By Jennifer Chin, National VP of EPAct §179D Business Services

We are interested in communicating with companies that seek sound advice on how to build successfully with SIPs.   With over 29,000,000 s/f of successful installations, we have proven over and over again that SIPs provide the most economical framing method available today.  With our 40+ years of experience, we can offer solutions on how to reduced building cycles, how to increase profit at the bottom line, how to increase energy efficiency by 50-70% and where line item costs can be radically improved when using SIPs.  

We look forward to hearing from developers, designers, engineers and architects -

The Green Building Expo Online Event Series continued yesterday with a multi-hour event focused on Remodels and Retrofits. The event was a big success and started off with a round table discussion answering attendee questions live on everything from home performance tips to tax incentives for energy efficient construction. From there the event moved towards an individual presentation by Jean Carroon on sustainable preservation. It's amazing to think that our current building stock accounts for around 40% of total energy use and carbon emissions in this country.

Following Jean's presentation was a talk tailored towards home performance, and Lucas Johnson shared words of wisdom on the necessity for a home performance assessment. More states are making these necessary before a home or building is sold, but there is a lot of work left to do in this arena. Audience participation yesterday was very high, and I found myself running out of time posting questions to Jean. It seems that there is a large number of professionals out there interested in or already involved in the reuse market that are seeking guidance.

     Barr Real Estate out of Champaign, IL has refit the interior of a condo complex in Urbana, IL with Lamboo Design materials. Lamboo was used for the interior wall paneling, balcony sides and top, ceiling panel systems with recessed lighting, and to box in beams and columns throughout the building.

Lately I have been reading more and more in the news about an upturn in starts and building activity. It's nice to see something positive, especially in an industry that's been hit pretty hard this past year and half. According to a recent statement by Eric Belsky, Managing Director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, we should see a healthy rise in home improvement activity this fall and into 2011.

Yesterday, Green Building Pro and Green Building Expo hosted the Green and Sustainable Schools online event. The half-day event consisted of a panel discussion on green schools, followed by three webcasts. Several hundred people were in attendance live and took part in the first of a series of online events within the virtual environment.

I was particularly impressed by the subject matter experts, who spoke on a variety of topics including daylighting, facilities management, school retrofits, and the costs & benefits of going green in education. The audience was very enthusiastic and a seemingly endless list of questions poured through for the speakers. A major part of the event was the fact that AIA members and LEED APs could earn Continuing Education credits by attending the sessions.

Bamboo is a plant that’s origin dates back to prehistoric times. Many years and many uses later, bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants in the world. It is technically a grass found on nearly every continent; it can grow in the mountains, the tropics and even in the Southern United States. There are nearly 1600 different species of bamboo.

Bamboo, although at times resembles trees, differs from them in growth patterns and plant structure. Bamboo has two growth patterns; clumping and running root systems. These root systems create a natural bio filter for storm water runoff; while staying in natural clumped balls prevents soil erosion. Bamboo also produces 30% more oxygen than a like sized timber forest area. These differences allow bamboo to grow faster and straighter than any known tree species. Bamboo reaches the degree of its size in height and circumference in its 1st or 2nd year of life.