The U.S. Green Building Council’s Greenbuild International Conference and Expo landed at the scenic Los Angeles Convention Center Oct. 5-7. The event included an overall attendance of 18,079 and 531 exhibiting companies participating in 138,960 square feet of exhibit and display space on the trade-show floor, according to show organizers. Celebrating its 15th anniversary, the group used “Iconic GREEN” as its theme for the event.

In their welcome article in the event’s program, outgoing USGBC CEO Rick Fedrizzi and USGBC board of directors chair Fiona Cousins wrote about Los Angeles and the icons of the silver screen it represents.

“But, a new kind of icon is also coming to define this exceptional city as well as our movement — those that personify excellence and commitment to the best in sustainability practice and innovation,” Fedrizzi said. “We’re excited to celebrate them all.” Fedrizzi then passed the torch of USGBC CEO to Mahesh Ramanujam during the closing festivities.

Though there was an Expo Hall trade show component to the event, visiting Greenbuild was more like visiting a university campus during midterms. Attendees flocked to educational seminars, emerging for the occasional coffee run. They were busy — individual attendees could earn more than 15 continuing education units (CEUs) and fulfill Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) professional credential maintenance for the year via core educational sessions offered during Greenbuild. The event featured more than 200 sessions, tours, summits, and workshops in the robust education program and throughout the week, with many sessions selling out. Attendees earned an impressive 33,517 hours of collective CEUs at Greenbuild.

The Expo Hall showcased the products and services available to professionals within the sustainable building industry and had several notable areas, including the Greenbuild KB Home ProjeKt, a 1,790-square-foot custom demonstration home; the world’s only Net Zero Zone; a 4,500-square-foot pavilion powered by alternative power collected on-site at the Los Angeles Convention Center; and eight sponsored education labs with CEU-accredited education on the show floor.

Plumbing companies on hand included Sloan, Kohler, Stiebel Eltron, Aquatherm, Falcon Waterfree Technologies, and others.

The 2017 Greenbuild event will be held Nov. 8-10 and will move across country to the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. For more information, visit www.greenbuildexpo.com.

The 2016 Greenbuild KB Home ProjeKt display at Greenbuild 2016 boasted vignettes that featured assemblies and systems, home tours, interactive educational features, and a digital wall display. To learn more, visit www.greenbuildexpo.com/ GBProjekt.

This article was originally titled “Going green in LA” in the December 2016 print edition of Plumbing & Mechanical.