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NAHB Unveils Residential Green Building Guidelines

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the NAHB Research Center unveiled their new National Model Green Home Building Guidelines at the 2005 International Builders’ Show. Developed by a stakeholder group of nearly 60 builders, environmentalists, government agencies and product manufacturers, the guidelines will provide a national baseline for practical green building approaches for the residential construction industry. A new non-profit organization, the Green Building Initiative (GBI), has been created to help implement the guidelines in markets across the country. Said Ward Hubbell, executive director of the GBI, “While we appreciate the tremendous strides made by green building pioneers, our focus is on helping the everyday builder take steps that are environmentally progressive and also builder-friendly.” Working in concert with the NAHB and local Home Builder Associations, the GBI plans to create locally relevant green building programs — through which builders who meet certain set criteria can market their homes as “green” built. Programs are currently in development in several U.S. markets. The GBI will also promote Green Globes — its web-based green building standard that enables designers to incorporate green features at the outset of projects. While the common misperception remains that green building has to be expensive, […]

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Europe Protects 5,000 Sites in the Northern Woodlands

BRUSSELS, Belgium, January 17, 2005 – The European network of sites protecting threatened and vulnerable species and habitats was expanded today to include thousands of locations in the boreal, or northern, woodlands. The European Commission adopted the list of Natura 2000 sites which covers the main parts of Finland and Sweden. Norway is not included as it is not a member of the European Union. Species and sites under Natura 2000 benefit from increased protection through a number of safeguards which must be respected The list includes over 5,000 sites providing protection for species such as the lynx, the flying squirrel and fairy slipper, and for habitats such as Western Taiga, raised bogs and aapa mires, as well as freshwater and land upheaval coast habitats. Among the protected types of lands are wooded dunes, woodland bogs, Baltic islets and small islands, Atlantic salt meadows, large shallow inlets and bays, and reefs. The Boreal region is one of six bio-geographic regions in EU-15 and the fifth for which the Commission has adopted a list. Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said, “Natura 2000 is central to meeting the EU’s objective of halting the decline of biodiversity by 2010. Its completion is now well […]

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Study Finds Current US Law Cuts More Pollution Than 'Clear Skies

Changes to clean-air law proposed by the Bush administration – known as the “Clear Skies” initiative – would reduce less power plant pollution than aggressive enforcement of the current law, according to a new study by the National Academy of Sciences. The utility industry supports the Bush legislation because it would replace a plant-by-plant cleanup strategy favored by the Clinton administration with a broad emissions trading program that industry officials say would give companies flexibility while achieving at least comparable environmental benefits. Democrats and environmentalists, however, contend the bill would weaken the existing Clean Air Act, and they favor other bills such as the Clean Power Act, drafted by Sen. Jim Jeffords, I-Vt., which would reduce twice as much pollution as Clear Skies and limit greenhouse gas emissions. The Clinton administration in 1998 had begun an aggressive enforcement initiative against the utility industry, suing individual utilities for allegedly violating the Clean Air Act’s New Source Review provisions, which prohibit plants from making certain changes without installing clean-air technology. The Bush administration, however, has largely rejected this approach. Bush officials have instead pushed a new interpretation of New Source Review that would allow companies more latitude to modify their plants without […]

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Nature Conservancy Receives $12 Million From Caterpiller

The Caterpillar Foundation of Caterpillar Inc. has donated $12 million to The Nature Conservancy (TNC) – the largest corporate gift TNC has received to date, to guide protection of the world’s vanishing freshwater supply and transform the way large working river systems are preserved and protected. The Great Rivers Partnership will create integrated models for sustaining great river systems of the world. “Freshwater systems in the 21st century will be one of the most important issues for conservation organizations and governments to address. As the world’s population grows, people will need continued access to freshwater to thrive,” said Steve McCormick, the Conservancy’s president and chief executive officer. “Business leaders must work together to achieve lasting results that allow commerce and natural places to thrive side-by-side,” said Caterpillar Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim Owens. A central component of this new project, the Great Rivers Center for Conservation and Learning, will be at the heart of transforming how these magnificent and critical systems are protected. As the intellectual cornerstone for the Great Rivers Partnership, the center will identify cross-cutting issues and activities that threaten large rivers globally; it will develop and support project work that will inform and demonstrate ways to […]

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