Meetings of interest in Nice

A two-day meeting took place last week in Nice, sponsored by UNEP-SBCI, a group called GI-REC (Cities, Engine to Sustainability), Energies 2050, a French NGO, and IFDD (Institut de la Francophone pour le Developpement Durable). The two days I attended were part of a week-long program that included two days for a Francophone summer university, a one-day session on “sustainable hotels” (bring your own towels?).

Concordia plans a net-zero symposium for August

Concordia University in Montreal is organizing a small expert symposium of interest for 19-21 August 2015. The event is formally called CZEBS-iiSBE Net-Zero Built Environment 2015 Symposium and is organized by the Centre for Zero Energy Building Studies (CZEBS) at Concordia University. Speakers will be focusing on issues covering smart, net-zero and resilient Buildings and Communities.

Workshop in Arequipa Peru leading to a Peruvian SBTool

Nils Larsson spent the week of May 4 to 8 in the Universidad Catolica San Pablo (UCSP) in Arequipa Peru, leading a workshop on SBTool, followed by a public lecture on more general SB issues. The workshop was part of a relatively large research project in Peruvian terms, and will include the development of a web-based Spanish-language version of the system.

SBE series coordination meeting

On 5 and 6 March, a meeting was held at the offices of UNEP-SBCI in Paris, to coordinate actions related to SBE16 national conferences and the global WSBE17 Hong Kong conference. Most of the 20 national event organizers, except for some SBE16 organizers located in Australia and Asia who communicated by Skype. Meeting notes will soon be available.

Nils Larsson, SBE series coordinator.

The 2016-17 SBE series of conferences

The process for establishing the 2016 SBE conferences is well underway. Proposals have been received and approved for national / regional events in Dubai, Malta, Hamburg, Porto, Zurich, Prague, Tallinn and Helsinki, and Cairo. More proposals are being prepared for Malmö, Manila and Torino, and others are also expected.

The global event for 2017, WSBE17 Hong Kong, was selected in October and that major event is tentatively scheduled for 5-7 June of 2017.

The deadline for SBE16 proposals is 20 February, and all conference organizers have been invited to attend a meeting of conference organizers in Paris on 5 and 6 March. Representatives of the series owners, CIB, iiSBE, UNEP-SBCI and FIDIC as well as some of the series advisors will also attend.

The purpose of the meeting is for the various organizers to meet each other and to discuss matters of mutual interest and concern. We will report soon after this meeting.

Nils Larsson, SBE conference series coordinator