During the ill-fated January flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia, astronauts tested a

water-mist technology for fighting fires that may prove an effective replacement for ozone-depleting halons. Water droplets 20–40 microns in size encountered a small flame in the gravity-free environment, an essential experiment for learning more about the combustion process and how water interacts with flame. The research was sponsored by two companies hoping to commercialize the technology: Environmental Engineering Concepts, Inc. and Arizona Mist, Inc., in collaboration with the Colorado School of Mines and NASA’s Commercial Space Center. It was unknown at press time whether results of this test had been relayed to its sponsors from space.

A team led by CTG Energetics, Inc., of Irvine, California was selected by the California Department of General Services (DGS) to develop a database of

environmentally preferable building materials for schools. Also on the team are BuildingGreen, Inc., Scientific Certification Systems, Inc., and Green River Data Analysis. A working group comprised of representatives from various state agencies will oversee the project, which is coordinated within DGS by the Division of the State Architect. The project entails researching existing material selection protocols, selecting priority categories of products, developing environmentally preferable purchasing (EPP) standards for the priority categories, and screening products according to the standards. The selected products will be listed in a publicly accessible online database, which is scheduled to launch in the summer of 2004.

Muscoe Martin, AIA, past chair of the The American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment, has left his position as principal at the leading green design firm Susan Maxman Architects to join Wallace Roberts & Todd (WRT) of Philadelphia as a Senior Associate. Founded by Ian McHarg, among others, WRT is a 180-person firm providing planning, urban design, architecture, and landscape architecture services. Martin will be helping to lead the firm’s integrated green design efforts while continuing to teach at the University of Pennsylvania Department of Architecture. He is also program committee chair for the November 2003 U.S. Green Building Council conference in Pittsburgh. He can be reached at 215-732-5215 or via e-mail at mmartin@ph.wrtdesign.com.

Voter turnout was moderate in the recent U.S. Green Building Council Board elections. With 666 ballots cast (about 28%), six members were returned to the Council Board—including EBN Executive Editor Alex Wilson and EBN Advisory Board member David Eisenberg—and four new members were added. The complete list of newly elected Board members and their affiliations is provided below (returning Board members are shown in italics):

Building Owners: Tom Scarola, Tishman Speyer Properties, Inc.

Product Manufacturers:Jim Hartzfeld, Interface Americas, Inc.; Paul von Paumgartten, Johnson Controls, Inc.

Builders/Construction: Jim Goldman, Turner Construction, Inc.

Environmental/Nonprofit: David Eisenberg, Development Center for Appropriate Technology

Real Estate/Developers: Joe Van Belleghem, JVB Consulting, Inc.

State and Local Government: Lynne Barker, City of Seattle

Professional Firms: Tom Paladino, Paladino Consulting

At Large: Alex Wilson, BuildingGreen, Inc.; Kevin Hydes, Keen Engineering

Whole Foods, the world’s largest natural foods chain, plans to install a

108-kW photovoltaic system on 18,000 square feet (1,670 m²) of its Woodland Hills, California store. The array, which will provide 25% of the store’s power needs, will be Whole Foods’ second PV system, joining a successful array atop a Berkeley, California store.

Johns Manville’s decision to

replace the conventional formaldehyde binder in their building insulation with an acrylic binder (see EBN

Vol. 11, No. 3) is already reaping benefits. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has declared Johns Manville plants exempt from the Clean Air Act hazardous air pollutant regulation generally applied to fiberglass plants (40 CFR Part 63, subpart NNN). The company can now eliminate pollution control equipment that was needed to comply with the regulation. This also reduces energy consumption and, therefore, greenhouse gas emissions.

Beginning this month, ecological design proponents will discuss their experiences in the interface of human well-being, building design, technology, and nature through an e-mail format. “

BioInspire” will feature the work of a different guest essayist each month; Judith Heerwagen, Senior Scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and a pioneer of the biophilia concept, will provide the first dose of bioinspiration. Subscribe at www.colostate.edu/services/acns/listserv (click on “subscribe to one of CSU’s other lists” and scroll to BioInspire).

Responding to a

San Jose Mercury News series documenting the environmental and social disaster of computer assembly and recycling in China, Hewlett-Packard, the world’s largest personal computer producer, has announced support of California legislation that would require

PC manufacturers to pay for computer disposal. A lone voice in the industry, HP supports a shared-responsibility model, in which local governments would be responsible for collection while manufacturers would retain responsibility for recycling of their own brand products. Points of contention include whether the fee should be paid up front or at the time of disposal and whether legislation should include a broad scope of electronic products or focus only on household computer monitors.

Mercury News archives are at: www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/.

The world’s

history of lead pollution is neatly recorded in a 450-foot (135-meter) ice core drilled in Greenland, representing almost 250 years of accumulation. According to a study to be published in an upcoming issue of

Geophysical Research Letters, lead emissions skyrocketed in 1870 and climbed 300% by 1890. After a drop during the 1930s’ Depression, lead levels climbed again following World War II and the addition of lead to gasoline. The phaseout of leaded gasoline brought lead levels down 75% from the all-time peak that occurred during the mid-1970s.

More than 750 million

Energy Star^®-labeled products have been purchased to date, according to the 2001 annual report just released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Additionally, more than 1,600 builders around the country have constructed over 57,000 Energy Star-labeled homes, saving homeowners more than $15 million in energy costs each year. The full report is available online at www.epa.gov/cppd.