Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced former Vice President Al Gore as the opening keynote speaker for USGBC’s annual Greenbuild International Conference & Expo being held Nov. 11-13, 2009, in Phoenix, Ariz.

“Al Gore’s impressive career and bipartisan outreach have helped elevate global climate change to the main street public consciousness,” said Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO & Founding Chair, U.S. Green Building Council. “The role buildings play in our lives, our health, the economy and the global environment -- including being responsible for 39 percent of the carbon emitted in the United States -- means the built environment is a tremendous opportunity for us to make real change, and Vice President Gore’s keynote address will be an inspiration to the Greenbuild community to make 2010 yet another banner year for green building innovation and growth.”

Gore’s keynote address will kick off Greenbuild at the Opening Keynote & Celebration, taking place Nov. 11 at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The evening celebration will feature a musical performance by nine-time Grammy winner Sheryl Crow and an address from renowned green building speaker and USGBC President, CEO & Founding Chair, Rick Fedrizzi.

Al Gore has championed awareness and action to confront global climate change since his earliest days in the U.S. Congress 30 years ago, and is regarded for his pioneering role in helping put one of the most important challenges of our time on the map, with his best-selling book and Academy Award-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. In 2007, Gore was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for his environmental activism. In 1992, Gore published Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit and instituted environmental policy and initiatives in the Clinton-Gore Administration to help safeguard the environment.

Gore is cofounder and chairman of Generation Investment Management and multiplatform media company Current TV. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Apple Computer, Inc. and a senior advisor to Google, Inc. Gore is also Visiting Professor at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Greenbuild is the largest gathering of representatives from all sectors of the green building movement. Three days of extensive educational programming, workshops, a vast exhibition floor and ample networking events provide unrivaled opportunities to learn about the latest technological innovations, explore new products, and exchange ideas with other professionals. Greenbuild is the three-time recipient of IMEX Green Meetings Award. Previous Greenbuild keynote speakers have included former President Bill Clinton in 2007 and Archbishop Desmond Tutu in 2008.

In addition to an impressive collection of master speakers, Greenbuild 2009 will also feature more than 100 educational sessions, LEED and Education Provider workshops, off-site educational sessions, a two-day Residential Summit, the World Green Building Council International Congress, and tours of local green building sites throughout the Arizona area. Exhibitors at more than 1,700 booths will showcase some of the leading technologies and products in green design, construction and operations.

For more information, visit www.usgbc.org and www.greenbuildexpo.org. To see presentations made at last year’s Greenbuild, visit www.greenbuild365.org.