Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR) has announced the winners of its 2006

Lewis Mumford Awards.

September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows won the Peace award for its work promoting nonviolent responses to war and terrorism and calling attention to threats to human and civil rights. The award... Read more

Heifer international is a nonprofit organization that addresses global problems with an approach founded in sustainability. It gives livestock such as goats, cows, and chickens to families in need as a lasting source of food and income. In 2000, during a period of strong growth and with its 200-plus staff spread across five locations in Little... Read more

It’s a common saying in the green building movement that “the greenest building is the one that isn’t built.” This ideal may be great, but with growing demand in many parts of the U.S.—and the world—for buildings, it’s often ignored. Meanwhile, millions of buildings already exist but are not being used to their full potential, despite... Read more

This was the first program I’ve seen in which you can tell that someone approached the building with sustainability in mind,” says Scott Shell, of EHDD Architecture, in reference to the client’s concept document for the Department of Global Ecology, a new arm of the Washington, D.C. –based Carnegie Institution. Located alongside the venerable... Read more

A committee led by Bill Reed, AIA, and John Boecker, AIA, under the auspices of the Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability (MTS), has released a draft Whole Systems Integrative Process (WSIP) Standard Guide for public comment and ballot. Originally termed a standard on integrated design process, the document has been renamed to... Read more

The economic growth of China, India, and other emerging economies threatens serious long-term implications for Earth’s climate, concluded a recent report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLC, the world’s largest professional services firm. “The World in 2050” presents six possible approaches to growth but focuses on two: business as usual and “... Read more

In 1996,

Environmental Building News (EBN) looked at residential building science developments emerging from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) fledgling

Building America program. Started in 1994, the program consisted of four research teams working with several private-sector builder partners to build and test houses in... Read more

Despite strong opposition from industry groups, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a strict new lead bill into law, saying, “Protecting public health is a top priority.” Bill AB 1953 mandates that all pipes and fixtures carrying water for human consumption be “lead free” and lowers the levels of allowable lead in lead-free fixtures from the... Read more

EBN

Vol. 13, No. 7) and then discontinued in 2005 (see

EBN

Vol. 14, No. 10) is back, and from more than one company. This product uses a booster compressor that makes it viable as an air-source heat pump even in very cold weather. David Shaw, designer... Read more

A team from Yale University’s Program on Forest Policy and Governance in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, in collaboration with Greg Norris of Sylvatica, Inc., has been hired by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). This team will provide research and outreach support to the LEED® Materials and Resources Technical Advisory... Read more

The Communities and Local Government ministerial team in the United Kingdom has announced that it will release its new green building code, the Code for Sustainable Homes, by the end of 2006. Although the code is voluntary for private sector projects, all projects funded by the government will have to meet the code’s requirements. The code will... Read more