The effervescent, humorous, inspirational Van Jones is taking questions right now at GreenBuild in front of several hundred people, after having completed a 45-minute address on the green econony. He had a lot to say that's worth repeating. One thought I particularly liked was, "It's not that, for the first time, we have a black president.

It's been a hectic morning, made the more so by an unwelcoming welcome by the hosts, the US Green Building Council. Those who like it when the press is unhappy with its treatment will like to hear about it most.

Prior to the show, I was sent an e-mail with a UPC, and asked to print it out. When I arrived, I was told, I would just have to scan it and I'd be in.

It's Tuesday afternoon and I'm sitting in a seminar on smart building technology (yes, I came willingly) at BuildBoston, the Boston Society of Architects' annual conference.

There are a lot of people in here who clearly know what they're talking about — far more than me, certainly — but I just heard one of them refer to "the LEEDS." This is not uncommon, either. I hear it not seldomly, and among people, like these, who work in the building industries.

I once said in print that Jean-Luc Ponty was the greatest jazz violinist alive, and a friend who was a more seasoned music critic blanched at my boldness — who was I to opine so broadly? He was certainly right — I'm nowhere near the authority on such a matter. But I also felt that not only was it a defensible opinion, but who was anyone to say otherwise, definitively? No objective standard exists to settle the point.

Friend and former colleague Beth Daley of the Globe writes this morning about Canadian wind power, whose prospects may be considerably better than our own.

Some fear that a flood of clean power from Canada will undercut New England's efforts to become a national leader in green energy and technology.

Another in a series of miniprofiles of sustainability-minded people who are working to reduce humankind’s footprint on the planet. They're "mini" not only because they're short, but because all the questions are 10 words or less, and the answers are requested to match. (Please, no counting.)

ADDIE CRANSTOUN, 29, Manager, Green Depot, Waltham

Green Depot sells building materials focused on environmentally friendly products. Stoneham is one of five locations for the company, which is headquartered in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Green epiphany: "In elementary school, one of the first major issues I tackled was concern about our ozone layer."

Green hero: "Jane Goodall. Not only for the work she’s done, but recently, she’s doing more speaking and trying to educate children that they can have sustainability at the forefront of their future."

I have a story on the state of green building in Greater Boston in the current issue of GreenSource magazine, commissioned on the occasion of GreenBuild, the US Green Building Council's national convention. As many as 30,000 builders, developers, architects and other green partisans are expected at the Convention and Exposition Center next Wednesday through Friday (Nov. 19-21).

Writing at offgrid.com, Nick Rosen discusses micro-nuclear plants, which, the story says, could power 20,000 homes for 10 years or more.

The devices, said to be only a few feet across, would be buried well underground, have no moving parts, and be powered by low-energy uranium that would be difficult to enrich into nuclear weapons. All the steam, to run turbines, and waste would be contained underground.

On the NYT's Greenbiz blog, an entry says that pro-nuclear interests are trying to rebrand the industry, in part by seeking ways to make the plants more good looking.

I kid you not.

Another in a series of miniprofiles of sustainability-minded people who are working to reduce humankind’s footprint on the planet. To recap, they're "mini" not only because they're short, but because all the questions are 10 words or less, and the answers are requested to match. Please, no counting. 

AMY BAUMAN, Somerville
Owner, greenGoat

GreenGoat helps contractors and architects pare building-material waste, in part by repurposing what previously would have been discarded. “If we need to write specification language, we do that. If they need a waste management plan, we do that. And if the building owners need us to help them get the downstream vendors right, we do that too,” Bauman says
Green epiphany: "Watching a dumpster leave my own house filled with things I knew were useful."