Maine has proven to be fertile ground for green buildings. And experts in the field will be gathering in Portland Thursday to help accelerate the trend.

The Maine Real Estate & Development Association is holding a green design and financing conference Thursday at the University of Southern Maine’s Abromson Community Education Center. The super-efficient building (it even has toilets that use captured rainwater) is itself a showcase of environmentally friendly design.

The keynote speaker will be Kevin Hydes, chairman of the World Green Building Council and former head of the U.S. Green Building Council. Hydes also is an engineer for Stantec, a global design company that has an office in downtown Portland.

Hydes spoke to us today from his office in Montreal about the dramatic changes in construction technology around the world. The pace of change is especially rapid in North America as global warming has captured the public’s attention, he said.

“I really believe we’re moving into the mass implementation era. The message is being heard, it’s being received, and now it’s how to fix things,” he said.

The Green Building Council’s role is to make sure good design ideas coming out of places like Portland, Ore., northern California, and even the University of Southern Maine, get spread around and used elsewhere. Hydes also said he wants to end the myth that green buildings are expensive buildings.

“It’s not green that’s costing you money. It’s new that’s costing you money,” he said. Once new methods are relearned and catch on, the market will respond, he said. “We’re trying to make that new thing become a standard thing.”

Here’s more information about the conference.

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