The smell of an exceptional bolognese sauce filled the kitchen of the house we were renting for the Christmas holidays. We had all descended on Cape Town to visit my mother. My sister, Tessa, bent over the pot to give the dish a taste as my wife popped a few loaves of garlic bread into the oven.
Think about one industry that creates a product for sale, has no interest in branding the product, and thus no consequential accountability to the ultimate owner of their product. Imagine if the automakers churned out cars, never branded them, and had no concern over the performance issues the car suffered during service. Unthinkable and unconscionable, right? Homebuilding is one such industry.
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Jim Chapman, President and General Manager of Legend Homes stands in front of Edgewater a Legend Homes development. |
There are exceptions of course…..Legend Homes, Renaissance Homes, KB, and Meritage Homes. These building companies are not only seeing the value of establishing a clear brand value but also offering up energy performance labels to transparently reflect their energy efficiency chops to the market. I have always been amazed that the homebuilding industry that caters to families and generations has not taken the opportunity to clearly brand its products so that generations of kids seek out that brand when it comes to their turn to become a homeowner. Isn't that the American way
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We were fortunate enough to be selected by USGBC to take part in a special initiative for select sessions at GreenBuild this year. This is part of USGBC’s efforts to keep the conference fresh and exciting for attendees. Our session on the Energy Performance Score (EPS), a Market Catalyst, was selected by the Special Programs Working Group to take place in a new interactive and multimedia environment in order to better engage the audience in our presentation.
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The project was not without peril. Our PowerPoint, which included man-on-the-street video interviews, was projected on a suspended cube hanging above a runway catwalk of sorts. The audience completely encircled the runway so that we had to walk, turn to all directions, pass off the single remote control, and talk at the same time, all without falling off (luckily the platform was only 16 inches high). Thanks to the USGBC providing rehearsal time, we were able to traverse the runway and engage the attendees in a fairly unusual format, while remaining safe. We opted not to take advantage of instant smartphone polling capability as we had enough to keep track of already.
Welcome to Earth Advantage Institute’s new website and blog, a new interactive portal that’s designed to be a source of information and data -- for our growing green building and climate solutions community, as well as for those individuals and organizations just beginning to learn more about sustainable construction and carbon mitigation in the built environment.
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Earth Advantage Institute is a nonprofit organization that works with the building industry to help implement sustainable building practices. Our mission is to create an immediate, practical and cost-effective path to sustainability and reduction of carbon. More »
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