How did the host city of SXSW become the birthplace of the international Green Building movement? What were the drivers, and the unconventional approaches to solving a growing US city’s forecasted energy shortage, that created Energy Star, and then the nation’s first and most vetted Green Building program? This is a fascinating story of questioning long-held assumptions, creative thinking and lucky timing in the face of a looming crisis that gave birth to the concept of socially & economically diverse environmentalism - and it was not necessarily borne out of the environmental movement!
Why is today's technology-based “LEED” Green Building program a far cry from the original, and arguably deeper, ideals and aspirations of the “Green” movement? What’s more real? What’s next?