BuildingGreen Report

News Analysis

June 1, 2004
The Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA) headquarters buildings in Chino, California have become the fourth project to achieve a LEED® version 2 Platinum rating. The 66,000 ft2 (6,100 m2), two-building IEUA headquarters is the first public agency project, and the largest, to be rated LEED v2 Platinum. And, at $160/ft2 ($1,720/m2) for the tilt-up... Read more

News Brief

June 1, 2004

Stanford University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is seeking applications for a tenure-track assistant professor or untenured associate professor

position focusing on the sustainable development of buildings and other infrastructure. The review of applications will begin September 15, 2004. More information is... Read more

News Brief

June 1, 2004

Three conservation organizations have sued the federal government to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to require maximum achievable

reductions in mercury and other toxic air pollutants emitted by coal- and oil-fired power plants. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA’s deadline for issuing these standards was December 20,... Read more

News Brief

June 1, 2004

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

News Analysis

May 1, 2004

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

Op-Ed

May 1, 2004
Version 8.0 of the

EBN Archives is now in production and should be shipping by the end of May. The CD-ROM features 99 back issues of

Environmental Building News, from the very first, in 1992, through the end of 2003—more than 1,600 pages of reporting delivered in Adobe® PDF format. 

Find what you need using the fast and... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 2004
Catherine Shawn, an energetic and inspiring advocate of green building and director of the highly regarded High Performance Buildings Salon lecture series held throughout New York State, died of breast cancer on April 5, 2004. Shawn was the creator of the Go2Buildings.com Web site and environmental clearinghouse, which brought designers, builders... Read more

Feature

May 1, 2004
We have almost a heaven and hell,” says Pauline Souza, of Chong Partners Architecture in San Francisco, describing her firm’s successes and frustrations at greening their work. Mid-sized and large design firms carry a lot of cachet, and clients tend to follow their advice more readily than they follow the suggestions of sole practitioners or small... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 2004
The National Building Museum plans to showcase

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

News Brief

May 1, 2004
David Nelson, AIA, IALD, after 11 years with Clanton & Associates in Boulder, Colorado, has formed his own company,

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

News Analysis

May 1, 2004

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

Op-Ed

May 1, 2004

When I picked up my April 2004 issue of

Environmental Building News (

Vol. 13, No. 4) and saw the main article’s title, inwardly I groaned. I usually look forward to, read thoroughly, and then treasure the detailed completeness of each

EBN feature article. But “Which Grass is Greener? Comparing Natural and Artificial Turf... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 2004

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

News Brief

May 1, 2004

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) announced the winners of the

2004 National Green Building Awards in March during their Green Building Conference in Austin, Texas.

Tom Hoyt, co-owner of McStain Enterprises in Boulder, Colorado, was named

Green Advocate of the Year. Hoyt has built more than 8,000... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 2004

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

News Brief

May 1, 2004

Emerging Green Builders has announced its second annual

USGBC Design Competition, intended to engage and recognize environmentally conscious students and professionals new to the building industry. In order to compete, current students and professionals with less than three years of experience in the building industry are invited to... Read more

News Analysis

May 1, 2004
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced on April 15 that president and CEO

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

Op-Ed

May 1, 2004
Energy and Environmental Policies of the Bush AdministrationTo say that I’m discouraged with energy and environmental policy trends is an understatement. As someone with a generally optimistic outlook, I keep assuming that the policies of the current Administration can’t get any worse. But then I open the morning paper or turn on the radio and... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 2004

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

News Brief

May 1, 2004
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has selected this year’s Top Ten Green Projects from among an especially strong pool of submissions. The 2004 jury, chaired by Sandy Mendler, AIA, included Susan Ubbelohde, Tony McLaughlin, Don Watson, FAIA, and William Moorish. Full project information is online at www.aiatopten.org/hpb/ or in the... Read more