Green Building Drinks, Vancouver

Green Building Drinks is a networking event with the aim of promoting good practices of sustainable architecture. Last July 31th, Dave Flanders and Jorge Lopez presented their collective experience with DPI territorial Consulting and EA Energia y Arquitectura respectively. They spoke about their experiences in community and landscape planning and synergies in Canada and Mexico with achieving LEED Platinum for buildings. In this session they presented a green building sponsorship initiative between Canada and Mexico, dubbed “Uno-a-Uno”. This session of Green Building Drinks was held at the sustainability professionals hub “the Hive”, a recognized hub for professionals involved in sustainability in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Luis Brasdefer, from the Mexican Federal Government’s Pro Mexico, provided an introduction for the evening. Pro Mexico promotes business relations of Mexican companies with international ones. They have a program to make possible events as the Green Building Drinks and have representation offices in major cities of Canada and the USA. In his talk he explained how LEED platinum certification was achieved in the M16 building, located in Mexico City, in which air quality is improved and thermally conditioned by two greenhouses to increase inhabitant productivity and being. More energy is produced by the array of photovoltaics than is consumed and water usage is optimized, achieving one of the most efficient buildings in its category in the country.

After the presentation, a networking session took place while tequila and the food was served. Selected personal interviews were videotaped by movie director Frank Draserie. Among the attendees were the representatives of Pro Mexico, academics from the UBC, the director of Latincouver, the CEO of Sustainability Television, members of One Earth group, sustainability and energy professionals from the Hive and from the city.

The event’s main sponsor is the Instituto de Liderazgo Sustentable, which promotes sustainability knowledge in buildings in Mexico and North America to professionals and stakeholders in the construction industry. Among the actions taken to promote greenhouse gas emission reductions are the promotion public transport use to their employees by electronic cards, electric bicycles for building users and the generous sponsorship of Green Building Drinks both in Mexico City and Vancouver.

EA Energia y Arquitectura is an architectural office with the LEED accredited professionals specialized in energy modeling and architectural bioclimatic design. They offer a cutting-edge service to their clients with the requested documentation by the LEED accreditation system and architectural bioclimatic design, ensuring that the project accomplishes environmental, social and financial sustainability.

DPI Territorial that is a consulting practice with offices in Vancouver and Guadalajara. DPI provides community, environmental, land use, climate change and energy planning services for rural and urban areas. DPI works with government, First Nations and other indigenous groups, nongovernment and non-profit organizations, academic institutions and the private-sector land development industries. DPI specializes in the integration of technology, complex mapping and analysis with effective community engagement and planning.

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