The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) plans to air “design: e2,” a six-part television series about “the economies of being environmentally conscious,” beginning in June 2006. Narrated by Brad Pitt, the series will delve into eight topics: design, water, energy, food, textiles, transportation, botanicals, and health. More information and a... Read more

The Florida Home Builders Association (FHBA) and the Florida Green Building Coalition (FGBC) have announced a partnership designed to promote green affordable housing. The partnership will jointly advocate use of the FGBC Green Home Designation Standard and Green Development Designation Standard, advocate incentives for builders and developers... Read more

In partnership with the International Interior Design Association and The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committees on the Environment and Interior Architecture, CoreNet Global has announced the 2006 winners of the Sustainable Leadership Awards.

HOK won the category for architecture and interior architecture or interior design... Read more

Humanity’s ecological footprint exceeds the planet’s capacity by 39%, according to Redefining Progress, a nonprofit policy organization based in Oakland, California. The ecological footprint is a measure of the amount of “nature” it takes to sustain a given population over the course of a year; comparing this footprint to the same area’s... Read more

In partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Energy Star® program, the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) Foundation has launched the BOMA Energy Efficiency Program (BEEP), designed to educate BOMA members about energy conservation and reduce the industry’s annual $24 billion energy bill. BEEP has initially... Read more

Rodman Industries, manufacturer of ResinCore1™—an FSC-certified, recycled-content particleboard made with phenolic resin—has announced that it will shut its doors by the end of May 2006. Rodman has been producing particleboard since 1965. The shutdown comes on the heels of last November’s unexpected folding of Dow BioProducts, which... Read more

Kohler’s Steward™ and Steward S urinals are the end-... Read more

Although the U.S. used slightly (0.5%) less petroleum in 2005 than it did in record-breaking 2004, the percentage of that petroleum that was imported reached a new high in 2005, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration. Of the 99.84 quadrillion Btus used, a net 59.8% was imported. Of those imports, 17.0%... Read more

EBN

Vol. 8, No. 6... Read more

Thanks to a $380,000 grant from the Home Depot Foundation, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) plans to develop a Controlled Wood Global Risk Registry. This program addresses one of the more challenging aspects of FSC’s recently revised chain-of-custody labeling rules—a requirement that any noncertified wood in a labeled product be “controlled... Read more

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ordered James Pflueger to pay $7.5 million for construction activities on 380 acres (150 ha) of coastal property on Kaua’i, Hawaii. Pflueger’s transgressions include cutting away a hillside to create a vertical road cut, grading a coastal plateau, creating new access roads to the coast, and... Read more

Energy and sustainability consultant CTG Energetics, Inc., has announced the opening of its northeast regional office in Providence, Rhode Island. The office is led by Stephen Turner, P.E., a consulting engineer who specializes in mechanical, electrical, and energy systems for buildings and campuses. The northeast office will focus on... Read more

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle signed an executive order in April 2006 supporting green building. The order calls for new State facilities to be 30% more efficient than required by commercial code, and it calls for a 10% reduction of energy usage in all State buildings by fiscal year 2008 and a 20% reduction by fiscal year 2010. The order also... Read more

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Broad Knowledge Committee seeks proposals for research projects. AIA will award $7,000 each to ten winning projects “that advance professional knowledge and practice” in a range of areas, including sustainability. Entries are due May 15, 2006. For more information, contact Barbara Sido at bsido@aia.org... Read more

The Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC) has released version 1.8 of its Energy-10™ modeling software, compatible with PC computers. The new version features the ability to model the performance of stand-alone or building-integrated photovoltaic systems as well as solar domestic or service water heaters. For more information, visit... Read more

The area of green roofs in the U.S. grew by 80%—from 27 acres (11 ha) to 49 acres (20 ha)—from 2004 to 2005, according to the nonprofit Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC). The area of green roofs in all of North America grew 72%—from 30 acres (12 ha) to 57 acres (23 ha). Chicago is leading the pack with a total of 183,000 ft2 (17,000 m2) of... Read more

The average new, single-family home built in the U.S. in 2004 came in at 2,349 ft2 (218 m2)—13% larger than the average in 1990 and 2.4 times as big as the average in 1950—according to the National Association of Home Builders’ newest “Housing Facts, Figures, and Trends” report, released in March 2006. Of new homes in 2004, 95% had two full... Read more