BuildingGreen Report

News Brief

December 1, 2002

In September, Global Green USA presented the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Rating System with a

2002 Building Design Award for Designing a Sustainable and Secure World. Global Green USA is online at www.globalgreen.org.

News Brief

December 1, 2002

The cement industry has announced the merging of two major organizations. The

American Portland Cement Alliance (APCA) will continue its work in government affairs as a division of the newly expanded trade group, the

Portland Cement Association (PCA). In conjunction with its reorganization, the PCA is launching a new logo and... Read more

News Analysis

December 1, 2002
The U.S. Green Building Council has shown remarkable growth since its establishment in 1993; and the past three years yielded a 600% growth in membership! The current member tally is over 2,000 companies, and organizations, including building and design professionals, manufacturers, nonprofit groups, colleges and universities, and all levels of... Read more

News Brief

December 1, 2002

The Oregon chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has recognized Portland-based

Walker Macy landscape architects and planners with their first

Honor Award for Environmental and Sustainable Design. The firm was chosen for its work on Lewis & Clark College’s new Center for Social Sciences, which is... Read more

News Brief

December 1, 2002

Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability, software from the Building and Fire Research Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Free download from www.bfrl.nist.gov/oae/bees.html or order from the U.S. EPA’s Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse, 202/566-0799, ppic@epamail.epa.gov. For further... Read more

News Brief

December 1, 2002

Over 80% of Earth’s land surface feels direct influence from humans, according to a comprehensive report from the Wildlife Conservation Society and Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network. Only parts of the boreal forests of Canada and Russia, the deserts of Africa and Australia, the Arctic tundra, and... Read more

News Analysis

December 1, 2002
While far too much was presented at the conference to permit a comprehensive overview, the

EBN editors, along with longtime educator, author, and green architect Bill Bobenhausen, FAIA, attended many sessions and summarized a few highlights below. Presentation materials, including PowerPoint files, abstracts, and papers, are available online at... Read more

News Brief

December 1, 2002
Environmental Building News

is proud to join the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE), the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and Kaiser Permanente in receipt of

Leadership Awards from the Healthy Building Network. Winners were selected for their “actions that have accelerated the transition to... Read more

Feature

December 1, 2002
Likely to be remembered as a watershed in the sustainable building movement, the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) first annual International Conference and Exposition, held in Austin, Texas last month, was a resounding success. While the Council hoped for about 2,000 attendees, the final tally, including exhibitors, was 4,189 registrants. The... Read more

News Brief

December 1, 2002

“Evaluation of LEED™ Using Life Cycle Assessment Methods” by Chris W. Scheuer and Gregory A. Keoleian, Center for Sustainable Systems, University of Michigan. Report prepared for Barbara Lippiatt, Building and Fire Research Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology. Document #NIST GCR 02-836, 157 pages, 1.8 MB file available... Read more

News Brief

December 1, 2002

Big & Green: Toward Sustainable Architecture in the 21st Century,” the National Building Museum’s newest exhibition, will open in Washington, D.C. on January 17. Big & Green will explore green architecture from design, historical, and technical perspectives and profile roughly 50 green projects from around the world. The... Read more

News Brief

December 1, 2002

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is seeking applicants for its 2003 National Green Building Awards, to be announced at the National Green Building Conference March 30 through April 1, 2003 in Baltimore, Maryland. Applications are due December 31. For more information, call 888-602-HOME or visit www.nahbrc.org.

 

News Brief

November 1, 2002

A Sunoco gas station in Markham, Ontario has opened

Canada’s first solar car wash. The Canadian government and Suncor Energy Products Inc. are teaming up to convert standard car-wash stations to use solar systems similar to residential solar water heaters. Car-wash stations use an average 69 gallons (260 l) of hot water—roughly the... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2002

A single-family home near the Twin Cities in Minnesota is the first to be constructed according to the American Lung Association’s recently revised

Health House® guidelines. The home, completed in September and open for tours, was designed with special attention to ventilation, air filtration, and moisture control. A second Health House... Read more

News Analysis

November 1, 2002

SierraPine Ltd., a Roseville, California-based company specializing in composite panels, is reformulating and renaming its Medite FR, a Class 1, fire-retardant medium-density fiberboard (MDF) panel. It was formerly manufactured with a polyurea resin matrix adhesive (MDI) rather than conventional formaldyhyde-based resins. The new product,... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2002

Kane Hardwood, a Collins Company, has been awarded the

National Hardwood Lumber Association’s (NHLA) Forest Stewardship Award. Kane was recognized for its achievements in public education, political involvement, private landowner education, forest stewardship, and efficient resource utilization. Kane, which owns and manages over 125,000... Read more

Product Review

November 1, 2002
An increasingly familiar sight in new commercial construction, interior lightshelves are gaining popularity for their effectiveness at distributing daylight deep into a room while controlling glare. When coupled with a photosensor-controlled lighting system, lightshelves dramatically reduce the use of electric lights and therefore the cooling load... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2002

The

Clean Water Act celebrated its 30th birthday on October 18. The law has enjoyed bipartisan support and has accomplished much to protect America’s water resources. Since its inception in 1972, for example, the act has slowed the rate of wetland loss by 75% and doubled the number of households served by sewage treatment plants.... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2002
Ben Shepherd

is leaving his position as research consultant for the Green Development Services division of the

Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) to work for a leading U.K. firm of green consulting engineers and landscape architects,

Battle McCarthy Ltd. After a stint in London, Shepherd will be setting up a U.S. office for that firm... Read more

News Analysis

November 1, 2002

The Energy Star™ Commercial Buildings program recognizes buildings that perform in the top 25% of their class in terms of energy use. As part of that program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set up a Web-based tool called

Portfolio Manager. Users enter information from their energy bills into Portfolio Manager, which... Read more