BuildingGreen Report

News Brief

February 1, 2006
by Sandra Leibowitz Early. New Village Press, Oakland, California, 2005.

Softcover, 178 pages, $19.95.

Update: (March 29, 2006)

New Village Press has posted this book's missing page on its website. To view it, visit www.newvillagepress.net/cover_ecoDesign.html, and click on "Errata page 84/85."

Searching for a master... Read more

News Brief

February 1, 2006

Recognizing that “utilizing less hazardous cleaning products in our State facilities and workplaces, and implementing measures to reduce exposure to those products, can minimize harmful impacts to office and custodial workers as well as improve air quality and reduce water and air pollution,” New Jersey Governor Richard Codey signed an... Read more

News Analysis

February 1, 2006
Since we carried our in-depth report on toilets in January 2004 (EBN

Vol. 13, No. 1), quite a bit has happened in the area of standardized testing of toilet performance. The Maximum Performance (MaP™) testing that we reported on has been progressing at a rapid pace. Veritec Consulting, Inc., has now tested well over 200 toilet models, and the... Read more

Product Review

February 1, 2006
At the 2006 International Builders’ Show, Kohler Company introduced a new 1.1 gallon-per-flush (4.2-lpf) toilet that fits well within the definition of a high-efficiency toilet (HET)—see News on the Toilet Testing Front. The Highline™ Pressure Lite 1.1-gpf toilet is a redesign of Kohler’s older Highline toilets that have been serving commercial... Read more

News Brief

February 1, 2006
Ed Mazria, AIA, author of

The Passive Solar Energy Book and a leading advocate for energy efficiency in buildings, has created an organization to amplify his call to action. Architecture 2030 aims to “conduct research and provide information and innovative solutions in the fields of architecture and planning, in an effort to address global... Read more

News Brief

February 1, 2006

Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Warren, Vermont, together with ReCycle North of Burlington, Vermont, and Habitat for Humanity, will offer two five-day training courses in April 2006 on building deconstruction and the use of reclaimed building materials in new residential construction. The courses are intended for nonprofit organizations... Read more

News Analysis

February 1, 2006

On January 4, 2006, the Executive Committee of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) board of directors approved the charter of a Research Committee and appointed its initial five members. This is a core

organizational committee of the Council (as opposed to being a LEED® committee) that focuses on one of the USGBC’s six key goals in... Read more

News Brief

February 1, 2006
2005 was among the hottest years on record, according to several organizations and government agencies. Two analysis systems used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) place 2005 warmest ever recorded and second only to 1998, during which a strong El Niño episode contributed to warming. The National Aeronautics and Space... Read more

News Analysis

February 1, 2006

Tarkett AG, the world’s largest manufacturer of resilient flooring, has acquired Johnsonite, a producer of specialty flooring and flooring accessories. Johnsonite, based in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, makes flooring adhesives with low emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), entryway track-off systems, and flooring produced from recycled tires... Read more

Op-Ed

February 1, 2006

Are you an experienced writer/editor with green building knowledge and excellent research skills? Do you have a knack for distinguishing meaningful information from hype? If so, you might consider joining the editorial team at BuildingGreen, Inc. We need to add a writer to our staff to keep up with our publishing schedule and commitments. The... Read more

News Brief

February 1, 2006

The Zody™ chair from Haworth, Inc., was granted a 2005 Good Design™ Award from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design. The international program recognizes “designers and manufacturers for advancing new and innovative product concepts and originality and for stretching the envelope beyond what is considered standard product and... Read more

News Brief

February 1, 2006

Centennial College, a community college based in Toronto, Canada, has launched a full-time program in architectural technology that emphasizes green building design and construction. “The three-year program prepares students to work as technologists alongside architects, engineers, builders, contractors, and municipal building departments,”... Read more

News Brief

February 1, 2006

The Swedish government has set the aggressive goal of eliminating its dependence on fossil fuels by 2020, according to Mona Sahlin, minister for sustainable development. Sweden plans to harness tax credits, research, and large-scale investment in district heating, among other strategies, to wean the country off fossil fuels. Transportation,... Read more

News Analysis

February 1, 2006

In an effort to capitalize on the brand value of one of its many acquisitions, the financially troubled U.S. Plastic Lumber (USPL) company has been renamed Trimax Building Products, Inc. The rechristening follows the purchase of the company by a private equity firm, American Pacific Financial Corp., according to a January 16, 2006,

... Read more

News Brief

February 1, 2006

A Report for the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative by Gregory Kats, Capital E. Available free at www.cap-e.com. December 2005, 66 pages.

Following up on their influential 2003 report “The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings” (see “Green Building Pays” in

EBN

Vol. 12, No. 11), Greg Kats and his team at Capital E... Read more

News Brief

February 1, 2006

The American Institute of Architects Committees on Design and the Environment (COD and COTE) are cosponsoring a conference called “The Architecture of Sustainability” and a design competition called “A House for an Ecologist” (formerly known as eco:dwell) to explore sustainability as an architectural agenda. Judges for the competition are Peter... Read more

News Brief

January 1, 2006

ASTM International has accepted four new standards addressing green roofs:

Standard Test Method for Saturated Water Permeability of Granular Drainage Media [Falling-Head Method] for Green Roof Systems, Standard Practice for Determination of Dead and Live Loads Associated with Green Roof Systems, Standard Test Method for Water Capture... Read more

News Brief

January 1, 2006

The Building Envelope Institute, a nonprofit professional association based in Cary, North Carolina, was created in October 2005 “to serve the common interests of individuals involved in issues related to the performance of building envelope systems.” Details, including a list of the organization’s officers, directors, and 13 founding members,... Read more

Product Review

January 1, 2006
Commercial plumbing equipment manufacturer Zurn® Plumbing Products Group rolled out a wide-ranging collection of water-conserving plumbing products at the U.S. Green Building Council’s Greenbuild Conference in November 2005. While somewhat late into the game with water-conserving flushvalves and plumbing fixtures, compared to its competition, Zurn... Read more

News Brief

January 1, 2006

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reached a settlement with DuPont over the company’s alleged withholding of information about the health risks of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, also referred to as C8), which is used to make Teflon® and other products (see

EBN

Vol. 13, No. 3 and

Vol. 13, No. 8). The... Read more