Produced by the California Energy Commission, this video series is available free of charge at

www.energyvideos.com. The videos may be viewed online using Windows Media Player, ReaPlayer, or Quick Time Player. The series is also available from the CEC on DVD.

Responding to Bush administration interest in ethanol and hydrogen, the

American Solar Energy Society (ASES) has reconstituted its Renewable Fuels and Transportation Division. Paul Notari, founder of the Colorado Renewable Energy Society and former president of ASES, will serve as chair of this new division.

A ubiquitous flame retardant is finding its way into San Francisco Bay fish, according to a study recently conducted by a California state toxics lab for the nonprofit organization Environmental Working Group (EWG). Used as a flame retardant in products ranging from computers to carpets, PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) are known to cause... Read more

... Read more

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

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

Sixty-one buildings are now certified under LEED™ versions 1.0, 2.0, and 2.1; and nearly 900 projects have registered for certification. There are now over 4,000 LEED-accredited professionals, and more than 10,000 people have participated in LEED training workshops. The pilot programs for LEED for Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI) and LEED for... Read more

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

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

In the process of designing a large open-plan office building for a corporate client, Gensler’s designers suggested taking a look at a smaller project they recently completed for the same client. In the earlier project, they found that partially closed-in “teaming areas” they had created in the corners were rarely used because they didn’t offer... Read more

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

EBN

Vol. 10, No. 10), Environments... Read more

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.

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).

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

The Environmental Council of Concrete Organizations is crisscrossing North America this August with a

“Road Show” on the role of concrete in sustainable design. The faculty includes two lecturers from the U.K. and one American, representing expertise in urban planning, architecture, engineering, and materials research. The speakers,... Read more

A manufacturing facility built with great green hopes is now spending most of its time making a more conventional product. Great Lakes MDF, LLC has purchased the Lackawanna, New York medium-density fiberboard (MDF) plant formerly owned by The CanFibre Group, Ltd. The plant initially relied on phenol-formaldehyde binders in place of conventional... Read more

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

, 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

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.