Guide to America’s Best Development Projects, which profiles a dozen projects the organization considers models for environmentally friendly, healthy, and livable communities. The report is available at www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has teamed with Turner Construction to launch an interactive, online training course called “Essentials of LEED Professional Accreditation,” for those preparing to become LEED® accredited professionals or wanting to expand their knowledge of green design. The course, which costs $150 for members or $200... Read more

The architecture firm Perkins+Will has committed to buying renewable energy certificates (see

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Vol. 11, No. 5) to offset the electricity use for all of its 17 North American offices. “The board of directors at Perkins+Will believes it was the right thing to do and was a great way to communicate Perkins+Will’s commitment to... Read more

The New Orleans Principles. This 28-page report, edited by Alex Wilson and designed by Julia Jandrisits of BuildingGreen, Inc., is a collection of ten key... Read more

ASTM International has accepted four new standards addressing green roofs:

Standard Test Method for Saturated Water Permeability of Granular Drainage Media [Falling-Head Method] for Green Roof Systems, Standard Practice for Determination of Dead and Live Loads Associated with Green Roof Systems, Standard Test Method for Water Capture... Read more

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reached a settlement with DuPont over the company’s alleged withholding of information about the health risks of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, also referred to as C8), which is used to make Teflon® and other products (see

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Vol. 13, No. 3 and

Vol. 13, No. 8). The... Read more

The Department of Architecture at the University of Minnesota has begun a new Sustainable Design program in its Department of Architecture. For more information, visit www.cala.umn.edu/architecture/.

In the second major announcement in a month relating to the straw-particleboard industry, the oldest straw-particleboard manufacturer in North America, PrimeBoard, Inc., was sold to Masonite International Corporation in mid-November. This follows closely on the heels of Dow Canada’s November 2005 announcement that Dow BioProducts and its... Read more

• The sports-apparel company

Patagonia was given the Corporate... Read more

In December 2005 the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced the election of six new members to its board of directors. They are:

Michael Deane of Turner Construction in the contractor category;

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Lisa Shpritz of Bank of America in the finance category;

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Bettina von Hagen of Ecotrust in the... Read more

BuildingGreen is pleased to announce the addition of Drew George, principal of Drew George & Partners, Inc., in San Diego, to our Advisory Board. Drew George & Partners is a sustainable design and business-practices consulting firm with a passion for accelerating the transformation of the building industry to sustainability.

In... Read more

A research team led by Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Arizona State University has established the Center for Sustainable Engineering, supported by $1.7 million from the National Science Foundation and $350,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency. “We want this new Center to help the nation’s 1,500... Read more

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched a website to inform consumers, state and local officials, and builders about cost-effective, durable, and energy-efficient solutions to disaster recovery and building reconstruction needs. The website, www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/disaster_recovery/, includes information on training... Read more

The historic Van de Kamp Bakery building, in the Los Angeles Community College District’s Glassell Park, has become the first project in the U.S. to achieve a rating in the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), which was developed in the U.K. The building, set to begin renovations in summer 2006, is also... Read more

Peter Busby, AIA, managing director of Busby, Perkins+Will, based in Vancouver, British Columbia (a subsidiary company of Perkins+Will), has been named a member of the Order of Canada, the country’s highest honor for lifetime achievement and service.

The Building Envelope Institute, a nonprofit professional association based in Cary, North Carolina, was created in October 2005 “to serve the common interests of individuals involved in issues related to the performance of building envelope systems.” Details, including a list of the organization’s officers, directors, and 13 founding members,... Read more

The Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers has initiated a committee on sustain-ability to advance the understanding of sustainability in the structural engineering community and incorporate sustainability into relevant standards and practices. “This is an exciting development for the structural... Read more

First waterless urinals, now waterless . . . clothes washers? Two students at the National University of Singapore’s School of Design and Environment have won the 2005 Design Lab Award at the international Electrolux Design Lab competition for their design of Airwash, a washing machine that uses neither water nor detergent. Airwash instead... Read more