GeoPraxis^®, Inc., a company that provides architectural, engineering, and construction software and services, has become Green Building Studio, Inc., taking on the name of the company’s online energy-analysis service. The firm’s utility and real-estate consulting business, including the online EnergyCheckup™ tool, meanwhile, has spun off but remains under the GeoPraxis brand. For more information, visit www.geopraxis.com or www.greenbuildingstudio.com.

The U.S. Green Building Council has named Tom Hicks vice president of the LEED^® Rating System. Hicks has served as director of LEED for Existing Buildings since November 2004 and before that spent nine years as principal architect and program manager of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star^® commercial building rating system. Hicks replaces Nigel Howard, who was named USGBC chief technical officer in July 2005. USGBC is online at www.usgbc.org.

The U.S. Green Building Council, along with the Enterprise Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, the Trust for Public Land, and others, is planning a series of charrettes focused on rebuilding the Gulf Coast. The meetings will be held during the Greenbuild Conference, to take place in Atlanta November 9-11, 2005. Scholarships will allow 30 Gulf Coast community leaders to participate. “The Greenbuild panel sessions will focus on embedding sustainable strategies in the rebuilding effort,” according to USGBC. For more on rebuilding the Gulf Coast, see EBN Vol. 14, No. 10.

Green Builder^® Media, LLC, plans to publish the first issue of Green Builder Magazine in January 2006. With 90,000 copies mailed to builders, contractors, and remodelers, and an additional 20,000 distributed at the International Builders Show, Green Builder will launch as the third largest magazine in the homebuilding industry, according to the company. Through an agreement with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), Green Builder Media will distribute the magazine to interested NAHB members, and NAHB will contribute editorial content to each issue. EBN Advisory Board members Peter Pfeiffer and David Eisenberg, along with former EBN senior editor Peter Yost and currentEBN executive editor Alex Wilson, are all slated to serve as contributing editors. Details are online at www.greenbuildermag.com.

A September 2005 report from New Ecology, Inc., and Tellus Institute demonstrates that green affordable housing is more cost-effective than conventional affordable housing. The report,

Costs and Benefits of Green Affordable Housing, features case studies of 16 green affordable housing projects around the country and lays out the long-term financial implications and net present value projections for each project. “The findings in this report provide strong validation for community-based developers of affordable housing who have recognized the value of greening their projects but, until now, have not had the data to back it up,” says Joe Kriesberg, president of the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations. The report also outlines the barriers to greening affordable housing and provides recommendations to researchers, developers, and policymakers. To download a PDF of the 200-page report ($20.00), visit www.newecology.org; to order a paper copy ($49.00), e-mail info@newecology.org or call 617-354-4099 x25. For more on greening affordable housing, see

EBN

Vol. 14, No. 3.

Among U.S. and Canadian members of the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), 70% are implementing green concepts within their organization’s facility, according to a May 2005 online survey performed by IFMA. Full results are online at www.ifma.org/tools/research/survey_results.cfm.

The Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, has announced the establishment of the Haworth Chair in Integrated Design, funded by Haworth, Inc., under the “Project

evolve” partnership with Direct Energy Business Services. The announcement did not specify whether the Haworth Chair holder will be given a chair by Haworth. The Faculty of Environmental Design is online at www.ucalgary.ca/evds/. Haworth is online at www.haworth.com.

The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) has expanded its Green Label Plus program, released in 2004 to recognize carpets with low emissions of indoor pollutants, to include adhesives. Green Label Plus supersedes the organization’s older “Green Label” program, which addressed carpets, carpet pads, and adhesives. Before receiving Green Label Plus certification, adhesives are tested over a two-week period for emissions of 15 compounds, ten of which are identified by California’s Section 01350 protocols. Subsequent annual and semi-annual tests check for specific compounds and total levels of volatile organic compounds (TVOCs). CRI is online at www.carpet-rug.org. For more about Green Label Plus, see

EBN

Vol. 13, No. 7.

The Rainforest Alliance, an accredited certifier of compliance with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards, has published the SmartGuide to Green Building Wood Sources, a comprehensive listing of all FSC-certified suppliers in North America, including those certified by organizations other than the Rainforest Alliance’s SmartWood program. The guide is organized by product type, including everything from engineered wood to office furniture, and each listing includes basic information about the product and the supplier, along with contact information. The document will be updated periodically online.

A 13.6 million acre (5.5 million ha) forest in Alberta, Canada, managed by Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries, Inc. (Al-Pac), has earned certification according to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards, making it the largest FSC-certified forest in the world. The announcement also makes Canada the leading country in the world for FSC-certified forestland, with 35.3 million acres (14.3 million ha), or 23% of the global total. Al-Pac is online at www.alpac.ca. FSC is online at www.fsc.org. For more on FSC and forest certification, seeEBN Vol. 12, No. 4.