This past Tuesday I was up to my typical rogue behavior and skipped all three of the classes I had. Not only that, but I was able to get the college to reimburse me for the expenses associated with my indecent sojourn that ended up taking me hundreds of miles away from campus. All those miles and all that scandalousness so that I could mill around beside the leaders of renewable energy, energy efficiency, and conservation in the northeastern US at NESEA's Building Energy 2007 conference at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston.
The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association's annual conference serves as a venue in which the firms, entrepreneurs, and advocates that are redirecting contemporary industry along a more sustainable trajectory can be united.
Wind turbine manufacturers, green architects, cooperatives, and multi-million dollar corporations were all in attendence, creating a beautiful illustration of how diversified the solutions at our disposal are. We have people attacking environmental degradation head on with front-end solutions such as sustainable design, efficient heating and insulation systems, and other conservation methods. We also have those that approach problems that would be perhaps too burdensome to attack from the front end and instead retroactively protect our precious planet. These numbers include grey water plumbing systems, cowpower, and recycling initiatives. Personally, I'm for the former more so than the latter; but, there's no doubt that realistically both are essential in the foreseeable future.
There were several tracks of workshops available for the three days of the convention. Unfortunately, it was impractical--for temporal and financial reasons--to attend more than one day. Nonetheless, what I was able to attend was golden. One workshop, "Financing Your Renewable Start-Up", was precisely what I needed. I have found myself at a crossroads in my own endeavor to create a sustainability consultancy/biodiesel processing facility here in Poultney. It was comforting to see more experienced and better financed entrepreneurs than myself experience the same stumbling blocks I am. It was even more comforting to hear the range of suggestions and resources available as potential remedies.
Three companies presented, but the one that really stood out to me was PowerHouse Enterprises, who is seeking to do to housing what Whole Foods has done for food: serve as an analog through which sustainable building supplies are consolidated for consumer convenience and accessability (think a much greener and less obtrusive Home Depot). This is a critical need in the sustainable housing industry as many clients and contractors are deterred by the scattered and inconsistent nature of sourcing appropriate supplies. I was also really intrigued at their PowerPod, an idea for a small LEED certified prefabricated home line. Their first model was unveiled at the convention. Just one of the many good things brewin.
This was one of my favorite aspects of the convention: a ice sculpture of Earth placed beneath a heat lamp so that it was melting throughout the whole second day of the convention. The insinuations are both obvious and poignant.
Upon closer inspection...the fish are in danger!
