Scaling Up: From Green Buildings to Green Cities in the US and China May 1, 2009

Buildings consume well over 30 percent of all primary energy in the world, more than either transportation or industry. By building green, we can reduce energy consumption in this key sector by 30-50 percent and cut greenhouse gas emissions by similar margins. It is also one of the cheapest ways to do so: green building adds only 1-5 percent to construction costs, which are recovered through reduced energy demand in a few years or less.

The green building revolution has begun, but it has far to go. In the US, the floor space of LEED-certified buildings totals 12.5 million square meters, with much more in the pipeline. California leads the way, with far more green buildings than any other state. In China, green buildings have gone from zero in 2000 to 4 million square meters today, again with much more in the offing.

Today, the greatest challenge for green design is to scale up -- to move beyond pilot projects and piecemeal solutions to building and retrofitting on a massive scale in order to have a meaningful impact on global warming. Green materials must be mass produced, construction techniques must be standardized, and the principles of green design must inform urban planning, not simply the design of individual buildings. These are the critical issues this conference will address.

This one-day conference is the first to bring together leading green design specialists from the fields of research, technology, architecture, business, and policy from the U.S. and China to build dialogue and collaboration. The US and China are rapidly becoming the global centers for green design promotion, development, and investment, and many other Asian countries are beginning to follow suit.

To register, please visit http://asiasociety.org/greencities/

Or call (001)415.421.8707

Official Website: http://asiasociety.org/greencities/