The Austin, Texas, 5th Annual Green Builder Conference will host the award ceremony of the Green Built Birdhouse Competition. The grand prize is two round-trip airline tickets to Europe. The contest is sponsored by the Conference, Austin’s AIA chapter, and Dynamic Reprographics. Conference attendance is required for entry into the contest (see... Read more

The United States took a surprisingly strong position on cutting greenhouse gas emissions this summer at the Second Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP2) in Geneva. On 17 July, Undersecretary of State Timothy Wirth announced that the U.S. will seek an amendment to the existing treaty to create “binding”... Read more

EBN is now cosponsoring an e-mail discussion group on green building. Joining us in this effort is Iris Communications, Inc., publisher of the REDI Guide™ to green building materials. This group should be a uniquely valuable forum for discussing ideas and issues, and getting quick answers to practical questions.... Read more

Access floors (also called

raised floors) are floor systems made of rigid panels supported by short pedestals that create an easily accessed cavity under an entire space. They are expensive and are typically made of materials such as aluminum, steel, high-strength concrete, and formaldehyde-based, medium-density... Read more

The new Georgia Institute of Technology Aquatic Center has 2,800 solar modules generating 344.5 peak kilowatts (kW) of electricity. One section of the array, with an output of 4.5 kW, is comprised of Solarex’s new 240-watt alternating-current (AC)... Read more

First prize in the Van Alen Institute’s competition for a design for reuse of New York Harbor’s Governors Island was awarded to University of Pennsylvania graduate student Peter Hau for his plan to transform the Island into a regenerative garden. Entitled: “Open Narratives: Reconfiguring the Air, Land and Waters,” Hau’s proposal includes plants... Read more

The country’s first commuter bike station has opened in Long Beach, California, according to the Urban Land Institute’s June 1996

Land Use Digest. The Bike Station, modeled after similar facilities in Japan and the Netherlands, provides secure parking for 150 bicycles, along with bike rentals, repairs, and accessories. It is located in... Read more

The City of Santa Monica, California, has hired a team of local and international designers, researchers, and engineers to draft Sustainable Development Guidelines for new buildings. This effort grew out of Santa Monica’s Sustainable City Program and out of controversy over the redevelopment of the... Read more

was a finalist in

Utne Reader’s 8th Annual Alternative Press Awards this year. While we were not a winner, we were pleased to be recognized in the “Service” category.

The city of Portland, Oregon, is doing its part to promote the use of electric vehicles by installing free charging stations in the downtown area. Two such stations have been installed in city-owned parking garages. Electric vehicle owners will have to pay the parking meter charges, but they can plug in and recharge their vehicles for free.... Read more

In a unique effort, a native-plant nursery, landscape architect, and Habitat for Humanity affiliate have teamed up to salvage native plants and use them for landscaping low-income houses. For a year-and-a-half, Roy Beaty and his Willowell Nursery in Tigard, Oregon, have specialized in native plants, and beginning last... Read more

Among the first set of fifteen grants announced by the recently created North American Fund for Environmental Cooperation (NAFEC) is an award of CAN$94,000 for a project by the International Institute for Sustainable Development of Winnipeg, Manitoba, for the evaluation of sustainable development plans in three... Read more

castellated I-beams—essentially, regular I-beams with much... Read more

A primary weakness of light-gauge steel framing for houses has been its severely compromised thermal integrity. In general, the simplest way to get a steel-framed wall to perform like a 2x6 wood-stud wall is to use 2x4 steel studs and add 2” (50 mm) of insulating foam sheathing. Now, researchers at Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) are seeking a... Read more

The world’s first independently certified, “well-managed” redwood lumber is now available from the Big Creek Lumber Company of Davenport, California in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Big Creek sells redwood, Monterrey pine, and Douglas fir from its 6,800 acres (2,750 ha) of forestland. The Scientific Certification Systems evaluation team called Big... Read more

U.S. greenhouse gas emissions continued to rise in 1994, totaling 1,666 million metric tonnes carbon equivalent according to the report

Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-1994 published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, November 1995 (this figure does not include the net effect of carbon “sinks” in... Read more

The Smart Wood Program of the New York City-based Rainforest Alliance recently announced a series of new partnerships and initiatives that should help make certification available to a wider range of forestry programs. In the Northeast, Smart Wood has teamed up with the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). As a member of the emerging Smart Wood... Read more