BuildingGreen Report

News Brief

April 1, 2001

According to the National Climate Data Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

global temperatures in 2000 were 0.39°C (0.7°F) higher than the long-term (1880-1999) average. This makes 2000 the sixth hottest year on record (after 1998, 1997, 1995, 1990, and 1999). Land temperatures were 0.59°C (1.1°F) above... Read more

Op-Ed

April 1, 2001

I have read your article covering the SB2000 Conference in The Netherlands (

EBN

Vol. 10, No. 1), and the response from Nils Larsson, executive director of the International Institute for a Sustainable Built Environment (iiSBE) in the following issue. I appreciate Nils’ statement that iiSBE intends to cooperate with the World... Read more

Product Review

April 1, 2001
The idea of an acoustic building panel made without binders from an agricultural waste material is highly attractive. Several years ago, such a product was available in North America from Stramit USA, LLC (see

EBN

Vol. 4, No. 3). That product was based on the British product Stramit, which was invented in the 1940s and has been in... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2001
Locoshop Angus, an abandoned locomotive workshop in Montreal that has been redeveloped in a multifunctional industrial center for small and mid-sized businesses, won two awards at the

National Post Design Exchange Awards Gala, held on January 25, 2001 in Toronto.

The project won a Gold Award in the category “Built Environments, Grand... Read more

Case Study

April 1, 2001
When the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) got involved with the design and construction of a building it was slated to lease as its Southcentral Regional Office Building (SCROB), DEP determined to make it a “Green Technology Model Project.”

With support from The Heinz Endowments, Alan Barak of the Penn Energy Project... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2001

The worldwide

costs of climate change will reach $300 billion annually by 2050, predicts Munich RE, one of the world’s largest reinsurance companies. These costs will result from more frequent tropical cyclones, land loss due to rising sea levels, and damage to fishing stocks, agriculture, and water supplies. In the U.S., an estimated... Read more

Feature

April 1, 2001
Long-time green architects Rob Harrison of Harrison Architects and George Ostrow of Velocipede Architects feel pretty lucky when it comes to specifying and obtaining green building materials. “We are in a unique position here in Seattle.

We have the Environmental Home Center—almost an ‘Eco-Home Depot’—where our clients can see and actually... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2001
EBN

is pleased to be honored by

Metropolitan Home magazine as one the

Design 100 Best of the Best: People, Places, Extraordinary Things in the “Design that Makes a Difference” category. Also recognized are architect (and

EBN Advisory Board member) Gail Lindsey, landscape architect Julie Bargmann, eco-designer Wendy... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2001

The

Architecture + Energy: Building Excellence in Sustainable Design awards program from the AIA/Portland Chapter recognizes the integration of design excellence with sustainable principles and conservation technology in commercial buildings. Historically restricted to buildings in the Northwestern U.S., this year the program invites... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2001

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) are partnering to establish the

best available practices in

life-cycle assessment. The Life Cycle Inititative should go a long way toward harmonizing existing methods, databases, and life-cycle tools. This initiative... Read more

News Analysis

April 1, 2001

They have become a part of too many American landscapes: abandoned or irreversibly declining retail malls. The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) has dubbed them “greyfields malls.” According to a recent analysis PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) conducted as a part of the CNU “Greyfields Mall Study,” there are more than 140 regional malls—sites... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2001

On March 13, Governor Parris Glen-denning’s Executive Order made Maryland the first state to mandate sustainability measures for all government operations in clean energy, green buildings, pollution prevention, and alternative fuel vehicles (www.gov.state.md.us/gov/execords/2001/html/0002eo.html). The order features a new High Efficiency Green... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2001

by Jennifer Corson, 2000. Chelsea Green Publishing Company, White River Junction, Vermont. Paperback, 157 pages, $24.95

Every once in a while, a book comes our way about building and the environment that just about anyone will find practical and delightful—Sarah Susanka’s most recent book, Creating The Not-So Big House, comes to mind.... Read more

News Brief

March 1, 2001
William D. (Bill) Browning

, Senior Associate of the Rocky Mountain Institute’s Green Development Services, has been named an honorary member of The American Institute of Architects—an honor bestowed on a few non-architects who have made a significant contribution to the architectural profession and to the AIA.

News Brief

March 1, 2001
by Joseph Lstiburek, P. Eng., 2000. Energy and Environmental Building Association, 10740 Lyndale Avenue South, Suite 10W, Bloomington, MN 55420-5615;

www.eeba.org. Spiral-bound paperbacks, 328 to 473 pages, $30 (EEBA members), $40 (non-members)

In 1997 (

EBN

Vol. 6, No. 5), we gave a pretty hearty thumbs-up to Joe... Read more

Product Review

March 1, 2001
According to a recent study by Ecos Consulting and the Natural Resources Defense Council, two of every three homes in the U.S. have at least one ceiling fan, and—on average—each fan consumes about 130 kWh per year. Ceiling fans can reduce energy consumption for cooling, but they are all notoriously inefficient. Except one. A much more energy-... Read more

News Brief

March 1, 2001
Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners

, an architecture firm in the U.K., has become the first firm we know of to adopt the International Standards Organization (ISO) 14001 environmental management standard. The firm applied the standard to an architectural practice by developing a system to ensure that environmental impacts are considered in its... Read more

Feature

March 1, 2001

A lot of finger-pointing is going on in California these days. The rolling blackouts in January were due to deregulation gone awry … or failure to project rapid growth in demand … or permitting delays … or bottlenecks in power transmission. One thing is crystal clear, however: energy is back on the radar screen. People are talking about the oft... Read more

News Analysis

March 1, 2001
On January 9, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on an important case that jeopardizes wetland protection nationwide (Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County vs. United States Army Corps of Engineers). The Court ruled against the Army Corps, threatening somewhere between 30% and 60% of all our wetlands, according to the Association of State Wetlands... Read more

News Brief

March 1, 2001

Nominations are now being accepted for the first annual

Sustainable Design Leadership Awards from the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) and C&A Floorcoverings. Winners in two categories will be announced on June 18, 2001 at NeoCon in Chicago. The first will recognize a U.S.-based design professional who has... Read more