Environmental issues are not considered a significant factor for 1995 by carpet industry analysts, according to an extensive collection of industry trends and predictions published in

Carpet & Rug Industry, November 1994. Of the fourteen featured consultants and executives from all segments of the carpet industry, only Mac Bridger, president of Collins & Aikman’s Floor Coverings Division, mentioned environmental stewardship as a key issue. Indoor air quality was mentioned as an issue only by Carpet and Rug Institute president Ron VanGelderen, who has been a key industry spokesperson on this issue. A poor public image of the industry was mentioned by several representatives, most of whom blamed sleazy retail sales practices for the problem.

Newsbriefs

A new efficiency record has been set for the commercial-scale conversion of sunlight into electricity. Efficiency over 20% was achieved in a 2 kW installation near Atlanta, Georgia using a system called Integrated High-Concen- tration Photovoltaics (IHCPV). Built by AMONIX, Inc. of Torrance, California, the system uses low-cost plastic lenses to concentrate sunlight 200- to 500-fold. Using this approach, the company hopes to meet cost goals of $1.50 per watt of installed capacity or 6¢ per kWh of electricity generated by the year 2000. The company has just installed a 20 kW system in Arizona. For information, contact AMONIX at 310/325-8091.

The National Audubon Society headquarters building in New York City was received the Governor’s Award for Energy Excellence this past October. The building was originally constructed in the 1890s, and an extensive renovation by Audubon was completed in 1992. Today, the building is a showcase of environmentally responsible commercial building design that is all the more exciting because the designers (Croxton Collaborative) started with an existing building, rather than building from the ground up. For more on this building, see the book

Audubon House, reviewed in EBN

Vol. 3, No. 3.

Gridcore Systems International dedicated the world’s first full-scale production facility for Gridcore on November 1, 1994, in Long Beach, California. The plant, which has been in production since April, employs 30 workers and produces a structural building panel out of recycled fiber—primarily cardboard, newsprint, and urban wood waste (see EBN

Vol. 2, No. 5). For more information, contact Gridcore Systems International, 1400 Canal Ave., Long Beach, CA 90813; 310/901-1492; 310/901-1499 (fax).

A calendar describing the history and importance of the once-vast longleaf pine forests in the southeastern United States has been put together by Carol Goodwin and Julie Moore in Gainesville, Florida.

Longleaf Legacies is a well-illustrated, informational calendar designed to help the user understand the ecology of this species, the history of its disappearance, and efforts that are beginning to restore some of the longleaf pine forests that once existed. Individual copies of the calendar are $8; in bulk (for use as gifts) the cost drops as low as $5 apiece. For information, contact Long Needle Press, P.O. Box 141464, Gainesville, FL 32614, or call 904/466-0090.

Tree Talk has lowered the price of the

Woods of the World computer database to $149. The CD-ROM-based database was reviewed in EBN (

Vol. 3, No. 4) and is continually being improved, according to Berne Broudy of Tree Talk.

The wood industry has launched a major advertising campaign aimed at promoting environmental advantages of wood as a building or manufacturing material. The Wood Works™ campaign promotes wood as a renewable resource that is energy efficient and results in little pollution during processing. With a budget of nearly $300,000, the campaign is supported by the major trade associations representing wood products in the U.S. and Canada. For information or an

Environmental Information Directory, contact Timm Locke at the Western Wood Products Association: 503/224-3930.

The State of California has banned the use of “regrind” or recycled plastic resin for use in ABS drain-waste-vent pipe. The new law stemmed from major problems with pipe failure of recycled-content ABS pipe made by several companies during the 1980s. For some homeowners, repairs cost tens of thousands of dollars since all D-W-V pipe had to be replaced. Manufacturers used the regrind or recycled plastic as a way to reduce costs and make ABS pipe more competitive with PVC pipe (which has a lower resin cost than ABS); it was generally not done for environmental reasons. This provides an important lesson to environmentally concerned manufacturers: while the use of recycled materials is admirable and should be encouraged, it should not be done at the expense of performance or durability. The California ban takes effect January 1, 1995.

Newsbriefs

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has completed a nationwide county-by-county survey of radon in buildings and produced a map showing relative risk. The study found the highest radon levels in the western mountain states, upper Midwest, Appalachian Mountain states, and Maine. The Southeast across to Texas and Pacific Northwest generally had the lowest levels. Overall, 34% of counties in the U.S., with 28% of the population, have

predicted average indoor radon levels greater than 4 pico-Curies per liter. For a copy of the map or for information on radon-resistant construction techniques, call EPA toll-free at 800/55RADON.

is cosponsoring, and EBN staff are participating in, two conferences this fall. The First International Conference on Sustainable Construction in Tampa, Florida (November 6-9) will feature researchers and construction managers from around the world sharing data on everything from indigenous materials to high-tech monitoring of the construction process. The Eleventh Annual

Quality Building Conference in Springfield, Massachusetts (November 11-12) will present the latest research and on-site experiences with healthy, energy-efficient, and resource-efficient methods for light construction. See the Calendar for details.