BOSTON—Some 4,000 renewable energy and green building experts will bring their cutting edge thinking—and very strong opinions—to Boston in March for the BuildingEnergy11 Conference and Tradeshow. Now in its 36th year, BuildingEnergy11 (BE11) is organized by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), and is the oldest and largest regional renewable energy event in the country. On Tuesday, March 8, three workshops at BE11 will highlight different constructs for gauging energy efficiency and environmental impact beyond the USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system: Zero Net Energy, Passive House, and The Living Building Challenge. “NESEA believes in the...

LAS VEGAS—Green Day will precede Hospitality Design Exposition & Conference (HD Expo) once again this year, taking place at the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas on Tuesday, May 17. Green Day is the only accredited conference of its kind that brings together a targeted group of passionate industry leaders dedicated to sustainable hospitality design. This unique forum continues to be at the forefront of education and innovation to promote more socially responsible, ethical and eco-friendly practices within the industry. While the U.S. market of green building products and services has increased 500 percent in the past...

OAKLAND, CALIF.—A leader in the creative use of recycled metals, Móz Designs introduces Blendz Sculptures, laser-cut metal wall art that heightens visual interest in a hotel or restaurant setting. Each Blendz Sculpture is composed of a series of panels that “interface” in geometric or curvilinear patterns to create a singular work of art. Though available in standard configurations and sizes, each Blendz Sculpture is considered unique because of the hand-etched patterns and rich Blendz color overlay featured within each piece. Blendz laser-cut wall art can be installed in lobbies, guestrooms, halls, restaurants, bars and lounges and in resort settings. Standard...

NEW YORK—The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus has recommended that Applied Textiles and Nano-Tex, Inc. discontinue a wide range of advertising claims made for three fabric-coating products—Nano-Tex, Nano-Tex with Durablock, and Nano-Tex with BioAM. NAD, the advertising industry’s self-regulatory forum, examined the claims made by Applied Textiles and Nano-Tex, Inc., following a challenge by Crypton, Inc., a competing textile manufacturer.  A key issue in NAD’s review was print and Internet advertising claims that the treated fabric produced by the advertisers was “certified,” “compliant,” or “approved” by federal agencies that include the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Occupational...

CROSSVILLE, TENN.—Crossville’s new Sustainable Samples kit, which contains realistic “tile” samples made of recycled and recyclable card-stock, has been created using advanced high-resolution imaging technology to capture a near-exact visual of each tile. This earth-friendly chip kit contains every tile and every color in Crossville’s Porcelain Stone collection—more than 230 colors—in a compact, lightweight kit that is about 10" x 10" x 4". It is intended to help architects and designers make preliminary color and product selections, allowing them to have an entire product line in their libraries in a minimum of space. The back of the tile has a...

SPRINGDALE, ARK.—MoistureShield composite decking products from Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies (A.E.R.T.) are now verified with 95 percent total recycled content—up from the 90 percent total recycled content previously listed in company literature. A report issued by the International Code Council Evaluation Service (ICC-ES) provides independent verification of 57 percent pre-consumer recycled content and 38 percent post-consumer recycled content. The report also gives design and building professionals a fast and easy way to see how MoistureShield composite decking can help contribute towards rating points under leading green building programs. “Composite decking brands vary greatly in their amount of recycled content,” says...

GREENVILLE, MAINE—A new green destination for outdoor recreation in Maine’s 100-Mile Wilderness region is now available to the public with the official opening of the Appalachian Mountain Club’s (AMC) Gorman Chairback Lodge and Cabins, on Long Pond, between Greenville and Brownville. The new central lodge building is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) registered, making it the first sporting camp lodge in Maine, and one of only a handful of backcountry facilities in the nation, to be LEED registered. Overseen by the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED provides a nationally recognized set of industry standards for evaluation and certification...

SAN FRANCISCO—Smith & Fong Co. announced the company has launched a new range of sugar-palm plywood, wall paneling and flooring products. Joining the company’s line of Durapalm coconut palm plywood, flooring, veneers and panels, Smith & Fong’s new Deco palm products feature an almost three-dimensional appearance. “The new Deco palm design is an assemblage of the full range of textures and rich colors inherent to this species of palm,” company founder and president Dan Smith said. “The Deco wall panel product is actually three-dimensional, as the surface is constructed of varying thicknesses of material. Our flooring and plywood sheet products...

ATLANTA—An integrated design approach to building energy modeling—and learning how to use modeling tools more effectively—improves the accuracy and reliability of simulation results and increases the return on time and resources invested to generate the models. ASHRAE’s Energy Modeling Conference: Tools for Designing High Performance Buildings, April 4 to 6, 2011, ASHRAE headquarters, Atlanta, will provide hands-on modelers and principals with the information to better harness the power of energy modeling tools. The conference covers modeling fundamentals, building component contributions, software demonstrations and case studies. A collaborative perspective is provided that demonstrates how energy models and computer simulations can...

SAN FRANCISCO—InterContinental San Francisco announced that it has been awarded LEED Gold certification under the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance (LEED EBOM) program. LEED is USGBC’s rating system for designing, constructing and maintaining the world’s greenest, most energy efficient and high performing buildings. InterContinental San Francisco is the first property in the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts portfolio to achieve LEED certification for an existing building. To achieve LEED EBOM, InterContinental San Francisco was evaluated on operational efficiency and minimization of environmental impact. To date, it is the largest...