BuildSMART Trailer Makes Green Building Education Hands-On, Mobile and Local

PLANET WATCH-For the last few months, the BuildSMART trailer has had thousands of visitors traipse through, from kids playing with and touching different green building materials, to adults asking money-saving questions. 

This trailer is the tool of the U.S. Green Building Council-Los Angeles Chapter (USGBC-LA) for 2016. As it visits high schools and festivals throughout the year, volunteers provide education on sustainable building to everyone—homeowners, professionals, public officials and students—by demonstrating applied sustainable building techniques and illustrating their benefits. 

“Stocked with a greywater system and a modular wall with removable panels, recycled countertops, tankless water heater and grass replacements, this mobile green resource center offers the full spectrum of green building strategies in a compact and interactive space,” states Fernanda Zuin, who manages the trailer’s schedule, the USGBC-LA professional member volunteers, and the driving, set up/pack up and care of the trailer. To request the trailer at your school or event, please contact Fernanda at [email protected].  

Events to date have included stops at Van Nuys and Sun Valley High Schools (for their Green Festivals), AEG at LA Live and Panorama Mall (Earth Day), STEAM High School (Science/Tech Festival), LA Design Festival, One Water Festival (Pt. Dume), City of Torrance Environmental Fair, Lotus Festival (Echo Park) and Lake Balboa. Upcoming dates include: 

8/6:     Go Green Save Green with Cal State Institute for Sustainability in Arleta (Branford Park)  

8/19   Net Zero 2016 Conference at SoCal Gas Energy Resource Center in Downey  

8/20:   Eastside Sol Festival in Boyle Heights  

8/27:   National Electric Vehicle Week event at El Camino Real High School 

Other upcoming Back-to-School stops include Azusa ReStore, El Monte, Alhambra and Polytechnic High Schools, Boyle Heights Technology YouthSource Center and more. 

To see each week’s regularly updated schedule, please visit the official USGBC-LA Facebook page each Monday afternoon: @U.S. Green Building Council Los Angeles Chapter.  

“The BuildSMART Trailer experience is a prime example of how our chapter is a resource for everyone who is interested in a sustainable built environment,” states USGBC-LA Executive Director Dominique Hargreaves. “Our members are eager to listen to questions and share their knowledge with fellow professionals, property or home owners, neighborhood community groups, or students, the next generation…which is maybe the most important group to engage with. USGBC-LA offers lots of ways to connect, and one goes right into neighborhoods, which we love.” 

This program is made possible by a Community Partner Grant funded by the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power.  

REMINDER: Greenbuild International Conference & Expo is Oct. 5-7 in Los Angeles. Contact Julie Du Brow or Dominique Hargreaves for more information. 

(Julie Du Brow is a communications consultant for the U.S. Green Building Council-L.A., among others.  Julie is an occasional contributor to CityWatch.)

-cw