P. Ole Fanger, D.Sc., director of the International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy at the Technical University of Denmark and fellow of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE), has won the Pettenkofer Gold Medal, the International Academy of Indoor Air Sciences’ highest honor for... Read more

A September 2005 report from New Ecology, Inc., and Tellus Institute demonstrates that green affordable housing is more cost-effective than conventional affordable housing. The report,

Costs and Benefits of Green Affordable Housing, features case studies of 16 green affordable housing projects around the country and lays out the long-... Read more

DuPont and Tate & Lyle have begun construction on a $100 million plant in Loudon, Tennessee, that will convert corn into 1,3 propanediol (PDO). The product, also known as Bio-PDO™, will replace petroleum-based PDO in the production of Sonora®, DuPont’s newest polymer, used in clothing, carpeting, plastics, and other products. The production... Read more

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2 have announced a call for entries in the second annual New York City Green Building Competition. The competition is open to projects built in or designed for specific sites within the boroughs of New York City. Awards will be... Read more

The U.S. Green Building Council, along with the Enterprise Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, the Trust for Public Land, and others, is planning a series of charrettes focused on rebuilding the Gulf Coast. The meetings will be held during the Greenbuild Conference, to take place in Atlanta November 9-11, 2005. Scholarships will allow 30 Gulf... Read more

Advisory Board member Russell Perry, AIA, is now at SmithGroup’s Washington, D.C., office, after 11 years with William McDonough+Partners (WM+P). While at WM+P, Perry was project leader for several high-profile, aggressively green projects, including Ford’s River Rouge complex in Dearborn, Michigan, and the National Collections Centre at... Read more

In what it describes as the most ambitious energy conservation campaign in U.S. history, the California Public Utilities Commission in September 2005 authorized $2 billion in funding over the next three years for energy efficiency and conservation. The program’s provisions include financing strategies, online energy audits, and consumer rebates... Read more

A 13.6 million acre (5.5 million ha) forest in Alberta, Canada, managed by Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries, Inc. (Al-Pac), has earned certification according to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards, making it the largest FSC-certified forest in the world. The announcement also makes Canada the leading country in the world for FSC-... Read more

The International Code Council (ICC), an organization focused on building safety and fire prevention, disappointed the green building community when it voted in late September 2005 not to adopt member-ratified changes to the 2004 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) that would have strengthened standards for wall insulation. The... Read more

GeoPraxis®, Inc., a company that provides architectural, engineering, and construction software and services, has become Green Building Studio, Inc., taking on the name of the company’s online energy-analysis service. The firm’s utility and real-estate consulting business, including the online EnergyCheckup™ tool, meanwhile, has spun off but... Read more

• The

Alberici Group Corporate Headquarters, 8850 Page, designed by Mackey Mitchell Associates, won... Read more

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has signed into law a bill establishing green building standards for certain capital projects. The law, Int. 324-A, requires most new and renovated City buildings that cost more than $2 million to “be built according to green building standards that are as stringent as LEED,” according to an Office of... Read more

The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) has expanded its Green Label Plus program, released in 2004 to recognize carpets with low emissions of indoor pollutants, to include adhesives. Green Label Plus supersedes the organization’s older “Green Label” program, which addressed carpets, carpet pads, and adhesives. Before receiving Green Label Plus... Read more

The Fusiotherm® and Faser® lines of polypropylene pipe and pipe fittings made by Aquatherm Piping Systems, LLC, were awarded ESR 1613 listing by the International Code Council (ICC) in September 2005. This listing, according to Aquatherm’s Jim Brock, certifies that Aquatherm pipe and fittings meet all of the relevant plumbing codes. The... Read more

The Rainforest Alliance, an accredited certifier of compliance with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards, has published the SmartGuide to Green Building Wood Sources, a comprehensive listing of all FSC-certified suppliers in North America, including those certified by organizations other than the Rainforest Alliance’s SmartWood program.... Read more

Texas was among the first states to adopt a renewable portfolio standard (RPS), calling in 1999 for 2,000 megawatts (MW) of new renewable energy generation by 2009. Announcing that the state is on track to meet that target by the end of 2005, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed Senate Bill 20, strengthening the RPS, in August 2005. According to... Read more