The Green Guide for Healthcare (GGHC) has announced two new prescriptive paths for achieving energy optimization points in its self-certification program for healthcare facilities (see

EBN

Vol. 14, No. 1). Buildings over 70,000 ft2 (6,500 m2) can achieve two points in the energy optimization credit using prescribed measures that... Read more

In January 2008 the U.S. Green Building Council published an “Innovation & Design Credit Catalog” listing the actions that project teams have taken to earn innovation points in LEED. The catalog, a 28-page PDF file, lists about 200 innovations. Items on the list range widely and include solutions such as reduced steel in a structural system... Read more

After a five-year absence, SierraPine is issuing a reformulated version of its popular Medite FR (fire retardant) medium-density fiberboard (MDF) panel that it discontinued in 2002 (see

EBN

Vol. 11, No. 11). SierraPine is bringing back this no-added-formaldehyde panel to replace Medite FR2 MDF, which used an urea-formaldehyde... Read more

In 2006, the California legislature passed a law requiring the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to develop and adopt a regulation limiting the ozone emitted from indoor air cleaning devices. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, there is increasing evidence that the ozone from some of these devices leads to throat and lung... Read more

A prototype 4.75-inch parabolic aluminized reflector (12cm; PAR-38) lamp using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) has shattered the efficacy record for reflector lamps by delivering 659 lumens using just 5.8 watts of electricity—for an efficacy of 113.6 lumens per watt. The lamp was made by LED Lighting Fixtures (LLF), whose LR6 recessed downlight... Read more

Congress passed and President Bush signed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 in December. With it, the green building community saw progress in several areas, including energy- and water- efficiency standards for appliances, carbon-reduction goals for federal buildings, and programs designed to promote high-performance commercial... Read more

The Alliance for Water Efficiency (AWE), a stakeholder-based nonprofit dedicated to the efficient and sustainable use of water, has recently opened its headquarters as a public resource in Chicago. AWE serves as a North American advocate for water-efficient products and programs, and provides information and assistance on water conservation... Read more

Responding to growth in the green homebuilding industry, the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (InterNACHI), the world’s largest nonprofit inspection association, has released a free, online course to educate building inspectors about green building techniques, materials, and technologies. Developed by home inspector Kenton... Read more

The city council of Greensburg, Kansas (pop. 1,500), a town devastated by a tornado in May 2007 (see EBN Vol. 16, No. 12), announced in December 2007 that all city-owned buildings greater than 4,000 ft2 (400 m2) would be required to meet LEED Platinum standards. Greensburg, which is rebuilding with a focus on sustainability, became the first U.... Read more

No place is more emblematic of water shortage than Las Vegas. The metropolitan area receives about four inches (100 mm) of rainfall per year and has doubled in population just since 2000 (to 1.9 million). It is 90% dependent on Lake Mead—a half-full (half-empty?) lake whose level has dropped more than 100 feet (30 m) since 1990.

But Las... Read more

Guardian Industries, one of the world’s largest architectural and automotive glass manufacturers, with 19,000 employees in 25 countries, has under development a revolutionary vacuum-glazing panel that provides a center-of-glass insulating value of R-12 to R-13. The glass—Guardian VIG (for vacuum-insulated glass)—has a very thin (250-micron or 0... Read more

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