President Obama set federal agencies on a path to sustainability by signing an executive order on October 5, 2009. The order breaks new ground in federal climate action by requiring agencies to set 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets by the end of 2009 and meet a number of other environmental goals. It also requires agencies to... Read more

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced new procedures for minimizing the risk of exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in buildings.

According to EPA, between the years of 1950 and 1978 (when PCBs were phased out of use in the United States) the oily chemical was often added to caulking—used to seal gaps in... Read more

When you can and when you cannot count one material as contributing to more than one credit in the Materials and Resources category of LEED has confused me for years. Even the LEED Reference Guide doesn't lay it out clearly. So, after sorting it out for LEEDuser, I thought laying it out in a table might help.

There's a revolution underway with electric water heating. It could be just as significant as the shift from top-loaders to horizontal-axis front-loaders that we've seen in the laundry appliance industry.

For years, electric water heaters were simply insulated tanks with a... Read more

I'm writing this from San Francisco, where I've been at the West Coast Green Conference. This is the fourth year of... Read more

The membership of the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) has approved the current version of the LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) rating system. The system must be approved by all three participating organizations—CNU, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)—before it can be launched for... Read more

Mechanical systems need to be tuned up periodically to keep them operating smoothly and efficiently. That's true with our cars, and it's true with our heating systems. If you haven't done so already, now is the time... Read more

Mike Italiano, U.S. Green Building Council cofounder and current CEO of the Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability, recently announced a new set of underwriting standards for investors interested in backing commercial green building projects.

Thanks so much for your efforts in addressing the issue of flame-retardants in foam insulation (see EBN Aug. 2009). Over the past 10 years we have tested hundreds of products and homes for semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) in order to trouble shoot contaminants in homes as well as specify healthier materials for new construction and... Read more

In an expanded effort to ensure continual performance of LEED projects, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) recently launched its Building Performance Initiative, which will work in conjunction with the Council’s decision to revoke certification under the 2009 rating system—and beyond—if a building’s performance is inconsistent (see

Your recent article “Polystyrene Insulation: Does It Belong in a Green Building?” (see

EBN Aug. 2009) misleads readers on several important facts regarding polystyrene foam insulation. Particularly troublesome was the absence of prevailing scientific viewpoints on the safety and environmental attributes of these products.

Thanks for the excellent investigative reporting on the hidden chemical hazards in the life cycle of polystyrene and the persistent halogenated flame retardant HBCD that comes along with it (see EBN Aug. 2009). Just as we ignored carbon dioxide’s persistence and accumulation in our atmosphere and caused ourselves major climate change... Read more

Dining out just got greener, thanks to Green Seal’s new GS-46 Environmental Standard for Restaurants and Foodservices, the first standard of its kind. The first Green Seal specification to be approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), GS-46 addresses the environmental impacts of food, energy and water use, and supplies in the... Read more