BuildingGreen Report

News Brief

May 1, 2005

A class-action lawsuit against DuPont was finalized in February 2005, resulting in a $108 million settlement (see

EBN

Vol. 13, No. 11 for more on the tentative settlement). DuPont was charged with polluting the drinking water of several Ohio and West Virginia communities with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), also known as C8,... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 2005
The California Integrated Waste Management Board is sponsoring a competition for prototypes of building and landscaping products made out of tires culled from the state’s waste stream. Products will be displayed and judged at the California State Fair, to be held in Sacramento in July 2005. The competition is open to anyone who resides in... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 2005
North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad announced plans in March 2005 for North America’s largest biodiesel manufacturing plant, to be constructed in Minot beginning late this summer. The $50 million North Dakota Biodiesel, Inc., plant will be able to produce 100,000 tons (91,000 tonnes) of biodiesel each year from more than 355,000 acres of canola. The... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 2005
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has selected eight

Green Projects and one

Special Recognition from among more than 60 entries. This year’s jury included Bob Berkebile, FAIA, of Berkebile Nelson Immerschuh McDowell (BNIM) Architects; Daniel Nall, FAIA, of Flack & Kurtz, Inc.; Henry Siegel, FAIA, of Siegel & Strain... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 2005

U.S. net imports of petroleum reached a record level in 2004, coming in at 57.8% of all petroleum used, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), a statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Energy. Just over 19% of those imports came from the Persian Gulf countries. EIA is online at www.eia.doe.gov.

News Brief

May 1, 2005
by John Abrams; Chelsea Green Publishing, White River Junction, VT, 2005; 328 pages, $27.50, hardcover

South Mountain Company, cofounded by EBN advisory board member John Abrams, has been a pioneer in democratizing the workplace. The Martha’s Vineyard design-build firm, founded in 1975, became an employee-owned company in 1987. Not only is... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 2005

The North Carolina State Energy Office named Raleigh-based Innovative Design, Inc.,

North Carolina’s Energy Champion in March 2005. Led by Michael Nicklas, FAIA, Innovative Design has been incorporating active and passive solar design, energy efficiency, and other green features into its buildings since its beginnings in 1977. More... Read more

News Analysis

May 1, 2005
Heather Winters, owner and president of AC Lighting Design in Coolidge, Arizona, is passionate about cleaning up light pollution. “It just makes sense, even for people who are not astronomers,” she told

EBN. “These are things that the average Joe can connect with: ‘Hey, my neighbor’s lights are blazing into my window,’ or ‘I’d like to go out... Read more

Feature

May 1, 2005
Building materials have undergone a breakneck evolution in the past century. Standard dimensions and shapes, predictable qualities, and manufactured precision make it quicker and easier to design and construct new buildings with laser-flat walls, straight and sharp corners, and glass-smooth floors. For most people, the more crisp, precise, and... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2005
Decreased intelligence caused by fetal exposure to mercury costs the U.S. economy $8.7 billion each year in lost productivity, according to a study published in

Environmental Health Perspectives. About 15% of that cost burden can be attributed to the emissions of coal-fired power plants, according to the study, which was performed by... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2005
The Sherwin-Williams Company, the nation’s largest paint manufacturer, has dropped its challenges of Pennsylvania’s new air-quality regulations. The state’s new coating standards set limits for emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in 48 distinct categories, including paints, primers, and stains. The regulations are anticipated to reduce... Read more

News Analysis

April 1, 2005
The National Architectural Accrediting Board, Inc., (NAAB) is responsible for ensuring that architectural degrees granted in the United States are provided by programs that meet accepted standards. In this mission, it represents the interests of the general public and four organizations that serve the architectural profession:

•The Association... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2005
The Building Materials Reuse Association (formerly the Used Building Materials Association, see

EBN

Vol. 13, No. 3) is seeking presentation proposals for its upcoming conference, Building Materials Reuse and Recycling: Decon ’05. The conference will be held November 7 and 8, 2005, in Atlanta, just before the U.S. Green Building Council’... Read more

News Analysis

April 1, 2005
Both the National Gypsum Company, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the USG Corporation, based in Chicago, have agreed to purchase reclaimed, reprocessed gypsum from the Danish company Gypsum Recycling International A/S (GRI) for use in new drywall. GRI, which was launched in 2001 and is currently operating in Scandinavia and Holland, will... Read more

Product Review

April 1, 2005
Cooling towers dissipate heat through evaporation, using large thermal transfer areas wetted by recirculating water. They often provide the most cost-effective option for removing heat generated in manufacturing, power generation, and large, refrigerant-based air-conditioning systems; but the combination of heat, expansive moist areas, and... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2005

The Marco Island City Council voted four to two in March 2005 to ban artificial turf, in response to a dispute between homeowner Ed Ehlen and his neighbors (see

EBN

Vol. 14, No. 2). While Ehlen argued that his synthetic lawn’s water savings made it environmentally friendly, the city council countered that the lawn’s rubber... Read more

Feature

April 1, 2005
To those of us entrenched in the green building world the benefits seem obvious. Why would anyone choose to build in a way that isn’t comfortable, healthy, and energy efficient? In the process of designing and building green, however, we keep running into others who are not yet as convinced. For those situations, it’s useful to be able to spell... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2005

With the March 2005 approval of Resolution 6644, Scottsdale, Arizona, became the first city in the nation to require that all new city-owned buildings achieve a LEED® Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The resolution applies to buildings of any size, as long as the green features have an anticipated payback period... Read more

Op-Ed

April 1, 2005

Having recently read your cover story “Recycled Content: What is it and What is it Worth?” [

EBN

Vol. 14, No. 2], I would like to commend author Nadav Malin for a very comprehensive review of the subject matter.

I am also compelled to comment on the following quote, attributed to Wayne Trusty, president of the Athena™... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2005
The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has approved a $70,000, 15-month study of the effects of noise on productivity. “Indoor background noise can dramatically impact occupants by causing annoyance, affecting productivity, hindering speech communication, impacting sleep, and degrading overall... Read more