NORTH CAROLINA GROUP PUBLISHES HIGH PERFORMANCE GUIDELINES
A consortium of North Carolina municipal and county government agencies tapped some four dozen local building professionals to develop green building guidelines for the state's Region J, consisting of Orange, Chatham, Durham, Johnston, Lee, and Wake counties. Even though the guidelines are geared toward public buildings, more than half of the committee members were from the private sector. After eight months of work, the group recently released the "High Performance Guidelines: Triangle Region Public Facilities," a 170-page document that describes measures to save energy and water, reduce the use of materials, reduce indoor pollutants and improve the indoor environment. The document also describes exemplary local projects, including the soon-to-be-completed Smith Middle School, which uses daylighting, collects and reuses rainwater, and has a solar water pre-heating system. The group also devised a rating system to compare the energy efficiency of government buildings. "I'm hoping that the example that is set by the school system, the counties and the municipalities will be accepted by some private developers also," says Robert Egan, an engineer with The Wooten Company who helped develop the guidelines. "There are some private developers that understand the marketing potential for leasing developed space with sustainable guidelines." Download the guidelines: http://www.tjcog.dst.nc.us/hpgtrpf.htm. The Chapel Hill News, 25 Feb 01, by Nancy E. Oates, and The Business Journal (Raleigh Durham), 16 Mar 01, by Denise Sherman.

VIRGINIA COUNTY TRIES NEW APPROACH TO WORKING WITH DEVELOPERS
Loudoun County, Virginia, recently created an environmental review team as part of its efforts to transform the way it does environmental business with developers. Planners now review development proposals jointly rather than separately. They often make group field visits to development sites and write group reports addressing a development's environmental impacts. Instead of mailing the report to developers, they meet with developers to discuss ways to correct problems such as proposed housing lots that are too close to stream banks or proposed streets that cross flood plains. Kevin Rogers of Oak Hill Properties says the new approach makes him feel less like the county is dictating changes and more like it is inviting him to share in decisions that could affect his company's bottom line. The reviews are not enforceable, however. "There are, of course, developers that say, 'Show it to me in black and white in the ordinances, or I'm not going to do it,'" says Bruce McGranahan of the county's building and development department. Some local citizen watchdogs express concern that the new approach won't change anything. County planners, however, say that a little back-and-forth with developers is better than none. "If we do make a recommendation and the developer says no, the developer says no," says Scott Berger, a Loudoun County project manager. "The flip side of that is there are a lot of developers out there who are environmentally sensitive and who will change their design." [For more information email: bmcgrana@co.loudoun.va.us.] Washington Post, 22 Apr 01, by Jennifer Lenhart.

NEW JERSEY ECOCOMPLEX OPENS
New Jersey's $6 million EcoComplex officially opened on April 23. The center, in Columbus, Burlington County, is designed to help companies develop new technologies to deal with pollution. Designed by Nadaskay Kopelson Architects, the 32,000-square-foot building includes a daylight-filled atrium, a 120-seat auditorium, laboratory space and an education center where school groups will be taught about the environment. Solar screens on windows moderate the summer's sun while allowing the winter's sun to reach floor slabs inside that help heat the building. The EcoComplex is a joint venture led by Rutgers University, Stevens Institute of Technology and Burlington County. Two companies, Acrion Technologies Inc. and Carbozyme Inc., already have taken up residence and are experimenting with ways of reusing the methane gas that is released by the Burlington County Resource Recovery Center, which is next door to the complex. [For more information email: gormanm@nkarchitects.com.] The (Newark) Star-Ledger, 24 Apr 01, by Anthony S. Twyman.

U-WISCONSIN COMMENDED FOR EFFORTS TO CUT LIGHT POLLUTION
"Society is using too much light," says David Liebl of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Liebl is part of a growing effort to reduce light pollution by educating the public on outdoor lighting techniques. Poorly designed lights create glare that can be more hazardous than helpful. A common misconception is that an unsafe area needs more lighting, when instead "it's a question of better-quality lighting," Liebl says. Better lighting can be created simply by placing a shield or visor on a light, eliminating glare and directing the shine downward. "The United States wastes almost $1 billion a year on lighting that provides neither safety nor security, but simply lights the night sky and creates an adverse effect on nocturnal creatures and migrating birds," Liebl says. The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) recently honored the University of Wisconsin for its work to reduce light pollution. Those efforts include publishing a brochure, "Sensible Shoreland Lighting," and ongoing work with community groups on a model ordinance for outdoor lighting. Badger Herald (U. Wisconsin), 16 Apr 01, by Amber Rose Fonzen, and Wisconsin State Journal, 12 Apr 01, by Brenda Ingersoll. [More: visit IDA's Web site at http://www.darksky.org]

A FEW RETAILERS FOCUS EXCLUSIVELY ON GREEN BUILDING PRODUCTS
Although a number of conventional building materials retailers offer some green products, in the U.S. there are only about a dozen retailers that deal exclusively in green building products. Located in Colorado, the Pacific Northwest, California, New York City and Austin, Texas, these are relatively small operations that often rely on mail-order and Internet sales to augment local business. The majority focus on healthy interior finish products, and also offer flooring materials and home products and equipment. Many of these businesses also provide green design and materials consulting. Exclusively green building materials retailers face real challenges. For example, as products become popular, mainstream retailers pick them up, and economies of scale can result in prices that the green retailers can't match. Environmental Building News, Apr 01, p 1, by Peter Yost. [Full text and list of retailers: http://www.buildingreen.com/ebn/current.html.]


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