Although the number of

local green building programs is still relatively small—there are fewer than 20 nationwide—forces are growing. In June of this year, the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties (Greater Seattle) released their Built Green™ program. Partners for the home builder-based program include King and... Read more

In what EPA is calling the “largest enforcement penalty ever taken against a single ‘smokestack’ company under the Clean Air Act,” Portland, Oregon-based Willamette Industries is expected to spend in excess of $90 million in fines and pollution controls. The company violated the Clean Air Act by failing to install proper pollution controls or... Read more

Recent doctoral work in geography by Ryan Jensen at the University of Florida-Gainesville revealed that the city of Gainesville has twice the leaf coverage of the nearby city of Ocala. When Jensen then checked average utility bills from the two cities, he found that Ocala residents were paying $126 more per year than Gainesville residents.... Read more

On August 1, Louisiana-Pacific Corporation merged its GreenStone cellulose insulation division with the U.S. Fiber division of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. to form U.S. GreenFiber, LLC. With the creation of this 50:50 joint venture, both U.S. Fiber and GreenStone have ceased to exist. The new company will... Read more

Just as common window screening keeps airborne pests out of buildings, Termi-Mesh keeps out subterranean termites. But that is where the analogy ends. If you are going to bury a screen underground, build walls on top of it, wrap it tightly around pipes, make it “chew-proof”... Read more

Software from the Building and Fire Research Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). No charge. Download from the Web at

www.bfrl.nist.gov/oae/bees.html or order from the U.S. EPA’s Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse, 202/260-1023, ppic@epamail.epa.gov. Information: Barbara C. Lippiatt, 301/975-... Read more

by Sandra F. Mendler, AIA and William Odell, AIA. John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2000. Hardcover, 400 pages, $69.95

When we reviewed HOK’s Sustainable Design Guide in 1998 (EBN Vol. 7, No. 5), our only complaint was that it lacked a pretty cover. Now that it has been updated, expanded, and published by a mainstream publisher, The HOK... Read more

A British mortgage lender, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society (N&P), has teamed up with the environmental group Future Forests to make its green mortgage “climate neutral.” Homes must have a Standard Assessment Procedure rating of 80 or greater to qualify (80 out of 100 in an energy rating program similar to our HERS). N&P,... Read more

The U.S. Green Building Council’s success with a green building rating system for commercial buildings has led to the formation of a task force to develop a residential LEED system. Approximately 40 experts in energy-efficiency, indoor air quality, materials, and sustainable land development recently met at the Johnson Foundation’s Wingspread... Read more

BP Solarex, the subsidiary company formed when British Petroleum acquired Solarex Corporation, is now

BP Solar. This change is part of a new corporate look for BP (no longer BP Amoco), which includes a logo with interlocking green and yellow sunbursts and the catchwords “beyond petroleum.” According to a company press release, “The... Read more

A study commissioned by the City of Portland, Oregon attempts to quantify the impacts of applying the LEED Rating System to city buildings. Allen Lee and his associates at XENERGY, Inc. examined three relatively new buildings and found that they could have achieved 32 LEED points (the minimum number required in the LEED 2.0 ballot version) with... Read more

According to statistics from the American Public Transportation Association, reported in the July-August issue of New Urban News, public transportation ridership is up. In 1999, Americans took 9 billion trips on mass transit—a level not seen since 1960 and almost 40% above the low of 6.5 billion trips in 1973. The 1999 level is still far lower... Read more

The

Innvironments® series from Innovations® in Wallcoverings picked up Best of Show at the recent NeoCon® event. Three products make up the series. Eco-Alchemy is a scrubbable Type II (general use in areas of average traffic and scuffing) covering made of recyclable nylon on a polyester and wood pulp backing, which allows... Read more

Matrix PAAC, LP (formerly Hebel Southeast), makers of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) block, have introduced the AAC-2.5LT. The AAC-2.5LT has the same dimensions as the standard 2.5, but is 23% less dense. Even though the block is light enough to reduce shipping costs on a full load, it is still suitable for structural... Read more

, President and CEO of Collins Companies, has announced plans to retire this fall. Under Quinn’s leadership, Collins became national leaders in Forest Stewardship Council-accredited certification of their forest lands, which include areas in northern California, southern Oregon, and (as Kane Hardwood) Pennsylvania. Quinn will be... Read more

On June 12, 2000 the National Science Foundation released its

National Assessment Synthesis Report for a 60-day comment period. This report is the culmination of a research program initiated in 1990 by the Global Change Research Act. Included in it are the results of... Read more

, based in Seattle, announced on July 18 an agreement to acquire

The Timber Company—the division of Georgia-Pacific that has owned and managed all 4.4 million acres (1.8 million ha) of G-P’s timberland. The combined company, with 7.9 million acres (3.2 million ha), will be the second-largest private timberland... Read more

With reference to your June 2000 (EBN Vol. 9, No. 6) editorial entitled “Perspective: Green Building Tax Credits? No, Thanks!” you are entirely correct—the last time the federal government offered tax credits for solar energy applications, they made a monumental mistake, one that almost destroyed the solar industry... Read more

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 50-unit Erie-Ellington Homes housing project was held on June 22. The triplex units cost $94... Read more

by Bruce Ferguson, Richard Pinkham, and Timothy Collins, 1999. Rocky Mountain Institute, Snowmass, Colorado; 970/927-3851, www.rmi.org. Oversize spiral-bound, 32 pages, $24.95 (plus $5.50 shipping)

Re-Evaluating Stormwater presents the results of an intensive three-day “charrette” in 1998 by 60 local and... Read more