Green Expo Brings It All To Windward

A first Windward Green Expo is planned for Saturday at the Koolau Ballrooms and Conference Center in Kaneohe, offering a series of workshops and more than a dozen vendors and exhibitors to help the public understand sustainable building practices that they can apply to their own projects, as well as what it really means – and costs – to make a home green.

The event runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and has the official title “Windward High Performance Building Green Expo and Workshop.” Admission to the expo is free, but the six mini-workshops have a fee of $20 in advance (online by Saturday) or $25 at the door. A buffet lunch is provided to each paid registrant. To sign up, call Roseann Barton at 263-8891 or go to wgbexpo.com.

The inaugural event is hosted by Windward lawmakers state Sen. Pohai Ryan and Rep. Cynthia Thielen in collaboration with the American Society of Interior Designers.

The workshop series includes Alternative Energy by Gregg Murphy of RevoluSun; LEED Certification by Rhonda Goyke of Green Sand; Green Building Standards NGBS by Peter Stone of Pohaku Consulting; Green Through Design by Tiare Noelani Cowan of Archipelago Hawaii; The Guts of a Green Home by Doug Pierce of Mokulua High Performance Builders; and Green Space Solutions by Kimo Steinwascher of KR Wall Garden Design.

Vendors in the ballroom lobby will be Kaneohe Ranch, Cool Roof, Pacific Business News, Island Cooling, Pratt & Lambert, First Hawaiian Bank, Hawaii Skylights & Solar Fans, Lighting Concepts and Hui o Ko’olaupoko.

NGBS stands for National Green Building Standard; LEED is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – two key building programs that will be discussed in full at the expo.