Industry Standards News

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GBI standard gains ANSI approval

BRATTLEBORO, Vt.—The Green Building Initiative (GBI), which administers the Green Globes rating system for commercial buildings, has announced that the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has approved the rating system as an accredited national standard. The standard includes seven areas of assessment: Project Management, Site, Water, Energy, Emissions, Indoor Environment, and Resources. New additions to the rating system include a water consumption calculator, a materials and resources section that fully incorporates Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and an emphasis on building integrity issues.

For more information visit www.thegbi.org

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Standard addresses air filters

WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, Penna.—Manufacturers developing treated fabrics or air filters, as well as end users who want to specify an article that performs under conditions of moisture and nutrient load, will be the primary users of ASTM International standard ASTM E2722, Test Method for Using Seeded-Agar for the Screening Assessment of Antimicrobial Activity in Fabric and Air Filter Media.

ASTM E2722 is under the jurisdiction of Subcommittee E35.15 on Antimicrobial Agents, part of ASTM International Committee E35 on Pesticides and Alternative Control Agents. 

For more information, see www.astm.org

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DOT and EPA address energy use of passenger cars

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have jointly established federal rules that set the first-ever national greenhouse gas emissions standards.

The rules could potentially save the average buyer of a 2016 model year car $3,000 over the life of the vehicle and, nationally, will conserve about 1.8 billion barrels of oil and reduce nearly a billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the lives of the vehicles covered.

For more information, see www.epa.gov

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Standard to improve IAQ

ATLANTA– A proposed guideline, by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning (ASHRAE) would provide guidance on achieving good indoor environments by considering the interactions of air quality and thermal conditions as well as lighting and acoustics.

ASHRAE Guideline 10P, Interactions Affecting the Achievement of Acceptable Indoor Environments, calls attention to many interactions that designers might not have previously recognized or understood. The guideline is open for comment until May 24.

For more information, see www.ashrae.org

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Green lease introduced

PLACE – OSCRE (Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate), has published the Lease Abstract Exchange, Version 2  (LSAB v2.0) which extends OSCRE’s vendor-neutral language and framework for abstracting commercial leases by now providing a capability for exporting and importing abstracts of  ‘Green Leases’. 

Green Lease contracts and templates incorporate energy and water efficiency, emissions reduction, waste minimization and other sustainability objectives throughout the entire commercial leasing process. 

View and download the specification at www.oscre.org 

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