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.
Measurement and verification (M&V) involves recording actual energy use over the course of occupancy, and comparing that data with the estimated energy use seen in the design. The M&V process ensures all systems are performing as specified and identifies any anomalies in equipment, operations procedures or user habits. In addition, an M&V plan can help reduce energy costs, assist with commissioning, and, over time, document and improve the efficiencies of energy conservation measures.
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).
Update! See our ongoing coverage of LEED Interpretations and addenda here.
Last week I wrote about sunspaces and how they can be used to deliver passive solar heat to our homes.
Last month USGBC issued IDc2 (IOc2 in EBOM), the new path is part of IDc1: Innovation in Design.
All right, it's not a product. But the 2030 Challenge for Products, announced today by Ed Mazria's organization, Architecture 2030, BuildingGreen, and others, promises to make a lot of products a lot greener.
From LEEDuser's sister publication Environmental Building News:
A federal lawsuit filed in October 2010 against the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and other defendants, focusing on allegedly fraudulent claims of the LEED rating system, has been amended. Filed February 7th, 2011, the amended complaint has been boiled down to a claim of false advertising, and is no longer a class-action suit.
Way back in the late 1970s, I worked for the New Mexico Solar Energy Association in Santa Fe. I ran the Workshop Program, leading a crew of three or four like-mined idealists teaching mostly low-income New Mexicans about solar energy through hands-on construction workshops.
