USGBC Long Island donates over 2,000 cans at Canstruction 2010

The US Green Building Council Long Island Chapter (USGBC-LI) competed against 11 other teams in the fourth annual SMPS Canstruction Long Island Design/Build competition, donating over 2,000 cans of food to Long Island Cares. Canstruction is a national non-profit competition between five-member teams consisting of builders, designers, engineers, architects, contractors, businesses or associations. The teams build enormous vehicle-sized structures composed completely of canned food on sites no larger than 10 ft. wide, 10 ft.long by 8 ft. tall. All cans from the competition are donated to Long Island Cares Harry Chapin Food Bank. The annual Canstruction event is the food bank's biggest fundraising event, responsible for more than 100,000 cans donated since the event's revival in 2007. The 2010 Canstruction event collected an additional 41,140 cans for the food bank, almost meeting their 50,000 can goal, as stated on their website. Twelve teams participated in the competition, a record number, according to Kristine Wolf, Canstruction juror and New York Real Estate Journal publishing director. USGBC-LI's entry for the competition, named, "Let's CANstruct Only Green Buildings," was supported in part by Whole Foods Market. Whole Foods Market generously donated over 800 cans of beans to help construct the solar powered natural gas facility with a vegetative roof. While the main structure was made entirely of cans of beans, the vegetative roof was a sea of green labeled vegetable soup cans topped by the shiny underside of tuna cans mimicking four solar panels. Just over 2,000 cans were used to construct the building. "The point of the competition is for the structure to be made completely of cans, but you can have assistance of certain materials as long as they are not seen," said Megan Bové, USGBC-LI chapter coordinator and member of the building team. In addition to Bové, representing Racanelli Construction, the building team for the USGBC-LI structure consisted of Vince Capogna LEED AP ID+C, Synergy Green Building Group, Inc., USGBC-LI chairman; Michael Gianchetta LEED AP, GIANCO Environmental Services, USGBC-LI vice chair; Rudy Holesek, Apollo HVAC Corp, USGBC-LI treasurer; and Paul Meyer, Horizon Engineering, USGBC-LI secretary. Awards were given for Structural Ingenuity, Best Use of Labels, Best Meal, Jurors' Favorite, Honorable Mention, Most Cans, and Peoples' Choice. The winners were named Thursday, October 28th at an evening Exhibit Grand Opening Cocktail Reception. While USGBC-LI did not take home a prize, Bové said, "At the end of it all, it was one of my favorite memories of being part of USGBC-LI. It gave me the opportunity to have fun, but be part of a team that was made up of professionals on a mission. We knew what we needed to do and truly worked together. Also, it gave me motivation for next year." USGBC is a non-profit organization dedicated to sustainable building design and construction. USGBC developed the LEED building rating system, which is an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing building owners and operators a concise framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions. USGBC's core purpose is to transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated, enabling an environmentally and socially responsible, healthy, and prosperous environment that improves the quality of life. USGBC-LI works to bring these values to the communities of Long Island.