Laverne Williams - Keynote Speaker

Anyone knowledgeable in the field of Texas green building is familiar with LaVerne Williams, AIA, LEED AP, Texas green building pioneer, innovator of modern-day green building, father of non-profit organizations, and recipient of local and national awards. The Renewable Energy Stampede & Green Living Fair organizers announce LaVerne Williams, AIA, LEED AP, as the fair’s keynote speaker. Saturday, April 17, 1:00 PM at Salado Civic Williams shares green building tips for home efficiency.

Williams is founder and CEO of Environment Associates, Architects & Consultants, of Houston, Texas, an award-winning architectural firm established in 1975 noted for its dedication to quality of life issues and leadership in sustainable living concepts for new and existing homes. A father of modern-day green building techniques, his innovative work in southern climate “Design for Passive Sustainability” enabled Environment Associates’ projects to receive the preeminent green building awards available nationally and locally, including Austin Green Building Program’s Five Star Awards and the USGBC’s Certified Platinum LEED Awards. The architect for the 1st Certified Platinum Rated LEED home (and building) in Austin, he is also the architect for the Hunt TX located 1st Certified LEED Home in the Central Texas Hill Country. Nationally designated a “Houston Hero for the Environment,” he was inducted into the “Texas Legacy Project” by the Conservation History Association of Texas. “There’s growing interest in elements that create healthful, sustainable homes,” noted LaVerne Williams, architect & building ecologist. “Most are interested in what works best to provide more value for their housing dollars than just insulation and compact fluorescent light bulbs.”
His tips include:

• Using free natural cooling and heating
• Optimizing renewable energy use and opportunities for energy independence
• Enhancing outdoor living for extended use
• Increasing interior thermal comfort and energy-free interior lighting
• Creating healthy, easy-care, durable homes
• Greater ability for food and water independence
• Smartly increase use of free natural resources

A community leader, Williams has helped build non-profit organizations in Texas. He co-founded Houston Solar Energy Society, helped found Texas Solar Energy Society, which has served Texans for over 28 years and is a founding member of Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association, which has served Texans for over 25 years. Williams served as a national housing awards juror for the American Institute of Architects in Washington DC, among other accomplishments.
Design for Healthy Passive Sustainability: How to Create Your Sustainable Future by Starting at Home.
Having long pursued solutions to the “Living Cost” of homes, I decided many decades ago to do what I do. It was my answer to: “What can I do to make a difference?”. Now it’s also about “What can I do about this “mess*” in which we find ourselves?”.
By applying “Design for Healthy Passive Sustainability” concepts and principles, the “Living Cost” of our homes can be far less, because such homes are healthier, more durable, and result in healthier, more secure lives, healthier land, more nutritious food, better comfort, can result in no energy bills, no water bills, and in general, an overall better quality of life, not just for us, but for all living things as well.
Dozens of examples of what others have done to create more sustainable homes will be shown along with how to apply the concepts and principles of Design for Healthy Passive Sustainability.
No one has all the answers to this mess we are in, but I do know where we each can begin solving it. It’s at home. By each of us starting at home, everybody can do something that is good for them as well as for the Planet. Since at home is where we spend most of our time, if a new home isn’t being designed or our present home isn’t being remodeled to facilitate health and sustainability, not considering these core matters will carry over to adversely affect our lives now and far into the future.
Our homes are the place we have the most control over the outcome of how we want to live. We have more freedom to decide and implement sustainability decisions here than probably anywhere else. As more and more households make similar decisions about living more sustainably, by “Starting at Home”, we have a better chance to resolve this big mess we are in, because our individual decisions about what we each decide to do add up to influence the sustainability of everything up and down the supply chain.

*By “mess”, this means this country’s and the world’s financial mess and our concerns about climate change & rising seas, water shortages, overpopulation, social injustice, peak oil, water scarcity, ethics, corporate power, depleted & eroded soils, declining ocean productivity, species extinction, divisive politics, ethics, concentration of media ownership, etc.

The Renewable Stampede is co-organized by Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association and Texas Solar Energy Society, in cooperation with the Village of Salado and the Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. Event proceeds benefit TREIA and TXSES, two non-profits striving to increase understanding and awareness of renewable energy applications and promote their wide use. For more details log on to www.renewablestampede.org or call 877-376-8638 or email: info@renewablestampede.org.