Green

Atlanta-based Acuity Brands launched four new post-top LED luminaires from Antique Street Lamps that combine modern LED light sources with a traditional appearance.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the British maker of D-Con products refused to adopt the agency's safety standards.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) have announced a research collaboration effort to assess any potential impacts of nanomaterials on people’s health and the environment. Nanomaterials are very small particles that are about 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair appear in many household products ranging from clothing to building materials.

On the fifth anniversary of the Environmental Protection Agency's WaterSense program, organizers say the system has saved 125 billion gallons of water. That’s equal to three days’ flow of water over Niagara Falls.

Over the last five years, WaterSense labeled products have also helped users reduce their water and energy bills by more than $2 billion, avoid greenhouse gas emissions equal to removing 1.2 million cars from the road, and save enough energy to power more than 1.5 million American homes for a year.

Two of the nation’s largest dealers of green building materials became one this week when Green Depot purchased Ecohaus, a Pacific Northwest icon, creating an East-West network of environmentally friendly LBM stores. 

In an unanimous 6-0 decision, the U.S. International Trade Commission has determined that solar panel manufacturers in the United States have been injured by underpriced imports from China. This clears the way for tariffs and anti-dumping penalties by the U.S. Commerce Department, which has already projected it will levy countervailing duties of 24% to 36% against imported Chinese photovoltaic cell (PVC) panels.

A report titled, "Saving Windows, Saving Money: Evaluating the Energy Performance of Window Retrofit and Replacement," concludes that upgrading windows (specifically older, single-pane models) with exterior storm windows and insulating shades can result in substantial energy savings across a variety of climate zones.    

A report from the Preservation Green Lab finds that it is way more “green” to retrofit an old building than build from ground up.

The report, “The Greenest Building: Quantifying the Environmental Value of Building Reuse,” was produced by Preservation Green Lab of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.