Resilience at Greenbuild 2024

Explore sessions at Greenbuild that will focus on meeting resilience goals.

Resilience could be defined as our ability to plan for, recover from and successfully adapt to adverse events. To support these efforts amid increasing climate impacts, green buildings include diverse practices such as using durable materials, thoughtful site selection, rainwater collection, on-site renewable energy generation and attention to community needs.

As the global green building community's top space for learning, networking and sharing insights, Greenbuild 2024, "Built to Scale," will offer more than 100 sessions on the most critical topics in the industry. The conference will take place Nov. 12-15 this year in Philadelphia.

Take a look at a small sample below of opportunities to engage in learning about resilience strategies, and explore the full Greenbuild education program when you register to attend. You can sort by track, topic, learning level and more.

Resilient Places Summit

Tuesday, Nov. 12

Greenbuild is launching five all-new, in-person summits in 2024. Each summit includes a keynote, a full day of sessions specifically designed for each topic and opportunities to network. Summits are available only to attendees with a Conference or Student pass.

Catastrophic storms, severe wildfires and the hottest temperatures on record: Climate resilience has become a mainstream concern, underscoring the urgency with which buildings and communities must adapt to support human health and safety in new ways. This summit fosters resilience at the intersection of spaces and communities, exploring innovative solutions and partnerships and the critical role buildings play in safeguarding vulnerable populations facing escalating environmental challenges. Attendees will be empowered to create resilient, adaptable and inclusive places that mitigate and respond to inevitable climate impacts.

Building Resiliency into Communities: Leveraging Local Buildings as Community Resources

Tuesday, Nov. 12, 1:30-2:30 p.m.

Explore the transformative impact of resilient infrastructure design, emphasizing the necessity for a comprehensive rethink by agencies, electric utilities, building owners and communities. Applying experience from cutting-edge sustainable projects, this panel will highlight opportunities on how design and community partners might collaborate to ensure reliable power during blackouts and to provide emergency services and shelter to local communities in the event of a major disaster. This includes how energy resources like PV arrays, batteries and electric vehicles-combined with site resources such as gymnasiums, kitchens and pools-enables crucial infrastructure for local communities and first responders during critical events.

Exploring the Role of LEED v5 in Promoting Resilient Design

Wednesday, Nov. 13, 10:30-11:30 a.m.

This session delves into the core components of resilience embedded within LEED v5 and explores their significance in creating buildings and communities better equipped to withstand adverse climate events. Experts from USGBC and the LEED Resilience Working Group will walk through how LEED v5 can be used to assess buildings for resilience, sharing case studies and real-world examples, with insight on how evaluating project resilience can align with ESG goals. The session will offer practical strategies for enhancing resilience across different building typologies and scales, addressing challenges such as implementation barriers and the need for interdisciplinary collaboration. Attendees will leave with actionable steps for integrating resilience into their projects and navigating resilience-focused credits within LEED v5.

Navigating Climate Resilience with LEED v5's Resilient Site Design Credit

Wednesday, Nov. 13, 3-4 p.m.

This session will focus on the newly introduced Resilient Site Design credit in the Sustainable Sites (SS) category of LEED v5, offering attendees a deep dive into its development and practical strategies for addressing environmental challenges. Speakers will begin the session by explaining the rationale behind integrating resilience into LEED v5 and the collaborative efforts that shaped the Resilient Site Design credit. Attendees will learn about the credit's objectives and criteria, and how the credit aligns with broader sustainability goals. Following this, experts in wildfire management, flooding and extreme heat will provide insight into techniques for mitigating heat island effects and promoting urban cooling through green infrastructure and passive design strategies.

NOAA's Ark: Designing Water Resilient Projects for Our Climate Future

Thursday, Nov. 14, 10:30-11:30 a.m.

In light of the catastrophic flooding and droughts that many regions of the world experienced in 2022-2023, we must challenge ourselves to confront the increased likelihood of extreme weather events and the diminished water resilience that our projects now face. Although these drought and flooding challenges may appear to require disparate solutions, the best way to face them is through what we call the "One Water" challenge. Panel perspectives of architecture, civil engineering and MEP engineering will delve into the critical intersections between water, resilience, decarbonization and preservation with a holistic, integrated team approach. The solutions for future water performance and resilience presented in this session leverage future-looking climate models, whole-building water mapping, tried-and-true water savings strategies and an innovative approach to linking building electrification and decarbonization to make projects resilient to both drought and deluge.

View the full education lineup.

Register for Greenbuild.

View the full education lineup

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