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

As part of the 2006 Greenbuild conference in Denver, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced the winners of its annual Leadership Awards. The awards, given in five categories, were presented to “select companies and individuals with exceptional vision, leadership, and commitment to the evolution of green building design and... Read more

Two players in the wood treatment industry are joining forces. Starting in January 2007, Rohm and Haas Company will operate a joint venture with Chemical Specialties, Inc. (CSI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Rockwood Holdings, Inc. The new venture will join Rohm and Haas’s wood biocides division with the wood protection chemicals division of... Read more

After several years of conversations about a rating system grounded in life-cycle assessment, with regional variations and smarter credits, the LEED® 3.0 development process was at risk of collapsing under the weight of expectations. In response, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) chose to begin the process by getting all these... Read more

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) proposed new energy efficiency standards for home furnaces and boilers in October 2006. The standards, which were due in 2004, would require all gas furnaces to achieve a minimum annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) rating of 80%, a level already met by most furnaces on the market today. The current... Read more

Viridian Energy and Environmental, LLC, a new company specializing in energy modeling, green building consulting, and commissioning, was created on November 1, 2006, by four leading consultants from Norwalk, Connecticut-based Steven Winter Associates (SWA). The four—Adrian Tuluca, John Amatruda, Carl Ian Graham, and Vevashish (Dave) Lahiri—... Read more

Among the many announcements at the 2006 Greenbuild conference was the formation of the Green Cleaning Network, a nonprofit group dedicated to spreading information about green cleaning in hospitals, schools, offices, and other buildings (for more on green cleaning, see

EBN Vol. 14, No. 9). The founding members of the network include... Read more

Averting serious climate change would be far cheaper today than dealing with it in the future, according to a report commissioned by the British government and written by Sir Nicholas Stern, chief of Britain’s economic service and former chief economist of the World Bank. If we continue to allow unmitigated climate change, dealing with its... 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

Three longtime leaders in the green building field, Bill Browning, Bob Fox, and Rick Cook, have formed a partnership, Terrapin Bright Green, LLC, to provide clients with consulting, strategic planning, and policy services. While Fox and Cook will continue work with their existing firm (Cook + Fox Architects in New York City), they are working... Read more

Green CommunitiesTM, a partnership between Enterprise Community Partners and the Natural Resources Defense Council (see

EBN

Vol. 14, No. 3), is now offering grants of up to $5,000 for affordable housing developers who wish to incorporate green planning charrettes into their design processes. The grants, designed to pay for... Read more

BuildingGreen, Inc., publisher of GreenSpec® Directory and Environmental Building News (EBN), announced its fifth annual Top-10 Green Building Products during the U.S. Green Building Council’s November 2006 Greenbuild Conference and Expo in Denver. Representing the ten most exciting products added to GreenSpec or covered in EBN in the last year... Read more

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has published a list of companies across the U.S. and Canada that recycle construction and demolition (C&D) waste. C&D waste amounts to roughly 136 million tons (123 million tonnes) each year in the U.S., or 25% to 45% of the total waste stream, depending on the region, according to the U.S... Read more