Of all new commercial construction projects in the nation in 2002, according to the U.S. Green Building Council, over 4% by floor area are registered for certification under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED™) Rating System. Among the 18 projects already certified under LEED version 2.0, 8 are rated Gold and 3 are rated... Read more

Americans may want to “live larger” but not necessarily in larger homes. Over 1,000 Americans were recently asked by Taylor Nelson Sofres Intersearch, on behalf of the industry trade group The Hardwood Information Center, to

describe the perfect house. Americans dream of an average 2,500 ft2 (230 m2) house, according to the survey—not... Read more

U.S. Green Building Council, Washington, DC 20036; 202/828-7422, www.usgbc.org. Brochure, 14 pages, single copies available free from USGBC Marketing Department.

At the Austin conference, the U.S. Green Building Council unveiled an attractive new brochure, “Making the Business Case for High Performance Green Buildings.” The concise, clear... Read more

David M. Keith

, a principal at Boulder, Colorado’s Marshall Design, Inc., was named a Fellow of the

Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) for his contributions to the improved efficiency of outdoor and indoor lighting systems, including research in roadway lighting and lighting control systems.

The World Green Building Council (WGBC) was formally launched by its nine founding nations on November 11. Representatives from Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain, and the United States gathered in Austin to ratify the formal constitution of what they hope will serve as the United Nations of Green Building Councils.

... Read more

Likely to be remembered as a watershed in the sustainable building movement, the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) first annual International Conference and Exposition, held in Austin, Texas last month, was a resounding success. While the Council hoped for about 2,000 attendees, the final tally, including exhibitors, was 4,189 registrants. The... Read more

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) signed an agreement in October formalizing their

partnership in the promotion of energy-efficient, environmentally responsive buildings. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) extends and expands on a 1996 MOU that had been allowed to expire. In listing... Read more

by Kathryn Houser and Michael Myers, 2002. Published by Sustainable Living Alliance, PO Box 33368, Austin, TX 78764, funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. The manual and CD-ROM are available free of charge while supplies last. E-mail your request with contact information to rainfall@swbell.net or call 512-326-4636.

... Read more

At a November 13 reception in Austin, the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC) presented their

2002 Best Practice Sustainability Awards. Awards were made in five categories—details at www.sbicouncil.org:

•

Sustainable Policy Initiatives:

The Cool Metal Roofing Coalition, a nonprofit organization founded last year... Read more

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is seeking applicants for its 2003 National Green Building Awards, to be announced at the National Green Building Conference March 30 through April 1, 2003 in Baltimore, Maryland. Applications are due December 31. For more information, call 888-602-HOME or visit www.nahbrc.org.

 

The

Clean Water Act celebrated its 30th birthday on October 18. The law has enjoyed bipartisan support and has accomplished much to protect America’s water resources. Since its inception in 1972, for example, the act has slowed the rate of wetland loss by 75% and doubled the number of households served by sewage treatment plants.... Read more

An increasingly familiar sight in new commercial construction, interior lightshelves are gaining popularity for their effectiveness at distributing daylight deep into a room while controlling glare. When coupled with a photosensor-controlled lighting system, lightshelves dramatically reduce the use of electric lights and therefore the cooling load... Read more

The onslaught of wildfires in the western United States in recent years has persuaded the California Office of the State Fire Marshal to incorporate new fire performance requirements into the building codes of homes encroaching on California wildlands. The task of testing how roofs, walls, windows, and decks respond to fire has fallen to the... Read more

Land surface changes may be as much to blame for

global climate change as greenhouse gases, according to research by Roger Pielke Sr., professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University, and his colleagues. The study, published in a recent issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London and released by... Read more

Home Depot has expanded its solar power program, launched in 2001 in

California, to the East Coast. Visitors to select Delaware, New Jersey, and New York Home Depot stores can now choose between AstroPower’s SunUPS® and SunLine™ Solar Electric Home Power Systems. Home Depot is selling, installing, and servicing the systems under its “At-Home... Read more

Under a September executive order signed by Governor Gary Locke, every Washington state agency must establish

sustainability objectives and prepare biennial sustainability plans. The newly named Sustainability Coordinator and Sustainability Advisory Council will organize the plans around energy and water efficiency and a shift to... Read more

The

Oak Hill Fund, formed this year after the W. Alton Jones Foundation was split into three separate foundations, is seeking grant applicants for its Environmentally Sustainable Affordable Design Program. The program includes four initiatives:

•Education, for programs with academic institutions (including K–12);

•Sustainable and... Read more

Like many communities, our town of Brattleboro was faced with a huge problem in its existing high school complex. The sprawling, dilapidated, 230,000 ft2 (21,000 m2) school for 1,600 students—actually a high school, middle school, and career education center all in one—was built in five stages between 1951 and 1991. It is a health hazard, the... Read more

Ninth International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate, Hal Levin, Editor. CD-ROM version: $100; 5-volume printed version: $200. Shipping additional. Download an order form:

www.indoorair2002.org.

If you’re doing research on indoor air quality issues, you shouldn’t be without this treasure trove of information. Every oral... Read more

Researchers at Smart Growth America and Rutgers and Cornell Universities have announced the results of the most

comprehensive study on sprawl ever undertaken. The research team created a sprawl index based on 22 measurable factors relating to residential density; neighborhood mix of homes, jobs, and services; strength of activity... Read more