Green Corner: Friday, November 13: Building Carbon Zero California conference in Palo Alto
The California chapter of the North American Passive House Network is hosting its Building Carbon Zero California conference in Palo Alto on Friday, November 13 at Lucie Stern Community Center. Mayor Karen Holman will be kicking off the event on Friday morning. This conference will provide education on “healthy, comfortable and high performance buildings” and will appeal to contractors, designers, architects and residents interested green construction.
The keynote speaker will be international expert on global climate change, Dr. Diana Ürge-Vorsatz. Dr. Ürge-Vorsatz is Vice Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Working Group III), Policy Director of the Center for Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Policy and a professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy at Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. She was Coordinating Lead Author of the IPCC report awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. Her focus on residential and commercial greenhouse gas mitigation in buildings continues to influence policymakers, leaders and builders around the world.
More than 15 presenters at the conference will cover topics ranging from natural materials use, new technologies and the building industry’s influence in lowering carbon emissions to reports from local occupants of high performance buildings. The afternoon sessions will dig deeper into economics, mechanics and data collected on a number of built Passive House projects located in California.
A PedalHaus Bicycle Tour of five completed buildings in Palo Alto will follow Building Carbon Zero California on Saturday, November 14. Palo Alto’s former Mayor, Peter Drekmeier, will join the cyclists on this leisurely cruise.