Indoor air quality will play a key role in a Pennsylvania research, development, and deployment project that is designed to make buildings more energy efficient, Paul Hallacher, a spokesperson for the "Energy Innovation Hub," told Green Building Insider. "Indoor air quality is very much a part of this," he said. "We have indoor air quality specialists as part of our team.... We're talking about energy-efficient, healthy buildings. We're not sealing buildings up. That's what was done in the 1970s, and many people believe that's what caused the asthma epidemic in the [United States]." In this edition of GBI, Hallacher provides details about timetables for project milestones, the types the technologies that will be tested, and other information.
Also in this issue, an American Institute of Architects official has offered his prediction to GBI about the chances of congressional Property Assessed Clean Energy legislation passing this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has withdrawn a key portion of its stormwater management regulations for builders and developers, and there are plenty of new Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design developments to report. In addition, federal officials have announced $100 million in first-round awards under a green-renovation program for affordable housing developments, GBI has summarized 14 recently released publications that focus on green construction, and we conclude our 10-part series of articles profiling state bills that address green buildings.