BuildingGreen Report

News Brief

September 1, 2003

The country’s

largest commercially owned photovoltaic system was recently installed on Long Island, New York. Covering 102,700 ft2 (9,540 m2) of three buildings owned by Fala Direct Marketing, the system is owned by the Long Island Power Authority and was designed and installed by PowerLight Corporation, using Shell Solar panels. The... Read more

News Brief

September 1, 2003
Santa Fe, New Mexico hosted a peculiar pageant on August 2, in the culmination of a Rotary Club-sponsored contest called “

The Path of Painted Potties.” After gracing the streets of Santa Fe during June and July, 75 creatively decorated toilets vied for honors in various categories, including TP Cruisers (for mobile entries) and Best Use of... Read more

Product Review

September 1, 2003
For over two decades, Auburn University professor Norbert Lechner has been teaching solar design with the help of his handcrafted, room-sized heliodon, a tool that simulates the motion of the sun relative to the Earth. Lechner is perhaps the world’s premier heliodon buff and has made a hobby of publishing and giving away do-it-yourself heliodon... Read more

Op-Ed

September 1, 2003
Although I was frustrated to see the recent Letter to the Editor continuing to raise the rhetoric of the forest “certification wars” (Vol. 12, No. 6), I was not surprised. I was, however, truly disappointed in the apologetic tone of your editors’ response proclaiming your intention to maintain an FSC-exclusive approach to forest certification.

... Read more

News Brief

September 1, 2003
Prefabricated, portable classrooms

are far less likely than permanent classrooms to be healthy environments, according to California’s Air Resources Board and Department of Health Services. During their two-year study, the state found portable classrooms to have inadequate ventilation and lighting levels; elevated particulate matter, moisture,... Read more

News Brief

September 1, 2003

The Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) has announced the

2003 Innovation and Special Recognition Award winners. IREC gave Innovation Awards to the

Sustainable Natural Alternative Power (SNAP) Program in Chelan County, Washington; the

Chicago Solar Partnership; and the

Utah Wind Power Campaign. IREC also... Read more

Op-Ed

September 1, 2003

Thank you for your coverage of Vermont Built Green in July 2003 (

Vol. 12, No. 7). I would like to correct the sentence that reads “Efficiency Vermont, a utility-funded demand-side management program in the state, currently covers all of the costs for Vermont Energy Star® compliance.” The Vermont Energy Star Homes service is jointly... Read more

News Brief

September 1, 2003

Portland General Electric has expanded its

Earth Advantage™ program for green homes in the Northwest. In addition to satisfying the basic level of performance, homes can now achieve gold certification for performing especially well in indoor air quality, energy efficiency, or water conservation; or platinum certification for going... Read more

News Analysis

September 1, 2003
On July 31, 2003 the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Canadian Green Building Council (CaGBC) signed an agreement giving CaGBC exclusive rights to implement LEED™ in Canada, including the certification of LEED buildings. The USGBC retains full rights to implement LEED in cooperation with other organizations elsewhere. The agreement also... Read more

News Brief

September 1, 2003

New Urbanist

Jeff Speck took over as director of design at the

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in August. Speck spent the past decade at the Miami, Florida firm Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company, most recently as director of town planning for the firm. Along with Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Speck co-authored... Read more

Product Review

Low-density, open-cell polyurethane foam insulation made from soybeans may soon replace the non-renewable version.

September 1, 2003

Over the past year, three companies have begun marketing a low-density, open-cell polyurethane foam insulation made, in part, from soybeans. By far the best organized and established of these is BioBased Systems of Spring Valley, Illinois. Experienced users tell EBN that BioBase 501 works just as well as its petrochemical-based competitors, and... Read more

News Analysis

July 1, 2003
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The Cool Roof Rating Council (CRRC), a member-based, nonprofit, educational organization, now has over 100 listings in its

Rated Products... Read more

News Brief

July 1, 2003

The American Solar Energy Society has named

Ralph Knowles a “Passive Solar Pioneer.” Distinguished Professor Emeritus Knowles has spent the past 40 years at the University of Southern California’s School of Architecture. Among Knowles’ contributions to passive design is the “solar envelope,” a zoning concept that ensures city buildings... Read more

News Brief

July 1, 2003

A number of state legislatures are reviewing

bills related to indoor air quality this session. Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Texas, and Virginia are considering legislation specifically addressing mold contamination.

News Brief

July 1, 2003

by Joseph W. Lstiburek, Ph.D., P.Eng.; Energy & Environmental Building Association, Minneapolis, MN, 2002. Available from EEBA, 952-881-1098,

www.eeba.org. Spiral-bound, 42 pages, $18 ($15 members).

The

EEBA Water Management Guide is a clear, concise booklet about preventing rain and groundwater entry into houses and light-... Read more

News Analysis

July 1, 2003
The Composite Panel Association (CPA) launched an environmentally preferable product (EPP) certification program in February, in a bid to reduce the use of virgin timber in engineered wood products. Based on the principles of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmentally Preferable Purchasing program, CPA’s specification will ensure... Read more

News Brief

July 1, 2003
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by Leonard R. Bachman; John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, 2003. Hardcover, 479 pages, $75.

Integrated Buildings is an amazing book.... Read more

Product Review

July 1, 2003
We have long been fans of the venturi-effect showerheads made by Energy Technology Laboratories (ETL) (see

EBN

Vol. 11, No. 10 and

Vol. 6, No. 8). We recently discovered another such product—made by Bricor Analytical, Inc. in Colorado Springs, Colorado. While quite different from the ETL products technologically, Bricor... Read more

News Brief

July 1, 2003
Efficiency Vermont

, a state-sponsored program, recently received an

Innovations in American Government Award—the “Oscar” of government awards—and $100,000 to support its activities. The nation’s first independent, ratepayer-funded energy-efficiency utility, Efficiency Vermont has saved more than 99,000 megawatt hours of electricity in... Read more

News Brief

July 1, 2003

CD-ROM released in 2003 by ASTM International, 100 Barr Harbor Dr., PO Box C700, W. Conshohocken, PA 19428; 610-832-9585,

www.astm.org. Stock No.: Green03, $175 in North America, $193 elsewhere.

At the behest of its Committee E06.71 on Sustainability, ASTM has released a volume of its “Standards on CD-ROM” series focusing on... Read more