Championing the
Changemakers

My friend and one of the nation’s leading pioneers in energy efficiency, Blair Hamilton of Burlington, Vermont, died on April 8, 2011 after a long battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He was first diagnosed with the disease in 1991, but continued his highly productive work for two more decades.

In 1986, Blair was the cofounder... Read more

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published a higher emissions standard for producers of PVC (polyvinyl chloride), the type of vinyl commonly used to make pipes, windows, siding, and other building products. The proposed new rule is designed to protect public health in communities near the plants.

PVC plants emit a... Read more

The American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment (AIA-COTE) has announced its Top Ten Green Projects for 2011. “The bar has been raised” since the Top Ten competition began, noted members of the jury. “Now we want to see diverse project types, projects that resolve urban issues or social issues, projects that change... Read more

Build tight, ventilate right is the building science mantra. Spray-on latex sealants provide a new tool for airtight construction.

Last month I watched a demonstration of Owens Corning's "... Read more

Sometimes being a practical person isn’t that fun. Last night my wife and I were watching the classic 1977 movie, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

Leading up to the climactic scene, the protagonists are racing to the location where they expect aliens to appear, while outrunning the U.S. Army and the United Nations. To do... Read more

Dow Global Technologies has announced a new flame retardant for use in polystyrene insulation. Dow hopes the new chemical, a brominated flame-retardant (BFR), will replace HBCD (hexabromocyclododecane), a BFR whose use has come under fire from the European Union for environmental and health reasons (see “Flame Retardant Used in... Read more

It turns out you can learn a thing or two from your fuel bill—and if you get fuel delivered, your delivery ticket.

But first, how cold a winter did you think it was? Or perhaps I should say, how cold has it been so far? I’m struggling to get a fire going this morning, and out my window there is two feet of snowpack still on the... Read more

In April's EBN, we take a look at green structural engineering, insulation in-fighting, and a revolutionary anticorrosion coating. Plus: embodied carbon in 500 words or less!

Kitchen renovation on your list? We pick some standout green products that are worth a look.If you're trying to green a kitchen, you're in luck. Kitchens use a lot of energy and water, and as an indoor environment, they are a place we like to keep... Read more

Power corrupts, and wind power corrupts pristine ridgelines. Maybe it doesn't have to.

I've always assumed that opponents of wind power were just displaying a faux-green kind of NIMBYism. If these protestors really cared about the... Read more

EBN June 2007). According to researcher Barbara Lippiatt at the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), which developed BEES, the online version is “basically equivalent” to BEES 4.0, with a few small changes, including the removal of two metrics: operational energy use for products impacting building energy efficiency, and... Read more

EonCoat and EonCoat HT (for high-temperature applications) are waterborne, ceramic, corrosion-resistant coatings made for commercial... Read more

The One World Trade Center construction project in New York (formerly called the Freedom Tower) has been using food and waste composting systems during the first phase of construction, to be completed in 2013. In line with the project goal of LEED Gold (see "WTC Going for Gold,” EBN Oct. 2006), construction practices, including waste management... Read more

by CMPBS, 8604 FM 969, Austin, Texas, 78724; www.cmpbs.org. Published 2010, 332 pages, hardback, $75.

Source: The American Institute of Architects (AIA). Survey done June 23 – July 2, 2010,

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