BuildingGreen Report

Op-Ed

April 5, 2007

Both major associations of interior designers, the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) and the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), have entered into collaborative agreements with BuildingGreen, publisher of

Environmental Building News, that make online access to

BuildingGreen Suite available at a special... Read more

News Brief

April 5, 2007

A McGraw-Hill Construction study, the

Education Green Building SmartMarket Report, suggests that green schools represent a growing sector of the construction market. The $53 billion education sector currently represents over 27% of the construction market by value, and the study suggests that the green portion of this market will be... Read more

News Brief

April 5, 2007
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced its Honor Awards for 2007, recognizing 11 buildings for excellence in architecture, interior design, and urban design. Among the winners are several green buildings:

• The

World Birding Center Headquarters in Mission, Texas, designed by Lake Flato Architects, is an integral part of... Read more

Feature

April 5, 2007
Indoor plumbing is closely associated with advanced western civilizations such as Rome as well as withmodern industrial economies. Bringing clean and reliable supplies of freshwater into homes and workplaces and safely transporting wastewater from buildings to treatment facilities have been credited with taming outbreaks of infectious disease that... Read more

News Brief

April 5, 2007

The American Institute of Architects has announced the admission of 76 architects to its College of Fellows for 2007. Elected to the position by a jury of their peers, fellows are recognized for their design achievements and for their service to the profession and the public. Among the fellows recognized were several who specialize in green... Read more

News Brief

April 5, 2007
Three architects are promoting a form of housing combining new and old technologies. They propose to grow a house from trees and vines in a botanical technique called pleaching while guiding the process computationally. Dubbed the Fab Green Hab, and created by architects Mitchell Joachim, Ph.D., Javier Arbona, and Lara Greden, Ph.D., the house... Read more

News Analysis

April 5, 2007

Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) seem to have reached widespread acceptance: large retailers such as Wal-Mart are encouraging their customers to purchase the energy-saving lamps, Chinese manufacturing has significantly reduced costs, and rebates are available for them in some areas. Now there are several initiatives to ban the sale and use of... Read more

News Brief

April 5, 2007
The Center for Heath and Healing at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon, is the first medical center to achieve a Platinum rating in the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Rating System. The 16-story, 400,000-ft2 (37,000-m2) building features a chilled beam and displacement ventilation system, a membrane bioreactor for... Read more

News Brief

April 5, 2007

Disposal of unused drugs in toilets, as well as human and livestock excretion of drugs, has polluted surface water and groundwater with traces of pharmaceuticals. In coordination with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently... Read more

Op-Ed

April 5, 2007

Now that the much-anticipated final report on PVC by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has been released (see

EBN

Vol. 16, No. 3), one may wonder how the report’s findings will affect BuildingGreen’s coverage of products and materials in

EBN and our

GreenSpec Directory. After a comprehensive and objective... Read more

Product Review

April 5, 2007
Lighting Science Group (LSG) has introduced a number of LED lamps and fixtures that will help to advance the rapidly evolving LED lighting field. (For more on light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, see EBN

Vol. 15, No. 7.) LSG’s line of LED lighting products (see table below) incorporates the company’s proprietary Optimized Digital Lighting (ODL)... Read more

News Brief

April 5, 2007

The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has announced the creation of its first certification programs for ASHRAE members and other professionals. The four programs, to be launched between 2007 and 2008, will focus on healthcare facility mechanical systems, sustainability, commissioning and... Read more

News Brief

April 5, 2007

The American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment has so far signed on 145 presidents, including those of the nation’s largest universities. The commitment endorses a goal of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by mid-century and commits signatory institutions to pursuing climate neutrality. Universities have two... Read more

Product Review

April 5, 2007
The AutoMotion Parking System creates a fully automated parking garage. Park your car at the door and swipe your credit card, and the machine transfers your car onto a lift on tracks that shuttles it into an available slot. AutoMotion touts the benefits of avoided human contact (reducing risk of damage or theft) and of increased parking capacity—... Read more

News Brief

April 5, 2007

The energy firm BP (formerly British Petroleum) has announced the creation of the Energy Biosciences Institute and has selected the University of California–Berkeley, the University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to lead the effort. In addition to contributing $500 million over ten years, BP will also... Read more

News Brief

April 5, 2007

The U.S. Green Building Council’s 2007 Emerging Green Builders Natural Talent Design Competition is accepting registrations. The competition is being held on the local level again this year, with 19 participating chapters each creating their competition around a local design challenge. For example, the Northern California chapter is asking... Read more

Product Review

With the durability of cement backerboards but with a carbon footprint closer to gypsum, Green E-Board panels are an intriguing new drywall option.

April 5, 2007

With the durability and moisture-resistance advantages of cement and a carbon footprint closer to that of gypsum, Green E-Board panels are an intriguing new option for tile backerboard, wallboard, and potentially even exterior sheathing. The panels are manufactured from magnesium oxide (MgO) cement (also known as oxychloride cement), which is... Read more

News Brief

March 6, 2007
by David Orr. The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2006. Hardcover, 296 pages, $27.95.

David Orr, Ph.D., chair of the environmental studies department at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, tells his readers that “the aesthetic standard for ecological design is to work so artfully as to cause no ugliness, human or ecological, somewhere... Read more

News Brief

March 6, 2007

The recent release of

Green Guide for Healthcare (GGHC) version 2.2 marks the end of a successful pilot program that included 115 healthcare facilities across the country (see

EBN

Vol. 14, No. 1). Improvements to GGHC, a point-based guide to green building for the healthcare industry, were based on feedback from project... Read more

News Brief

March 6, 2007

TerraPass, Inc., one of the more prominent companies providing consumers with an easy way to offset the greenhouse gas emissions of their air travel by buying carbon offsets, has partnered with a manufacturer and a retailer to bring that option to a retail product. A pressure washer made by Kärcher USA will be sold on the shelves of Sam’s Club... Read more