BuildingGreen Report

News Brief

November 1, 2005

P. Ole Fanger, D.Sc., director of the International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy at the Technical University of Denmark and fellow of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE), has won the Pettenkofer Gold Medal, the International Academy of Indoor Air Sciences’ highest honor for... Read more

News Analysis

November 1, 2005
Tokyo, Japan, was the latest venue for the World Sustainable Building Conference (SB05), which began in 1998 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and took place in between in the Netherlands and Norway. As at past events, a wide range of technical sessions and poster presentations featured research and experiences from around the world.

A prominent... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2005

Among U.S. and Canadian members of the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), 70% are implementing green concepts within their organization’s facility, according to a May 2005 online survey performed by IFMA. Full results are online at www.ifma.org/tools/research/survey_results.cfm.

News Brief

November 1, 2005

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) recognized the nonprofit Green Building Initiative™ (GBI) as an accredited national standards developer in September 2005. Following its accreditation, GBI submitted an application to establish its Green Globes™ commercial buildings rating system as an American National Standard. For more on GBI... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2005

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2 have announced a call for entries in the second annual New York City Green Building Competition. The competition is open to projects built in or designed for specific sites within the boroughs of New York City. Awards will be... Read more

News Analysis

November 1, 2005

Cellulose insulation manufacturer U.S. GreenFiber, LLC, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, acquired Bonded Insulation, located in Hagman, New York, in July 2005. The acquisition will allow GreenFiber to expand its manufacturing and distribution presence in the Northeast and in eastern Canada. “GreenFiber has the capacity to turn what has... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2005

Green Builder® Media, LLC, plans to publish the first issue of Green Builder Magazine in January 2006. With 90,000 copies mailed to builders, contractors, and remodelers, and an additional 20,000 distributed at the International Builders Show, Green Builder will launch as the third largest magazine in the homebuilding industry, according to the... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2005

The Greenguard™ Environmental Institute, a nonprofit certifier of products with low emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), has created the Greenguard Standard for Children & Schools™, which sets emissions criteria for building materials, furnishings, finishes, and cleaning products to be used in schools and daycare facilities.... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2005

California’s updated Title 24 building efficiency standards, approved by the California Energy Commission in late 2003 (see

EBN

Vol. 13, No. 1), took effect on October 1, 2005. The strengthened standards include a range of changes for both residential and nonresidential buildings. Mandatory changes involve indoor and outdoor... Read more

News Analysis

November 1, 2005

The WatterSaver heat-pump water heater from ECR International (sold under the Dunkirk brand) has been taken out of production due to tepid consumer response despite offering significant energy-savings potential. “We hate to see it go away, but it just didn’t grab enough of the market,” Karl Mayer, OEM sales manager for ECR International, told... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2005

The U.S. Green Building Council has named Tom Hicks vice president of the LEED® Rating System. Hicks has served as director of LEED for Existing Buildings since November 2004 and before that spent nine years as principal architect and program manager of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star® commercial building rating system.... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2005
Environmental Design and Construction magazine (ED+C) has announced the winners of its third annual Excellence in Design Awards. More information about the winners, including finalists and honorable mentions, is online at www.edcmag.com.

• The

Alberici Group Corporate Headquarters, 8850 Page, designed by Mackey Mitchell Associates, won... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2005

The Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability (MTS) is preparing to release its Sustainable/EPP Flooring Standard© for all hard-surface flooring, following a public meeting in Dallas, Texas, on November 1. MTS is also holding organizational meetings for two new standards it is seeking to develop: the Integrated Design Process... Read more

Product Review

November 1, 2005
Toto, a leading toilet manufacturer whose toilets have consistently been among the best in terms of flush performance, introduced to North America the Aquia™ Dual-Max™ dual-flush toilet in May 2005. While this toilet has been available elsewhere for five or six years and is the most popular toilet in Thailand, where it is manufactured, according... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2005

In balloting that closed on October 28, 2005, the membership of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) voted overwhelmingly to approve version 2.2 of USGBC’s flagship LEED® for New Construction (LEED-NC) rating system. While other versions of LEED have been released in the interim, this vote endorses the first substantive update of the NC... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2005

Architecture for Humanity (AFH) was one of five recipients of the 2005 Index Design Award, honoring the best examples of “design to improve life for vast numbers of people.” AFH was recognized for its work with the Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies in Somkhele, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, to design and build a soccer club that... Read more

News Analysis

November 1, 2005
Students from 18 schools in the U.S., Canada, and Spain converged on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in September 2005 to reconstruct the solar-powered homes that they had been designing and building on their own campuses over the past two years. The homes opened to visitors on October 7, and the final phase of the U.S. Department of Energy... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2005

The Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, has announced the establishment of the Haworth Chair in Integrated Design, funded by Haworth, Inc., under the “Project

evolve” partnership with Direct Energy Business Services. The announcement did not specify whether the Haworth Chair holder will be... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2005
Lighting for Tomorrow, a national lighting fixture design competition held by the American Lighting Association, the Consortium for Energy Efficiency, and the U.S. Department of Energy, has announced the winners in its second annual competition (see

EBN

Vol. 13, No. 8 for winners of the first competition). All prototypes had to meet... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2005
Blakely Hall, a community center and town hall for Issaquah Highlands, a planned community near Seattle, Washington, earned two Globes (out of four possible) in the Green Building Initiative’s Green Globes™ green building performance tool in September 2005, making it the first U.S. building to receive Green Globes certification. The 7,000 ft2 (650... Read more