Hill+Knowlton Strategies

I’ll admit it. 

I didn’t want to go. 

Where, I hear you ask? 

Ecobuild. 

Nothing against sustainable construction, mind you.  It’s just I’m not a huge fan of the ExCeL centre, or – and I hate to say it – trade shows in general. 

But….

I was pleasantly surprised. Dare I say it, I even enjoyed myself.

This year’s event was HUGE.  Bigger than I anticipated, even though I did check out the website and peep some of the vendors sites before I went.  There were more than 1,300 exhibitors from the fields of design, construction and what Ecobuild calls “the built environment”.  Still not sure what that is. Seems a bit vague….but I think they mean people who sell and install things for inside your building…floors, toilets, plumbing, windows, etc.

So, why did I enjoy it?

1. I got to know a very cool company – REC Solar.

2.  I was thrilled to see what a huge presence solar was at the show.  Despite concerns around the government’s planned review of feed in tariff policy and what this could mean for the UK solar industry – all the big players were out in force. Go team.

It’s a solar bear…get it?!

3.  I got to get back in touch with my techie roots and play with phase change materials (PCMs for the uninitiated) – check out BASF and DuPont.  There was a great little demo centre called the Cool Workspace, which showed how PCMs can be used to create a more sustainable office environment by storing both heating and cooling, reducing the carbon footprint of buildings by up to 30%.

4.  The people. Yes, that old chestnut.  I was genuinely impressed with the huge range of people that were drawn in.  From the big corporate sales guys, to students, to apprentice builders, to eco-conscious consumers, to, er… models dressed as Canadian mounties (see below).  While most of the attendees were indeed more of the corporate ilk, it was refreshing to see that there was a noticeable representation from a huge range of people. 

As nice as it would be to preserve all the green space left in the world, that’s never going to happen.  Construction and physical development is a reality.  Even here on our little island, we’re expected to increase our population to from 61 million to 70 million in about 15 years.  Whether that growth is sustainable from a resources point of view or not is a different blog post, but that’s a lot of new housing, schools and hospitals. Let’s hope they’re built in a way that takes a lesson from Ecobuild.

I stumbled across a neat little initiative while perusing BusinessGreen during my lunch break – edible curtains.  Yes.  Not technically curtains, mind you, which was a little disappointing but I am still impressed.

Kyocera, the Japanese tech group, is pioneering the initiative at 20 manufacturing facilities in Japan, Thailand and Brazil. They basically created what I think we’d call “hedges” around their buildings to block direct sunlight in a bid to not only lessen the need for air conditioning, but provide a health snack for employees to nibble on.  They’ll also be used in the company cafeterias.  Nifty little energy saving initiative, I say.

Employees harvesting the curtains

For the sceptics out there, Kyocera has confirmed that the curtains lower wall temperatures, and “decrease temperature by as much as 15 degrees C”. Covering roughly 32,750 square feet (3,043 square meters), the curtains are expected to absorb an estimated 23,481 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions – the same amount that can be absorbed by 761 cedar trees.

The kind folk at Kyocera have set up a website where you can find more information on the curtains, as well as helpful tips on how readers can grow their own. I recommend checking out the “What is a Green Curtain” section for some cute (always important) graphics. 

Unfortunately, I don’t think we’re in the best location to grow our own edible curtain at 20 Soho Square, and my repeated requests to build a roof terrace where we could grow our own garden have been denied (something about health and safety…).  But if we could, I think I’d like to grow flowers so we could stop paying to have them brought in.  And some cherry tomatoes.

What would you grow?