If you haven't yet committed to attending the Sustainable Building and Living Conference in Kimberley on January 28 and 29, 2011 at the COTR campus, perhaps a further look into the lineup of speakers may help you decide. Though if you haven't yet decided, do hurry. Last year's conference was sold out and spaces are filling up fast for 2011.

To register, contact the College of the Rockies, Kimberley Campus, at 250-427-7116 ext 3752 or download and return the registration forms for Friday and Saturday (with payment) to the College.

Here are just some of the workshops to be presented on Saturday, January 29.

Integrated Design - Thomas Elpel

Learn to build the high-efficiency house of your Dreams on a shoestring budget with Thomas J. Elpel, author of Living Homes: Stone Masonry, Log, and Strawbale Construction. Discover how to save tens of thousands of dollars in upfront costs and long-term maintenance through thoughtful planning and design. Learn the secrets of finding and using free or low-cost, natural or recycled building materials. And most importantly, learn how to avoid a mortgage and find the freedom to live all of your dreams in life.

The Darfield Earthship - Sandra Burkholder

Join Chris Newton and Sandra Burkholder as they discuss the construction process to date. Learn about different aspects of earthships: passive heating and cooling, auxiliary heat (rocket mass heater) greywater systems, food production, rainwater harvesting, renewable energy and affordability.

Learn more about general and technical resources they accessed and how they have involved their children, family, strangers and volunteers in their house construction project.

Green Architecture - Design Concepts - Christine Ross

The idea of the workshop is to explore the ways of creating green architecture where the building design itself creates a building which is responsive to climate, site and energy conservation considerations as well as all the requirements that go in to making a building the best possible working solution for the client. Examples of issues which will be addressed are site planning and building orientation, building planning concepts and 3 dimensional building concepts. It will also be looking at bringing Green Building - Design Concepts in to mainstream architecture and in to the issues of balancing commercial concerns with green building concerns.

NetZero Energy Housing on the Northern Prairies; Lessons Learned So Far - Peter Amerongen

The Riverdale NetZero Project is the most northerly of 12 net zero energy residential projects built in conjunction with CMHC's EQuilibrium Housing Initiative. Habitat Studio has incorporated the early lessons from the Riverdale Project into four other net zero energy houses. (these are buildings that over the course of a year produce, on site, as much energy as is consumed for everything: heating, domestic hot water and lighting and appliances). This is a daunting challenge on the northern prairies where it can be minus 40C on winter days with less than 8 hours of daylight. Achieving net zero energy in this context requires a combination of aggressive conservation and a multi faceted exploitation of solar energy. Lessons learned offer valuable evidence based guidance to anyone involved in the planning or building of projects, new or retrofit, that aim to substantially reduce their environmental impact.

Build It or Permit? Which comes first? - Andy Christie, Kris Belanger and Troy Pollock

Understanding the permitting process?Planning a new building or renovation project? Wondering if your latest idea will comply with zoning or building code requirements? Like any new adventure, it is wise to plan ahead and understand the key steps along the way. Attend this interactive session where City of Kimberley Planning and Building Inspection staff will present an overview of the building permit and inspection process and answer all of your questions to ensure a successful application and a code-compliant project.