On Wednesday I got the opportunity to check out the Pacific Coast Builders Conference, PCBC, for the first time. The Moscone Center was jam-packed with an impressive variety of tradespeople advertising their product. Despite this, Sir Helmut was tripping pretty hard about how few people there were (and sober, no less!). Apparently, PCBC has been struggling with attendance for the past couple years since the economy went south. The numbers aren’t out for this year’s conference, but this article discusses past attendance issues the conference has had in previous years. Nevertheless, I was introduced to a lot of new, innovative products at PCBC that I’d like to share with you:
- Cabinets: Executive Cabinetry has come out with a line of cabinets, “EcoFriendly.” This product is certified to the highest GreenGaurd standard: Children & Schools. The cabinet is made with FSC certified wood, and finished with water-based products that emit zero Formaldehyde.
- Insulation: Owens Corning has released a new insulation product that is also GreenGaurd Children & Schools certified. Their pink EcoTouch insulation also helps prevent indoor air pollution by being Formaldehyde free.
- Solar water hearing: The Velux solar water heater was something I found particularly innovative. This is an Energy Star qualified system that should drop energy consumption for heating your water by 50-80%. I really liked this system because it could be installed in conjunction to a skylight you could use for your bathroom.
- Roofing: I’ve never really thought to use recycled rubber and plastic to roof a home, but EcoStar has provided us this service of sustainable roofing with a line of tiles made out of 80% post-industrial recycled materials. I saw for myself at PCBC that these products look almost exactly like the tiles or wood shake they emulate. This roofing is warrantied to last 50 years. This product is recyclable, so once that time is up just toss them in the blue bin.
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