The economic growth of China, India, and other emerging economies threatens serious long-term implications for Earth’s climate, concluded a recent report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLC, the world’s largest professional services firm. “The World in 2050” presents six possible approaches to growth but focuses on two: business as usual and “Green Growth Plus.” In the business-as-usual scenario, carbon emissions more than double current levels by 2050, causing high risks of severe climate change and socioeconomic effects. In Green Growth Plus, however, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels stabilize near 450 parts per million, the cap recommended by many prominent climatologists, by 2050. This plan calls for using nuclear and renewable energy sources to meet 30% of the world’s primary energy supply, speeding energy efficiency reductions from the recent trend of 1.6% per year to 2.6% per year, and capturing and sequestering 1.5 gigatons of carbon each year (about 20% of total emissions) by 2050. The full report is online at www.pwc.com (click on “connectedthinking” and then “publications”).

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) proposed new energy efficiency standards for home furnaces and boilers in October 2006. The standards, which were due in 2004, would require all gas furnaces to achieve a minimum annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) rating of 80%, a level already met by most furnaces on the market today. The current minimum AFUE for most furnaces, which took effect in 1992, is 78%. The proposed standards would also slightly raise minimum efficiency standards for boilers. If approved, the new standards will take effect January 1, 2015. While expressing frustration over the limited efficiency improvements, many environmentalists praised a provision that would make it easier for individual states or regions to set stronger standards. The full notice is online at www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/ (click on “furnaces and boilers” under “residential products”).

Results of a survey by

Building Design + Construction magazine, published in a white paper entitled “Green Buildings and the Bottom Line” (November 2006), reveal that green building activities are growing (no surprise there) but that expectations of future activity are much higher that actual activity. The online survey of 872 industry professionals was similar to surveys conducted in 2003 and 2004, revealing some interesting trends (although the self-selecting nature of the survey compromises the quality of the results). For example, concerns about first costs were consistently cited as the main barrier to green building. Full survey results (and a group of useful articles) are included in the report, which is available with a free subscription to

Building Design + Construction's website at www.bdcmag.com.

Interface, Inc., of Atlanta is building on its success as a consultant to Wal-Mart, Inc., and others by creating InterfaceRAISE™, a sustainability consulting firm. The new firm, led by Jim Hartzfeld and working with external partners such as ERS, Inc., also of Atlanta, will help companies envision, measure, and achieve sustainability goals. The company can be found online at www.interfaceraise.com.

Rob Watson, a leading advocate of green building, the primary framer of the LEED^® Rating System, and a USGBC board member, has left the Natural Resources Defense Council after 21 years to create his own consulting firm, EcoTech International, Inc. (ETI) in New York City. ETI will help clients implement market transformation with green building in the emerging markets of China and India. The company, which includes a team of international experts, will “bring a comprehensive suite of integrated approaches to greening buildings and cities,” Watson told

EBN. Through two subsidiaries, American SinoTech and American IndoTech, ETI will focus on the fast-growing economies of China and India, respectively. Those two countries will account for 70% of all new construction in the world over the next 20 years, according to ETI. “American SinoTech and American IndoTech will largely be country-driven efforts, and my job will be to attract the right people and motivate them to stay and grow the business,” said Watson, who is chairman, CEO, and chief scientist of ETI. For more information: 917-224-3821; rwatson@ecotech-intl.com; www.ecotech-intl.com.

Kirsten Ritchie, formerly the director of environmental certification for Scientific Certification Systems, Inc. (SCS), has joined Gensler as director of sustainable design. She will be based in Gensler’s main office in San Francisco. According to SCS communications director Alexander Winslow, senior staff at SCS, including Linda Brown, Ted Howes, Rich Margosian, Chet Chaffee, and Ed Wyatt, will each take on portions of Ritchie’s former responsibilities.

Three longtime leaders in the green building field, Bill Browning, Bob Fox, and Rick Cook, have formed a partnership, Terrapin Bright Green, LLC, to provide clients with consulting, strategic planning, and policy services. While Fox and Cook will continue work with their existing firm (Cook + Fox Architects in New York City), they are working with Browning on larger-scale projects advising corporations, governments, and private developers. According to Stephen Backer of Terrapin’s New York office, the new firm draws on the partners’ shared expertise to make a difference on a broader scale than would otherwise be possible. For more information: 202-470-0401 (Washington, D.C.) or 646-460-8400 (New York City), or visit www.terrapinbrightgreen.com.

A team from Yale University’s Program on Forest Policy and Governance in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, in collaboration with Greg Norris of Sylvatica, Inc., has been hired by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). This team will provide research and outreach support to the LEED^® Materials and Resources Technical Advisory Group (chaired by

EBN editor Nadav Malin), which has been charged with considering revisions to the biobased materials and forest certification credits in LEED to improve and align those credits (see

EBN

Vol. 15, No. 6). A request for proposals describing the project, with extensive background documents, is available on USGBC’s website: www.usgbc.org, search for “biobased materials.”

Viridian Energy and Environmental, LLC, a new company specializing in energy modeling, green building consulting, and commissioning, was created on November 1, 2006, by four leading consultants from Norwalk, Connecticut-based Steven Winter Associates (SWA). The four—Adrian Tuluca, John Amatruda, Carl Ian Graham, and Vevashish (Dave) Lahiri—bought the rights to contracts they were working on from Steven Winter. The 24-person Viridian is colocated with SWA in Norwalk. It can be reached at 203-299-1411 and will soon be online at www.viridianee.com.

A committee led by Bill Reed, AIA, and John Boecker, AIA, under the auspices of the Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability (MTS), has released a draft Whole Systems Integrative Process (WSIP) Standard Guide for public comment and ballot. Originally termed a standard on integrated design process, the document has been renamed to better capture its intent and scope, which now extends beyond buildings, according to Reed. The document provides step-by-step suggestions for applying an integrative approach throughout the design and construction process. The current comment period ends on December 31, 2006; the draft and background documents are available at mts.sustainableproducts.com/IDP/.