Forest and wood-product certification may never be the same. In a dramatic development, Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) of Oakland, California, one of two organizations in North America that certify timberlands according to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) guidelines, is launching its own forest certification brand. At this month’s... Read more

The Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM), have begun

a multimillion-dollar “green” renovation of their 1930s Motherhouse in Monroe, Michigan. The building serves as a retirement and healthcare facility for 250 of their senior members. The completed renovation, expected in 2003, will feature increased daylighting, a... Read more

Documentary film directed by Judith Helfand and Daniel B. Gold, produced by Helfand, Gold, and Julia D. Parker. Premiere on HBO on May 5, 2002.

See details at: Blue Vinyl.

The green building movement may have just acquired its first cult film—

Blue Vinyl. The Documentary Award Winner for Excellence in Cinematography at... Read more

by the California Sustainable Building Task Force and the State and Consumer Services Agency, December 2001. Available free as a 75-page Adobe Acrobat™ PDF file from

www.ciwmb.ca.gov/greenbuilding/blueprint/.

The WeatherBest brand name, formerly under Louisiana Pacific (LP), has been acquired by Fiber Composites. The acquisition is expected to be completed in October 2007.

Plastics News.... Read more

2001 was a good year for the

photovoltaics (PV) industry. World cell/module production jumped 36% from 288 to 391 peak megawatts (MW), according to the March 2002 issue of

PV News. Since 1994, growth in world PV production has increased 460%! In the U.S., PV production grew 33.8% in 2001, from 75 to 100 MW. The three largest... Read more

Meg Calkins of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, in cooperation with the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), is conducting a

survey of landscape architects to find out about their involvement in green building projects. The researchers are especially interested in identifying barriers and obstacles to more... Read more

Phenol formaldehyde (PF) binder has long been used for... Read more

Don cofounded the Mid-Atlantic Solar Energy Association in the late 1970s and was actively involved with the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council during the 1980s the ’... Read more

Presentation proposals for the U.S. Green Building Council’s

First International Conference & Exposition (November 13–15, 2002) are due by April 1. Visit

www.usgbc.org to submit an abstract.

We reported last month (EBN,

Vol. 11, No. 2) that an agreement between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the treated wood industry was expected by mid-February to eliminate residential uses of CCA-treated wood. That agreement was announced on February 12 by EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, the American Wood... Read more

President Bush unveiled his long-awaited

global warming initiative on February 14. Rather than seeking to cap (or reduce) actual greenhouse gas emissions, the initiative calls for a reduction in “greenhouse gas intensity”—the amount of greenhouse gases produced per dollar of gross domestic product (GDP). Specifically, the plan calls for... Read more

Once the writing was on the wall that consumers didn’t want arsenic in and around their houses and playgrounds, the decision by the treated wood industry to phase it out was quick. On February 12, less than two years after the issue of high arsenic levels in playgrounds was brought to public attention by the

Gainesville Sun, an... Read more

Houses built with

structural insulated panels (SIPs) are failing in Juneau, Alaska at an alarming rate. Failure is typically occurring at the roof peak, where the well-insulated, thick expanded polystyrene SIPs join. This problem was first publicized in the January 2002 issue of the

Journal of Light Construction. According to... Read more

Thank you for the January 2002 (EBN

Vol. 11, No. 1) article on radiant heating, which I enjoyed and wholeheartedly agree with. It is refreshing to see attention paid to mechanical systems instead of assuming an efficient envelope is enough to make a building efficient.

I’m glad to hear about the new efficient hand dryer ("XLerator – The Electric Hand Dryer Reinvented"

EBN

Vol. 11, No. 1), but how ’bout at least mentioning the option of a little shake and wipe on the pants. It’s worked well for me for years—and looks great on the eco-comparison chart.

Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates(TVS) has received the

2002 AIA Architecture Firm Award—the highest honor that The American Institute of Architects can bestow on an architecture firm for consistently producing distinguished architecture. An important aspect of TVS’ great designs is sustainability, which is... Read more