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Helen Goodland

Janet Gyenes | Image: Delainey Mackie | 01 Jun 2007

Helen Goodland, executive director of Light House Sustainable Building Centre, is surprised at how unsophisticated the average homebuyer is.

“We’re still making very basic choices,” she says, almost like buying wine: you look at the label and you think, ‘Hmm, that’s probably going to be fine.’”

Goodland is dedicated to promoting sustainable building practices in B.C. and helping homeowners, industry professionals and governments understand the value of the green products and services available to them.

Goodland also undertook her own home renovation, and shares this first-hand insight with the people who look to Light House for guidance on where to start when trying to bring some green into their homes.

Light House itself is a study in sustainable design. Most of the materials in the space, including flooring and furniture, were donated by local suppliers and manufacturers. “This is a living lab,” says Goodland.

People can sit down at the salvaged Eames table and wooden schoolhouse chairs and peruse a plethora of research material, exchange ideas with Goodland’s ever-expanding team of 10 employees and 50 volunteers and explore ways to make their lives and communities more sustainable.

When asked about Light House’s accomplishments since its inception a year ago, Goodland rattles off an impressive list: “We have had over 4,300 people either come into the centre or visit us at the B.C. Home show; we have trained over 2,800 people, mostly professionals; we have had 2,600 people come to events. We’ve done over 90 presentations.”

Goodland leads the way personally as well as professionally. Her house has been redesigned for a net zero-renovation; in an average year, it will produce as much energy as it uses.

“In a year, we’ve done a lot, but we still have a huge amount to do,” says Goodland. “Part of our job is listening and finding out where people need us to go so that we’ve got the capacity to help them.”