NextGenWeb often examines the ways that broadband enables solutions to reduce carbon emissions, like telecommuting, e-commerce, and telepresence. But a panel at South by Southwest shed light on another way that broadband technology is improving the environment and that is through more efficient green design. The topic of the panel was digital technologies and profitable green building. The ways that technology-based efficiencies are valuable in creating and sharing green designs was a strong theme.

The panelist that spoke most directly to the ways technology is improving green design was Murray Legge of LZTA, an Austin-based architecture firm. Legge believes that the way architects design and communicate has moved away from closed and self-contained to more collaborative and open, thanks to technology. He finds that tools like Google SketchUp and other new, digital modeling software are especially helpful in revolutionizing the industry. These types of design applications and software, in addition to ease of communication, have not only made green projects possible, but affordable to many more clients. This is especially important as the current cultural shift is creating more demand.

Keep an eye out for Legge’s current project, LaunchPad Coworking in Austin. Using the technology discussed above, Legge and his team are creating a space for the mobile, officeless worker. And thanks to today’s technology, this will surely be a model shared and embraced for future co-working designs.

A full list of the panelists is below.

• David Armistead – Social Web Strategies
• Pliny Fisk – CMPBS
• Murray Legge – LZTA
• John Motloch, PhD. – Ball State University
• Derek Woodgate – The Futures Lab Inc
• Kathleen Zarsky – Holos

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