WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced that LEED Volume Program for Operations & Maintenance is now available for existing green building projects. The track, which focuses on operations and maintenance needs, debuted at the 2011 BOMA International Conference held in Washington, D.C. “With the launch of the Operations & Maintenance track, LEED’s largest users are now able to make a sizable impact in greening their existing building portfolio as well as achieving green design and construction of their new builds,” said Scot Horst, senior vice president, USGBC. “Because existing buildings make up the vast majority of the...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced the release of the comprehensively updated LEED Demand Response Pilot Credit. Originally launched in 2010, the revised and enhanced Demand Response Pilot Credit establishes guidelines that are anticipated to increase participation in automated demand response programs. Leading industry experts from the Demand Response Research Center at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL), Schneider Electric and Skipping Stone contributed to the development of the credit. LEED projects that satisfy the credit by demonstrating their ability to shift energy consumption during peak events by 10 percent of peak load demand will earn a point towards...

OAKLAND, CALIF.—Móz Designs introduces a new concept in interior décor, Móz Blendz Tapestry “floating wall” surfaces for use as room dividers and decorative elements in hospitality and hotel venues. Móz “floating walls” are fabricated from the company’s Blendz Laminate Metals, which are available in .040 gauge aluminum. Standard sheet sizes include 4-foot by 8-foot and 4-foot by 10-foot with custom dimensions also offered. The laminate metals are typically installed on the floating walls prior to site installation. The Blendz Collection features a dramatic surface treatment with blended colors, offered in a range of palettes from warm earth tones to cool...

MIAMI—Up on the roof of the 16-story Hampton Inn & Suites, a 221-room hotel in the Brickell Financial District of downtown Miami, building developer Hospitality Operations, Inc. originally planned to install solar thermal panels for the purpose of heating hot water. A local hurricane ordinance will prohibit them from adding the system to their property that is scheduled to open September 15. Even without the panels, the hotel is set to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification, according to Howard Wolfson, vice president operations for Nashville-based Hospitality America, Inc., the company that will manage the...

DALTON, GA.—California consumer support is needed to ensure the success of a new, ground-breaking Carpet Product Stewardship Law that will increase the recycling of carpet into valuable new products, preserve landfill space, reduce dependency on fossil fuels and create green jobs in California communities. Signed into law on September 30, 2010, AB 2398 is the first product stewardship law in the country to specifically address carpet. Beginning July 1, a $.05 per square yard stewardship assessment will be added to the sale of all carpet sold or shipped into California. The assessment will appear as a separate, after-tax line item...

NORTHBROOK, ILL.—UL Environment Inc., a business unit of UL (Underwriters Laboratories), and its affiliates are among the first organizations whose services help building products qualify for the recently released Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Pilot Credit 43, Certified Products. LEED has become synonymous with green building over the last decade and is the name of the green building guidelines set forth by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Projects earn points that contribute to meeting the LEED requirements. The announcement acknowledges that qualified products evaluated by UL Environment can contribute extra innovation points toward LEED certification. The recently...

ANN ARBOR, MICH.—In response to a growing demand for independently-verified sustainable furnishing fabrics, NSF International, an independent developer of American National Standards that protect public health and the environment, has developed an official American national standard for sustainable commercial furnishing fabrics—NSF/ANSI 336: Sustainability Assessment for Commercial Furnishings Fabric. Developing national standards by which to measure a product’s sustainability attributes brings transparency and credibility to the sustainability marketplace and helps eliminate greenwashing. Independent, third-party organizations can now certify commercial furnishing fabrics against the new Sustainable Commercial Furnishings standard to verify the furnishing fabrics are sustainable. This satisfies a growing demand from...

MORROW, GA.—TOTO announced that it has expanded its sustainability initiatives at its manufacturing facility in Morrow, Ga. The company has formed a cross-industrial strategic partnership with Crossville, Inc., manufacturers of premium Porcelain Stone tile, which has developed proprietary systems for processing pre-consumer sanitary ware, fired tile, and filtrate waste back to powder that is used in the manufacture of new tile. Crossville will introduce its new EcoCycle Recycling Processes at NEOCON, where both companies will display in Chicago, June 13 to 15, 2011. “There’s no ‘silver bullet’ when it comes to reducing a facility’s carbon footprint,” said Bill Strang, senior...

DALTON, GA.—Shaw Industries Group, Inc. has increased the recycled content in Eco Solution Q, the company’s premium branded Cradle to Cradle Silver certified carpet fiber, to 45 percent. Eco Solution Q now contains 20 percent pre-consumer recycled content and 25 percent post-consumer recycled content sourced from caprolactam (the monomer or ‘building block’ of Nylon 6) recovered through Shaw’s Evergreen Nylon 6 Recycling facility in Augusta, Ga. The recycled content is based on allocated nylon fiber from Shaw’s total nylon fiber production and determined as a percent of total Eco Solution Q nylon output; based on this method, recycled content...

CHICAGO—The 43rd annual NeoCon, at Chicago’s Merchandise Mart, offers attendees a wide variety of educational programming. The event will be held June 13 to 15, 2011. NeoCon offers a wide variety of CEU accredited seminars for interior designers, architects, lighting designers, professionals in LEED credential maintenance and more. Over the three day show, attendees will have access to 140 seminars, association forums, special events, featured programs and leading-edge keynote speakers. Hospitality designers will find a variety of programming specifically for their industry. All hospitality design programs are sponsored by NEWH and presented under the Hospitality Design educational track. They...