SOUTHFIELD ? Lawrence Technological University will host a sustainability conference in September to bring together architects, engineers, entrepreneurs, homeowners, educators, students and those responsible for both for-profit and non-profit buildings to update on the latest development in sustainability.
Sustainability Strategies for People, Profit & Planet will be held at LTU on Sept. 27-28. The conference is presented by Michigan Interfaith Power & Light and Lawrence Tech?s Center for Sustainability.
“This year?s conference has something for everyone, whether a professional, student or homeowner,? remarked LTU Associate Professor Janice Means, the conference chair.
Friday?s seminars will feature the latest information on energy efficiency tips/techniques, urban gardening, efficient lighting options, the living building challenge, interfaith theories on faith and sustainability, resource reuse in Detroit, and much more. Two highlights will be the EPA Portfolio Manager Utilities Tracking Workshop and Solar Detroit: Going Beyond Net Zero.
Saturday attendees will be treated to two inspirational sustainability movies and tours of the on-campus stormwater management education trail, a 10kW photovoltaic system, and the A. Alfred Taubman Student Services Center, a LEED Silver building which has a green roof, a geothermal heat pump system, rainwater flush toilets and waterless urinals, and many more sustainable features.
The two keynote speakers for this year?s conference are William Spratley, executive director of Green Energy Ohio, and Terry Gips, CEO of Sustainability Associates based in Minneapolis.
Since 2001 Spratley has led the statewide, non-profit organization, Green Energy Ohio, whose membership includes more than 600 individuals and businesses. Last year he was appointed to the American Solar Energy Society Board of Directors.
An attorney since 1973, Spratley was Ohio?s first consumers? counsel from 1977 to 1993. His office represented four million residential ratepayers in more than 1,200 public utility proceedings. He has served on U.S. Secretary of Energy advisory boards under three presidents.
Gips is a nationally recognized sustainability leader, business consultant, agricultural economist, ecologist and author of ?Breaking the Pesticide Habit? and ?The Humane Consumer and Producer Guide.? Sustainability Associates works with business, government, congregations, healthcare organizations, schools and nonprofits to save money, improve performance and become sustainability leaders.
For more information and to register for Friday?s seminars, go to Sustain4p.LTU.EDU
No registration is required for Saturday?s complimentary tours and movies.
