United Solar, a joint venture between Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. and N. V. Bekaert, opened a

30-megawatt solar cell manufacturing facility in its hometown of Auburn Hills, Michigan on July 1. The largest of its kind, the plant will turn out thin-film amorphous photovoltaic cells in a continuous roll-to-roll process similar to that... Read more

A great deal has happened since we addressed “rigid foam insulation and the environment” ten years ago this month (

EBN

Vol. 1, No. 1). The big issue then was ozone depletion, and... Read more

Denying all charges of wrongdoing or liability, James Hardie Building Products has reached a settlement in a class-action lawsuit regarding cement-fiber roof shakes including “HardiShakes” and “HardiSlate.” Owners of homes or other structures in the U.S. roofed with James Hardie roof shakes may recover the cost of replacement if the product... Read more

has been introduced in the U.S. Senate. In 1989, the U.S. EPA proposed a limited ban on asbestos, but a federal appeals court overturned the regulations in 1991. Risks of asbestos exposure were brought back into focus by Libby, Montana, however, where 200 people have died from asbestos-related illness and thousands more... Read more

Beginning with the 2003 fiscal year, all new U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) facilities will be designed and built to achieve at least basic LEED™ certification; higher-level certification (Silver, Gold, Platinum) is encouraged. The GSA’s Federal Building Fund includes $276 million in appropriations for 2003 and is responsible for... Read more

At a recent conference, I was in the uncomfortable position of listening from the front row while a speaker criticized the

Guideline Specifications that we publish as part of our

GreenSpec Directory. While acknowledging that they include a lot of useful information, the speaker pointed out example after example of passages that... Read more

The Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies at Oberlin College in Ohio opened its doors in January 2000. Designed by William McDonough + Partners with Kevin Burke as project architect and a dream team of consultants, the project was guided by uncompromising goals that emerged from courses and public meetings led by Professor David... Read more

On May first, the American Lung Association (ALA) reported that 142 million Americans—more than 50% of the population—are now

living in areas with unhealthy levels of ozone air pollution (smog). According to the organization’s

State of the Air 2002 report, a failing grade was received by nearly 400 of the 678 counties that... Read more

Thanks for the piece on

Sun, Wind and Light in the “From the Library” section of the April

EBN issue (

Vol. 11, No. 4). There is a companion Web site at

www.sunwindlight.net. It has, among other things, climate data keyed to

SWL tools that expands the book’s usefulness to many more climates, thus removing... Read more

by Bjørn Berge, translated by Filip Henley. First published in Norwegian in 1992, revised and expanded English edition published 2000 (hardcover), 2001 (paperback) by Butterworth-Heinemann, a division of Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd. 480 pages, paperback, $49.95

Ecology of Building Materials is... Read more

, compared with 2000, according to Energy Information Administration (EIA) data from the U.S. Department of Energy. Consumption totaled 96.96 quads (102.3 x 1018 J). Nuclear power production climbed 1.8% to 8.15 quads (8.6 x 1018 J), while solar and wind power output grew by 20.6% to 0.146 quads (0.... Read more

2002 Sustainability Award from Civic Trust.

Located between an industrial area and suburban housing, the campus features energy-efficient, mixed-use buildings with green roofs. The buildings’ energy efficiency is due in part to a close collaboration between the... Read more

DuPont Commercial Flooring has created the DuPont™ Antron® Sustainability Advisory Council, a volunteer network of multidisciplinary experts who will help the company understand and manage the total environmental impact of its Antron fiber over the entire life cycle of commercial flooring applications. Members of the Council are: Penny Bonda of... Read more

Portland, Oregon voters have spoken out against modifications to an

Oregon state law restricting urban sprawl. A ballot measure brought by Portland developers called for stripping the local governing body, Metro, of its ability to mandate land-use patterns within Portland. According to the state law, Oregon urban areas must define... Read more

the nation’s largest rooftop solar electric system—located atop the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, California.

The 1.18 MW photovoltaic (PV) system is an expansion of a 640 kW PV system that was completed in the summer of 2001. The PowerGuard® system, which covers... Read more

Beginning with the 2002-2003 academic year, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania will offer a

Master of Science degree program in Sustainable Design. The two-year program is intended for graduates and young professionals with degrees related to the built environment, including architecture, landscape architecture,... Read more

I have been reading your article in the April 2002 issue of

Environmental Building News (

Vol. 11, No. 4) and generally agree with your take on the recent developments with SCS. However, as a Board member of the Silva Forest Foundation I must point out your error in describing SCS as “one of two organizations in North America... Read more

Two champions of high-performance buildings and sustainable design in academia,

Dr. Vivian Loftness and Dr. Hofu Wu, have been inducted into the College of Fellows of The American Institute of Architects. Dr. Loftness is a professor and Head of the School of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon. She is also a building performance and... Read more