The Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs has just launched a $3.9 million

Renewable Energy Resources Program to provide rebates of up to $5,000 for solar thermal energy and PV systems, and cost-sharing grants for eligible larger projects. Contact the Bureau of Energy and Recycling at 217/785-2800.

1⁄2 to 1 gallon (2 to 4 liters) per flush, with remarkably few problems, and no change in the dynamics of the... Read more

Paula Springer of Seattle, Washington has been chosen as the NWEBG’s first Director. The organization is an association of designers, builders, manufacturers, and suppliers interested in environmentally friendly building, with six local chapters in... Read more

For the first time ever,

net imports of petroleum into the United States have exceeded 50% in a single year. According to the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy, net petroleum imports by the U.S. in 1998 averaged 50.6%, up from the previous record of 49.9% in 1997 and significantly higher than... Read more

Your February feature on paints (“Paint the Room Green,”

Vol. 8, No. 2) certainly made an impression. While we welcome scrutiny, I must point out some overlooked facts.

It’s not clear in Table 2’s “Alternative Paints” section that LIVOS paints are in fact natural, defined by Webster as “existing in or... Read more

According to the

Los Angeles Times, a storage tank exploded on February 26 at the

SEGS II solar power plant in Barstow, California. The 900,000-gallon (3.4 million l) tank held Therminol, a hydraulic fluid that is used as a heat-transfer fluid, and was still burning four hours after the explosion. Heated to 850°F (450°C) by... Read more

Vol. 8, No. 1), you trace the average size of single-family housing from approximately 1,100 ft2 (102 m2) in the 1940s–1950s to an average of 2,150 ft2 (200 m2) today. Over the past 10 years, the concept of Cohousing—the creation of small communities of... Read more

On January 11 at the American Institute of Architects headquarters in Washington, Vice President Al Gore announced the Administration’s wide-ranging Livability Agenda. This is a high-priority, multifaceted effort to reduce sprawl, to minimize the time we spend in traffic, and generally to make our communities... Read more

Laurence Doxsey is leaving his position as Sustainability Officer for the City of Austin to take a Community Builder fellowship with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in San Antonio. Doxsey was a leader and key spokesperson for Austin’s groundbreaking Green Builder Program from its inception. Along with his... Read more

The American Institute of Architects/Portland is accepting entries for the

1999 Architecture + Energy Awards: Building Excellence in the Northwest, open to completed major renovations or new commercial buildings in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Awards are based on energy performance, treatment of... Read more

The

American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) has created a new Subcommittee on Sustainability within Committee E-6 on Performance of Buildings. Goals of the new subcommittee E06-71 are to stimulate knowledge, research, and standards on the environmental performance and sustainability of individual buildings or systems, building... Read more

Anniversaries have a way of kindling deeper reflection and thought than we generally muster. So this month finds many of us thinking about the partial core meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant that occurred 20 years ago and about the Exxon Valdez oil spill that occurred 10... Read more

This February the Center for Resourceful Building Technology in Missoula, Montana, long a leader in promoting green building practices, merged with the National Center for Appropriate Technology, headquartered in Butte, Montana. CRBT has become a project of NCAT, joining a wide family of NCAT projects that promote... Read more

A new housing complex in Portland, Oregon’s emerging River District exemplifies many of the best features of urban redevelopment. Pearl Court is a reclaimed brownfield site with energy-efficient construction, pedestrian access to mass transit, and affordable housing in a single 199-unit... Read more

An important strategy for protecting prime agricultural land, open space, and woodlands against the forces of sprawl is to build within existing urban areas and on previously disturbed sites. Unfortunately, many such sites suffer the scars of heavy use in a time when environmental controls were unknown or unheeded. Their soil and groundwater... Read more

EBN is aware of to offer third-party-certified engineered wood products.

This past July, the company gained chain-of-custody certification from Smart Wood for glulam beams and is nearly there with... Read more

The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE) is soliciting comments on six Independent Substantive Changes to its

Standard 90.1-1989R: “Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings.” The most extensive sections being modified are those on building... Read more

The company received... Read more