Building a better Long Island

Gene Stern (left) of the Green Peak Group and friends at Wednesday's Going Green Symposium & Business Expo.
By Z
For ’tis green, green, green, where the ruined towers are gray,
and it’s green, green, green, all the happy night and day…
This probably wasn’t what the late poet Mary Elizabeth Blake, a nice Italian girl from Dungarvan in County Waterford, meant. But some serious greenin’ went on Wednesday, when builders, plumbers, electricians, architects and the cream of Long Island’s business crop united for the Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce’s Going Green Business Symposium & Expo.
The third-annual event – a smorgasbord of construction-related discussions and networking with an environmental edge – was split into successive sessions at Huntington’s Long Island Hilton and Melville’s Leviton Manufacturing Company. And it was bigger and better than its predecessors, according to Ronald DiGiacomo of the Huntington Chamber’s Board of Directors.
Ron, who chairs the chamber’s Environmental Committee, played an active role in organizing the symposium, which attracted “greater participation and more sponsors this year.” Among the luminaries was former National Grid CEO Bob Catell, chairman of Stony Brook University’s Advanced Energy Research & Technology Center, who delivered the keynote address.
Big-name sponsors included LIPA, National Grid, Verizon, The Home Depot, Newsday and Long Island Business News, a well as several of Long Island’s most influential construction and financial institutions. Also cracking the sponsor list was Green Peak Group, a Hauppauge-based enterprise that “integrates all facets of green construction and renovation, from conception to completion,” according to Ron, who’s also Green Peak’s chief operating officer.
New Media has enjoyed a close relationship with Green Peak since the environmental concern launched in December. We’ve honed their brand and their image, developing everything from their logo to their unique message; we’ve provided digital content and print ads; we even produced their booth for Wednesday’s expo, where Green Peak was more than a simple cosponsor.
Green Peak people, in fact, were all over the place. Charlie Hall, who manages Green Peak’s energy services, was part of the “Finding the Green to Go Green” panel discussion during the morning session. Joining Charlie was Jacob Goldman, a professional member of both Green Peak Group and Energy Tax Savers, an amalgam of CPAs, engineers and legal eagles consulting clients on federal greening incentives.
Dr. Ron Vitori, another professional Green Peak member and vice president of the construction-management firm Axis Group, moderated the “Training the Trades” discussion during the afternoon session at Levinton.
Carrying a heavy load at the symposium was ideal for Green Peak, and not only because its COO organized the chamber event. “As a consultant, a big part of what we do is finding the green to go green,” Ron told me. “Since we’re into construction as well, we’re also very interested in seeing the trades stay up-to-date on green building techniques.
“It’s all about making these buildings efficient and more sustainable,” he added. “Making them better places to live and work.”
For more on Green Peak Group’s comprehensive approach to environmentally friendly construction, check out their website (yeah, that’s one of ours!) at www.greenpeakgroup.com.
October 6th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Z: Nice find on the Mary Blake poem. A little Googling in overdrive on that one?
October 6th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Old Pal, it was that or a Jolly Green Giant reference. Trying to maintain an air of professionalism over here.
Ho, ho, ho…