Last October’s issue of

EBN (

Vol. 12, No. 10) was another great one. My non-expert two cents on the filtration issue is that the best way to do HVAC in buildings (at least buildings other than single-family homes) is to separate space conditioning, which is an intermittent load, from ventilation, which is always present during... Read more

by Mark Francis, 2003, Island Press. Paperback, 90 pages, $25.

Another book about Village Homes? I have to admit to being skeptical when I picked up this new title, the first in a series of place-based case studies from the Landscape Architecture Foundation. But

Village Homes: A Community by Design is a real gem, and it does... Read more

The product line includes 34... Read more

Meanwhile, University of Georgia researchers have found that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)—including fluoxetine and other common

antidepressants—delay both development in fish and metamorphosis in frogs. The affected animals eventually caught up with their drug-free peers, “but we know that in water, timing is... Read more

In its Beyond 2000 Solid Waste Master Plan (SWMP), the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) set a goal of reducing nonmunicipal solid waste by 88% by 2010. In order to reach that goal, the SWMP has proposed banning the disposal of construction and demolition (C&D) waste at both private and municipally owned landfills... Read more

Cool Roof Rating Council (CRRC) has begun the aged-testing component of its product rating program. CRRC has been providing third-party verification of both initial solar reflectance and initial thermal emittance of roofing products since September 2002 (see

EBN

Vol. 12, No. 7), and this aged-testing component adds another... Read more

A recent study that compared development patterns to the health of over 200,000 people in 448 counties in major metropolitan areas around the U.S. found that

car-dependent suburbanites suffer from obesity and high blood pressure at a greater rate than city-dwellers. The report, “Relationship between Urban Sprawl and Physical Activity,... Read more

The Boston Society of Architects has approved the Institution Recycling Network (IRN) to offer American Institute of Architects

Learning Units in construction waste management. IRN, based in Concord, New Hampshire, is a cooperative organization that works to improve the financial and operating performance of recycling programs at... Read more

Global climate change will prompt

widespread extinction within decades, according to an international group of 19 scientists. The group studied more than 1,000 species representing roughly 20% of the Earth’s terrestrial surface and found that, if current warming trends continue, 15–37% of them will be “committed to extinction” by 2050.... Read more

David L. Grumman, editor. American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc., 2004, paperback, 170 pages, $99 ($79 for ASHRAE members). Contact ASHRAE Customer Service at 1-800-527-4723 or 404-636-8400, or visit the ASHRAE.org Bookstore.

Engineers can be a literal bunch. A chapter in the

ASHRAE... Read more

Traces of fluoxetine hydrochloride, the active ingredient in the drug

Prozac, have been found in fish in central Texas, according to a Baylor University study led by toxicologist Dr. Bryan Brooks. “Maybe it makes you a happy fish and you’re kind of hanging out,” said Brooks, but he questions the drug’s effect on the ability of fish to... Read more

Thank you for continuing to be the most informative green building publication available today! Your October feature article, “Air Filtration in Buildings” (

Vol. 12, No. 10), was a wealth of information.

Proper use of ozone generators for cleaning indoor air is misunderstood and misrepresented in too many articles. As a healthy... Read more

The California Division of the State Architect (DSA) has issued an “Acceptance Criteria Document” for zero-water consumption urinal fixtures that is helping to clear the way for nonflushing urinals in California schools and state-owned buildings. With this document, “DSA addresses those sections of the code that were controversial, and says... Read more

Governor James E. McGreevey of New Jersey announced the adoption of

new stormwater-control regulations in January that are being hailed as the most comprehensive in the nation. The new rules establish a 300-foot (90 m) buffer around more than 6,000 stream miles (9,650 km) along high-quality waterways. They also establish a goal of... Read more

“Renewable energy sources could provide the equivalent to today’s production of both thermal and nuclear power combined.” While such a claim might be expected from environmentalists, this conclusion came from the

Clean Air Renewable Energy Coalition, a unique alliance of Canadian corporations (including energy producers Shell Canada, BP... Read more

The Audubon Center at Debs Park outside Los Angeles has earned a Platinum rating under version 2 of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED® Rating System. When the certification was announced in December 2003, the Audubon Center became the first building in the U.S.—and the second in the world (see EBN Vol. 12, No. 12)—to achieve this... Read more

The

U.S. Green Building Council has completed elections for members of its board of directors. New members are

Zaida Swanson Hagar, AIA, from the City of Dallas – Equipment and Building Services Department;

Vivian Loftness, FAIA, from the School of Architecture at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University; and

... Read more

President George Bush signed the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 into law on December 3. “We have a responsibility to be good stewards of our forests,” Bush remarked at the signing ceremony, describing the legislation as “a major step forward in protecting America’s forests.” Disagreement, however, surrounds the ecological soundness of... Read more