Initial efforts to repeal portions of the 1992 Energy Policy and Conservation Act that mandate

low-flow toilets and other water-conserving plumbing fixtures have failed. A House subcommittee voted 13-12 on April 12 to keep the water conservation standards. Joining the 11 Democrats on the vote were two Republican lawmakers from quickly... Read more

Flooring, paneling, and other wood products from Green Mountain Woodworks (GMW) in Southwestern... Read more

In February, the Virginia legislature rejected a bill that would have allowed local officials to

control development through restrictions on home building and infrastructure fees for developers. The measure was supported by a coalition of communities in high-growth parts of the state but strongly opposed by the development and real... Read more

On May 9, 2000 the

NextGen factory-built house developed through the U.S. government’s

Partnership for Advanced Technology in Housing (PATH) will be unveiled in Danbury, Connecticut. NextGen was designed with support from Steven Winter Associates, Inc. of Norwalk, Connecticut, and built by New Era of Strattanville, Pennsylvania... Read more

EBN

Vol. 8, No. 5) as their first climate-neutral product, and Saunders now offers climate-... Read more

On March 9, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced new regulations designed to reduce

pollution from small power equipment, such as lawnmowers, chainsaws, and weed trimmers. The regulations, to be phased in over seven years, are expected to reduce the emission of smog-causing pollutants by 350,000 tons (320,000 tonnes... Read more

The letter from Cliff Goldman, Carnegie Fabrics (

Vol. 9, No. 2), smeared vinyl without offering any evidence to support the allegations. Obviously, Goldman’s main point was to flack his own competing product. I challenge Goldman to offer any credible, scientific evidence that vinyl products harm health or the... Read more

In December 1998, Hurd MillWORK agreed to a $5.3 million class-action settlement relating to claims about R-value in gas-fill windows that were shipped with breather tubes installed. Andersen Windows devotes a full page in this year’s residential product catalog to “High Altitude Glass Considerations.” The window industry is struggling with the... Read more

Liverpool High School, near Syracuse, New York, has become the first high school to install a fuel cell. The school’s ONSI PC25 fuel cell will be used both as a power source and a teaching tool. Funding was provided, in part, from the state of New York and the U.S. Department of Defense.

The Loudoun County, Virginia Board of Supervisors is serious about stemming sprawl. They have set up a $1 million legal defense fund to protect the county against court challenges by home builders, according to an article in the January 5

Washington Post. Loudoun County is the third fastest growing county in the nation, and it gained... Read more

A call-for-entries has gone out for the 2000 Aurora Awards competition for residential design and construction (both single- and multifamily) from the Southeast Building Conference. Projects located within the 11 southeastern states are eligible for the Awards, which cover a whopping 75 categories, including water conservation, energy... Read more

We’re very excited to announce that Peter Yost of the NAHB Research Center will be joining our staff as research director and senior editor of

Environmental Building News. In addition to contributing to

EBN’s content, Peter will share responsibility for many of our research, writing, and consulting services. A former high-school... Read more

Steelcase, the office furniture manufacturer, is set to break ground on a new wood furniture plant in Gaines Township, Michigan. The new facility, designed by William McDonough + Partners, will be the first manufacturing building of its size rated by the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED program. Projected emissions reductions of 70% as... Read more

Black and Vernooy Architects of Austin, Texas won a Southern Home Award for new construction from

Southern Living magazine. The long back porch of the May residence, located at Lake Austin, was carefully designed to follow the sun, and indigenous materials from the surrounding Texas landscape were used for interior and exterior... Read more

Collins Products LLC, a division of The Collins Companies, has developed a new line of concrete forming panels that will be available with FSC-certified wood. (A seasonal scarcity of certified logs has limited current production to non-certified product.) The line includes four products: ValuForm, Apex, Apex II, and Apex III. All of the forming... Read more

The Metropolitan Forum Project of Los Angeles is seeking to reshape the way the city designs and builds public schools. Instead of huge schools serving 5,000-plus students, the “New Schools, Better Neighborhoods” project is proposing neighborhood-scaled schools serving around 500 students. Along with reducing the extensive public school... Read more

With the passage last year of a law in Louisiana designed to address the risk of Formosan termites, it looked as if preservative-treated wood was going to be

mandated in all framing lumber used in home building. Senate Bill 373 provides for the formation of a task force to deal with the growing problem of Formosan termites in Louisiana... Read more

Thank you for your article on building commissioning in

EBN

Vol. 9, No. 2 [February 2000]. This important aspect of the building process is indeed gaining focus throughout the design and construction communities as buildings and their supporting systems become ever more complex and interrelated. As you point out, building codes... Read more

On March 3, 2000 Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson announced $133 million in support for state weatherization programs to improve the energy efficiency of low-income households. Services that might be provided or subsidized under the various state and tribal programs include insulation, sealing ducts, adding weatherstripping, installing... Read more

The carbohydrate economy is moving a little closer to reality with the announcement in January that Minneapolis-based Cargill Inc. and Dow Chemical are teaming up to build the first large-scale “renewable” plastics plant. Completion of the 140,000 metric-ton, $300 million plant in Blair, Nebraska is scheduled for late 2001. Natural plant sugars... Read more