Sustainable San Mateo, together with RecycleWorks and the San Mateo chapter of AIA, is seeking applications for their first annual

Green Building Award. Though all green features and practices will be considered, the award committee will place special emphasis on green building materials and products. All San Mateo County buildings—... Read more

recently stepped down as director of the

Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), a post he has held since 1977. Block has accepted the Co-Principal Investigator position in FSEC’s multimillion-dollar program, funded by NASA, to investigate hydrogen production, storage, safety, and utilization. For more on FSEC, visit... Read more

As I follow the Bush Administration’s policies on energy and its steadfast opposition to the Kyoto Treaty on global climate change, I can’t help wondering what happened to the ‘can-do’ attitude that made America such a great place. Our founding fathers were willing to look beyond their self-interests as they declared their independence from... Read more

California Governor Gray Davis signed legislation in September committing the state to supply

20% of its retail power sales with renewable energy by 2017. Lauded by environmentalists, the bill, SB 1078, is criticized by most renewable energy companies, who complain of ambiguities and complexities. Ten percent of the state’s energy... Read more

Thank you for your thoughtful and thorough article on cohousing in the September issue (

EBN

Vol. 11, No. 9). Cohousing groups have been taking the lead in social and environmental innovation for the past decade, and it is gratifying to see this considered closely by

EBN.

The U.S. Green Building Council will host its first

Young People’s Forum at its upcoming Green Building International Conference and Expo in Austin, Texas. Young professionals in the green building movement will have a chance to network and learn from one another during the two-hour seminar on November 13. For more details, e-mail... Read more

has become the first city in the nation to officially recognize a threat to public and environmental health posed by persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic chemicals (PBTs), including dioxins, mercury, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The city is currently developing criteria for its own departments, offices, and agencies... Read more

Safe Hydrogen, LLC, of Boston, Massachusetts, has announced the end product of a three-year, $3 million project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a safer and more efficient method of

storing and delivering hydrogen fuel. The result is a chemical hydride slurry that can store the fuel and, when you “just add water,”... Read more

If products or materials have memories, what kinds of stories will they tell us? The Design Resource Institute has announced a call for entries that explore this question in their

6th

International Design Resource Awards Competition. Judging criteria will include reused, recycled, or sustainably harvested content as well as... Read more

Heat waves and high humidity across the eastern states pushed American

electricity demand to an all-time high during the week ending August 3. The record 90,640 gigawatthours (GWh) beat the previous high of 88,120 GWh, set during the week ending August 11, 2001.

Rarely the focus of much attention, water heating accounts for surprisingly large energy loads and environmental impacts. Water heating is typically the second largest energy expenditure in homes (behind space heating) and the fourth largest in commercial buildings (behind lighting, heating, and cooling). In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, a... Read more

To the best of our knowledge, this product is no longer available.

Higher than anticipated industry costs for photovoltaic panels together with funding and budgeting shortfalls have forced the

Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) to delay new PV installations under its “PV Pioneer” program. SMUD’s recent allocation of $4.4 million (and potentially $1.9 million more) to the program will allow... Read more

In the July/August

EBN article about Oberlin College’s Lewis Center (

EBN

Vol. 11, No. 7/8), an offhand comment by me was quoted in the text on page 13. While the quote (“What McDonough has to learn is that a piece of glass is not like an insulated wall ...”) is accurate, it is somewhat out of context and could leave the... Read more

, part of the largest lighting company in the world, recently became the first American lighting manufacturer to be certified for compliance with ISO 14001. To comply with the standard, a company must evaluate the environmental impact of its products and regularly report its findings to the public.

Governor Davis signed a second bill in September requiring that

residential clothes washers meet commercial water-use standards by 2007. AB 1561, the first bill of its kind in the nation, demands that no more than 9.5 gallons (42 l) of water be used to clean one cubic foot (0.03 m3) of laundry. Each machine is expected to use 7,000... Read more

In mid-September, membership of the

U.S. Green Building Council passed the 2,000 mark, up from 950 a year earlier—more than 100% growth!

Urban Ecology magazine, beginning with the Summer 2002 issue. The organization will focus its resources on strengthening its Community Design Program and land-use planning policy advocacy... Read more

"Community is the hidden dimension of sustainability.” Jim Leach, president of the Wonderland Hill Development Company, is convinced of the power of community. A paradigm of automobile-based land use, and with it suburban independence, has dominated American development patterns over the past 50 years. Although it still appeals to many American... Read more