On Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 8:30 PM local time, we will be taking part in Earth Hour – a global event in which millions of people will turn out their lights to make a statement of concern about our planet and climate change.

Sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour got started just two years ago and is now the largest event of its kind in the world. Las year, more than 50 million participated and the lights went out at the Empire Stat Building, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Sydney Opera House and the Coliseum in Rome, just to name a few. Even Google’s homepage went black for the day. In Israel, President Shimon Peres personally turned off lights in Tel Aviv.

This year, Earth Day will be even bigger-already over 250 cities in 74 countries have agreed to take part including Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami and Nashville with more signing up every day. Around the world cities like Moscow, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Shanghai and Mexico City will turn out their lights.

But Earth Hour isn’t just for big cities-anyone can participate. It is easy, fun and free. We hope you will join us for this amazing event. To sign up visit http://www.earthhourUS.org , where you’ll learn more about Earth Hour, plus creative things you can do when the lights go out in case you need inspiration.

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A couple weeks ago, Diana Ulraub, one of our LEED APs and a big friend of the planet, attended the Delta Institute’s (partnered with the ReUse People of America) Rebuilding Exchange grand opening. The Rebuilding Exhange is green economy intitiative aimed at facilitiating the reuse of building materials from deconstruction projects by collecting these materials and then reselling them to the general public. The Rebuilding Exchange is located in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood. Here’s what Diana had to say about the Rebuilding Exchange:

“Not only can you save hundreds of dollars and help save the environment but also you have an opportunity to make your space really unique, maybe by refurbishing old cabinets or a bath tub.  According to the Construction Materials Recycling Association, at least 1/3 of the U.S. waste stream is comprised of construction and demolition debris.  That’s a huge number and so much of it is still usable after it’s been deconstructed.”

For more information on the Rebuilding Exchange, visit their website or join the conversation on their blog.

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It is often questioned when a door from a room or space can be sliding or must swing and when it must swing in the direction of egress.  Per the Chicago Building Code (CBC) 10(13-160-250), all doors required as exit doors shall swing in the direction of exit travel.  This section requires all doors, except those in residential units serving one dwelling unit only, to swing.  This section also allows certain doors to not swing in the direction of exit travel, such as such as those to corridors from rooms having a capacity not exceeding 50 persons and in Business Units, doors to corridors from offices having a capacity not exceeding 100 persons.

Sliding doors are permitted in the path of egress as long as they have a break-away function. Sliding doors are also permitted per a posted Chicago Department of Buildings Interpretation for the following:

1)    Within a dwelling unit for the bedroom, bathroom, closet doors or similar uses. The required exit for a dwelling unit can also be of sliding type when the unit entry door is an exterior door or where fire rating is not required for the unit entry door.

2)    The primary entrance to a tenant space within a multi-tenant office or mercantile occupancy building that is used as a showroom or for sales, is permitted to be a sliding door when the clear entrance opening is at least 44 inches wide. A note shall be added on plans that are submitted for approval that the “sliding doors shall remain open during occupancy”.

3)    A sliding door is permitted from a room or space used as an individual office with an occupancy load of 10 persons or less or a maximum of 300 sf.  A sliding door can’t be used for a Conference Room or Meeting Room.

Any other locations using a sliding doors will most likely not be permitted per the Chicago DOB.

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