As part of its recently adopted

Green Building Strategy, the Vancouver, British Columbia city council approved a requirement that every new civic building larger than 500 m2 (5,000 ft2) achieve a Gold rating in the recently released LEED for British Columbia (see

EBN

Vol. 13, No. 5).

The European Union’s risk assessment of the deca form of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) was released on May 28, 2004, concluding that there is no reason to restrict use of the flame retardant. Nearly ten years in the making, this risk assessment came as a great relief to the chemical industry, which has been faced with rising concerns... Read more

Steelcase, Inc. has announced its Environmental Partnership Program, enabling companies to resell, refurbish, donate, or recycle used Steelcase office products through a network of recyclers, resellers, and nonprofit organizations. “Today, many companies are not sure what to do with their furniture when it reaches the end of its useful life to... Read more

On July 15, 2004 the California Department of Health Services (DHS) released its “

Standard Practice for the Testing of Volatile Organic Emissions from Various Sources Using Small-Scale Environmental Chambers.” This practice document supersedes the small-scale environmental chamber testing portion of California Specification 01350 and... Read more

tidal turbines in New York City’s East River will begin cranking out about 150 kilowatts (kW) of electricity. If all goes as planned, a tidal power farm of 200 to 300 of the 15-foot-tall (4.5 m) turbines will be installed, beginning in the fall of 2005. These will produce about 10 megawatts (MW) of power by 2006, enough... Read more

Surprising both politicians and environmentalists, Russian President

Vladimir Putin made a strong statement in support of the Kyoto Protocol in May. The European Union (EU), which ratified the protocol in May 2002, has agreed to support Russia’s bid to join the World Trade Organization only if Russia ratifies the protocol. “The EU has... Read more

University Student Hydrogen Design Contest, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Hydrogen Association, ChevronTexaco, Natural Resources Canada, and Swagelok Company. The... Read more

The nonprofit product-testing organization Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (UL) plans to open

the nation’s first commercial wind turbine certification and test facility near Cheyenne, in rural Laramie County, Wyoming by the end of 2004. Distributed Generation Systems, Inc. will coordinate the design and construction of the facility,... Read more

The World Environmental Center has awarded

Johnson Controls, Inc. its 20th annual

WEC Gold Medal for International Corporate Achievement in Sustainable Development for “providing global leadership in revolutionizing the way businesses and institutions approach the design, construction, and renovation of their facilities.”... Read more

A coalition of corporate and nonprofit organizations launched the

Net-Zero Energy Home Coalition in April with the goal of “accelerating the economic development and environmental benefits of available onsite green energy technologies and energy efficiency applications and devices designed for Canada’s residential building sector.” The... Read more

The nonprofit Architecture for Humanity (AFH) has announced

a competition to design a soccer facility in Somkhele, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The facility, to be run by medical professionals from the Africa Center for Health and Population Studies, will serve as a gathering place for youth aged 9 to 14, including the area’s first... Read more

Four workers were killed and several others injured on April 23, 2004 in an

explosion at a Formosa Plastics polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production facility in Illiopolis, Illinois. A fifth worker died of his injuries on May 13. The series of explosions, which destroyed most of the plant, “apparently followed a release of highly flammable... Read more

Rebuilt Green, and the lead character is the Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center, a LEED® Gold... Read more

(PWGSC) has announced a series of initiatives to green its operations. The department has pledged, among other strategies, to cut its energy use by 60% over 1990 levels by March 2008, to achieve a LEED® Gold or BREEAM Four Leaves green building standard with all new construction, and to... Read more

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) will be accepting

feedback on the LEED® for Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI) rating system through Tuesday, July 13, 2004. The current draft includes significant modifications from the version that has been in use for the LEED-CI pilot program over the past two years. The official release is... Read more

, a green design laboratory based in Joshua Tree and Los Angeles, California, has announced a

competition to design “an environmentally sustainable camping shelter—a ‘green’ tent—for use in the Mojave Desert in and around Joshua Tree National Park.” One to five winning entries will each receive $500 and may be prototyped on... Read more

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized

landmark regulations on off-road diesel fuel and the engines that burn it. Sulfur concentrations, which are currently unregulated in off-road diesel fuel, will be capped at 500 parts per million (ppm) in 2007 and 15 ppm in 2015; meanwhile, soot and smog limits will be capped... Read more

Energy Star® program on May 4, 2004. According to Richard Karney,

Energy Star program manager, the products were disqualified “for failure to meet one or more of the key

Energy Star testing requirements, which include lamp life, initial... Read more