re: Thoughts on This Year’s Greenbuild

Mike Kaler — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:39:44 GMT

I attended my first GreenBuild as both an exhibitor and an observer since my division of our corporation was just "piggybacking" on the displays of some of our other companies. I shared my thoughts on my blog but here is an excerpt.

First, I was surprised at the sheer size of the exhibit area. The Metro Toronto exhibit hall is quite large and split into two sections spanning the CN Rail lines in downtown Toronto. Both sections were completely full with exhibits for everything from flooring to roofing and everything in between. All exhibitors promoted the "green" or "sustainable" aspects of their products...even if those aspects might not have been obvious on first or even second thought. In addition to the three Mestek HVAC product booths the exhibit area included product displays from most of the major north American HVAC manufacturers.

The HVAC equipment companies, as well as many of the lighting and appliance companies, shared one common thread. That is the emphasis on the "man-machine interface"...how the user interacts with the equipment for control or information. Touch screen displays were everywhere providing access to virtual control points and providing occupant feedback on temperatures and, most importantly, energy utilization. The degree of sophistication of the displays varied but the message was the same...in order to conserve energy people must have some sense of how much they are using. It goes back to the old saying that "you can't manage what you can't measure". The use of energy metrics have been proven to change occupant behavior and the HVAC industry is stepping up to help with that effort.