IBS vs. Greenbuild, who won?
According to the stats, the International Builder’s Show in Vegas last week brought in 60,000 attendees. Not too shabby. Greenbuildin Boston was a much smaller venue and brought in about 20,000. By the numbers, IBS won. By the attitude, Greenbuild won.
At Greenbuild you could feel the excitement and the promise of what a green future would look like. At IBS, even though it was in Vegas with perfect weather, the tone was lack-luster at best. I walked the IBS floors on Thursday in search of companies heading into a sustainable future. Maybe it was the showrooms I picked, but I didn’t see much in the way of REAL green efforts.
That said, Henkel had a new line of no VOC adhesives. I have a friend who is so sensitive to VOCs that she has to let any new products out gas on her front porch before bringing them into her home. Back about ten years ago, I sold tankloads of adhesives. The are nasty and very hard to go green and still maintain a profit while keeping production lines humming. Kudos to Henkel for introducing this new line.
Later, I chatted with a several insulation companies – Biobased.net, Icynene.com and NevadaFoam.com. They were in competition, per se with the new cement walls with foam forms and with wood walls with foam cores. All of them help to keep your home toasty or cool, and all of them had way too many ways to tell you how they did it. Unless reasearch analysis is your thing, comparing products via their handouts is an insane use of time.
A surprise highlight came from a chat with the Soybean Board. I had no idea so many products came from this renewable and chewable plant. We’ll be revisiting that sector in the upcoming blogs.
I don’t know if I would go back to the IBS show. It was fun, but there wasn’t enough of the future there to make it worth the drive across the desert. I’ll leave the gamblers to Vegas. As for me, I’m betting on the sure thing – green homes and offices and conferences like Greenbuild that inspire me to do better.
Heads up LACCD needs these products this month…
While the rest of the economy continues to struggle, life is good in LA – if you have building products that is. The LA Times reported that the LA Community College District awarded $400 million in contracts out of the $5.7 billion it has to work with.
If you sell building products into educational facilities, you’re probably wondering what they need and how can you get your foot in the door.
Here’s the next advertised group. If you don’t have your products listed on Green Building Pages. Do so now. Go here for more background. Good Luck!
Child Development Center Furniture & Equipment
Recycle Bins
Parking Lot Sweepers/Green Golf Carts ZEV
Utility Carts
Pool Supplies
Appliances (ADA Compliant + Lab)
Library/Lounge Seating, Tables, Misc. Storage
Library Shelving/Back Office Shelving
(pcm) Recycle – Waste Paper Containers
IT Smart Walls, Boards – classroom
40 yard roll off and storage bins
Boom Lifts, Scissor Lifts, Forklifts
