Global climate change will prompt

widespread extinction within decades, according to an international group of 19 scientists. The group studied more than 1,000 species representing roughly 20% of the Earth’s terrestrial surface and found that, if current warming trends continue, 15–37% of them will be “committed to extinction” by 2050.... Read more

David L. Grumman, editor. American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc., 2004, paperback, 170 pages, $99 ($79 for ASHRAE members). Contact ASHRAE Customer Service at 1-800-527-4723 or 404-636-8400, or visit the ASHRAE.org Bookstore.

Engineers can be a literal bunch. A chapter in the

ASHRAE... Read more

Traces of fluoxetine hydrochloride, the active ingredient in the drug

Prozac, have been found in fish in central Texas, according to a Baylor University study led by toxicologist Dr. Bryan Brooks. “Maybe it makes you a happy fish and you’re kind of hanging out,” said Brooks, but he questions the drug’s effect on the ability of fish to... Read more

The California Division of the State Architect (DSA) has issued an “Acceptance Criteria Document” for zero-water consumption urinal fixtures that is helping to clear the way for nonflushing urinals in California schools and state-owned buildings. With this document, “DSA addresses those sections of the code that were controversial, and says... Read more

Last October’s issue of

EBN (

Vol. 12, No. 10) was another great one. My non-expert two cents on the filtration issue is that the best way to do HVAC in buildings (at least buildings other than single-family homes) is to separate space conditioning, which is an intermittent load, from ventilation, which is always present during... Read more

Governor James E. McGreevey of New Jersey announced the adoption of

new stormwater-control regulations in January that are being hailed as the most comprehensive in the nation. The new rules establish a 300-foot (90 m) buffer around more than 6,000 stream miles (9,650 km) along high-quality waterways. They also establish a goal of... Read more

“Renewable energy sources could provide the equivalent to today’s production of both thermal and nuclear power combined.” While such a claim might be expected from environmentalists, this conclusion came from the

Clean Air Renewable Energy Coalition, a unique alliance of Canadian corporations (including energy producers Shell Canada, BP... Read more

EBN... Read more

The Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC), representing 155,000 Inuit people in Russia, Canada, Greenland, and Alaska, is planning a human-rights legal case against Arctic states—particularly the United States—for their

complicity in global climate change. “What is at stake here is the cultural survival of Inuit as a people,” said ICC... Read more

In an appendix to the draft environmental impact statement for the

World Trade Center reconstruction project in lower Manhattan is a set of sustainable development guidelines that should help green the huge 16-acre (6.5 ha) development. Already, construction equipment on the site is using low-sulfur diesel fuel and high-performance... Read more

The product line includes 34... Read more

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City has rejected a Bush Administration plan to lower energy-efficiency standards for air-conditioners. The lawsuit,

Natural Resources Defense Council v. Abraham, was brought by NRDC, consumer groups, and attorneys general from ten states. Clinton Administration standards, which mandate... Read more

The year 2003 tied 2002 as the

second-hottest year on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). All five of the hottest years on record (since record-keeping began in 1880) have now occurred since 1997. Details are available on NOAA’s Climate Data Center Web site, at www.ncdc.noaa.gov.

... Read more

U.S. Department of Commerce Silver Medal for her work. Lippiatt is an economist in the Office of Applied Economics of the Building and Fire Research Laboratory at the National... Read more

A study by leading global climate scientist Dr. James Hansen and Dr. Larissa Nazarenko of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies suggests that carbon black (soot) from the

burning of diesel, biomass, and other fuels may contribute more than was previously thought to global warming, especially in polar regions. Soot accumulation on... Read more

The Audubon Center at Debs Park outside Los Angeles has earned a Platinum rating under version 2 of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED® Rating System. When the certification was announced in December 2003, the Audubon Center became the first building in the U.S.—and the second in the world (see EBN Vol. 12, No. 12)—to achieve this... Read more

Building on the success of its EcoWorx® backing system, in early December Shaw president Julian Saul... Read more

The company premiered its new Axis™ underfloor HVAC system at the 2003 Greenbuild... Read more

Holcim, Ltd. one of the world’s largest suppliers of cement, aggregates, concrete, and construction-related services, has established a

Foundation for Sustainable Construction, based in Zurich, Switzerland, to promote environmental quality and social responsibility while encouraging economic growth. A competition to recognize... Read more