Over 80% of Earth’s land surface feels direct influence from humans, according to a comprehensive report from the Wildlife Conservation Society and Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network. Only parts of the boreal forests of Canada and Russia, the deserts of Africa and Australia, the Arctic tundra, and... Read more

Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability, software from the Building and Fire Research Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Free download from www.bfrl.nist.gov/oae/bees.html or order from the U.S. EPA’s Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse, 202/566-0799, ppic@epamail.epa.gov. For further... Read more

is proud to join the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE), the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and Kaiser Permanente in receipt of

Leadership Awards from the Healthy Building Network. Winners were selected for their “actions that have accelerated the transition to... Read more

“

Big & Green: Toward Sustainable Architecture in the 21st Century,” the National Building Museum’s newest exhibition, will open in Washington, D.C. on January 17. Big & Green will explore green architecture from design, historical, and technical perspectives and profile roughly 50 green projects from around the world. The... Read more

“Evaluation of LEED™ Using Life Cycle Assessment Methods” by Chris W. Scheuer and Gregory A. Keoleian, Center for Sustainable Systems, University of Michigan. Report prepared for Barbara Lippiatt, Building and Fire Research Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology. Document #NIST GCR 02-836, 157 pages, 1.8 MB file available... Read more

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The

Denver Metro Home Builders Association recognized five members of its Built Green program in October for their achievements in green building:

Russel Burton won an Award of Excellence and a variety of judges awards for Miller Burton’s “Roaring Fork” home, which demonstrated a residential-scale fuel cell during this year’s... Read more

Fifty schools throughout the state of New York will receive photovoltaic panels, thanks to a grant through the

Energy Smart Schools Program of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The PV arrays, each with a peak capacity of 2 kW, will be accompanied by curricular materials to help teachers explain the... Read more

The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) is seeking applications for its

2003 Northeast Green Building Awards. The awards are open to new construction or renovations completed after January 1, 1998 in the northeastern United States. Submissions are due February 11. Details are online at www.nesea.org/buildings/2003design... Read more

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is seeking applicants for its 2003 National Green Building Awards, to be announced at the National Green Building Conference March 30 through April 1, 2003 in Baltimore, Maryland. Applications are due December 31. For more information, call 888-602-HOME or visit www.nahbrc.org.

When The American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment first convened, it immediately identified as a top priority the need for information about the environmental impacts of building materials. With funding from the U.S. EPA and the technical expertise of Joel Ann Todd’s Scientific Consulting Group, AIA produced a series of... Read more

Sewerage Commission-Oroville Region (SC-OR) wastewater treatment plant in Oroville, California, will begin operating on solar energy this month. A 3-acre (1.2 ha) field adjacent to the plant is home to a

520 kW solar power array, installed by Sun Power and Geothermal Energy of San Rafael, that will supply 80% of the plant’s energy... Read more

Specialized, energy-intensive lighting techniques can benefit seniors, according to the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. Researchers at the LRC developed a set of

lighting principles for older adults and put them to the test at two assisted-living facilities. The results of the study... Read more

The

Santa Fe Public Utilities Committee believes it has found a way to stretch the city’s limited water supply to satisfy an ever-growing population. If the committee’s controversial “

toilet tax” is accepted by the City Council, builders will have to replace 8–12 toilets in existing Santa Fe buildings with low-flow models to... Read more

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and The American Institute of Architects (AIA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding in October, continuing and expanding their partnership that

promotes energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources in the built environment. Details are available from DOE’s Chris Kielich at 202/586-5806.... Read more

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $1.5 million in grants to 30 entities in 19 states as part of the

Million Solar Roofs Initiative. The new partnerships will combine grant money with private funds to support solar energy through education, the development of financing options and building codes, and construction. Details can be... Read more

Torrance, California will soon be home to a 501 kW rooftop PV system. The array, to be installed by PowerLight Corporation, will bedeck 52,000 ft2 (4,800 m2) of the Toyota Motor Sales USA headquarters. Details are available online at

www.powerlight.com.

SierraPine Ltd., a Roseville, California-based company specializing in composite panels, is reformulating and renaming its Medite FR, a Class 1, fire-retardant medium-density fiberboard (MDF) panel. It was formerly manufactured with a polyurea resin matrix adhesive (MDI) rather than conventional formaldyhyde-based resins. The new product,... Read more