Under a September executive order signed by Governor Gary Locke, every Washington state agency must establish

sustainability objectives and prepare biennial sustainability plans. The newly named Sustainability Coordinator and Sustainability Advisory Council will organize the plans around energy and water efficiency and a shift to... Read more

Ninth International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate, Hal Levin, Editor. CD-ROM version: $100; 5-volume printed version: $200. Shipping additional. Download an order form:

www.indoorair2002.org.

The

Oak Hill Fund, formed this year after the W. Alton Jones Foundation was split into three separate foundations, is seeking grant applicants for its Environmentally Sustainable Affordable Design Program. The program includes four initiatives:

•Sustainable and... Read more

Researchers at Smart Growth America and Rutgers and Cornell Universities have announced the results of the most

comprehensive study on sprawl ever undertaken. The research team created a sprawl index based on 22 measurable factors relating to residential density; neighborhood mix of homes, jobs, and services; strength of activity... Read more

When The American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment first convened, it immediately identified as a top priority the need for information about the environmental impacts of building materials. With funding from the U.S. EPA and the technical expertise of Joel Ann Todd’s Scientific Consulting Group, AIA produced a series of... Read more

A single-family home near the Twin Cities in Minnesota is the first to be constructed according to the American Lung Association’s recently revised

Health House® guidelines. The home, completed in September and open for tours, was designed with special attention to ventilation, air filtration, and moisture control. A second Health House... Read more

SierraPine Ltd., a Roseville, California-based company specializing in composite panels, is reformulating and renaming its Medite FR, a Class 1, fire-retardant medium-density fiberboard (MDF) panel. It was formerly manufactured with a polyurea resin matrix adhesive (MDI) rather than conventional formaldyhyde-based resins. The new product,... Read more

Sewerage Commission-Oroville Region (SC-OR) wastewater treatment plant in Oroville, California, will begin operating on solar energy this month. A 3-acre (1.2 ha) field adjacent to the plant is home to a

520 kW solar power array, installed by Sun Power and Geothermal Energy of San Rafael, that will supply 80% of the plant’s energy... Read more

The

Santa Fe Public Utilities Committee believes it has found a way to stretch the city’s limited water supply to satisfy an ever-growing population. If the committee’s controversial “

toilet tax” is accepted by the City Council, builders will have to replace 8–12 toilets in existing Santa Fe buildings with low-flow models to... Read more

is leaving his position as research consultant for the Green Development Services division of the

Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) to work for a leading U.K. firm of green consulting engineers and landscape architects,

Battle McCarthy Ltd. After a stint in London, Shepherd will be setting up a U.S. office for that firm... Read more

The Energy Star™ Commercial Buildings program recognizes buildings that perform in the top 25% of their class in terms of energy use. As part of that program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set up a Web-based tool called

Portfolio Manager. Users enter information from their energy bills into Portfolio Manager, which... Read more

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and The American Institute of Architects (AIA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding in October, continuing and expanding their partnership that

promotes energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources in the built environment. Details are available from DOE’s Chris Kielich at 202/586-5806.... Read more

executive editor Alex Wilson testified in October before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which has jurisdiction over all U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) programs. Wilson joined Claire Barnett, founder and director of the Healthy Schools Network, and Lois Gibbs, director of the Center for... Read more

Software package from the Athena™ Sustainable Materials Institute, PO Box 189, Merrickville, Ontario, K0G 1N0, Canada; 613/269-3795, 613/269-3796 (fax),

www.athenasmi.org Athena EIE software: $390; LCI Database reports: $325; package of both products with one-year interpretive support: $715; educational and multicopy discounts available... Read more

The Atlanta International Museum of Art and Design (AIM) is now showing “Ecology, Economy, Equity: The Architecture of

William McDonough + Partners.” The exhibit, open through February 28, features architectural models, text panels, preparatory drawings, site plans, and interactive computer stations describing WM+P projects such as the... Read more

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

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