News Brief
As part of its 21st annual
Lighting Design Awards, the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) is introducing a sustainability award to highlight “the growing importance of sustainable design to the profession of lighting design and to the world in which we live.” Applications for IALD’s 2004 design awards are due... Read more
Op-Ed
I’m happy that chromated copper arsenate (CCA) preservatives are finally being phased out [see
EBN
Vol. 12, No. 3], but one small problem remains: There is no way to tell wood treated with ammoniacal copper quaternary (ACQ) or other alternative treatments from that treated with CCA once it’s been installed and the stapletags... Read more
Product Review
Low-density, open-cell polyurethane foam insulation made from soybeans may soon replace the non-renewable version.
Over the past year, three companies have begun marketing a low-density, open-cell polyurethane foam insulation made, in part, from soybeans. By far the best organized and established of these is BioBased Systems of Spring Valley, Illinois. Experienced users tell EBN that BioBase 501 works just as well as its petrochemical-based competitors, and... Read more
News Analysis
On May 29, 2003, the Resilient Floor Coverings Institute (RFCI) withdrew a lawsuit challenging New York State’s Green Building Tax Credit regulations (see
EBN
Vol. 9, No. 5) for excluding vinyl as an approved flooring material. The lawsuit, which was initiated in October 2000, was withdrawn just days before hearings were... Read more
News Brief
After surveying its member companies, the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association estimates that the industry used nearly 2 billion pounds (900 million kg) of
recycled glass and blast-furnace slag in the manufacture of fiberglass and slag-wool insulation last year. Of that total, 58% was glass cullet and 42% was slag. Since... Read more
News Analysis
EBN
Vol. 10, No. 10), Environments... Read more
News Brief
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The Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) awarded this year’s
Environmental Sensitivity Awards to two architecture firms that specialize in... Read more
News Brief
by Joseph W. Lstiburek, Ph.D., P.Eng.; Energy & Environmental Building Association, Minneapolis, MN, 2002. Available from EEBA, 952-881-1098,
www.eeba.org. Spiral-bound, 42 pages, $18 ($15 members).
TheEEBA Water Management Guide is a clear, concise booklet about preventing rain and groundwater entry into houses and light-... Read more
News Analysis
A manufacturing facility built with great green hopes is now spending most of its time making a more conventional product. Great Lakes MDF, LLC has purchased the Lackawanna, New York medium-density fiberboard (MDF) plant formerly owned by The CanFibre Group, Ltd. The plant initially relied on phenol-formaldehyde binders in place of conventional... Read more
News Brief
, executive director of Red Feather Development Group, has been named
Greatest American Hometown Hero in the first
Volvo for Life Awards. Struck by reports of poverty on America’s Indian reservations, Young founded the Red Feather Development Group in 1995 to teach Native American communities to construct energy-... Read more
News Brief
CD-ROM released in 2003 by ASTM International, 100 Barr Harbor Dr., PO Box C700, W. Conshohocken, PA 19428; 610-832-9585,
www.astm.org. Stock No.: Green03, $175 in North America, $193 elsewhere.
At the behest of its Committee E06.71 on Sustainability, ASTM has released a volume of its “Standards on CD-ROM” series focusing on... Read moreNews Analysis
News Analysis
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Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities, the first national conference on green roofs, was held May 29–30 in Chicago, drawing more than 500... Read more
News Brief
The Emerging Green Builders subcommittee of the USGBC is steering the
first annual USGBC Design Competition. Participation is limited to current students of all disciplines and graduates with no more than three years’ experience in the industry. Winners will be announced at USGBC’s Greenbuild conference this November. Watch for details... Read more
News Brief
The Environmental Council of Concrete Organizations is crisscrossing North America this August with a
“Road Show” on the role of concrete in sustainable design. The faculty includes two lecturers from the U.K. and one American, representing expertise in urban planning, architecture, engineering, and materials research. The speakers,... Read more
Product Review
EBN
Vol. 11, No. 10 and
Vol. 6, No. 8). We recently discovered another such product—made by Bricor Analytical, Inc. in Colorado Springs, Colorado. While quite different from the ETL products technologically, Bricor... Read more
News Brief
The International Interior Design Association (IIDA) Foundation has established a
Sustainable Design Education Fund to reimburse members of the interior-design community for taking classes, attending conferences, undergoing LEED™ accreditation, and participating in other activities related to sustainable design. The fund is made... Read more
News Analysis
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The Cool Roof Rating Council (CRRC), a member-based, nonprofit, educational organization, now has over 100 listings in its
Rated Products... Read more
News Brief
The American Solar Energy Society has named
Ralph Knowles a “Passive Solar Pioneer.” Distinguished Professor Emeritus Knowles has spent the past 40 years at the University of Southern California’s School of Architecture. Among Knowles’ contributions to passive design is the “solar envelope,” a zoning concept that ensures city buildings... Read more
News Brief
A number of state legislatures are reviewing
bills related to indoor air quality this session. Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Texas, and Virginia are considering legislation specifically addressing mold contamination.





