Building on the incredible success of last year's conference, Wildsight Kimberley/Cranbrook is ready to once again offer a weekend of information and networking on 'green' issues.

Sustainable Building and Living 2011 is scheduled for January 28 and 29, 2011, at the College of the Rockies Kimberley campus, and an incredible array of speakers has been lined up.

Erna Jensen-Shill, with Wildsight Kimberley/Cranbrook, says this year's conference might even outshine last year's, which sold out. "Hundreds attended last year," Jensen-Shill said. "And there were waiting lists for workshops. Lots of people in the region are intensely interested in cutting-edge, on-the-ground approaches to green building and sustainable living."

Jensen-Shill says the cross section of the crowd last year was quite interesting.

"Everybody came, quite frankly," she said. "From people interested in doing renovations or energy upgrading, to architects and designers, building inspectors. Troy (Pollock from the City's planning services) dovetailed it with a City planners conference. It was really broad, an amazing array of people."

The conference will once again feature a wide lineup of speakers, all with expertise in sustainable building.

"From Earthships to Net Zero Homes, from building code experts to the head of SolarBC, and from deep-energy retrofits to ground-up design-the building topics this year are fascinating," Jensen-Shill said.

She says that access to this type of knowledge in one setting is possible in places like Vancouver and Calgary but it's not often you can access it in a small town.

"For us to get this kind of expertise and energy to the East Kootenay is really something and I think people approved of it last year and will again. The level of speakers we are offering is phenomenal."

Three workshops will explore permaculture, fossil-fuel-free year-round greenhouses and bio-based energy approaches to growing food and increasing food security.

Like last year, the conference will feature a Sustainable Building and Living Showcase on Saturday afternoon that is free to the public.

"The showcase takes you on a quick-but-comprehensive tour of green products and services, and lets you meet the innovative people who offer them," Jensen-Shill said. "It's pretty fun stuff. It's going to be exciting."

It all starts on Friday, with pre- conference workshops at the Kimberley campus of COTR and an evening opening event at McKim Theatre. On Saturday, there are more workshops, the free showcase, and a sustainable networking event to wrap it all up Saturday evening.

"The best advice I have is to visit the website, www.KimberleySustainableBuilding.ca," Jensen-Shill said. "You can see the schedule, read about the workshops and even read the bios of our esteemed presenters. And after that, register!"

The Sustainable Building and Living Conference is a partnership between the College of the Rockies, Wildsight, the City of Kimberley and the Kootenay Rockies Innovation Council with funding provided by Columbia Basin Trust. Supporting partners include the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, New Dawn Developments and Smart Planning for Communities.