Groundbreaking ceremonies for what is projected to be New England’s largest photovoltaic energy array occurred in Brockton, Massachusetts, in time for Earth Day in April 2006. The Brockton “Brightfield” project will transform a brownfield, the former site of the Brockton Gas Works, into a 425-kilowatt renewable energy plant run by the city. The... Read more

When LEED® for New Construction (LEED-NC) version 2.2 was released in November 2005, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) dictated that project teams that had registered projects under previous versions of LEED-NC were free to migrate to the new version, but that such a migration was an all-or-nothing proposition. A project must be submitted... Read more

In April 2006, Maine became the first state to offer a financial incentive for recycling building thermostats that contain mercury and the first state to mandate thermostat recycling for homeowners. Previous laws banned the sale of new mercury thermostats and required recycling by wholesalers. A minimum $5 incentive will be offered for each... Read more

The International Interior Design Association (IIDA) has announced the winners of its annual Student Sustainable Design Competition. Bridget Dunn, from Florida State University in Tallahassee, won Best of Competition, and Olena Baranova, from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, won an Award of Merit. Holly Murdock, from Utah State... Read more

Jane Jacobs, an advocate for dense and lively cities best known for her 1961 book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, died April 25, 2006, at age 89. While Jacobs did not have formal architectural training, she had an inside view of urban renewal projects from an editorial post at Architectural Forum magazine and a keen appreciation of... Read more

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has called for heavy industries in the state, such as power plants, refineries, and factories, to report emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are contributing to global warming. Making the announcement at a San Francisco global warming summit in April 2006, the governor pledged to... Read more

At its May 2006 board meeting in New Orleans, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) board of directors endorsed a series of recommendations for modifying the two credits in the LEED® Rating System that relate to biobased materials. (Full disclosure: I was asked by USGBC to lead this effort, and I wrote the recommendations.) As described... Read more

synthetic gypsum from coal-burning power plants (a pre-consumer recycled material), and when wallboard scraps are diverted from landfills they are typically ground into soil... Read more

Innovative Design, Inc., of Raleigh, North Carolina, was recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for “Excellence in Energy Efficiency.” The company was honored in March 2006 as the first architecture firm to receive recognition for energy-efficient design. The recognition was based on Innovative Design’s participation in... Read more

Detective James Zadroga’s January 5, 2006, death of respiratory failure is the first to be officially blamed on exposure to dust from the September 11, 2001, collapse of the World Trade Center. “It is felt with a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the cause of death in this case was directly related to the 9/11 incident,” according to... Read more

Arizona Public Service Company (APS) has announced the opening of the state’s first solar-thermal power plant, and the first built in the nation in 17 years. Built by Solargenix Energy, LLC, of Raleigh, North Carolina, the plant features over 100,000 ft2 (9,000 m2) of parabolic-trough mirrors—looking like several rows of mirrored half-pipe—that... Read more

Andy Shapiro noticed something funny when he examined the energy use of the new manufacturing facility for NRG Systems, Inc., in Hinesburg, Vermont: lights were turning on at night when nobody was using the space. The LEED® Gold building’s sophisticated measurement and verification (M&V) system, which records when and where the building... Read more

A new initiative from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) board of directors hopes to bring resolution to the prickly subject of wood in the LEED® Rating System. The timber industry has used its leverage to slow the adoption of LEED by state governments and federal agencies and has sponsored the introduction of a competing rating... Read more

Sizing and placing of windows has always required balancing the need to provide daylight and views with the need to manage solar heat gain and limit heat loss. “Fundamentally, a static window with fixed properties is almost always a poor compromise between night and day, summer and winter, sunny and overcast,” says Stephen Selkowitz, who heads... Read more

Energy and sustainability consultant CTG Energetics, Inc., has announced the opening of its northeast regional office in Providence, Rhode Island. The office is led by Stephen Turner, P.E., a consulting engineer who specializes in mechanical, electrical, and energy systems for buildings and campuses. The northeast office will focus on... Read more

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Broad Knowledge Committee seeks proposals for research projects. AIA will award $7,000 each to ten winning projects “that advance professional knowledge and practice” in a range of areas, including sustainability. Entries are due May 15, 2006. For more information, contact Barbara Sido at bsido@aia.org... Read more