Championing the
Changemakers

One of the world’s largest manufacturers of personal products has committed to pursuing LEED certification for all new facilities worldwide. Procter & Gamble (P&G) broke ground in February 2011 on the first site for which it will seek a LEED rating—a manufacturing plant in Taicang, Jiangsu Province, China. According to P&G, its... Read more

We spend a lot of time and money making our homes more energy efficient. Whether adding insulation, upgrading windows, replacing incandescent light bulbs, or replacing appliances, efforts we make to use less energy save us money and help... Read more

By Laura Raskin

Architects Milena Karanesheva and Mischa Witzmann’s bamboo-clad passive house in Bessancourt, France, 20 miles northwest of Paris, has lured architectural tourists, locals, film crews, and friends of friends. They’ve come around to marvel at its presence in a town where 12th- and 13th-century structures along dense,... Read more

The STAR Community Index, a livability and sustainability rating system for communities, is launching this year with ten participating “beta communities.” Developed by ICLEI–Local Governments for Sustainability in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council and the Center for American Progress, the STAR rating system is inspired by the... Read more

A federal judge in Tacoma, Washington, has upheld the state’s right to regulate the overall energy efficiency of buildings, even if complying with such codes could involve the purchase of equipment that is more efficient than federal regulations require.

The incentive program,... Read more

Forget zero-VOC:

EBN is seeing more “negative-VOC” interior products. With its new AirRenew wallboard, CertainTeed aims to actually remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the room where the product is installed. It won’t remove all VOCs, but the company claims that it does a good job with one of our most prevalent—and troubling—... Read more

We’ve seen numerous green rating systems for buildings, but there is currently no comprehensive way to rate the sustainability of structures like bridges and water treatment plants.

UL Environment, the environmentally focused subsidiary of international product-testing organization Underwriters Laboratories (UL), has launched an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) program. The EPD program will provide a multi-attribute label documenting the life-cycle impact of a product, including such indicators as greenhouse gas... Read more

The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), which sets policy in four Southern California counties, is updating its standards regarding volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in paints and other coatings. The proposed changes would cut maximum VOC limits in half for primers, special primers, sealers, and undercoaters from 100 grams per... Read more

Two new low-VOC interior wood stain systems are arriving on the market: Vermont Natural Coatings’ zero-VOC Woodtone Series Concentrated Tints with a zero-VOC base, and Sansin’s Purity Interior 0-VOC Stain base with low-VOC Eco-Tone Color System tints. Both systems offer low-VOC options in a category known for high-VOC products.

Nearly all of our electricity generation options involve converting mechanical energy into electrical energy—usually using a dynamo or turbine. The significant exception is photovoltaics, in which sunlight is converted directly into electricity—with no moving parts.

Photovoltaic (PV) cells use a phenomenon called the photovoltaic effect... Read more

Commercial carpeting and textiles are subjected to dirt, spilled drinks, pathogens, cleaning chemicals, and a variety of other abuses. Fibers can absorb liquids or allow them to pass through into cushioning beneath, making cleaning difficult, particularly for furniture. Manufacturers add treatments that repel water and oils;... Read more

Thermal energy storage (TES) is mostly used in our largest buildings, but that may finally change. Two major manufacturers of rooftop air conditioning units, Trane and Carrier, have teamed up with Ice Energy to offer “ice-ready” equipment compatible with Ice Bear TES technology. The “plug-and-play” equipment will allow owners of small and... Read more

Froling is a leading Austrian manufacturer of wood-burning heating equipment. The company's cordwood and pellet boilers distributed in North America by Tarm Biomass (previously BioHeat USA), in Lyme, New Hampshire... Read more

What is the value of energy savings at the building level if we’re not also looking seriously at energy savings from transportation to and from our buildings? (See EBN’sintroduction to the topic in “Driving to Green Buildings: The Transportation Energy Intensity of Buildings,” Sept. 2007.) Thanks to a study commissioned by the U.S.... Read more

Over the past two weeks I've written about two relatively obscure passive... Read more

The European Union announced last week that it is banning HBCD (hexabromocyclododecane), the brominated flame retardant used in polystyrene building insulation. The ban will take effect by mid-2015 and be implemented through the European Union's REACH program (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals).

HBCD... Read more