Centennial College, a community college based in Toronto, Canada, has launched a full-time program in architectural technology that emphasizes green building design and construction. “The three-year program prepares students to work as technologists alongside architects, engineers, builders, contractors, and municipal building departments,”... Read more

The Swedish government has set the aggressive goal of eliminating its dependence on fossil fuels by 2020, according to Mona Sahlin, minister for sustainable development. Sweden plans to harness tax credits, research, and large-scale investment in district heating, among other strategies, to wean the country off fossil fuels. Transportation,... Read more

A Report for the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative by Gregory Kats, Capital E. Available free at www.cap-e.com. December 2005, 66 pages.

EBN

Vol. 12, No. 11), Greg Kats and his team at Capital E... Read more

On January 4, 2006, the Executive Committee of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) board of directors approved the charter of a Research Committee and appointed its initial five members. This is a core

organizational committee of the Council (as opposed to being a LEED® committee) that focuses on one of the USGBC’s six key goals in... Read more

The American Institute of Architects Committees on Design and the Environment (COD and COTE) are cosponsoring a conference called “The Architecture of Sustainability” and a design competition called “A House for an Ecologist” (formerly known as eco:dwell) to explore sustainability as an architectural agenda. Judges for the competition are Peter... Read more

Tarkett AG, the world’s largest manufacturer of resilient flooring, has acquired Johnsonite, a producer of specialty flooring and flooring accessories. Johnsonite, based in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, makes flooring adhesives with low emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), entryway track-off systems, and flooring produced from recycled tires... Read more

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has set tougher standards for clothes washers to qualify for the Energy Star® label, beginning January 1, 2007. The new standards increase the modified energy factor (MEF), the capacity of the clothes container divided by the total energy consumption per cycle, from 1.42 to 1.72 ft3/kWh per cycle. The new... Read more

Environmental Building News (EBN) reported on the first building codes for strawbale construction (see

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Vol. 5, No. 1). The State of Nevada had recently passed a mandate requiring local jurisdictions to permit strawbale buildings, and California had approved voluntary guidelines that could be adopted at the... Read more

In an effort to capitalize on the brand value of one of its many acquisitions, the financially troubled U.S. Plastic Lumber (USPL) company has been renamed Trimax Building Products, Inc. The rechristening follows the purchase of the company by a private equity firm, American Pacific Financial Corp., according to a January 16, 2006,

... Read more

The New York State Education Department and the State University of New York (SUNY) have approved a new four-year undergraduate program in renewable and alternative energy applications, including wind, solar, geothermal, fuel cell, biofuel, and other emerging technologies. SUNY Canton will offer the program beginning with the fall 2006 semester... Read more

2005 set a new record, according to estimates from the Munich Re Foundation, with more than $200 billion in economic losses due to weather-related disasters. Of that total, more than $75 billion was covered by insurance companies. Hurricane Katrina caused much of that loss, with damages estimated at $125 billion, of which about $45 billion was... Read more

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the winners of its annual EnergyValue Housing Awards, designed to promote and improve the energy efficiency of new homes in the U.S. The program is funded by DOE’s Building America Program and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory with support from several private sponsors, including... Read more

Are you an experienced writer/editor with green building knowledge and excellent research skills? Do you have a knack for distinguishing meaningful information from hype? If so, you might consider joining the editorial team at BuildingGreen, Inc. We need to add a writer to our staff to keep up with our publishing schedule and commitments. The... Read more

Beginning March 1, 2006, builders in California’s Central Valley will be forced to either reduce the smog and particulate matter their projects generate or help finance projects that improve the region’s air quality. The program, believed to be the first of its kind, applies to the eight, largely agricultural, counties regulated by the San... Read more

Greenpeace International unveiled the Music Wood Initiative at the January 2006 trade show of NAMM, the International Music Products Association. The Music Wood Initiative was created to limit the environmental and social degradation caused in the making of musical instruments. “If you walk through a music store, the instruments are comprised... Read more

A pilot study by Yale and Columbia universities ranked the U.S. 28th in environmental performance. The 2006 Environmental Performance Index ranked countries based on sixteen indicators related to environmental health, air quality, water resources, productive natural resources, biodiversity and habitat, and sustainable energy. New Zealand scored... Read more

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched a website to inform consumers, state and local officials, and builders about cost-effective, durable, and energy-efficient solutions to disaster recovery and building reconstruction needs. The website, www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/disaster_recovery/, includes information on training... Read more

The historic Van de Kamp Bakery building, in the Los Angeles Community College District’s Glassell Park, has become the first project in the U.S. to achieve a rating in the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), which was developed in the U.K. The building, set to begin renovations in summer 2006, is also... Read more

Bentley Prince Street, a sister company to Interface Flooring Systems, has expanded its options for customers seeking greener carpeting. The company’s Kings Road and New Stratford lines of commercial carpeting are now available with 100% post-industrial 6,6 nylon yarn recovered from automotive-part scrap waste. The products, called Kings RoadRC... Read more

Peter Busby, AIA, managing director of Busby, Perkins+Will, based in Vancouver, British Columbia (a subsidiary company of Perkins+Will), has been named a member of the Order of Canada, the country’s highest honor for lifetime achievement and service.