Few efficiency standards have generated as many jokes and complaints as the 1.6 gallons per flush (6 liter) toilet requirement. The Energy Policy Act of 1992 required manufacturers to reduce the quantity of water per flush to 1.6 by 1994. Some say the industry was caught off guard and was given insufficient time to... Read more

Ecowork by Studio eg

A study conducted for the Federal Energy Management Agency (FEMA), reported in the

New York Times on June 28, has concluded that at least a quarter of the

houses within 500 feet of U.S. coastlines may be lost to erosion during the next 60 years. If sea levels rise due to global warming, coastline erosion could be even worse.... Read more

In announcing a

Global Coal Initiative to research clean coal technologies, the Electric Power Research Institute forecasts a fourfold increase in worldwide power demand by 2050. “Meeting this estimated demand will require the equivalent of building a new 1,000-megawatt power plant somewhere in the world every two days for 50 years,”... Read more

Interface flooring has obtained sole licensing rights to make flooring products with NatureWorks™, the new corn-based polylactide (PLA) polymer. Jointly developed by The Dow Chemical Company and Cargill Inc., NatureWorks is made using 30% to 40% less fossil fuel than the amount required for conventional... Read more

Meanwhile,

polar ice is melting. The July 21 issue of

Science reports that the massive Greenland Ice Sheet, which contains roughly 10% of all fresh water on earth, is melting at a rate of 12 cubic miles (51 km3) per year. This melting results in 0.13 mm of sea level rise worldwide annually, according to NASA researchers.

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

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

In the early 1990s, Greenpeace International head Paul Gilding participated with environmental consulting... Read more

On June 30, 2000 two dozen representatives of various design-related organizations (joined by deans from some of the nation’s leading architecture schools via video teleconference) met at the World Resources Institute in Washington, D.C. to discuss

sustainability in architectural education. The event was organized by The American... Read more

On June 13, Senator Bob Smith (Republican–NH) introduced the Energy Efficient Buildings Incentives Act (S. 2718) to Congress. The bill would provide tax deductions for the following residential and commercial energy efficiency improvements: whole-building performance, PV systems, certified solar... Read more

by Ken Yeang, 1999. Prestel Verlag, Munich. Paperback, 304 pages, $29.95

The Green Skyscraper start right with the cover shot—an arresting model of the Tokyo Nara Building revealing several floors of skyscraper devoted to gardens and a soft, sculptured form—and... 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