Greenbuild 2010

By Ben Temperley

From November 17 – 19 I had the opportunity to attend Greenbuild in Chicago, IL at McCormick Place. McCormick Place is a huge convention center. I definitely got my exercise walking around the place. This was my first time at Greenbuild. I learned about Greenbuild through the USGBC student group on campus. USGBC stands for United States Green Building Council. USGBC is interested in promoting sustainable building practices.

Greenbuild has a great practice of allowing students to attend for free if they agree to volunteer for 8 hrs at the conference. I volunteered at a recycling station. There were hundreds of stations and each had 4 bins. Recycling may sound simple enough, but one Starbucks coffee cup can comprise 5 pieces which go into 3 different bins. If you are curious, the container is compostable, the lid is a #6 plastic which had to be trashed at Greenbuild, the sleeve is paper, a straw is trash and a wooden stir stick is compostable. I learned quite a bit about recycling and even began to feel bad about how much trash goes into landfills. It is a shame that the Styrofoam cups that places like Dunkin’ Donuts sell end up in landfills. Other volunteer opportunities involved helping people find seats and checking name tags.

When not volunteering, I had the opportunity to attend sessions put on by leaders in sustainable practices. The presenters were all very smart and professional. There were many topics to choose from that ranged from calculating your carbon footprint to urban agriculture.


The convention floor had hundreds of exhibitors. You could spend an entire day trying to see every exhibit. There were great examples of green roofs, photovoltaic glass, rain water collecting systems, insulating concrete forms and water saving fixtures. I liked the toilet with a sink above the tank for hand washing. The water from the sink collects in the tank and can be used for toilet flushing.

I have to admit that my favorite part of Greenbuild was the food. Each lunch was free for volunteers and catered by the convention center staff. The food was all organic. We had lots of healthy fruits and veggies. Even the cookies and potato chips were organic. On the final day the volunteers were treated to some Chicago deep dish pizza. That was probably not organic, but it was very good.
Next year Greenbuild will be in Toronto. You may want to take advantage of the free admission for students while you can. This year in Chicago was a good experience, and I am glad that I attended.