SiGBA SPONSORS GREEN EVENTS
By David Gemme, SiGBA Vice President
Tahoe Riverfront Realty & Gemme Group
April/May was a busy time for SiGBA. Not only did we have two Live-Green Build-Green speaker events, we participated in three earth day events and sponsored two educational seminars featuring industry experts from across the country.
On April 24 & 25, SiGBA sponsored the Sierra's first Certified Green Building Professional training class. The course trained and certified over 100 building professionals, recognizing them for their knowledge and competency in green building practices. A professional training program of this caliber requires collaboration between numerous local organizations and private sponsors. The Contractors Association of Tahoe-Truckee did a great job organizing and hosting this incredibly successful event. CATT has been a valuable partner in the community helping promote green building awareness, doing extensive research and advocacy on the merits and downfalls of many aspects of green building. Their cautious approach to trendy new building techniques has helped the community make some important decisions on how to appropriately and responsibly make the shift to environmental sensitive building practices.
On May 1 & 2, SiGBA sponsored "Reinventing Main Street," an event supporting livable walkable communities in the Sierra. This event was a planning and design workshop for citizens, planners, designers, engineers, realtors and transportation professionals and boasted a who's-who lineup of speakers who are leading design and transportation professionals from around the USA. This was an important revitalization event hosted by the North Tahoe Business Association. SiGBA brought in a video team to document the event and will soon publish it on our website.
We support other organization's events because green living is not merely a buzz word for SiGBA; it is a way of life in terms of how we operate our businesses and the care and consideration we have for the earth and the surrounding ecosystems.
 TRUCKEE HOME & BUILDING SHOW and
Regional Green Building Symposium SiGBA announces Truckee Home & Building Show on Memorial Day Weekend, May 23-24, 2009 at the Truckee High School, 11725 Donner Pass Road in Truckee. This is the event where SiGBA got its start back in 2002 and today this event is one of the largest green building expos in the region! With over 120 displays, you'll find everything you need to build or remodel your mountain home, ALL IN ONE PLACE! Participate in the Regional Green Symposium and join in the famous green home tour.
Learn from the experts and learn about green building, energy saving measures and technologies, and more...
Exhibits: Daily, 10AM -5PM
Green Building Lectures: Saturday, 10:30AM-4PM, and Sunday 1-5PM
Green Home Tour: Sunday 4:15-7:30 PM
More Information>>
ADDITIONAL LOCAL REBATES FOR GOING GREEN
Alright we've all switched out the light bulbs. Now what? Are you done? Am I as green as I can be? Not yet.
The Truckee Donner Public Utilities District and NV Energy are offering a wide range of next step rebates that help you improve your green standing, save you energy and now save you more money. Receive highlights of each company's offerings with links to get more info. Read full article>>
SUSTAINABLE EDUCATION COALITION PARTNERSHIP
SiGBA Education would like to announce that it is a founding partner in a coalition of community leaders that support sustainable education in the Tahoe-Pyramid Lake watershed. Parallel to recommendations by the AIA, the coalition is organizing resources and offering professional development opportunities to communities with the watershed. We are guided by the focus question What am I doing that is sustainable? From there we are facilitating a discussion on an individual, local and regional community basis to change our approach to being true stewards of where we live. As we discuss the answers to this question we realize that community relationships are essential for true sustainability. SiGBA education welcomes you to join that community relationship and get involved.
If you would like to be involved, contact John Arsenault at Arsenault@sigba.org. If you would like to donate to the cause and help sustainability become a value in our community, visit our website at www.sigba.org.
CHAPTER NEWS - SiGBA FOOTHILLS
By Jim Crowley, SiGBA Foothills Chair
Owner Crowley Builders, Inc. and E-Building Systems
In the spirit of SiGBA's mission for education of all things green, the Foothills launched its speaker series in April with a presentation about How do you Know it s Green . Frans Velthuijesen and Richard Drace presented a bountiful amount of information. They have been encouraged to do their presentation again in a workshop venue.
On May 20th, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Foothills will be hosting another speaker presentation on How to Achieve a Tight Building Envelope . It will be a discussion to present three types of building systems, SIPs, ICFs and Advanced Framing.
Foothills Chairperson, Jim Crowley, would like to remind SiGBA members that the strength of SiGBA comes from membership. SiGBA is an exciting and growing organization. Get involved by volunteering to help with events and put it on your calendar to attend events that you find interesting to you.
MEMBER CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES
SiGBA is soliciting member articles or case studies for our website and upcoming newletter. In the May Newsletter, Foothill Chapter Board members Richard Drace, a LEED®Accredited Professional, and Frans Velthuijsen, a Certified Green Building Professional® and Certified GreenPoint Rater®, provided an article How do we know when its really green, from a talk they gave in Nevada City on April 15 as part of the live green build green speaker series. The talk was well attended with over 30 people gathering at the Foundry to hear them speak.
HOW DO WE KNOW WHEN IT'S REALLY GREEN?
With so many claims to be green these days, how are we to know when they are legitimate, or just green washing? It's difficult enough to even agree on what we mean by green. We consider carbon footprints, recycling, alternative energy, resource conservation, locally produced goods, or any number of other things, as well as the question: Is it sustainable? Read full article>>
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