Green Depot, the self-titled nation's biggest building material dealers specializing in environmentally sustainable building products, grew even larger when the New York-based company announced it had acquired Ecohaus, a similar operation with locations in Seattle, San Francisco, and Portland, Ore. More
Following a U.S. Green Building Council vote that failed to pass a wood-certification benchmark, the Forest Stewardship Council's U.S. chapter has urged the council to continue to strive for a benchmark by sending out a revised ballot. More
A coalition led by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative has put more effort into persuading Congress, statehouses, and the public over the USGBC's wood-certification rules than it has in reaching the USGBC members who will vote on issue. On the other hand, USGBC's murky voting rules don't give SFI much choice. Analysis by ProSales editor Craig Webb. More
The U.S. Green Building Council requested comment recently on a fourth draft of its proposed scheme to determine which forest certification schemes would qualify for points under its LEED system, and three of its sharpest critics already have declared--again, for sharply different reasons--that they don't like it. More
Initial responses to the U.S. Green Building Council's proposed revisions of how wood qualifies under its LEED green building scheme indicate the principal wood certification groups are still unhappy--for much different reasons--with how USGBC is handling the issue. More
Nestled in northwest Connecticut's Berkshire Mountains, Washington Supply has always been surrounded by green. Three years ago, the dealer began returning the favor by deciding to become a regional leader in green building. Not long after that and nearly 3,000 miles way, executives at another dealer took similar action: Parr Lumber launched its GET REAL! program of environmentally friendly and sustainable products. More
The U.S. Green Building Council hopes to finish work by year-end on a proposal to allow wood certified by groups other than the Forest Stewardship Council to qualify for points under USGBC's LEED program for green construction, a vice president of the council told lumber dealers and distributors March 17. More
The Forest Stewardship Council, the key wood certification standard-setter in green construction, is doubling its accreditation administration fees for chain of custody certification as well as retaliating against certifying bodies that suggest other standard-setters' rules are as good as FSC's. More
