefits of 3D laser scanning to view inaccessible building spaces.

Unite and Conquer
Even if the numbers weren't there, the enthusiasm was. Deke Smith, executive director of buildingSMART Alliance, was upbeat about the overall vibe of the joint conference. "It was an exceptional conference for those who were able to attend," he said. "I heard from many attendees that the presentations were awesome. I would have to agree, we certainly had the top people in their fields there. The vendors made the comments that the people who did come were truly interested in what they had to offer and they felt that they probably still got the same number of strong leads."

Yet, Smith admits the low numbers are troubling. "It seems we may be saturating the market with conferences," he said. With multiple construction-related conferences every month, speakers and participants may reach burnout and those funding the events may feel the pinch of current economic conditions.

What's the solution? Smith suggests industry coordination. "A lot of issues are good ideas; however that does not mean that everyone needs to start their own organization and have their own conference. We will be more powerful if we work together." Smith said the buildingSMART alliance has taken that message to heart by cancelling its spring conference in Denver.

The future of onsite conventions is still certain, however. "There is really no alternative that we have available today that replaces the networking that occurs when you are face to face with someone," Smith said. "I personally made several new contacts that will help move our effort forward. Our goal is to create an understanding that BIM can help both the sustainable and green efforts by providing the information they need to make better decisions. Some of that synergy occurred because we are all meeting together in one place and having conferences within conferences, not segregated in our own conferences where that synergy cannot occur."

BIM users aren't the only ones looking for ways to unify a splintered and competitive industry. Under the direction of the buildingSMART alliance, cost engineering experts from competing organizations met and signed a memorandum of agreement to coordinate their efforts to ensure a common open standard for interoperability. In addition, the memorandum encourages the development of standardized definitions for quantity take-offs.

Buildings of the Future
Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) gave an impassioned keynote address rife with alarming statistics about current environmental habits and their impact on our future. As the co-chair of the Congressional High Performance Buildings Caucus, Carnahan is a vocal advocate for renewable energy, alternative fuels and sustainability, in particular, high performance buildings. "The retrofitting of existing buildings or the design and construction of new high performance green buildings will have enormous impacts on the growth of our economy, securing our energy independence, global climate change and even our national security," he said.

"They are not your father's buildings!" he said. These "green buildings on steroids are stronger, smarter and more efficient buildings."