Launched in March 2007 by Architecture for Humanity (AFH), the Open Architecture Network is an online, interactive database and workspace for designers and architects to share projects and ideas. Uploaded projects are protected by Creative Commons licenses, which allow authors and designers to grant some or all of their copyrights to the public. According to AFH, more than 4,500 registered users have joined, and it hosts close to 200 projects. Included among these projects are AFH’s Biloxi Model Homes, which are being built with volunteer labor for Hurricane Katrina survivors in Biloxi, Mississippi. Other projects include schools, emergency facilities, and transitional housing for disaster relief; the projects represent a mixture of styles, technologies, and levels of environmental performance. The website is at www.openarchitecturenetwork.org.

A four-bedroom house in Freeport, Maine, is the first in the Northeast and third in the nation to achieve a Platinum rating in the LEED for Homes pilot rating system from the U.S. Green Building Council. The 3,200-ft² (300-m²) home was designed by Richard Renner Architects and built by Wright Ryan Construction, both of Portland, Maine. It earned 95 out of 129 possible LEED points with its high-performance building envelope, passive and active solar systems, triple-glazed windows, heat-recovery ventilation, recycled-content metal roofing, sustainably harvested wood, and local materials. Despite the heating demands of Maine winters, the house is expected to use 50% less energy than a comparable conventional home under the Energy Star Home Energy Rating System (HERS) and use almost no potable water to irrigate its native landscaping.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released the Watershed Plan Builder, an interactive, Web-based tool designed to help planners, stakeholders, and communities develop watershed management plans. The tool creates an outline of a watershed plan tailored to a specific project based on data entered by the user. This outline walks the user through several steps in the watershed planning process, including setting goals, designing a program, implementing a plan, and gathering feedback. EPA is accepting feedback on the tool; comments should be sent to owow-wpb@epa.gov by September 30, 2007. The tool is online at www.epa.gov/owow/ watershedplanning/.

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has released the first public comment draft of its “Proposed Standard 189, Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings.” This standard, being developed in conjunction with the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), is the first effort to create a code-enforceable green building requirement based on the LEED Rating System (see

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Vol. 15, No. 3). The draft runs to 215 pages, including a series of “informative appendices” on topics such as integrated design and creating a building durability plan. Comments will be accepted through July 9, 2007; the draft is available at www.ashrae.org/publicreviews/.

Integrated Design Associates (IDA), a lighting design and electrical engineering firm in Santa Clara, California, is renovating a former bank in San Jose to house its new headquarters. IDA hopes that the formerly windowless concrete building will be the first commercial building to provide for all of its own energy needs through an onsite photovoltaic (PV) array, which will power all systems in the building, including heating. The grid-connected building has a 30-kilowatt array on its rooftop and is expected to use 56,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. Designed by EHDD Architecture, the renovated building will feature skylights for interior daylighting, windows for occupant views, and outdoor patios for informal gatherings. Currently in the final stages of renovation, with the PV array installed, the building should be completed by June 2007. More information is available at www.ideasi.com.

Michael Potts has replaced Amory Lovins as CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), the Colorado-based nonprofit and self-described “think and do tank.” Potts has been a member of RMI’s board of trustees since 2005. He previously served as CEO of software design company American Fundware, and, most recently, as a managing partner at Galway Investments. RMI cofounder Lovins relinquished his position to become chairman and chief scientist of the 25-year-old organization, which promotes environmental responsibility through energy policy, technology research, and education.

According to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), Americans took more than 10 billion trips on local public transportation in 2006, reaching the highest level since 1957. Ridership was up 3% between the end of 2005 and the end of 2006, and up 28% in the decade since 1996. Over the last decade, the growth rate of public transit ridership outpaced that of both U.S. population and vehicle miles traveled on U.S. highways. The full report is online at www.apta.com.

A bill passed by the Washington State Legislature places a limited ban on the use and sale of all polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants. The legislation includes a widespread ban, effective January 1, 2008, on the octa and penta forms of PBDE, which were voluntarily discontinued by the sole manufacturer, Great Lakes Chemical Corporation, in 2005 (see

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Vol. 14, No. 2). The bill also includes a more limited ban on the deca form of PBDE, prohibiting its use in mattresses, residential upholstered furniture, and televisions and computers; another deca ban, passed in Europe in 2006, is limited to electronics. The deca ban, however, is subject to the findings of the Department of Health and a fire-safety committee, both of which will search for an alternative flame retardant that meets fire-safety standards. If an alternative is found by December 2008, the ban will go into effect in 2011; if not, the flame retardant will be allowed in the state until an alternative is discovered. For more on flame retardants, including PBDEs, see

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Vol. 13, No. 6.

A report from the United Nations Environment Programme, titled “Buildings and Climate Change: Status, Challenges, and Opportunities,” details connections between the building industry and efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. According to the report, which focuses primarily on Europe, more rigorous energy efficiency standards there could result in a reduction of one-fifth of the continent’s energy use and 50 million tons (45 million tonnes) of carbon dioxide by 2010. The report emphasizes policy, regulation, and education as the primary means of pursuing green building efforts and recommends a global benchmark that could be used to develop national and regional green building standards. The report is available for download at www.unepsbci.org.

The New York City (NYC) Department of Education and the NYC Construction Authority have announced the release of the NYC Green Schools Guide and rating system, designed to bring new school construction projects into compliance with Local Law 86, which sets green building requirements for all public buildings in the city. The new rating system combines elements from both LEED for Schools and the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) with some new aspects. Certain credits in the new system are required for all projects, while others are required if feasible (design teams must provide reasons acceptable to the certifying body to avoid fulfilling these credits). For example, credits pertaining to low-emitting materials are required of all projects, while credits pertaining to daylighting and views are required if feasible. The Green Schools Guide is available online at http://schools.nyc.gov/offices/sca/doingbusiness/.