The third-party certifier Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) confirmed in March 2005 that Owens Corning has increased the average recycled content of its fiberglass insulation from 30% to 35%. The insulation now includes 9% post-consumer and 26% post-industrial recycled content. (For more information about insulation, see

EBN

EBN

Vol. 13, No. 1), the foundation has released new guidelines for the grant program. These new guidelines reflect the foundation’s two goals for the Initiative: to help nonprofit organizations without an explicitly green agenda meet their facility needs... Read more

At press time, Washington Governor Christine Gregoire was expected within days to sign into law a bill passed on March 30, 2005, by the Washington State legislature requiring Silver-level certification through the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED® Rating System for all major construction projects built with public funds. Executive orders and... Read more

EBN senior editor during 2000 and 2001, has banded with Nathan Yost and Steven Baczek to form 3-D Building Solutions, LLC, a building-science consulting firm specializing in building investigation, architectural design review, and training for both the residential and commercial building industries. The three worked together at... Read more

by David Johnston and Kim Master. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada, 2004. Paperback, 400 pages, $29.95.

Remodelers are the unsung heroes of the building industry—adding functionality and beauty to extend the lives of existing buildings. Their work is much trickier than new construction because the rooms... Read more

Just one month after Arizona’s requirement that all new state-funded buildings use nonflushing urinals took effect on January 1, 2005, Governor Janet Napolitano signed an executive order in February requiring all new state buildings to derive at least 10% of their energy from renewable sources—defined as solar, wind, and biomass—and to meet a... Read more

phantom load effect of external power supplies (also called adapters, chargers, transformers, and wall warts) is well known. As long as they’re plugged into wall outlets, those little voltage- and current-converting boxes on the power cords of small appliances—ranging from computer printers and cordless tools to baby monitors and electric... Read more

BuildingGreen Suite. Case studies are published through the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) High Performance Buildings Database. Selected projects in the database are also featured on:

•DOE High... Read more

magazine seeks entries for its first Green House Contest. The magazine will feature one new home and one renovation in the magazine. Each winner will also receive a $1,000 gift certificate from Designtex. The deadline for entries is March 31. More information and entry forms are online at www.organicstyle.com.

Vol. 13, No. 10), I received a letter from Donald Aitken, a highly respected green-building and renewable-energy consultant and a longtime friend. Don wrote to fill a gap in green-building lore and was kind enough to allow us to share his story with our... Read more

Pollution Prevention software from the U.S. EPA, www.pbtprofiler.netMany are unaware that only a small fraction of the roughly 85,000 industrial chemicals currently in use in the United States—everything from flame retardants to adhesives—has undergone toxicity testing. Only two categories of chemicals require specific testing prior to... Read more

I just received the February issue of

EBN. Thanks for announcing USDA’s new biobased rule and the role BEES plays [“USDA Announces Biobased Rule,”

Vol. 14, No. 2]. I’d like to correct your statement:

“Each product must be reviewed by an independent entity using BEES … or using the ASTM D7075 standard for the environmental... Read more