Nov 21
Claiming green leadership
Posted by AG under: Economic development; Green; High-tech; Jobs; Noteworthy .
Joel Leonard sees Greensboro on the brink of a huge opportunity to claim a leadership position in the green economy.
Why? Because this is GREENsboro.
To his mind, Greensboro ought to be the national epicenter where green ideas are floated, where green issues are debated and where thought-leaders regularly gather.
He envisions an annual, multi-day event — sort of like Spoleto in Charleston or the TED Conference in California — that attracts people from far and wide for conferences, workshops, trade fairs, seminars and field trips. People like investors, engineers, inventors, students, politicians, educators, advocates — anyone with a green agenda.
It’s perfectly logical, he says, for Greensboro to seize this green opportunity. Green, after all, is our city’s name. And the city has world-class examples of leadership in green building and engineering.
1. The American Hebrew Academy’s 860,000 square feet is heated and cooled by the largest closed-loop geothermal well field in the nation. (For us non-engineers, well water supplies cooling in summer and heat in winter). It’s highly energy efficient and reaps huge savings on utility bills.
2. The Proximity Hotel is the nation’s first to be be LEED Platiunum certified (see Nov. 10 post below).
Leonard might run with this idea himself, but he’s too busy being “The Maintenance Evangelist.” Leonard, who started his industrial maintenance career in the Piedmont Triad, has become an international authority. He encourages industries to invest in maintaining their plants (it’s cheaper than replacing and rebuilding) and encourages young people to pursue plant maintenace careers (the jobs are essential, challenging, and pay well.)
Joel Leonard’s video Web site is here. His essays and articles are published at PlantServices.com.
He’s in Holland this week attending yet another industrial conference.
Will Greensboro grab this idea and run with it before another city wakes up to the opportunity?
One Comment so far...
sustainablegso Says:
26 November 2008 at 8:28 am.
Joel is right about Greensboro having some “green” potential. Sustainable Greensboro (www.sustainablegso.org) is aiming to be the group that can put these sorts of ideas into action. I encourage anyone to visit the website, read the blog, support us and get involved.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.