BuildingGreen Report

Product Review

May 1, 2003
Close to twelve years ago, Advanced Conservation Technology (ACT) introduced the Metlund® D’mand® System to address the issue of water and energy waste while waiting for hot water to reach the tap at fixtures located some distance from the water heater. Now there is another system—well it’s

almost another system. Taco®, the nation’s largest... Read more

News Analysis

May 1, 2003
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intends to launch an Indoor Air Quality label for homes, according to Sam Rashkin, director of the Energy Star™ Homes Program at EPA. The draft guidelines of the voluntary program are undergoing review this spring, and Rashkin hopes to roll out a pilot by late fall or winter—though he told

EBN that... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 2003

Just in time for Earth Day, The American Institute of Architects announced the Top Ten Green Projects for 2003. Winning entries include residential, commercial, and educational projects. The awards program was cosponsored this year by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Building Museum, and hosted online by BuildingGreen, Inc. Full... Read more

News Analysis

May 1, 2003

On March 25, 2003, the U.S. Green Building Council published a notice with several changes and adjustments to the recently released version 2.1 of its LEED™ Rating System for New Construction (see

EBN

Vol. 11, No. 12). Designers working on projects that are seeking LEED certification are advised to visit the Council’s Web site... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 2003

California diverted 48% of its waste stream from landfills in 2002, according to the California Integrated Waste Management Board. A total of 34 million tons (31 million tonnes) of solid waste were diverted last year, a fourfold increase since 1990, when the Integrated Waste Management Act took effect in the state. This law requires every local... Read more

Op-Ed

May 1, 2003
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Feature

May 1, 2003
Before Suzanne Barnes paid them a visit, Florida Hospital in Orlando accepted conventional wisdom when it came to flooring. The hospital sought out the cheapest products to satisfy its needs because the bottom line, after all, is the bottom line. Vinyl composition tile (VCT) was the cheapest hard flooring choice, ranging between $1.20 and $1.50/... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 2003

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has named the Energy Center of Wisconsin winner of its

2002 Continuing Education Award for Excellence. The private, nonprofit Energy Center has worked with more than one third of the state’s 1,500 architects through its continuing education programs in an effort to improve the energy... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 2003

Environmentalists won an important victory on April 3, when the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted in favor of small-scale renewable-energy production. All net-metered solar and wind systems generating less than 1 MW of electricity, along with some hydrogen fuel cells, are exempt, according to CPUC’s decision, from paying a... Read more

Op-Ed

April 1, 2003

Ren Anderson of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory wins this month’s award for finding a hidden error in the water heating feature article in our October 2002 issue (

Vol. 11, No. 10). He astutely noted that in our text and graphic on page 9, explaining water-heating system efficiency losses, the percentages of heat loss and end-... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2003

The Bush Administration has rolled out the Integrated Sequestration and Hydrogen Research Initiative, a $1 billion partnership between government and industry to design, build, and operate a coal-fired electricity and hydrogen production plant. The 275-megawatt prototype plant, known as FutureGen, will rely on coal gasification to produce... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2003
The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) announced the winners of its 2003 green building competition during its annual Building Energy Conference, held in Boston last month. Through this award program, NESEA strives to recognize projects that advance the aesthetics of green buildings.

Clearview Elementary School in Hanover,... Read more

Op-Ed

April 1, 2003

Whether or not Iraq’s mammoth oil reserves have anything to do with our war to oust Saddam Hussein, our dependence on foreign oil is indisputably bad for this country. We spend over $100 billion annually on petroleum imports, accounting for roughly 20% of our balance-of-trade deficit (2002). The entire U.S. economy shudders whenever temporary... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2003
The Paulien Strijland and Eric Joustra residence and the Jasper Ridge Field Station have been recognized among the greenest in California. Sustainable San Mateo County, County of San Mateo RecycleWorks, and the local chapter of The American Institute of Architects (AIA) selected these projects as winners in their first

San Mateo County Green... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2003

New U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) clean water regulations, demanding that construction sites larger than one acre (0.4 ha) obtain a

National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, became effective March 10. (The rule has applied to sites larger than 5 acres/2 ha since 1990.) The regulations were not enacted... Read more

Op-Ed

April 1, 2003
It might not seem that managing subscriptions for a monthly newsletter would be all that complicated, but, as with so many things, the devil is in the details. That’s why we’ve been so lucky to have Charlotte Snyder as our circulation manager for the past half-decade. As some of you no-doubt have learned firsthand, she is a master at figuring out... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2003

Both the number and the severity of droughts and storms are on the rise, according to a new report by the World Water Council. These and other manifestations of global climate change have contributed to a

tenfold increase in economic losses from weather-related catastrophes over the past five decades. The 1990s saw more significant... Read more

Feature

April 1, 2003
Among green building issues, forest certification is one of the most complex, the most controversial, and the most exciting. It is

complex because multiple forest certification programs exist, with similarities and differences; almost as quickly as architects and specifiers can get a handle on the features of these programs, they change. It is... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 2003

The

Southface Energy Institute has announced that it will work with architectural consultant

Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates (TVS) in the design and construction of a new commercial addition to their Energy and Environmental Resource Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The new facility, which will include indoor and... Read more

News Analysis

April 1, 2003

Several new developments at the American Society for Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning (ASHRAE) reflect the Society’s growing focus on issues of sustainability. These include the creation of a new technical committee (TC) on the topic, the signing of a partnering agreement with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and the... Read more