West Coast Green, a gathering that‘s part expo, part trade show and part thought conference, will be showcasing leading edge green projects when it opens at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco this coming weekend.

One of the largest conferences devoted to the “built environment,” the event attracts speakers with architectural, design and construction expertise from around the nation.

Visitors to the 2009 conference, Oct. 1-3, will be able to see demos of hundreds of products, as well as examples of green design, such as a large hanging garden constructed on a bamboo framework that will be suspended over the bay. The installation aims to show how green can be beautiful and useful, using vegetation to mitigate heat, sequester carbon and improve water and air quality.

The SFH40, an off-grid building for emergency use (Photo: West Coast Green.)

Another demonstration will feature a self-sustaining, off-the-grid building called the SHF40 that could be used during medical or weather emergencies or as temporary housing.

Some 300 exhibitors will be showing green and non-toxic building products; solar, wind and waste reduction technology.

But West Coast Green is also about envisioning what could be, and this year offers several “leadership summits” where participants can learn about retrofitting residential buildings, clean tech and green business opportunities – so they can go forth and pave — or, er, permeable rock path — the way in these arenas. There will also be a “design slam,” a brainstorming session among designers to help green a renovation of a Pier at Fort Mason.

Many notable sustainability experts will be speak, including keynoters:

• Bill Reed, president of the Integrative Design Collaborative based in Massachusetts and New Mexico

• Andrew Winston, founder of Ecostrategies.

• Rebecca Costa, futurist and author, The Watchman’s Rattle

• Cameron Sinclair, co-founder of Architecture for Humanity, author of Design Like You Give  Damn

• Peter Darbee, CEO of PG&E, a sponsor of the event and among the companies leaving the US Chamber of Commerce over the chamber’s opposition to climate legislation.

• Ray Anderson, chair and founder of Interface Inc.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom also will address the gathering at the opening Thursday morning. Dozens of other speakers will conduct workshops at the conference, which is in its fourth year.

Another green building conference is fast approaching. The annual GreenBuild event hosted by the US Green Building Council (which administers the LEED certification program). GreenBuild xpects to showcase up to 1,800 products at the Phoenix event Nov. 11-13.

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