Boston was buzzing last week with 30,000 attendees and 1,500 exhibitors at the Greenbuild International Conference & Expo.

On one of the days, I spent 3 hours just walking through the convention centrelooking at booths and was still unable to visit all the booths. The conference was dominated by larger exhibitors; however there were five or six interesting companies for Renewal2 to follow-up with in regards to potential Renewal2 investments.

The panel sessions with industry experts were great for learning more about current trends and competitive forces; green roofing was a hot topic. Themes included lighting technologies, green building investing, modular home construction, and carbon offsetting. Also of particular interest, were the case studies in LEED design; projects from all over the world were highlighted and described by the managers of the projects.

The conference ended with a keynote speech by Bill McKibben on the state of climate change in relation to his powerful, grassroots movement to raise awareness and spark political movement on this issue with his 350.org efforts.

Greenbuild was also a time to connect with some friends and investees of Renewal; IceStone's Peter Strugatz, Elizabeth Crook of Orchard Advisors and Michael Whelchel of Watershed Capital.