NAED hosts panel to discuss green construction

When the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) decided to host panels of speakers to discuss the ubiquitous topic of green construction at their National Electrical Leadership Summit meeting in San Francisco, they turned to the leaders of electrical construction — NECA contractors.
Joe Salimando, a writer for NAED’s TED Magazine and a long-time consultant who works closely with NECA and the NECA-IBEW National Labor-Management Cooperation Committee, hosted two separate panels. The first featured industry experts who forecast the near-future impact green construction will have on the electrical industry. The panelists included:
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The panelists agreed that green is the future of construction, with challenges and opportunity awaiting all in the electrical industry. Maisel offered some statistics to support this prospect, including figures from McGraw Hill that state that by 2010 green construction will be a $60-billion market, with a product market of $30 billion- to 40 billion. According to Maisel, “Green construction is no longer a far-off‘movement,’ it is a large, viable market.” 
The second panel consisted of individuals who are actively working in green construction and face the challenges of this emerging market — electrical contractors. Three of the four panelists are NECA-member contractors:
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The fourth panelist was Gordon Stewart, an electrical contractor from Houston, Texas.
All three NECA contractors shared insight into their companies’ unique projects and experiences in green construction. They also shared valuable information as to how electrical distributors could become more involved in assisting contractors as they seek the technology and products necessary for green projects.

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