Placement of blinds can be a dilemma—should they go on the inside or the outside of a window? The best place to put them, some argue, is within the glazing, where they are potentially maintenance-free, protected from dirt and possible damage. A handful of manufacturers offer this option, but the most versatile offerings come from Unicel Architectural Corp., based in Longueuil, Québec. Unicel’s product, known as Vision Control, offers adjustable interpane louvers combined with any type of glazing.

Depending on the needs of a project, the extruded aluminum louvers in the Vision Control system can be fixed in place or mounted in a rack-and-pinion system for rotation by crank handle, thumb-wheel, or motor. Motorized systems can be integrated with daylight sensors or other building-automation systems. Vision Control does not offer up-and-down movement of the louvers. Unlike corded venetian blinds, which don’t fully close, the Vision Control louvers interlock when closed, blocking out 99.9% of the visible light, according to Unicel specifications. Glossy white is the standard color, for good light reflectance, but other colors are available on request.

While American Clay’s new Setting Lime Stucco (SLS) line is similar to traditional products, the company formulated it from scratch for current needs, including good strength and workability as well as 65% recycled content. Tim White, head of product development at American Clay, says that the company has two goals in mind for its SLS. “We are trying to continue our commitment to sustainability,” he says. “We want to bring craftsmanship back into the modern construction industry.”

In development for several years, the SLS line has not been formally launched, but it is already available. The product is manufactured in five formulations, SLS 1–5. SLS 1 and 2 provide a very fine Venetian and a fine Marmorino finish, respectively; SLS 3 provides either a second (“brown”) or a finish coat; and SLS 4 and 5 provide initial “scratch” coats for masonry and stickframe construction, respectively. Each formulation is sold in 50-pound bags, each of which is intended to be mixed onsite with 200 pounds of American Clay’s aggregate, a sand manufactured largely from post-consumer recycled glass and sold in 2,700-pound “supersacks.” Because the products are manufactured in Albuquerque, installers may choose to substitute regionally available sand meeting ASTM C144 requirements for American Clay’s aggregate.

After purchasing Primeboard, Inc., in 2005, Masonite began using Primeboard’s engineered wheat straw panels, named DorCor, as cores for all of its doors (see

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Elkay hopes that the model will become a new standard-bearer for environmental responsibility. For durability and ease of cleaning Elkay is making the basins and cabinets from stainless steel and the frames from galvanized steel. But the substantive improvements will be found under the cabinet.

“We redesigned the refrigeration system to be as efficient as possible,”says Rod Magnuson, marketing manager at Elkay. The company purchased energy-efficient compressors that use non-ozone-depleting R-134a refrigerant, the industry standard, but Elkay fine-tuned these compressors, balancing the charge of the refrigerant under full-load conditions (using a continuous flow of water and warm ambient air) and no-load conditions (using different air temperatures and no water flow). The company then wrapped the cooling unit in EPS foam. The result is a unit that uses 7.7% less R-134 refrigerant than the industry average, according to the company, while improving the overall energy and water efficiency of the water cooler. “We couldn’t take the refrigerant level any lower without compromising [cooling] performance,” said Magnuson.

UPDATE November 17, 2022: This product is no longer available. Thank you, Sandra Lester, for pointing this out.

The engineers at AirGenerate (previously Beyond Pollution) appear to have done something remarkable: create an affordable, effective, heat-pump water heater that can be retrofit onto a conventional gas or electric water heater, more than doubling the energy performance compared with a standard electric water heater. The AirTap A7 water heater has a rated output of 7,000 Btu/hour (7.4 MJ/hour), a first-hour rating of 42.5 gallons (160 l), a maximum water temperature of 135°F (57°C), an efficiency of 240% (coefficient of performance of 2.4), and an energy factor of 2.11. (Energy factor is a standardized measure of performance of water heaters; the higher the number, the better.) All this is in a unit that measures only 18" wide by 14" deep by 14" high (460 x 360 x 360 mm), weighs only 48 pounds (22 kg), and sits on top of a standard water heater. The list price is $499. The energy factor and first-hour rating of the AirTap are certified by GAMA (previously the Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association and now a broader association of appliance and equipment manufacturers).

Wood pellets are made by extruding sawdust and wood shavings through quarter-inch (6 mm) holes in a large die under very high pressure; natural lignin in the wood binds each pellet. Most wood pellets are produced as byproducts from lumber mills, but, even if produced directly from trees, the fuel should be close to carbon-neutral when examined on a life-cycle basis as long as new trees replace those that are harvested and the raw material or pellets aren’t transported too far. The resultant pellets are very dry (typically about 5% moisture content) and very dense, with a heat content of 8,000–8,500 Btu/pound (19–20 MJ/kg) or 16–17 million Btu/ton, according to Don Kaiser, executive director of the Pellet Fuels Institute.

In a pellet-burning stove, boiler, or furnace, an auger feeds the pellets into the burnpot, and a blower supplies combustion air, ensuring fairly efficient and clean combustion. Pellet-combustion appliances are exempt from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) limits on particulate emissions (required of woodstoves), but their emissions are generally below 2.0 grams per hour, according to experts

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Vol. 8, No. 2), the use of whey as a polymer in wood coatings is more recent, a result of research that began in 2001 at the University of Vermont’s Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences. The result is a product with low emissions—the finishes have volatile organic compound (VOC) levels of 180 grams per liter, below the California Air Resource Board’s limit of 250 grams per liter.

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Vol. 15, No. 12), eliminates that tradeoff. The Coolerado is an indirect system, so does not introduce evaporative moisture into the building, but it’s nearly as efficient as a direct system—even more so as temperatures increase.

Styrofoam SIS offers its three functions in three layers. A thin structural layer, which is essentially a Thermo-Ply-type composite panel, rests against the studs. Mostly composed of recycled cardboard, with some polyethylene, this layer contributes up to 80% post-consumer recycled content (by weight) for the entire product, according to Dow, although the recycled content is not independently certified. Most of the thickness of the panel is in the middle layer, a closed-cell, rigid polyisocyanurate foam with high compressive strength. A moisture- and UV-protective outer layer, blue in color and composed in part of aluminum foil, provides a drainage plane. An entire 4x8 sheet weighs 16 pounds (7 kg)—significantly less than conventional sheathing.

Proper installation is key to getting the most out of Styrofoam SIS. Dow requires a more aggressive nailing pattern than usual for either standard sheathing or rigid foam: three inches on center for supported edges, and six inches on center for intermediate supports. Although nails will pass through much of the foam, they will provide the necessary holding power in the structural layer. According to Jim Gurnee at Dow, the nailing pattern, with roughly twice as many nails as would be needed for oriented-strand board (OSB), shouldn’t be a problem for builders. “Contractors are saying it’s not an issue because of pneumatic guns,” which make nailing fast, he said. He also noted that nailing would be automated in panelization factories. The nails add some time and expense for a product that otherwise aims to save both, however.

Emission Caps

On January 1, 2009, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is scheduled to begin enforcement of its “Airborne Toxic Control Measure (ATCM) to Reduce Formaldehyde Emissions from Composite Wood Products.” Adopted on April 26, 2007 (see

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