Cork has been used as a flooring material for more than one hundred years. Cork flooring is durable, it provides acoustical and thermal insulation, it cushions the foot, it is resistant to moisture damage and decay, it is fairly easy to clean, and it is harvested from trees in a sustainable manner. Though imported and thus energy-intensive to ship to North America, cork flooring is worthy of consideration for use in low-environmental-impact buildings.

Cork is the outer bark of an oak tree,

Quercus suber, which grows in the Mediterranean. Open, savannah-like cork oak forests cover approximately 2.2 million hectares (5.4 million acres) primarily in seven countries: 30% in Portugal, 21% in Algeria, 20% in Spain, 16% in Morocco, 5% in France, and 4% each in Italy and Tunisia.

transpired solar collector, Solarwall has initially been targeted towards large commercial and industrial buildings, especially those with high-volume ventilation requirements. As the system has proven itself in field-tests, however, it is looking attractive for more and more building types.

Solarwall is a thin, dark-colored aluminum or galvanized steel cladding perforated by tiny holes, enclosing a plenum between the cladding and the building skin (see figure). Air drawn through the 1⁄32” (0.8 mm) holes is heated by the metal before entering the ductwork of the building’s ventilation system. On a sunny day, a Solarwall can preheat air by 30°F to 54°F (17°C to 30°C). The same system is now being used for crop drying in the Far East

As you might imagine, information about new building products comes into the

EBN office all the time. When a new product strikes our fancy, we extract what information we can from manufacturers, we play with samples (often mutilating them in the process), we talk with any users we can track down, we visit construction sites on occasion, and we write up our findings in

For years polystyrene has been just about the only game in town for exterior foundation insulation. The problem is that

extruded polystyrene—the type of polystyrene most commonly used on foundations—is produced with HCFCs that deplete ozone, and

Naturall Fibre Boards, LC, of Minneapolis, Kansas, introduced a wheat-straw particleboard this past June.

The company uses Norwegian manufacturing equipment to produce 4’ x 8’ (1200 mm x 2400 mm) panels in 1⁄4” (6 mm) and 1⁄8” (3 mm) thicknesses. Thicker, 1⁄2” (13 mm) panels were initially produced as well, but the company has since concentrated its efforts on thinner panels. “We can produce thin panels much more productively than 1⁄2” panels,” sales manager Jason Doyle told

A new line of upholstery fabrics for office furniture from DesignTex, Inc. of New York City may well set a new standard for environmental friendliness in commercial materials. DesignTex, a Steelcase Design Partnership company, wanted to go beyond simply eliminating the most toxic dyes or using

recycled fibers in their fabric line.

We first learned about Icynene at the First Annual Conference on Alternatives to CFCs and Halons in November 1990. At that time it was a tiny Canadian company (founded in 1986) with a type of foam insulation that had no harmful effects on the Earth’s stratospheric ozone layer. Company founder Graeme Kirkland recognized early on that Icynene had significant environmental benefits over its spray-polyurethane cousins, but it has taken him a long time to convince a conservative U.S. insulation industry to embrace his product.

Rolath was conceived when a roofer in southwestern Minnesota wanted a better way to hold felt paper down during an impending storm. He got several rolls of ribbon from the local twist-tie factory and stapled it down to keep the roofing underlayment from blowing off.

Meanwhile, engineers at the factory were trying to find a use for their 6000 pounds (2722 kg) per day of waste plastic and paper. They were already making a plastic lumber product, and developed a flexible strapping for this new application. They’ve since taken out a patent on Rolath, and are selling it to roofers and builders for many different uses.

We just found out about an interesting new program to help builders foster good will in their communities by planting or giving away wildflower seeds. Blooms Across America provides builders and other civic-minded companies with wildflower seeds either in bulk for planting in the community, or in attractive packets to give to homeowners, schools, or other organizations.

Their “Patriotic Wildflower Mix” includes red, white, and blue flowers for sunny locations.

Environ is a composite panel comprised of 40% recycled newspaper, 40% soy flour, and 20% other ingredients: mostly colorants plus a proprietary water-based catalyst that converts the soy flour into a resin. The resultant product is hard with the looks of polished granite and the workability of wood.

Primary applications for Environ include “contract furniture” (restaurant tables, computer workstations, etc.), residential and custom furniture, transaction counters for retail stores, decorative trim on retail store facades, and the specialty market of awards and plaques. In the retail store countertop market there is potential for dramatic growth. Architect Gary Marotta of the Boston firm Elkus Manfredi Architects Ltd. specified Environ for the counters at two HMV Record stores and has proposed it for their international store prototype.