Following a four-year development process, the nonprofit Building Commissioning Association (BCA) unveiled its commissioning certification program on April 12, 2004. According to BCA, this is the first international commissioning certification program offered by a nonprofit organization. BCA anticipates that the certified commissioning... Read more

first U.S. laboratory approved to test office equipment to the German Blue Angel standard (see

EBN

Vol. 12, No. 11). AQS, based in Atlanta, will test office equipment including printers, fax machines, and photocopiers for emissions of ozone, benzene, styrene, dust, and volatile... Read more

Smart growth policies are good for construction jobs, according to a study published by Good Jobs First, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center promoting best practices in economic development. The report, “The Jobs are Back in Town: Urban Smart Growth and Construction Employment,” counters the assumption that “smart growth equals no growth... Read more

Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC), the organization most actively promoting green roofs in North America, has announced the winners of its second annual Awards of Excellence.

Winners were selected for industrial and commercial, institutional, and residential projects for both intensive (with more than 6” of growing medium) and... Read more

Scientific Certification Systems, Inc.has released an

Indoor Air Quality Performance certification program for interior products. The program is designed to demonstrate product conformance with the indoor emissions limits associated with California’s Section 01350 specification, as well as emission criteria in the LEED

® Rating... Read more

Christine Ervin is stepping down from her leadership role.

Rick Fedrizzi, founder and president of Green-Think, Inc., and founding chairman of USGBC, has been selected to fill her position in an acting capacity. According to the Council, “The change is... Read more

the work of architect Samuel Mockbee in a traveling exhibition. The exhibition, which will feature 12 models and more than 100 photographs of Mockbee’s work at Auburn University’s Rural Studio, will open in Washington, D.C. on May 22. For more information on Mockbee and his work, see the review of... Read more

Awards & Competitions

2004 Design Competition for an Ecohouse. The competition is based on the principles described in the book

Ecohouse 2. Author Sue Roaf says the challenge is “to... Read more

® Rating System based outside the U.S. was officially launched in Vancouver, British Columbia on April 14, 2004 by the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC). The program is now accepting project registrations and has, in fact, already received its first full application, from the City of Vancouver. The development of LEED-BC was... Read more

David Nelson & Associates, LLC. Nelson is an architect and a highly respected lighting designer; he has a bachelor of science degree in architectural engineering from the University of Colorado and a master’s in... Read more

Shortly after celebrating the fourth anniversary of the LEED

® Rating System, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) awarded its

100th LEED certification—a Silver rating for the Bonneville Power Administration Ampere Annex in Vancouver, Washington—on April 14, 2004. And, on April 19, USGBC received a LEED registration for the St... Read more

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Michael Holtz, president of Architectural Energy Corporation in Boulder, Colorado;

Peter... Read more

New Jersey’s Renewable Energy Task Force, created by Governor McGreevey in January 2004, finalized in March plans to strengthen the State’s

renewable portfolio standard (RPS), which requires energy suppliers to provide a certain percentage of renewable power, including that from solar, wind, renewable biomass, landfill gas, geothermal,... Read more

According to the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy,

net petroleum imports into the United States reached a new all-time record in 2003: 56.1% of oil consumption. This represents a 5.1% increase over net imports in 2002, and a 1.1% increase over the previous record in 2001. Imports from OPEC represented... Read more

EBN

Vol. 8, No. 10), Southface Energy Institute designed the Communities program to address the environmental performance of individual homes as well as neighborhood design, site modification, and community education. Four... Read more

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) announced the winners of the

2004 National Green Building Awards in March during their Green Building Conference in Austin, Texas.

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Tom Hoyt, co-owner of McStain Enterprises in Boulder, Colorado, was named

Green Advocate of the Year. Hoyt has built more than 8,000... Read more