The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has published detailed case studies of the energy performance of six buildings as part of its evaluation for the U.S. Department of Energy. Each case study compares measured energy use to the project’s design goals and identifies successes and lessons learned. The six projects are the Zion... Read more

The European Parliament voted in July 2005 to make permanent a temporary ban on the use of phthalates in toys. Phthalates have been linked to reproductive abnormalities in the development of boys. Three types of phthalates were banned from all toys and three others were banned from only those toys that children can put in their mouths. The... Read more

Maine Governor John Baldacci signed a bill in June 2005 establishing rebates for homeowners and business owners who install photovoltaic (PV) systems and solar thermal systems used to heat water or air. PV systems installed before 2007 qualify for a rebate of $3 per watt for the first 2,000 watts and $1 per watt for the next 1,000 watts, capped... Read more

Busby Perkins+Will Architects Co. was awarded an

Architectural Firm Award. Every principal and... Read more

The nonprofit Healthy Building Network (HBN) has released a Guide to Plastic Lumber, rating the environmental and health performance of 38 types of plastic and composite lumber from 30 companies. Fourteen products were considered “most environmentally preferable” for containing only high-density or low-density polyethylene and 50% or more post-... Read more

The U.S. Department of Energy, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Environmental Protection Agency have teamed up to create the Partnerships for Home Energy Efficiency, an initiative aimed at cutting household energy costs by 10% over the next decade. “It seems to me that one of the greatest untapped sources of energy we have in... Read more

Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn signed a bill in June 2005 requiring all state-funded projects to achieve LEED® Certification, or equivalent, and requiring that every two years at least two public buildings whose construction will be sponsored by the State of Nevada achieve LEED Silver certification, or equivalent. The law also provides some tax... Read more

Update, August 2008: The article below was originally published in August 2005. The patented transpired collector, branded as SolarWall®, is no longer legally available under any brand other than SolarWall. According to Conserval Engineering, previous license agreements are no longer in place for the production or sale of the SolarWall air-... Read more

Ten years ago we covered sulfur lighting, then a new light source that offered promise for high efficacy (about 100 lumens per watt), good color rendition (CRI of 80), highly concentrated light (130,000 lumens from a light source the size of a golf ball) lending itself to light-tube distribution, very long lamp life, and avoidance of mercury (... Read more

“There is unbelievable carnage taking place,” says Daniel Klem Jr., Ph.D., a biology professor at Pennsylvania’s Muhlenberg College and the world’s foremost expert on the phenomenon of birds colliding with buildings. “If you take the number of birds killed from the Exxon Valdez oil spill and compare it to my lowest estimate of the number of... Read more

In a June 13, 2005, decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals’ Seventh Circuit upheld the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Construction General Permit (CGP). This permit streamlines the permitting process, allowing property owners and contractors to discharge stormwater runoff from their sites without obtaining individual permits or undergoing... Read more

The latest release of Energy-10™, the leading energy-modeling tool for small commercial buildings, provides improved integration with window data from the National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC) and includes the ability to model some additional HVAC system types. Developed primarily by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Energy... Read more

The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) has bid farewell to Alex Zimmerman, who had served as president of the nonprofit organization since August 2003. “I can’t say enough about Alex’s contributions to the CaGBC,” says Joe Van Belleghem, cofounder of the Council, noting that CaGBC now boasts more than 900 members and 140 registered projects... Read more

EBN

Vol. 11, No. 5). MBDC aims to release... Read more