News Brief
by the City of New York Department of Design and Construction, in collaboration with the Trust for Public Space, April 1999. Order from City Store by calling 212/669-8246. Available (in August) online at:
www.ci.nyc.ny.us/buildnyc/. Spiral-bound, 144 pages, $25.
New York City’s newHigh Performance Building Guidelines is... Read more
News Brief
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AIA/Portland’s 1999 Architecture + Energy Awards, sponsored by the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, recently recognized four buildings.
... Read more
Feature
Those of us who were promoting solar in the late ’70s just knew that by the turn of the century solar would be a standard component of building design and a significant fraction of our national energy mix. The solar water heating industry would be burgeoning. Vast arrays of concentrating collectors in the desert Southwest would be generating... Read more
News Analysis
On July 3, 1999 the City of San Francisco became one of the nation’s first municipalities to have a green building ordinance on the books for City-owned projects. The additions to the San Francisco Municipal Code, known as the Resource Efficient Building Ordinance, consists of two... Read more
News Brief
Worldwide sales of
compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are increasing. According to the World Resources Institute report
Vital Signs, CFL sales increased 24% during 1997—to 356 million. CFL sales are increasing 3% to 5% per year, though they still only represent 1⁄28 the sales volume of incandescent lamps. However, due to the... Read more
News Brief
On June 21, U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson announced a goal of meeting 5% of the nation’s electricity needs with
wind energy by 2020. The target calls for 5,000 MW of wind power capacity to be installed by 2005, and 10,000 MW to be installed by 2010. “Wind energy has been the fastest growing source of energy in the world during... Read more
News Brief
Semiannual magazine edited by Lynne Elizabeth. New Village/ADPSR, 2000 Center Street, Suite 120, Berkeley, CA 94704. Annual (2-issue) subscription is $15 for individuals, $24 for institutions.
An outgrowth of the disarmament movement of the 1970s, Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility has been a diffuse... Read more
News Brief
In a merger approved at a combined board meeting on June 4, the
Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology (CREST) was folded into the Renewable Energy Policy Project (REPP). REPP Executive Director Roby Roberts will run the combined organization. The two entities complement each other well, as REPP develops high-quality... Read more
Product Review
News Brief
Atmospheric Alliance and the
Energy Outreach Center, both of Olympia, Washington, have joined forces. Paul Horton and Rhys Roth are co-directors of the new (as yet unnamed) organization. Call 360/352-1763 or e-mail atmosphere@olywa.net or eoc@olywa.net for additional details.
News Brief
Edited by Charles Kibert, foreword by EBN’s Alex Wilson. Island Press, Washington, D.C., 1999. 350 pages, paperback $27.50, hardcover $45
Reshaping the Built Environment is a sustainable design lecture series in book form. Dr. Charles Kibert invited an impressive slate of speakers to the University of... Read more
News Analysis
On June 3, President Clinton released an Executive Order on “Greening the Government Through Efficient Energy Management.” Recognizing that with more than 500,000 buildings the Federal Government is the nation’s largest energy consumer—roughly $8 billion per year—the Executive Order calls for... Read more
Feature
News Brief
According to the 22 May 1999 issue of the
Global Environmental Change Report,
AlliedSignal is seeking EPA approval for a new hydrofluorocarbon used in foam insulation production.
HFC-245fa has been in development since 1994 as a blowing agent for polyurethane and polyisocyanurate foam. This non-ozone-depleting foaming... Read more
News Brief
Video, 28 minutes. Produced by the Environmental Fund of Pennsylvania for the “GreenWorks for Pennsylvania” television show. Available on the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Web site.
This new video tells the story of creating the new South Central Office Building in Pennsylvania, a privately owned, 73,000-square-... Read more
Product Review
Source: Isobord Enterprises
Isobord Enterprises, Inc., a Toronto, Canada-based company with a sales office in Portland, Oregon, has dramatically increased the availability of straw particleboard in North America. Like the WheatBoard™ product made... Read moreNews Brief
News Brief
On April 6, the Canadian government announced that it is extending its
Commercial Buildings Incentive Program (CBIP) to multi-unit residential buildings. This program offers owners or developers a one-time incentive payment equal to two years’ projected energy savings for buildings that exceed the Model National Energy Code... Read more
Product Review
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