Buy Right is attending EPIC

I will be attending the EPIC Sustainable Living Expo this Saturday at the new Vancouver Convention Center.

Every year, EPIC showcases local and global green businesses, including producers of cars and other vehicles, clothing, food, utilities, and specialty products.  The complete list of exhibitors can be found here.  Bring your family and spend the day exploring the exhibits.  And bring your credit card, because the exhibitors will have plenty of environmentally responsible wares for you to buy.  For lunch, try the EPIC Cafe, which the site describes as “an EPICenter of epicurean delights.”

This year’s exhibition is in the brand new Vancouver Convention Center, a building that has been designed with the environment in mind.  It features the world’s largest green roof, planted with indigenous species of grasses and other hardy plants that need only a small amount of water during the dry summer, provided by a trickle irrigation system that takes its water from  grey water treated on site.  During the wet winter, the vegetation is irrigated by the ample precipitation of the region.

The most important function of the living roof is that it stores rainwater much more efficiently than a traditional flat roof, feeding its runoff into the city’s storm sewers at a very slow rate, and transpiring a significant amount back into the air.

Another green feature of the convention center is in its foundation, where a sheltered saltwater wetland has been constructed among the piles.  Seawater flows through a set of man-made channels beneath the building, nurturing a variety of aquatic species.

Not all of the center’s green features are visible outside.  It is also a very energy-efficient building, using seawater for its heating and cooling in an efficient closed-loop system.  BC Hydro has designated the convention center as a Powersmart building because of its high efficiency.

So come on out and enjoy the exhibition, and look for me as I hand out my freshly printed Buy Right business cards!

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