The carbohydrate economy is moving a little closer to reality with the announcement in January that Minneapolis-based Cargill Inc. and Dow Chemical are teaming up to build the first large-scale “renewable” plastics plant. Completion of the 140,000 metric-ton, $300 million plant in Blair, Nebraska is scheduled for late 2001. Natural plant sugars, such as corn syrup, will be processed into polylactide polymer using a technology called NatureWorks™. The 50:50 joint venture, Cargill Dow Polymers (CDP), will use the polylactide polymer as a raw material for manufacture of plastic cups, packaging, fabrics, emulsions, and foams. CDP currently manufactures roughly 4,000 metric tons of the polymer at a plant near Minneapolis.

France unveiled a plan on January 20 to fight global warming by raising taxes on industrial energy consumption. Under the plan, taxes will go into effect in 2001, though companies under heavy competitive pressure will be able to avoid the tax by focusing on reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. The plan also aims to improve public transit, boost fuel economy of vehicles, and promote research into sustainable energy sources. The goal is to meet the Kyoto Protocol target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 10% from 1990 levels by 2010.

The Metropolitan Forum Project of Los Angeles is seeking to reshape the way the city designs and builds public schools. Instead of huge schools serving 5,000-plus students, the “New Schools, Better Neighborhoods” project is proposing neighborhood-scaled schools serving around 500 students. Along with reducing the extensive public school transportation needs and sprawl associated with very large facilities, these small in-fill neighborhood schools would strengthen communities by providing library, recreation, and performance facilities for the neighborhoods. For more information, visit www.nsbn.org.

The San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network (RAN), whose activist tactics are scorned by some in the environmental community but who played a pivotal role in convincing Home Depot to embrace forest certification, has launched a campaign against the home building industry’s use of lumber. RAN argues that home builders use 72% of the nation’s lumber, with a portion of it coming from old-growth forests in British Columbia. “Every day thousands of acres of endangered forests—from British Columbia to the Amazon, California to Alaska, and Siberia to Malaysia—are routinely clearcut and used in home construction,” according to an Internet-distributed bulletin. RAN calling for an “International Day of Action” on April 1 against two of the nation’s largest home builders: Centex Homes and Kaufman & Broad. Protests are planned at open house events held that Saturday around the country.

On February 24, 2000 the City of Oakland,

California is opening a new

Green Building Resource Center next to the planning and building counter

in the City Administration Building.

The Center will offer a library of

printed materials, a computer and

video kiosk, and other resources to

facilitate more environmentally

sound building strategies. Is it possible

that, by placing these resources

next to the permitting office, the City

intends to minimize regulatory barriers

to alternative building techniques?

For more information contact

Maria Sanders at 510/238-4977.

In response to a recent advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to gather input on potential changes to the existing testing and labeling requirements for cellular plastic insulation, the expanded polystyrene (EPS) molders association is pushing for labeling requirements that better represent the long-term “aged” R-values of products made by competitors.  EPS is the only widely used rigid foam insulation that does not contain a special lowconductivity gas in its cells. Such gases give polyisocyanurate and extruded polystyrene (XPS) higher Rvalues than EPS, although the difference drops over time as the gases leak out. As part of the same rulemaking, FTC is considering whether to address the “dynamic” R-value of low-density attic insulation in very cold weather and whether to adopt a new procedure for determining settled density of loose-fill mineral fiber insulation.  

Leading green architect Sandra

Mendler has left her position as director

of HOK’s Sustainable Design

Group to become design principal of

the Washington office of Princetonbased

CUH2A, Inc. Mendler is chair

of The American Institute of Architects

Committee on the Environment,

a board member of the U.S. Green

Building Council, and co-author of a

forthcoming book from John Wiley

& Sons on sustainable design. CUH2A

recently won a commission from the

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for a new

educational and administrative center

at the Chincoteague National

Wildlife Refuge and is designing a

recreation center as Arlington

County’s first official green building.

Mendler can be reached at 202/333-2310 or smendler@cuh2a.com.

The City of Seattle has adopted a Sustainable Buildings Policy for all municipal projects over 5,000 ft² (465 m²) in size, with reference to environmental performance in general, life-cycle costing, and the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating system. The policy states: “All facilities and buildings over 5,000 gross square feet of occupied space shall meet a minimum LEED Silver rating.” Contact Lucia Athens, chair of the Green Building Team for Seattle Public Utilities, at 206/684-4643 or lucia.athens@ci.seattle.wa.us. A link to the full policy is available from the Current Issue Summary at buildinggreen.com.

for Environmental Innovation, a

new facility that will house the

company’s carpet reclamation and

pelletizing operations, along with

research and design laboratories for

environmental technologies. The

Center is directed by vice president

of manufacturing Wally Hammel.

Lynn Preston, technical environmental

manager, will supervise the research

and development efforts.

, who, as chief architect for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC), was instrumental in the adoption of a comprehensive sustainable design policy (see EBN

Vol. 7, No. 10), has now moved to the National Park Service. Effective December 20, 1999 Emmons became associate director for professional services, responsible for planning, park development, design, construction, and real estate operations for the National Park Service nationwide. Among his other projects, Emmons will be directing an effort to reduce in-house design, planning, and construction management resources within the Park Service, replacing it with private-sector services. He also promises to make sustainable design a priority in his new position.