The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched the EnergySmart Hospitals program, with the goal of reducing the energy use of hospitals by 20% in existing buildings and 30% in new buildings, relative to current standards. The program has similar goals to the Energy Star for Healthcare program administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection... Read more

One of a handful of laws in the U.S. requiring private buildings to meet LEED standards, legislation passed in 2006 in Washington, D.C., may be unenforceable as currently written. According to the Washington Business Journal, the D.C. Department of Environment is working to address a complaint from the surety industry, which issues bonds that... Read more

In last week's column I examined a fairly unusual local power source: the Northfield Mountain pumped hydropower system, which is used for "storing" electricity--by pumping water uphill. This week we'll take a look at a very different power-generation system that's even closer to home: the landfill gas power plant at the Windham Solid... Read more

whir... whir... whir.. whir... CLUNK! It finally worked... after decades of catching nothing but birds and bats, while making a small amount of electricity as a byproduct, the international effort to catch a UFO netted its first victim. A wind turbine in England lost one of its rotors last week in a nighttime incident with no clear cause, on... Read more

Last weekend, looking for someplace new to explore, my wife and I drove down to Northfield, Massachusetts, to check out the cross-country ski center. The skiing was great, and it occurred to me that readers of this column might be interested in learning about the pumped-hydro power plant on the mountain--the ski center was created as... Read more

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Light-emitting diodes, better known as LEDs, are all around us--those little red or green indicator lights that blink at us from our stereo equipment, most new traffic signals, and virtually all new exit signs in commercial buildings. And if you've been to Times Square recently, you've seen way too many LEDs... Read more

A recent survey of 30,000 facility managers, designed and analyzed by Peter Kimmel, AIA, and funded by the online publication FMLink, found that an increasing number are engaged in energy auditing and re-commissioning. Their efforts resulted in an average 5%–10% energy savings from 2006 to 2008, with the most effective changes being inexpensive... Read more

Extending its mission of product safety from people to the environment, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) will offer manufacturers two new programs to test and certify environmental product claims. Set to launch in January 2009, the Environmental Claims Validation (ECV) program will test and assess environmental product claims, and a second... Read more

The dramatic energy savings reported for compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) over conventional incandescents typically do not take into account the impact on space heating and cooling energy.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has announced that Rebecca Flora will replace Peter Templeton as its senior vice president of education and research.

Flora leaves her post as the executive director of the Green Building Alliance in Pittsburgh and ends her tenure as chair of the USGBC Board of Directors; she begins her new... Read more

A number of utilities across the country are moving to peak power pricing that gives lower rates to consumers using electricity during off-peak hours. General Electric (GE) is developing appliances that can automatically take advantage of those policies.

EBN

Vol. 17, No. 2). In its first year, the company has completed several large installations including a 1-MW system on the North Face distribution center in Visalia and a 412-kW... Read more

The iconic American investor Warren Buffet once mused that it’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked. Headlines are full of companies who have been found without swimsuits, and their lack of caution is affecting all of us. With the incredible slowdown in much of the design and construction industry, will green... Read more

A new database and analysis service collects information from users on facility costs and sustainability, and allows facility managers to compare their buildings to others using more than 30 data filters that ensure meaningful comparisons to similar buildings.