2010 Seminar Series

2010 marked the 6th annual Green Building Seminar Series conducted by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County and IGBA. This year's topics were:

March 2 - Evaluating Green Products and Materials - Alison Nash. overview of resources used by the pros to evaluate materials, life cycle assessment techniques, commercial programming tools for making design decisions, and other decision-making strategies. Download Presentation Materials

March 9 - Designing For Change - Michael May (Michael May Construction) and Scott Jones (Empowerment by Design). Designing for aging in place, functional design that can adapt to changing lifestyles and stages, planning for additions, and how to make the most of your space without adding on. May is a Certified Aging In Place Specialist, a Certified Graduate Remodeler, and a Certified Green Building Professional, all from the National Association of Home Builders, and a Past President of the Tompkins-Cortland Home Builders and Remodeler’s Association. Jones, a Licensed Occupational Therapist, Certified Aging in Place Specialist, and Licensed Home Improvement Specialist, has led continuing education courses on Universal Design and successfully purchasing a life-span home.

March 16 - Reducing Construction Waste - Staff from Finger Lakes ReUse covered strategies and local resources for reducing, reusing and recycling construction materials and confronted on-site waste management. Also discussed the basics of deconstruction and options in the community for salvaging usable building materials.

March 23 - Designing for Maximum Efficiency -  A panel of local experts dissected the latest in efforts to design and build the most energy efficient homes and buildings. Passiv Haus, Climate Responsive Energy Design, and the Living Building Challenge. Seminar led by Peter Larson, AIA, LEEP AP, from Ashley McGraw, the panel included Craig Modisher, a Passiv Haus certified consultant and builder with Ironwood Builders, and ej George, certified sustainable building advisor and a NYSERDA Energy Educator.

March 30 - Designing From the Outside In - Ian Shapiro, President of Taitem Engineering, discussed a new approach he developed for looking at how we think about our built environment. Shapiro delved into the importance of looking at the surrounding natural environment and its relationship to the inside environment.

April 6 - Green Building Theory and Reality - Based on a collection of data-driven and anecdotal experiences, this presentation reviewed the performance of green building in the Tompkins County area—are our materials and methods achieving everything we expected of them?