During the 2004-2005 winter, the ozone layer reached the thinnest level ever recorded, according to a study by Cambridge University and reported April 27 in the

Guardian newspaper. “We thought things would start to get better because of the phasing out of CFCs and other chemicals because of the Montreal protocol,” says Cambridge... Read more

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is seeking proposals to develop, demonstrate, or commercialize innovative building products and systems. Eligible projects must be new technologies or substantial improvements to existing technologies, according to NYSERDA, and must yield energy and environmental benefits in... Read more

In partnership with Forest Products Solutions, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has released “Designing and Building with FSC,” a guide designed to help building owners and green building professionals specify, build with, and account for the use of FSC-certified products. It includes background information, case studies, and sample... Read more

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom signed the “Precautionary Purchasing Ordinance” into law in June 2005, requiring city departments to consider public health and environmental responsibility when making purchases, which amount to about $600 million each year. “By exercising our economic power, San Francisco can encourage market development of... Read more

EBN

Vol. 14, No. 1).

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer has signed into law a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) requiring public utilities to purchase at least 5% of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2008. Eligible technologies include wind, solar, geothermal, small hydropower, most biomass, and fuel cells using one of these fuel sources. The RPS... Read more

Ecotone Publishing has announced plans to publish

Who’s Green?, envisioned as “the preeminent resource book for locating firms, organizations, and institutions that are actively participating in the growth of the sustainable design and construction field,” according to Ecotone. It will include architecture, engineering, interior design... Read more

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has revised its estimate of the size of the global market for FSC-certified products. Previously believed to fall somewhere between $3 billion and $5 billion (see

EBN

Vol. 13, No. 10), the market is now believed to be “in excess of $5 billion.” The revision is based on the results of a global... Read more

The organizers of the Rethinking Sustainable Construction 2006 (RSC06) conference, set for Sarasota, Florida, in September, are calling for “creative content” proposals, ranging from research papers to problem-solving workshops. The international conference is intended to “produce an agenda for the future of green buildings,” as described in... Read more

Lewis Mumford Award winners. The award for Peace went to Architecture for Humanity for its “passion and dedication connecting architects and designers with communities in need around the world.” The award for Development went to United Indian Health... Read more

EBN Vol. 10, No. 2) to require that all new municipal facilities achieve LEED® Gold certification (joining only Scottsdale, Arizona, and Vancouver, British Columbia, in calling for Gold). Major retrofits and existing occupied buildings will... Read more

The Council of the District of Columbia has enacted a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) that applies to all retail electricity sales in Washington, D.C. The two-tiered system establishes yearly benchmarks for tier-one and tier-two resources. By 2022, all utilities must generate 11% of their electricity from tier-one resources, including solar... Read more

A bill being debated in the California legislature would ban both bisphenol-A and certain phthalate plasticizers in baby products. Bill AB 319, introduced in the California legislature in February 2005 by Assemblywoman Wilma Chan of Oakland, would ban, effective January 1, 2007, the manufacture, sale, or distribution in commerce of any product... Read more