On Earth Day, April 22, Connecticut governor John Rowland signed Executive Order 32,

requiring state facilities to use 20% renewable power by 2010, 50% renewable power by 2020, and 100% renewable power by 2050. “With my order today, we can begin to clean our air, improve the health of our children, and ensure our long-term energy... Read more

Latest in the growing list of small architecture firms created with an explicit focus on sustainability is

Architerra, led by Ellen Watts, AIA, and Dan Arons, AIA. Architerra plans to focus on high-performance building design, sustainable urban design and campus planning, smart growth, adaptive reuse, and brownfield redevelopment. The... Read more

Following a period of review and discussion, the U.S. Green Building Council board of directors, at its April 26–27 meeting in Washington, D.C., voted to reaffirm an earlier electronic vote not to create a new membership category in the Council for trade associations. The issue of how professional organizations that have the same Internal... Read more

Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC), the organization most actively promoting green roofs in North America, has announced the winners of its second annual Awards of Excellence.

Winners were selected for industrial and commercial, institutional, and residential projects for both intensive (with more than 6” of growing medium) and... Read more

green building strategies at two new supercenters in Aurora, Colorado and McKinney, Texas. The retailer plans to partner with colleges and universities to measure the success of the technologies; results will then be shared with the broader design and retail industries, and... Read more

The

Certified Wood and Paper Association (CWPA), which was formed in 2002 during a reorganization of the Certified Forest Products Council, ceased operations on April 15, 2004. According to a letter on the CWPA Web site by the Board of Directors, the organization was forced to dissolve due to lack of financial resources. Michael... Read more

On April 8, 2004 the California Division of the State Architect (DSA) released a draft of its first environmentally preferable product (EPP) standard—on composite panel products—for public review. Once the standard is finalized, products that conform to it will be eligible to be included in the DSA’s database of environmentally preferable... Read more

the work of architect Samuel Mockbee in a traveling exhibition. The exhibition, which will feature 12 models and more than 100 photographs of Mockbee’s work at Auburn University’s Rural Studio, will open in Washington, D.C. on May 22. For more information on Mockbee and his work, see the review of... Read more

Awards & Competitions

2004 Design Competition for an Ecohouse. The competition is based on the principles described in the book

Ecohouse 2. Author Sue Roaf says the challenge is “to... Read more

David Nelson & Associates, LLC. Nelson is an architect and a highly respected lighting designer; he has a bachelor of science degree in architectural engineering from the University of Colorado and a master’s in... Read more

Spokane, Washington-based Potlatch Corporation has become the first U.S.-based, publicly traded wood products company to have its forestlands certified according to standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Potlatch chairman and CEO L. Pendleton Siegel announced on April 20, 2004 that forestry operations on the company’s 668,000 acres... Read more

Shortly after celebrating the fourth anniversary of the LEED

® Rating System, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) awarded its

100th LEED certification—a Silver rating for the Bonneville Power Administration Ampere Annex in Vancouver, Washington—on April 14, 2004. And, on April 19, USGBC received a LEED registration for the St... Read more

•

Michael Holtz, president of Architectural Energy Corporation in Boulder, Colorado;

Peter... Read more

New Jersey’s Renewable Energy Task Force, created by Governor McGreevey in January 2004, finalized in March plans to strengthen the State’s

renewable portfolio standard (RPS), which requires energy suppliers to provide a certain percentage of renewable power, including that from solar, wind, renewable biomass, landfill gas, geothermal,... Read more

According to the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy,

net petroleum imports into the United States reached a new all-time record in 2003: 56.1% of oil consumption. This represents a 5.1% increase over net imports in 2002, and a 1.1% increase over the previous record in 2001. Imports from OPEC represented... Read more

Christine Ervin is stepping down from her leadership role.

Rick Fedrizzi, founder and president of Green-Think, Inc., and founding chairman of USGBC, has been selected to fill her position in an acting capacity. According to the Council, “The change is... Read more