King County, Washington, home to Seattle, is encouraging builders and developers to incorporate green strategies into their projects. Administered by the King County Department of Development and Environmental Services and the Department of Natural Resources and Parks, the new incentives include assistance during the permit review process,... Read more

Office furniture manufacturer Steelcase, Inc., has committed to halting its use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in time for its 100th anniversary in 2012. The company credits its collaboration with McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC) for the decision. Eliminating PVC from edge banding is the first step along that path, according to a... Read more

The U.S. electric power grid reached a new record for power demand during the week ending July 23, 2005, according to a press release from the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the association of U.S. shareholder-owned electric companies, international affiliates, and industry associates worldwide. Overtaking the previous record, set in August... Read more

Jessica Boehland, who has been with BuildingGreen since the fall of 2001—she joined us as an intern fresh out of Oberlin College and then moved through the ranks of associate editor and senior editor—has just been promoted to managing editor. In this role, along with continuing her research and writing for

EBN, she will manage the... Read more

green buildings, significantly more money may be spent... Read more

New labels demarcating “FSC Pure,” “FSC Mixed Sources,” and “FSC Recycled” products (see

EBN Vol. 14, No. 2) took effect for all FSC certificate holders on July 1, 2005. The labels are available in several languages to serve different markets. For more information, visit www.fsc.org or e-mail trademark@fsc.org.

“The study indicates there is no threshold for the adverse consequences of children’s exposure to lead,” says Bruce Lanphear, M.D., director of the Children’s Environmental Health Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and lead author of a study on the effects of lead on children. Published in the July 2005 issue of... Read more

After leading the building industry in the pursuit of sustainable design in the early 1990s, The American Institute of Architects (AIA) turned its attention elsewhere and stood by as the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), with its LEED� Rating System, became the movement's dominant voice. But interest in green building keeps growing, and AIA... Read more

Through the new Massachusetts Green Communities™ initiative, MassHousing and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) are working with the nonprofit Enterprise Foundation to build 1,000 green affordable homes throughout the state. The Enterprise Foundation will provide up to $75 million in private equity to developers, from the sale of... Read more

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has announced a call for projects to pilot-test the LEED® for New Construction Application Guide for Retail, developed to tailor LEED credit language to retail projects and to define alternative compliance paths in some areas. The LEED for Retail Committee is seeking 25 to 50 retail projects—preferably... Read more

On August 9, 2005, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced that it has amended its bylaws to accept trade associations as full members. This decision reverses an action taken in the spring of 2004 (see EBN Vol. 13, No. 6), when the board of directors voted to retain the exclusion of trade associations. It opens the door for the... Read more

The U.S. joined Australia, China, India, Japan, and South Korea in signing the Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate in July 2005, with the goal of “taking action on climate change in a broad, pro-growth context,” according to a White House fact sheet. Together, the signatory countries represent about half of the world’s... Read more

August 22, 2005, marks the first day of classes for the new American College of the Building Arts. In 1998 the School of Building Arts opened in Charleston, South Carolina, hoping to reverse a steady decline in the availability of craftsmanship training. Since the South Carolina commission on higher education licensed the school as a college in... Read more

The City of Bellingham, Washington, is requiring all publicly funded new and renovated buildings larger than 5,000 ft2 (470 m2) to meet LEED® Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Bellingham joins the state of Washington, which became the first state to have a legislated requirement for LEED certification, also Silver, in... Read more

Responding to feedback from users about their experiences with LEED®, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has initiated a high-level “LEED refinement process.” In the spring of 2005 the Council commissioned a study from USGBC founder David Gottfried about how to improve LEED. More recently, Council board members, LEED committee members,... Read more

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has announced a program to support the research and development of heating and cooling technologies for residential and commercial buildings. Eligible projects must yield energy efficiency or environmental performance in New York State. NYSERDA plans to award up to $750,000... Read more

The American Wind Energy Association has announced the formation of “Wind Energy Works!,” a broad coalition of wind energy advocates designed to “engage in the public conversation over the merits of wind energy, educate the public about the many benefits of wind energy development, and act as a counterbalance to the misinformation being spread... Read more