Green Home + Energy Show logo

Workshops
green home + energy show

Saturday, April 6, 2024 • 9 am - 4 pm
Electric Vehicle Expo: 11 am - 2 pm
Workshops: 10 am - 3 pm

The Point Community Center, 345 Clarks Pond Pkwy, South Portland

2024 workshop Schedule

All workshops are included free with your ticket to the Green Home + Energy Show.

See below for a schedule of workshops you’ll find at this year’s Green Home + Energy Show. Seating is limited. Please plan accordingly.

Venue Map (click to zoom in)

  • Efficiency Maine offerings (offered twice)
    Room 303
    Andy Meyer,
    Efficiency Maine
    Efficiency Maine offers thousands of dollars in rebates and loans for energy saving investments including EVs, heat pumps, weatherization and heat pump water heaters. Learn what they are, how to access them and web-based tools including: the contractor locator, cost of home heating calculator and cost of water heating calculator and EV charging station locator.

    Driving an EV in Maine
    Room 304
    Chuck Hayward,
    ReVision Energy
    Lily McVetty,
    Efficiency Maine
    Electric vehicles (EVs) are fun to drive, cost less to operate, are cleaner for the environment, and can be more convenient than gas cars. Come to this session to learn about EVs, charging, and financial incentives that can help you make the switch.

    Landscaping to Protect Your Home
    Room 305
    Helen Watts,
    Criterium Engineering
    Landscaping affects your home. Done well, and maintained, it helps show off your home, helps it dry out, stay cool in the summer. Ignored? It grows moss on the roof and funnels water toward the foundations. Let’s talk shrubbery!

    Solar and batteries for retrofitting and new construction
    Student Lounge
    Chris Jones,
    ReVision Energy
    Whether you have an existing home or are drawing up plans to build your dream home, come learn how to prep your home for solar, battery storage and the all-electric household model. Modern technology makes it cost-effective and sensible to build a 100% solar-powered home, with no utility bills and a minimal carbon footprint.

  • Small Homes Are BIG
    Room 303
    Chris Lee and Jeff Bowman,
    Backyard ADUs
    Small homes and accessory dwelling units (ADUs) are on the rise! Reduced energy costs, a lower carbon footprint, and an affordable home for family are only a few of the benefits.

    Designing homes for all
    Room 304
    Jill Johanning,
    Alpha One
    This session will be an introduction to the design options for key parts of the home to allow people of all abilities to remain safe in their home and welcome more friends and family. Participants will gain a better understanding of possible access solutions to consider in changing or renovating their current home, or in new construction to improve access.

    Permaculture & Regenerative Food Systems
    Room 305
    Jesse Watson,
    Midcoast Permaculture Design
    In this presentation we will introduce the design philosophy called permaculture. We will discuss the design process, observation of patterns, how to heal ecosystems, grow perennial food crops and adapt to climate change using the landscapes around us.

    The Pretty Good House
    Student Lounge
    Emily Mottram,
    Mottram Architecture / co-author, Pretty Good House
    Have you heard about the building standard that's not a standard? Learn how to create energy efficient, healthy, sustainable homes with an emphasis on making the concepts and technical details accessible to builders and designers of all levels of development. One of the co-authors of the Pretty Good House book will go through the essential elements of what makes a Pretty Good House and share how it can help make low-carbon energy efficiency more accessible to contractors, designers, and clients.

  • Tips to improve home air quality
    Room 303
    Christy Crocker, Maine Indoor Air Quality Council
    Learn easy, practical measures you can take in your own home to reduce your exposure to common indoor pollutants such as mold, radon, particulate matter, and more.

    Retrofit with confidence: Planning, training, and execution
    Room 304
    Randy Rand, Dori Lam,
    passivhausMAINE
    Gain the confidence to tackle your own retrofit projects with passivhausMAINE. Learn about available training resources, as well as the basic logistics of planning and executing a retrofit project.

    Landscaping for Wildlife
    Room 305
    Deb Perkins,
    First Light Wildlife Habitats
    How to cultivate wildlife habitat in your garden, backyard, and beyond!

    Heat Pumps in Maine – The way life should be
    Student Lounge
    Matt Tilas,
    Mitsubishi Electric
    Everything you wanted to know about how heat pumps work, what to expect from them for heating, cooling, comfort and operational costs and debunking some common myths.

  • You can have a comfortable and efficient home!
    Room 303
    Colin McCullough,
    All-Around Home Performance
    With rising costs of heating and electricity it's hard to know the best ways to save energy in the home and stay comfortable in the winter and the summer! Come learn more from a home energy auditor about what you can do to save money in your home and be more comfortable year-round, and bring your questions about what options make the most sense and will save the most money!

    Building Science 101
    Room 304
    Dan Kolbert,
    Kolbert Building
    Steve Konstantino,
    Performance Building Supply
    The founders of the Portland area’s monthly Building Science Discussion Group will share some of the basics behind modern building science, followed by a Q&A. Bring your questions, or just come to soak it all in!

    Pre-fab construction for high performance homes
    Room 305
    Parlin Meyer,
    BrightBuilt Home
    Jason Reynolds,
    GO Logic
    Alison Keay,
    Unity Homes
    Planning to build a new high-performance home? Learn about the off-site building process from three companies that have pioneered the use of modular and panelized methods for building homes that are energy efficient, healthy, comfortable and durable.

    Planting for climate resilience
    Student Lounge
    Andrea Berry,
    Wild Seed Project
    In addition to helping to sustain vital pollinators, birds and other wildlife, native plantings offer countless other benefits that are indispensable in the age of climate change. When created and maintained with ecologically attuned landscaping practices, they can minimize flooding and storm water runoff, shade and cool cities, survive droughts, and facilitate carbon storage more effectively than the landscapes dominated by turf and mulch that blanket so many of our communities. Join Andrea Berry from the Wild Seed Project to learn about the actions you can take to make your corner of the world more biodiverse and resilient to the effects of climate change.

  • Efficiency Maine offerings (offered twice)
    Room 303
    Andy Meyer,
    Efficiency Maine
    Efficiency Maine offers thousands of dollars in rebates and loans for energy saving investments including EVs, heat pumps, weatherization and heat pump water heaters. Learn what they are, how to access them and web-based tools including: the contractor locator, cost of home heating calculator and cost of water heating calculator and EV charging station locator.

    Prepare Your House for Heat Pumps with Weatherization
    Room 304
    Richard Burbank,
    Evergreen Home Performance
    Heat pumps are an efficient heating and cooling system for your home, but you can maximize their impact as a whole-house heating solution with weatherization. Learn how to prepare your home for heat pumps through sealing and insulation to keep every part of your home cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

    Healing the earth and its climate with Living Soil
    Room 305
    Spero Latchis,
    Living Soil Company
    How does a healthy soil ecosystem quickly cool the earth? Sequester carbon? Filter, and Clean our water? Grow healthy plants, and healthy food? Reset the rain cycle? Nature’s simple, easy solutions are right under our feet, in the soil.

    Plants, Ticks, Bugs, and Worms: Why Worry About Invasive Species
    Student Lounge
    Gary Fish,
    Maine Dept. of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
    Maine State Horticulturalist Gary Fish shines a light on Maine's most unique and interesting invasive species, along with resources for gardeners to help them slow their spread.


Event producer of the Green Home + Energy Show

Green & Healthy Maine HOMES magazine has been inspiring healthy, sustainable, energy-smart and future-ready Maine homes since 2015. Subscribe for expert advice, informative interviews, profiles of high-performing homes, green building news and everything else you need to create your green & healthy dream home.

Plus, find Maine’s best home professionals with our Green Homes Business Directory—from solar to heat pumps, insulation to building & design, electric vehicles to landscaping and more


Nonprofit beneficiary

Tickets to the 2024 Green Home + Energy Show will benefit Wild Seed Project, a nonprofit organization which builds awareness of the vital importance of native plants and provides all people with the tools to restore biodiversity in their own communities. Their programs include seed stewardship, educational resources, school programs, applied ecology and publications.


THANK YOU TO OUR 2024 GREEN HOME + ENERGY SHOW SPONSORS

 

Presenting Sponsor