Produced by the California Energy Commission, this video series is available free of charge at

www.energyvideos.com. The videos may be viewed online using Windows Media Player, ReaPlayer, or Quick Time Player. The series is also available from the CEC on DVD.

Responding to Bush administration interest in ethanol and hydrogen, the

American Solar Energy Society (ASES) has reconstituted its Renewable Fuels and Transportation Division. Paul Notari, founder of the Colorado Renewable Energy Society and former president of ASES, will serve as chair of this new division.

... Read more

The country’s

largest commercially owned photovoltaic system was recently installed on Long Island, New York. Covering 102,700 ft2 (9,540 m2) of three buildings owned by Fala Direct Marketing, the system is owned by the Long Island Power Authority and was designed and installed by PowerLight Corporation, using Shell Solar panels. The... Read more

The Path of Painted Potties.” After gracing the streets of Santa Fe during June and July, 75 creatively decorated toilets vied for honors in various categories, including TP Cruisers (for mobile entries) and Best Use of... Read more

Thank you for your coverage of Vermont Built Green in July 2003 (

Vol. 12, No. 7). I would like to correct the sentence that reads “Efficiency Vermont, a utility-funded demand-side management program in the state, currently covers all of the costs for Vermont Energy Star® compliance.” The Vermont Energy Star Homes service is jointly... Read more

are far less likely than permanent classrooms to be healthy environments, according to California’s Air Resources Board and Department of Health Services. During their two-year study, the state found portable classrooms to have inadequate ventilation and lighting levels; elevated particulate matter, moisture,... Read more

Over the past year, three companies have begun marketing a low-density, open-cell polyurethane foam insulation made, in part, from soybeans. By far the best organized and established of these is BioBased Systems of Spring Valley, Illinois. Experienced users tell EBN that BioBase 501 works just as well as its petrochemical-based competitors, and... Read more

Sunlight can convert triclosan, a disinfectant used in antibacterial and antimicrobial soaps and other products, into dioxin, according to a paper in the May 30, 2003 issue of the

Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry. Photodegradation of triclosan in the absence of chlorine can produce a relatively benign form of... Read more

The Emerging Green Builders subcommittee of the USGBC is steering the

first annual USGBC Design Competition. Participation is limited to current students of all disciplines and graduates with no more than three years’ experience in the industry. Winners will be announced at USGBC’s Greenbuild conference this November. Watch for details... Read more

After surveying its member companies, the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association estimates that the industry used nearly 2 billion pounds (900 million kg) of

recycled glass and blast-furnace slag in the manufacture of fiberglass and slag-wool insulation last year. Of that total, 58% was glass cullet and 42% was slag. Since... Read more

A number of state legislatures are reviewing

bills related to indoor air quality this session. Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Texas, and Virginia are considering legislation specifically addressing mold contamination.

For the last three years a group of committed builders and other experts has been meeting under the purview of Building for Social Responsibility (BSR) in Vermont to create the nation’s most comprehensive—greenest—residential green building program yet. Vermont Built Green (VBG) is being piloted this summer with a huge array of green criteria.... Read more

by Joseph W. Lstiburek, Ph.D., P.Eng.; Energy & Environmental Building Association, Minneapolis, MN, 2002. Available from EEBA, 952-881-1098,

www.eeba.org. Spiral-bound, 42 pages, $18 ($15 members).

EEBA Water Management Guide is a clear, concise booklet about preventing rain and groundwater entry into houses and light-... Read more

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by Leonard R. Bachman; John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, 2003. Hardcover, 479 pages, $75.

, a state-sponsored program, recently received an

Innovations in American Government Award—the “Oscar” of government awards—and $100,000 to support its activities. The nation’s first independent, ratepayer-funded energy-efficiency utility, Efficiency Vermont has saved more than 99,000 megawatt hours of electricity in... Read more