Moose Jaw to host Building Saskatchewan Green Conference

Approximately 100 delegates from across the province will converge on Moose Jaw on November 12 and 13 for the annual Building Saskatchewan Green Conference. The conference is put on by the Saskatchewan Chapter of the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC). Typically, the event is held in Saskatoon or Regina. “I finally convinced them to come to Moose Jaw,” said organizer Troy Tilbury, who is one of the CaGBC board members. “Our theme is focusing on smaller communities that are making a difference and which are implementing some different energy efficiency and environmental initiatives.” Tilbury adds that they are encouraging delegates to spend time in Moose Jaw outside of the conference. He also hopes that representatives from the city will attend. On Thursday, November 12 delegates will be will be able to take a tour of both the Grant Hall and Mosaic Place. The tours will focus on Grant Hall’s geothermal heating system and will highlight Mosaic Place as a LEED registered facility currently working on LEED certification. The day will also include training sessions at Saskatchewan Polytechnic and a gala dinner hosted at the Grant Hall. The dinner is open to the public and tickets cost $50 per person. The Building Saskatchewan Green Awards will be handed out following the meal. The main conference will begin on Friday, November 13 at Mosaic Place. The opening speaker will be Paul Hanley. He is an author who writes on the environment. He will discuss sustainability in Saskatchewan. Daniel Wallach will also speak. He is a representative from the small town of Greensburg, Kansas. The town underwent a major redesign after a 2007 storm. “It is a really interesting story. It is a small town of less than 1,000 people and it was literally wiped out by a tornado. They said if we are going to rebuild then let’s rebuild right. They did some research and brought in some consultants who said they should use Build Green and LEED as kind of a way to build energy efficient buildings. At this point in time they have the most LEED buildings per capita in the world,” said Tilbury. “I’m really curious to hear how they came to that decision as a town council and how they went forward and how they are implementing things.” Other sessions will discuss financing green projects, as well as a panel on LEAN design. Of course, Moose Javians will likely be family with LEAN, as it was implemented into the design of Moose Jaw’s new regional hospital. Another presentation will feature a representative from FormLine Architecture in Vancouver. The company has dealt a great deal with First Nations groups and the panel will discuss some of their projects. The keynote speaker is Lloyd Alter. He is the managing editor of Treehugger.com. The lecture will be held at the Mae Wilson Theatre. It is open to the public and is offered free of charge. Tilbury believes it will be a great presentation. “We are really excited to have Lloyd come out. He is really well known around the country for his views on sustainability. He has done a lot of research on the Passive House system and he will likely talk on that,” said Tilbury. “I think that is going to be a really good session and we are hoping to fill the Mae Wilson.” It should be an interesting and noteworthy conference. “A lot of people mark this on their calendars. I used to live in Alberta and I would come to this conference before I moved here five years ago. We are very excited to have it in Moose Jaw this year.” Visit www.buildsaskgreen.ca for more information about the conference.