BuildingGreen Report

News Brief

May 1, 2003
AIA also recently announced members of this year’s College of Fellows. One of the highest honors AIA bestows upon its members, fellowship is reserved for “architects who have made significant contributions to architecture and to society.” Selected by a jury of their peers, several new Fellows are champions of sustainable design:

•

... Read more

Product Review

May 1, 2003
Close to twelve years ago, Advanced Conservation Technology (ACT) introduced the Metlund® D’mand® System to address the issue of water and energy waste while waiting for hot water to reach the tap at fixtures located some distance from the water heater. Now there is another system—well it’s

almost another system. Taco®, the nation’s largest... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 2003

Canadian forest-products giant Tembec has completed FSC certification of its 5-million-acre (2 million ha) Gordon Cosens Boreal Forest in northeastern Ontario. This forest, certified by SmartWood, is now the largest North American forest operation to carry FSC certification. By 2005, Tembec intends to certify all 32 million acres (13 million ha... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 2003

The International Hotels Environment Initiative and Oceans Blue recently honored Meeting Strategies Worldwide with the first

Environmentally Responsible Meetings Award for its work on the 2002 Forest Leadership Forum. This event, showcasing ecological forest management certification programs, was held in April 2002 in Atlanta, Georgia.... Read more

Feature

May 1, 2003
Before Suzanne Barnes paid them a visit, Florida Hospital in Orlando accepted conventional wisdom when it came to flooring. The hospital sought out the cheapest products to satisfy its needs because the bottom line, after all, is the bottom line. Vinyl composition tile (VCT) was the cheapest hard flooring choice, ranging between $1.20 and $1.50/... Read more

News Analysis

May 1, 2003

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a list of 30 “Waste Minimization Priority Chemicals” to replace a draft list of chemicals that EPA identified in 1998 as persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic. Because of their resistance to deterioration and propensity to build up as they move through the food chain, these chemicals... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 2003

A chemical used in food packaging and other plastics causes miscarriages and birth defects in laboratory mice, geneticists at Case Western Reserve University have found. Bisphenol A, used to manufacture the hard, clear plastic polycarbonate and a sealant to prevent cavities in teeth, mimics the hormone estrogen, according to the researchers,... Read more

News Analysis

May 1, 2003
One of the ironies in the area of low-emitting materials is that nearly all the regulatory forces driving paint manufacturers towards low-VOC (volatile organic compound) formulations have been driven by concerns about smog in

outdoor air, while most consumer interest in these products has come from those looking to improve

indoor air... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 2003

Just in time for Earth Day, The American Institute of Architects announced the Top Ten Green Projects for 2003. Winning entries include residential, commercial, and educational projects. The awards program was cosponsored this year by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Building Museum, and hosted online by BuildingGreen, Inc. Full... Read more

Op-Ed

May 1, 2003
Sorry, this article does not yet exist online.

The technical staff has been notified, and will try to correct this problem.

If you have a question or comment, please send

us feedback

News Brief

May 1, 2003

California diverted 48% of its waste stream from landfills in 2002, according to the California Integrated Waste Management Board. A total of 34 million tons (31 million tonnes) of solid waste were diverted last year, a fourfold increase since 1990, when the Integrated Waste Management Act took effect in the state. This law requires every local... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2003

Robert Fox has left his position as senior principal with Fox & Fowle Architects to open a new firm:

Robert Fox Architect. At his new firm, Fox intends to focus on “environmentally responsible, high-performance buildings for a select group of clients in New York City.” “So far, the response has been terrific,” Fox reports, “and it... Read more

Op-Ed

April 1, 2003

Ren Anderson of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory wins this month’s award for finding a hidden error in the water heating feature article in our October 2002 issue (

Vol. 11, No. 10). He astutely noted that in our text and graphic on page 9, explaining water-heating system efficiency losses, the percentages of heat loss and end-... Read more

Feature

April 1, 2003
Among green building issues, forest certification is one of the most complex, the most controversial, and the most exciting. It is

complex because multiple forest certification programs exist, with similarities and differences; almost as quickly as architects and specifiers can get a handle on the features of these programs, they change. It is... Read more

News Analysis

April 1, 2003
Dedicated employees at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Research Center have spent a lot of time in makeshift bathrooms recently, subjecting commercially available toilets to a series of challenges. The NAHB Research Center tested 49 models in all, including not only conventional gravity-flush toilets, but also pressurized and... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2003

The Bush Administration has rolled out the Integrated Sequestration and Hydrogen Research Initiative, a $1 billion partnership between government and industry to design, build, and operate a coal-fired electricity and hydrogen production plant. The 275-megawatt prototype plant, known as FutureGen, will rely on coal gasification to produce... Read more

Op-Ed

April 1, 2003

Whether or not Iraq’s mammoth oil reserves have anything to do with our war to oust Saddam Hussein, our dependence on foreign oil is indisputably bad for this country. We spend over $100 billion annually on petroleum imports, accounting for roughly 20% of our balance-of-trade deficit (2002). The entire U.S. economy shudders whenever temporary... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2003
The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) announced the winners of its 2003 green building competition during its annual Building Energy Conference, held in Boston last month. Through this award program, NESEA strives to recognize projects that advance the aesthetics of green buildings.

Clearview Elementary School in Hanover,... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2003
The Paulien Strijland and Eric Joustra residence and the Jasper Ridge Field Station have been recognized among the greenest in California. Sustainable San Mateo County, County of San Mateo RecycleWorks, and the local chapter of The American Institute of Architects (AIA) selected these projects as winners in their first

San Mateo County Green... Read more

Op-Ed

April 1, 2003
It might not seem that managing subscriptions for a monthly newsletter would be all that complicated, but, as with so many things, the devil is in the details. That’s why we’ve been so lucky to have Charlotte Snyder as our circulation manager for the past half-decade. As some of you no-doubt have learned firsthand, she is a master at figuring out... Read more