Boulder Community Foothills Hospital has become the first healthcare facility to achieve certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED™ Rating System for new construction. The project received 33 points, for a LEED Silver rating. For more information on this 60-bed, 200,000 ft² (18,600 m²) facility, visit www.bch.org.

The California Energy Commission has approved updated standards for energy efficiency in residential and nonresidential buildings, to take effect in October 2005. Changes to the Title 24 standards, already the country’s most stringent energy-efficiency regulations, focus on reducing both peak energy loads and total energy use. The standards mandate cool roofs on nonresidential buildings, skylights and daylight-dimming sensors on “big-box” buildings, and state-of-the-art fluorescent lighting in residential and nonresidential permanent fixtures. “The cheapest kilowatt is the one you don’t have to generate,” noted presiding member of the efficiency committee, Energy Commissioner Robert Pernell. The new standards are available at www.energy.ca.gov/2005_standards/rulemaking/.

Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) has completed its review of 1.2 million acres (500,000 ha) of forestland managed by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. The report outlines measures the state will need to take in order to achieve Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, as well as several other conditions to be met during the first five years of certification. The full report is available from the Pinchot Institute (www.pinchot.org), which is overseeing the review of DNR forestland according to the guidelines of both FSC and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). A preliminary report from BVQI, the auditing firm for SFI, does not identify any nonconformance with SFI guidelines.

In a landmark agreement, the paper and forest-products company Domtar, Inc. and World Wildlife Fund Canada have committed to ensuring the long-term conservation of Canadian boreal forests. Under the agreement, Domtar has agreed to certify all of its forests and mills to FSC standards, subject to the successful completion of two pilot projects and FSC International’s endorsement of FSC national boreal standards. The agreement has the potential to more than double the FSC-certified forestland in North America, according to Monte Hummel, president of WWF-Canada. The company has also agreed to acquire FSC chain-of-custody certification for all Domtar manufacturing facilities and Domtar-owned merchants. WWF-Canada will offer technical and logistical support throughout the process. For additional details, visit www.wwf.ca.

American Biofuels, LLC has begun test runs at its new biodiesel plant in Bakersfield, California. The Bakersfield plant, the nation’s only biodiesel production facility to use a continuous-flow process in place of batches, can already produce 2.5 million gallons (9.5 million l) per year, and capacity could expand to 35 million gallons (132.5 million l) per year, more than twice the national production level in 2002, as demand increases. For further information, visit Green Star Products, Inc. at www.greenstarusa.com. For more on biodiesel, see EBN Vol. 12, No. 1.

The first draft of “Green Guidelines for Healthcare Construction: Creating High Performance Healing Environments” is now available for public comment. Developed by a team led by the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems of Austin, Texas, sponsored by the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE), and funded by the Merck Family Fund, the guidelines “provide the healthcare sector with a self-certifying metric tool that designers, owners, and operators can use to evaluate their progress towards high performance healing environments.” Draft guidelines are available at www.gghc.org; comments will be accepted through the end of January 2004.

The Kresge Foundation, one of the largest foundations in the country, with assets of over $2 billion, has started a Green Building Initiative, aimed at “creating awareness among nonprofit organizations that they too can build green.” The initiative includes educational materials, which can be downloaded from the Kresge Web site, in addition to challenge grants to fund the planning of green building projects. Nonprofit organizations, including government and religious groups, are eligible for the grants. Grants will typically range from $50,000 to $100,000, according to the Kresge Foundation. More information is at www.kresge.org.

The Center for Resource Solutions (CRS) is developing a Green-e label to distinguish products made with a significant percentage of green power (from solar electric, wind, geothermal, biomass, and small or certified-low-impact hydropower facilities).

In order to use the label, companies that consume more than 100,000,000 kWh of power annually must purchase a minimum of 2% renewable power. At the other end of the scale, companies that consume less than 100,000 kWh must purchase at least 15% renewable power. For all companies, at least 50% of the minimum purchase must go to new renewables—generation facilities that have come online since 1997, and in New England since 1998. Over 10,000 businesses and 110,000 households currently use Green-e certified renewable energy, and several companies, including the Interface Fabrics Group, have already applied for authorized use of the “Made With Renewable Energy” label. For more information on CRS and Green-e, visit green-e.org or see EBN Vol. 11, No. 5.

Architectural Energy Corporation (AEC), based in Boulder, Colorado, and Eley Associates, of San Francisco, two leading building energy engineering and evaluation firms, have announced that they will merge into a single firm beginning February 1. Retaining the AEC name, the new firm will have offices in Boulder, San Francisco, and Chicago. AEC will continue operating the California-based Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) in addition to offering design assistance and other energy-related services.

Kevin Hydes, president of Keen Engineering and USGBC board member, is moving from the West Coast to Montreal, Quebec, where Keen is opening a new office this month. While operating from Keen’s new Montreal office, Hydes plans to further his involvement in the Canadian government’s greenhouse action plan as Canada moves to meet its Kyoto agreement of a 25% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2010. Keen is online at www.keen.ca.