“By 2050 new buildings will consume zero net energy from external power supplies and produce zero net carbon dioxide emissions while being economically viable to construct and operate.” That is the goal of an effort led by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), United Technologies Corporation, and Lafarge Group. The... Read more

net increase in wetlands, due to the fact that it... Read more

Ten years ago, we expressed concern over the increase in sales of unvented gas heaters (see

EBN

Vol. 5, No. 3). At that time, sales totaled about 520,000 units per year. In the intervening decade, sales have risen to over one million units per year.

As the name suggests, these heaters do not require chimneys or other... Read more

Jonathan Rose Companies, LLC, has announced the formation of the Rose Smart Growth Investment Fund I, LP, the first national real estate investment fund that acquires buildings exclusively in Smart Growth locations and improves them to enhance the quality of life for tenants and the livability of the communities. The company announced its first... Read more

In December 2005 an editorial in Environmental Building News introduced the concept of “passive survivability,” or a building’s ability to maintain critical life-support conditions if services such as power, heating fuel, or water are lost, and suggested that it should become a standard design criterion for houses, apartment buildings, schools... Read more

New Mexico has become the first state in the U.S. to join the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), the nation’s only market-based cap-and-trade system designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The state hopes to reduce its emissions to 2000 levels by 2012, 10% below 2000 levels by 2020, and 75% below 2000 levels by 2050. CCX membership is legally... Read more

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced the 2006 inductees into its College of Fellows, among the highest honors bestowed upon members. Several of this year’s Fellows have contributed to green design:

•G. Z. (Charlie) Brown, professor of architecture at the University of Oregon, founder and director of the school’s... Read more

A federal appeals court has overturned a policy that would have allowed power plants, refineries, and other industrial facilities to upgrade without also updating their pollution-control equipment. While the New Source Review program of the Clean Air Act ensured that older plants would clean up emissions whenever they performed upgrades beyond... Read more

Recognizing the role of construction in the global economy and planetary ecology, in February 2006 the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) launched the Sustainable Building and Construction Initiative (SBCI). Part of UNEP’s Division of Technology, Industry, and Economics (DTIE), SBCI will establish global baselines for green building,... Read more

New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to turn over information about the levels of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in paints and similar products. Because VOCs contribute to smog and respiratory problems, EPA has limited the amount of VOCs that paints... Read more

BuildingGreen, Inc., is pleased to announce an agreement with McGraw-Hill Construction through which we will provide editorial guidance and articles for an upcoming magazine called

GreenSource. In addition to content for the magazine, BuildingGreen will provide strategic consulting and information to McGraw-Hill Construction’s Web-based... Read more

Disturbing old farmland can release pesticides applied more than 100 years ago, contaminating surface water, according to Dartmouth researchers. The researchers found that lead and arsenic, widely applied as lead arsenate pesticide on orchards in the late 1800s and well into the 1900s, have become part of the fine silt and organic matter in the... Read more

The City of Chicago is giving 600 Solargenix Energy, LLC, solar-thermal water heaters to health clubs, laundromats, affordable housing units, and other entities that use a lot of hot water. Recipients will be responsible for installation and maintenance costs. “High gas prices are not going away anytime soon, and we want to make businesses and... Read more

Thirty plants across the U.S. are now producing Energy Star® manufactured homes, according to the Manufactured Housing Research Alliance. A complete list is available at www.mhrahome.org/pages/es_plant_list.htm. Encouraging further development, the Internal Revenue Service has ruled that the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (see

EBN

... Read more

CD-ROM released in 2005 by ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA; 610-832-9585; www.astm.org; $193.

ASTM International has released an updated version of its “Sustainability in Buildings” CD-ROM (see

EBN

Vol. 12, No. 7 for a review of the first version). Sponsored by ASTM’s Subcommittee on Sustainability, the CD... Read more

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has approved tighter standards for dishwashers that carry the Energy Star® label. The new standard, which requires Energy Star dishwashers to be 41% more efficient than minimum federal standards, will take effect January 1, 2007. Current standards require Energy Star dishwashers to be 25% more efficient than... Read more