With some pretty impressive partners—the U.S. Green Building Council, the Rocky Mountain Institute, the AIA Committee on the Environment, and the International Conference of Building Officials—the Development Center for Appropriate Technology is conducting

a survey to assess the regulatory barriers to more sustainable building and development. The survey will gather information about challenges presented by natural materials such as straw bale, earthen materials, and bamboo with respect to current building regulations and building officials’ lack of familiarity with these systems. Expected results from the survey include specific code changes, new standards, new educational efforts, and support for research and testing. Any building professional or practitioner can complete a survey. To participate in this first-of-its-kind survey for the green building industry, check out the DCAT web site (www.dcat.net) or e-mail Loretta Ishida at loretta@dcat.net.

W. R. Grace & Company is the latest casualty in asbestos-related lawsuits. The company, which has received over 325,000 personal injury claims related to asbestos and paid out $1.9 billion to resolve suits to date, has filed for Chapter 11 protection. W. R. Grace joins Owens Corning, Armstrong Industries, and more than 20 other companies in filing for bankruptcy protection due to asbestos liability.

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) has a new standard for recycled-plastic residential decking. This standard pulls together into one product specification the individual strength test methods for recycled plastic established almost four years ago (see EBN

Vol. 6, No. 9). While the standardized test methods created a system for manufacturers to consistently evaluate strength characteristics of their products, the decking specification sets performance minimums that speed acceptance of recycled-plastic residential decking products by code bodies, architects, and builders. The extensive research conducted for this decking standard paves the way for development of specifications for recycled-plastic structural elements such as beams, girders, and joists. The decking standard is ASTM D-6662: Standard Specification for Polyolefin-Based Plastic Lumber Decking Board. According to Dave Porter of Trex, there is a separate effort within ASTM’s D-7 Committee to develop a parallel standard for recycled-content wood-plastic composite decking. This standard will be balloted later this year.

Greenpeace has a new building products directory called the PVC Alternatives Database – Building the Future. The fully searchable international database lists over 236 (and counting) PVC-free products for the following building components: roofing, insulation, exterior cladding, windows and doors, flooring, wallcoverings, piping, and—often the most problematic for which to find an alternative—electrical wiring and cabling. About 50 products are available in the U.S. Not surprisingly, the Vinyl Institute has questioned the value of this database, arguing that the environmental performance of materials should be based on life-cycle analysis.

A report requested by the Bush administration on global climate change was released by a committee of the National Academies’ National Research Council on June 6, 2001. The report summed up science’s current understanding of climate change by confirming that greenhouse gases are accumulating in the earth’s atmosphere and causing surface temperatures to rise. This position supports the conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). While the committee acknowledged that scientists can’t say precisely how much of the rise is from human activities, it did predict that ongoing greenhouse gas emissions will continue the warming. The committee was made up of 11 of the nation’s top climate scientists. The report is available online at books.nap.edu/html/climatechange/.

What used to be a trickle of finished wood products from Asia to the United States is now a flood. Furniture imports from China alone have risen from approximately $21 million in 1989 to nearly $1 billion in 1999. For environmental groups such as the Rainforest Action Network, the trend may be a golden opportunity to alter forestry practices in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia. Now that the imports are finished products, environmentalists can appeal directly to the consumer to put financial pressure on timber companies to embrace sustainable forestry practices. The effort will be faced with the challenges of monitoring practices in countries with poor roads, unsophisticated communications, and widespread official corruption. The economics are challenging as well: Richard Rice of the group Conservation International reports that “unsustainable logging can be as much as five times more profitable than the more sustainable alternative.”

According to noted Muhlenburg College biologist Dr. Daniel Klem, as many as 1 billion birds a year die in collisions with windows. While some attention has been given to nighttime collisions of migrating birds with large buildings such as office towers, Klem’s extensive research indicates that the vast majority of strikes and fatalities involve daytime encounters with all manner of glass windows. Thus far, prevention of these collisions involves either providing a pattern on at least 80% of the window surface, or adding a window film with a 50% reduction in visible light transmission (which affects solar gain and appearance, and lasts only about 10 years). Klem and the Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP – www.flap.org) are appealing to both the architectural design community and glass technologists to team up with biologists on developing workable and effective solutions.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) has a

new global warming action Web site—

www.SafeClimate.net—where individuals and businesses can determine and take action on their carbon dioxide footprint. The site contains an easy-to-use carbon dioxide emissions calculator, suggestions for ways to reduce estimated emissions, and the latest information on climate science, policy, and technology. BuildingGreen, Inc. ran the numbers for our own carbon dioxide footprint and came up with a monthly estimate of 1 ton from energy, 2 tons from transportation, and 4 tons for paper. Unfortunately, the emissions calculator does not easily account for alternative strategies, such as renewable energy, traveling by train rather than plane, or using recycled-content paper. SafeClimate.net includes an inspiring feature, “Climate Champions,” which profiles individuals and organizations that have made big reductions in their climate footprint, including WRI. In 1999, WRI became the first nonprofit organization to commit to zero net emissions by 2005.

The

American Tree Farm System has engaged PriceWaterhouseCoopers to review its certification and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses in relation to the American Forest & Paper Association’s (AF&PA) Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). The Tree Farm System is a program of the American Forest Foundation, providing technical and communications support to many small landowners. It entered into a mutual recognition agreement with the SFI last year. SFI is an industry-led certification system that competes with that of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

The East Lake Commons community in Dekalb County, Georgia, has received a

National AIA-HUD Housing and Community Design Award for 2001 for excellence in community design that incorporates mixed use and mixed income. East Lake Commons was designed by Village Habitat Design, LLC, with Greg Ramsey, principal-in-charge. Southface Energy Institute provided consulting on energy and material selection for the project. The developer, Jack Morse, is now a resident. The project is designed for walkability, and over 50% of the 21-acre (8.5 ha) site is preserved as open space. It is located four miles (6.4 km) from downtown Atlanta.