Philadelphia to Host USGBC's Greenbuild Conference

PHILADELPHIA-In about three weeks the city will play host to the U.S. Green Building Council's Greenbuild International Conference & Expo at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

The three-day event form Nov. 20-22 is expected to attract approximately 30,000 attendees from all over the world. The program will feature educational programming, workshops and showcases of the latest green products and services. The annual event is the largest conference and expo dedicated to green building.

“Philadelphia is the perfect city for Greenbuild —with its rich history and its forward thinking vision, much like Greenbuild itself,” states Kimberly Lewis, senior vice president, community advancement and conferences and events for the USGBC. “As USGBC celebrates its 20th anniversary, we are reflecting on how far the building industry has come and the work we still have ahead of us. Greenbuild gives us the chance to share our knowledge and raise the bar on green building.”

Greenbuild 2013 also marks the launch of the newest version of the LEED green building rating system, LEED v4. LEED v4 builds on the fundamentals of earlier versions of LEED and helps prepare LEED projects to perform at a higher level. LEED v4 also provides a suite of new time-saving support tools designed to help streamline the certification process, council officials say.

“This new version of LEED is a critical step in the evolution of green building,” states Scot Horst, senior vice president of LEED, USGBC. “LEED v4 is focused on performance and entering new markets. We've already seen its potential in more than 100 beta projects internationally.”