Fresh Loaf

Trash talk can be taken as a good sign for the environment — at least when it’s between competitors on the trade-show floor at the annual Greenprints conference on sustainable building.

And all it took was a little prodding.

“Geothermal cannot get you a good return,” Jay Sampat, who manufacturers solar water-heating panels, declared when asked why someone should select solar over the competing technology of geothermal heat pumps.

Humbug, geothermal installer Kenny Libby shot back when told what Sampat said: “Those poor, poor solar guys.”

All of which makes Atlanta’s lead pied piper for green building somewhat happy. “That is great. … It’s the free market system,” the Southface Energy Institute’s Dennis Creech said last week during the conference at the Westin Peachtree Plaza. He notes that one in 10 new commercial projects now seeks eco-certification, when only a few years ago green building usually was considered just a “demonstration project.” “This is not just a movement. This is now a smart way of doing business.”

The meeting displayed loads of cool devices designed not only to save the world but also to get green-geeks like me excited. And it was truly startling to witness dozens of presentations from green builders who literally are changing Atlanta’s landscape daily.

Above: TOILET TALK: Denise Grimm (left) grabs a card from Andrea Paulinelli of Eco Transitions. Paulinelli was at Greenprints to extol her water-efficient commodes. Photo shot by: Joeff Davis

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Tags: Earthcraft, environment, green-building, green-construction, Green-Energy, Southface.

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