BuildingGreen Suite. Case studies are published through the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) High Performance Buildings Database. Selected projects in the database are also featured on:

•DOE High... Read more

Vol. 13, No. 10), I received a letter from Donald Aitken, a highly respected green-building and renewable-energy consultant and a longtime friend. Don wrote to fill a gap in green-building lore and was kind enough to allow us to share his story with our... Read more

I just received the February issue of

EBN. Thanks for announcing USDA’s new biobased rule and the role BEES plays [“USDA Announces Biobased Rule,”

Vol. 14, No. 2]. I’d like to correct your statement:

“Each product must be reviewed by an independent entity using BEES … or using the ASTM D7075 standard for the environmental... Read more

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

Great Lakes Chemical Corporation, the sole manufacturer of the two forms of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants that are considered most toxic—penta-BDE and octa-BDE—ceased production of those chemicals at the end of 2004. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Great Lakes Chemical announced the voluntary phaseout of... Read more

BuildingGreen, Inc. is excited to announce that we’re partnering with the

Boston Architectural Center (BAC) in the online delivery of its Sustainable Design Certificate Program. BAC has a long history as a leading provider of architectural-degree and continuing-education programs. Like BAC’s onsite program, all of its online courses are... Read more

The U.S. Green Building Council Board voted at its Portland, Oregon, meeting in November 2004 to create a Research Committee. The committee will identify research priorities in the green-building field, educate policy makers and funding agencies regarding green-building research needs, expand the scientific basis of the LEED

® Rating... Read more

Lighting for Tomorrow, organized by the American Lighting Association, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Consortium for Energy Efficiency, has officially launched its 2005 Design and Technology Competition. The competition is designed “to stimulate the market for high-efficiency residential lighting fixtures” and “to increase market... 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

EBN

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

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

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

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

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