Running water down the drain while waiting for hot water to get to the tap wastes over 10,000 gallons (38,000 l) each year in an average American household. The most common strategy for reducing this tremendous waste is a hot water recirculation system, which keeps hot water moving through the pipes, so it’s always right there when the faucet is opened. Unfortunately, circulating hot water through the pipes results in an enormous waste of energy because the water must be frequently reheated and because a pump is running constantly. Adding timed controls and temperature sensors to reduce the circulation time can cut down on these energy losses, but they remain substantial. Circulation on demand, however, eliminates the energy penalty, while only slightly reducing the convenience. That’s the principle behind the Metlund Hot Water Demand System from Advanced Conservation Technology (ACT).

Fiberglass duct board is avoided by most builders of low-toxic buildings for two reasons: 1) concern that glass fibers will be released from the exposed rigid fiberglass into the forced air stream; and 2) concern that mold and other microbial agents might grow in the fiberglass media and introduce contaminants into the forced air stream. Two of the leading manufacturers of fiberglass duct board now offer a product that reduces this risk.

Schuller International introduced SuperDuct™ in January 1993, and CertainTeed Corporation introduced ToughGard™ this past January at the NAHB Builder’s Show in Houston.

Update: EcoPanels are no longer available.

Benjamin Moore & Co. is about to introduce nationally the Pristine™ line of interior paints, becoming the second major brand to sell a zero-VOC interior paint line.

Glidden’s Spred 2000 and Lifemaster 2000 lines, introduced in 1993, were the first such paints from a mainstream paint company (see EBN

An ironic side effect of cleaning up the water in America’s harbors over the last two decades has been an increase in the population of marine borers. These small animals bore into and destroy any submerged wood and are undeterred by chemical wood treatments. As a result, ports are forced to replace their pilings and other timbers more and more frequently. At the same time, the depletion of mature forests is causing the price of large timbers to increase consistently. All these factors have pushed the search for alternative piling materials. Many are looking to recycled plastic to fulfill this need, and one product appears to doing the job very successfully.

Strikes Back

Update: (September 26, 2006)

To the best of our knowledge, this product is no longer available.

Inventor Day Chahroudi of Suntek was one of the key developers of low-emissivity (low-e) coatings for window glazings in the 1970s. Since 1980 he has focused much of his creative energy on a radically new energy-control glazing system: Cloud Gel™. Cloud Gel is normally clear with high solar transmittance, but when warmed up or exposed to bright illumination it turns translucent white and becomes 90% reflective. Long discussed and eagerly awaited, Cloud Gel may finally be coming onto the market—at least on a limited basis—in 1995.

Here’s how Cloud Gel works: The gel is a mixture of a specialized polymer and water. At lower temperatures, water forms a coating around each polymer strand, keeping the polymers separate and in solution. As the gel heats up, the polymer strands become excited and “shake off” their water coatings. When this happens, the polymers clump together and reflect light—the gel turns white. As the material cools down again, the process reverses and the Cloud Gel turns clear.

The new Clivus Trail-Head® is a self-contained composting toilet for use in outdoor recreation areas: nature centers, picnic areas, boat-access sites, trailheads, campgrounds, etc.

The aptly named privy works exactly like the company’s well-known composting toilets that convert human wastes into a nutritive soil amendment. Thousands of Clivus composting toilets have been sold in North America since the company’s founding in 1972.

Solid mahogany entrance doors might seem like a symbol of the consumerism that’s destroying the rainforest, but not all of them are so destructive. In fact, some doors from Portico S.A. of Costa Rica are made with wood that is certified to be from a well-managed forest. Not only is specifying these doors not harmful to the forests, it may actually be an important positive step (see “Tropical Timber: Seeing the Forest for the Trees” in this issue).