Greening Your Home – Easy Changes with Big Impact (1:15pm)
Have you ever wondered how much solar panels actually cost? Do you know how much energy you hair dryer uses? Do you know what the quality of air in your home is? Join “How Can I Greenify My Home” to learn simple steps to making your home energy efficient, chemical free, and for creating a beautiful, self-sustainable yard.
Gail Vittori, Co-Director, Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems
For more than three decades Gail has been a catalyst for local, state and national initiatives advancing green building protocols, policies and prototypes with a focus on the intersection of green building and human health. In 1989, Ms. Vittori developed the conceptual framework for what evolved as the City of Austin’s Green Builder Program, the first green building program in the world. In 2001, she convened the Green Guide for Health Care, catalyzing a revolution in healthcare design, construction and operations. She is the 2015 Chair of Green Business Certification Inc., and served on the USGBC Board of Directors from 2002-2010, including as Board Chair in 2009. Gail was Founding Chair of the LEED for Healthcare committee (2004-2008), and co-author of Sustainable Healthcare Architecture. She was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and was featured as an Innovator: Building a Greener World in TIME Magazine.
Williams’s dedication to improving our quality of life can be seen in the many non‐profit organizations he helped found.  He has served as an advisor to both the Governor’s and the Texas Energy Advisory Councils.  He co-founded with NASA engineers Texas’s first renewable energy organization, the Houston Solar Energy Society in 1975; he helped found the Texas Solar Energy Society in 1976, the Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association in 1984, and Cultivate Green, a citizen education program by the Houston Advanced Research Center in 2003.  Chairing the Houston AIA Energy Committee, he also helped co‐found the original Houston Chapter of the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment (HAIA-COTE) in 1977.  He helped found Texans for Urban Sustainability – a Regional Organization for Organic Technology & Sustainability (TexUS ROOTS) in 1992 and is active with Transition Houston, USGBC Houston, Texas Bioneers, AIA Houston, Houston Tomorrow, The Center for Houston’s Future, and many other organizations.
Williams is a licensed architect and a member of the American Institute of Architects, the Texas Society of Architects, and AIA Houston.  He is a LEED AP (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional) as designated by the US Green Building Council, a Building Ecologist, a Bioneer, a Living Building Challenge Ambassador, a Pachamama Alliance Facilitator, and has completed the Transition Network training.
Susan Meredith, Author, Beyond Light Bulbs: Lighting the Way to Smarter Energy Management
Susan founded “HumanExcel,”The objective of these projects¬†for her international Fortune 500 clients through training and mentoring over 600 Business Process Improvement¬†was to reduce wastes, improve efficiencies and save money.
Susan founded “Go Green Squads,” an energy efficiency solutions provider that provides energy audits, upgrades and education.
Susan’s book “Beyond Light Bulbs: Lighting the Way to Smarter Energy Management” offers a complete and comprehensive overview of energy in layman’s terms – from green building to renewable and traditional energy sources to transportation to global energy grids. Her solutions-oriented approach shows how aligning our forces will create a brighter energy future.
Kaiba White, President of Solar Austin, Energy Policy and Outreach Specialist for Public Citizen’s Texas Office