On January 14, the Bush Administration announced new rules reversing Clinton-era actions to increase protection of wetlands. The new rules expand the number of projects that can be approved under nationwide general permits, which receive much less scrutiny than individual permits. The Administration and the Army Corps of Engineers defended the... Read more

The Boston Architectural Center is offering a

Certificate in Sustainable Design under its continuing education program (BAC also offers bachelor’s and master’s programs in architecture and interior design). Students must complete five required courses and one elective to earn the new Certificate. Details are available from the BAC at... Read more

I am writing on behalf of the Phthalate Esters Panel of the American Chemistry Council to point out the inaccuracies about phthalates contained in a letter to the editor written by Mr. Mark E. Kelley III [

EBN

Vol. 10, No. 11]. I request that you publish this letter so that your readers will not be left with an inaccurate... Read more

Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates(TVS) has received the

2002 AIA Architecture Firm Award—the highest honor that The American Institute of Architects can bestow on an architecture firm for consistently producing distinguished architecture. An important aspect of TVS’ great designs is sustainability, which is... Read more

The results of a survey by the Development Center for Appropriate Technology (DCAT) about the

effect of building codes on green building practices (see

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Vol. 10, No. 7/8) are now available, and confirm what many practitioners already knew: building codes can be a barrier to the use of alternative building materials... Read more

Thanks for providing another thought-provoking feature (EBN

Vol. 10, No. 11). As a result, I hope more of your readers will view the roof as a green-design opportunity. Although rooftop PV systems may be the most ecologically productive use of a roof, a well-planned vegetated roof has enormous green building value. A cautious approach... Read more

On January 11, President Bush signed into law the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act (H.R. 2869). He marked the occasion at The Millennium Corporate Center in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, which recently became the 1,000th brownfield revived under the Pennsylvania Land Recycling Program. “With this bill, we are... Read more

The Florida Solar Energy Center has become the first U.S. laboratory accredited for testing and certifying the

power rating of photovoltaic (PV) modules. The accreditation audit was done by PowerMark Corporation, which is the sole U.S. agent for the Photovoltaic Global Approval Program. Once manufacturers have put their products through... Read more

Our excitement over the 100% post-consumer recycled paper we chose for the January EBN was diminished somewhat by the issue’s show-through and inking inconsistency problems. (Our printers didn’t much care for how it handled on their press either!) We will be trying some other alternatives over the next few issues. Please send us an e-mail with... Read more

An agreement being negotiated between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the treated wood industry would phase out most uses of chromated copper arsenate (CCA) within two to three years, according to an article in the January 31 issue of

USA Today. Industry representatives contacted by

EBN were quick to point out that... Read more

The

Sustainable Products Purchasers Coalition (SPPC) is a new organization that seeks to improve the quality of information with which green purchasing decisions are made. The SPPC is encouraging manufacturers to generate and share detailed life-cycle assessment (LCA) information on their products, and is supporting the creation and use... Read more

The same microbe that is killing off oak trees in California may also be damaging to Coastal Redwoods, according to researchers at the University of California – Berkeley and UC – Davis. The

“Sudden Oak Death” pathogen has killed tens of thousands of oak trees since 1995. Along with killing three species of coastal oaks, the microbe—a... Read more

Although the Solenium “resilient textile flooring” product introduced by Interface Flooring in 1999 (see

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Vol. 8, No. 5) is still technically available, the company stopped promoting the product in the Fall of 2001. “We have gone back to change some things with the product,” noted Rhonda Mitchell, Director of Marketing... Read more

I’m glad to hear about the new efficient hand dryer ("XLerator – The Electric Hand Dryer Reinvented"

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Vol. 11, No. 1), but how ’bout at least mentioning the option of a little shake and wipe on the pants. It’s worked well for me for years—and looks great on the eco-comparison chart.

Submittals are now being accepted for the annual

Top Ten Green Projects competition from The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment (COTE), in partnership with the Department of Energy (DOE). In past years Committee members have selected the winners, but this year an invited jury will be led by Horst Berger... Read more

, one of five core businesses of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, has acquired that portion of the old

Siemens Solar Industries that they did not already own. In March 2001, Siemens AG sold a portion of their photovoltaic (PV) subsidiary, entering into a joint venture comprised of Siemens, E.ON Energie AG, and Shell. Each of... Read more