A bill being considered by the Oregon legislature could be the first in the U.S. to ban the deca form of the polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) class of flame retardants. If passed and signed into law, the ban of decaBDE would take place by 2008. The proposed law would also ban by 2006 the penta and octa forms of PBDE, two chemicals that have... Read more

Green interiors expert Penny Bonda and BuildingGreen’s Nadav Malin have teamed up to offer the

Green Guru Tour of NeoCon. On this tour, a group of dedicated design professionals will join Bonda and Malin as they visit the showrooms of leading furniture and furnishing manufacturers. They will sit down for in-depth conversations with top... Read more

A national renewable portfolio standard requiring that 20% of all energy used in the U.S. come from renewable sources by 2020 would dramatically improve the economy, according to a study released by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). The plan would create a net gain of more than 157,000 jobs while saving families and businesses $49... Read more

“Insulation: Thermal Performance is Just the Beginning” [

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Vol. 14, No. 1] was another very informative article. Some specific comments:

1) Regarding polysio insulation, if the conductivity of the hydrocarbon blowing agent is indeed lower than HCFC-141b, then the insulation performance should be better, not worse.

America is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis. A family supported by one full-time minimum-wage earner cannot afford rent for the average two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the U.S., according to the nonprofit Enterprise Foundation, which supports local organizations building affordable housing around the country. In many parts of the... Read more

Boosting the rate of recycling in this country and increasing the use of recycled material in building products has remained an uphill challenge for one primary reason: we undervalue energy and virgin resources. Leading-edge “green” companies that strive to maximize use of recycled content do so for many reasons: because it helps them meet... Read more

In December 2004, the nonprofit Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability approved version 2.0 of the Unified Sustainable Textile Standard, designed “to provide a market-based definition for sustainable textile, establish performance requirements for public health and environment, and address the triple bottom line (economic,... Read more

The Forest Stewardship Council’s new Chain-of-Custody Standard, FSC-STD-40-004, substantially revises the organization’s labeling and certification rules. In place of what has been known as “partial-content certification” of composite wood products (see

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Vol. 9, No. 6), FSC has now introduced three new labels: “FSC Pure,” “... Read more

The U.S. Green Building Council has announced a call for session proposals for the next Greenbuild conference, set for Atlanta in November 2005. Outside reviewers will rate all proposals using a 100-point scale designed around the theme of stewardship. Proposals must be submitted electronically by February 11, 2005. Details are online at www.... Read more

Recycled content is the most widely cited attribute of green building products. Numerous federal, state, and local government agencies have “buy recycled” programs aimed at increasing markets for recycled materials—these programs typically have an explicit goal of supporting recycling programs to reduce solid-waste disposal. A handful of... Read more

Air Quality Sciences, Inc., has released a School Test Kit that measures asthma triggers, including formaldehyde, other volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), and dust mite allergens. Nearly one in 13 school-aged children in the U.S. suffers from asthma, according to the company. Details are online at www.aqs.com.

announced the winners of the

C2C Housing Design and Construction Competition (see

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Vol. 13, No. 4) at the Art Museum of Western Virginia in January 2005. The competition to design innovative affordable housing was inspired by the principles laid out in... Read more

NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines. Austin, Texas, homebuilder Ray Tonjes, chair of NAHB’s Green Building Subcommittee, presented the Guidelines as “a milestone in our efforts to provide safe,... Read more

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the winners of its 11th annual EnergyValue Housing Awards at the International Builders’ Show in Orlando, Florida, in January 2005. Funded through DOE’s Building America Program and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, with support from several private sponsors, including BuildingGreen, Inc.,... Read more

When Ed Ehlen paid $19,000 to purchase and install artificial turf at his new home in Florida’s upscale Marco Island community, he thought he was doing an environmental service. “We have such a water problem in Southwest Florida,” Ehlen told the

News-Press. And with artificial turf, he said, “you don’t have to water. You don’t have to... Read more

The member nations of the European Union (EU) have begun trading the right to emit carbon dioxide (CO

2), a global-warming gas and the chief culprit in climate change. The Emissions Trading Directive, begun in a pilot phase on January 1, 2005, was planned as a keystone in the EU’s bid to comply with the Kyoto Protocol. Industry critics... Read more