by David Del Porto and Carol Steinfeld, 1999.

The Center for Ecological Pollution Prevention,

PO Box 1330, Concord, MA 01742;

www.ecological-engineering.com.

Softcover, 234 pages, $29.95

The authors of

The Composting Toilet System Book set out to accomplish a very challenging task: to present in an... Read more

Photovoltaic manufacturer

Kyocera International has acquired

Golden Genesis Company (previously Photocomm), creating the world’s largest PV manufacturer/system provider. Total annual sales will exceed $1 billion. Kyocera is headquartered in Kyoto, Japan.

Tropical Wood Causes Rift Over Long Beach Boardwalk

A June 30, 1999 workshop on green building marked the last in a long series of measures taken by the City of Long Beach, California to fulfill its part of an agreement with environmentalists over a dispute about use of tropical wood. This process began when environmental activists threatened... Read more

Portland General Electric’s Earth Smart

residential construction program, abruptly discontinued in 1997 (see

EBN

Vol. 7, No. 3, p. 5), is now back. The previous program was terminated after PGE was purchased by energy giant Enron. Enron’s influence, however, may be a positive factor in that the program is no longer limited to... Read more

by Fred A. Stitt. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1999. Hardcover, 465 pages, $79.95

Ecological Design Handbook is what most of us know as a “reader,” not unlike a collection of articles that instructors often prepare for their classes. This large group of selections from previously published titles is compiled in one volume to offer, ostensibly, a... Read more

Agriboard Goes Under

Agriboard Industries, L.C., producer of stressed-skin panels with a compressed straw core and OSB skins (see

EBN

Vol. 4, No. 3 and

Vol. 7, No. 4), has ceased production and closed its offices due to financial difficulties. The company had been expecting $8.5 million in additional financing from the... Read more

Isobord Straw Particleboard

Technical Properties of Isobord (avg. density 40 lbs.)

Source: Isobord Enterprises

Isobord Enterprises, Inc., a Toronto, Canada-based company with a sales office in Portland, Oregon, has dramatically increased the availability of straw particleboard in North America. Like the WheatBoard™ product made... Read more

The Dumont Residence in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan took top honors in the Residential Buildings category of Canada’s 1999 National Energy Efficiency Awards on May 19. The home features extremely high insulation levels, heat-recovery ventilation, passive solar orientation, and a large active solar hot water system, which also contributes to space... Read more

Pedal Controls Save Water, Time

“What’s up with your faucet?” is a typical question from friends who are visiting for the first time since our Pedalworks™ faucet control was installed. When an uninitiated person tries to turn on the kitchen faucet, they get the impression that our water has been shut off. Once we show them the pedal and... Read more

New VOC Limits for Coatings in Southern California

New VOC Emission Limits (grams per liter)

At its May 14 meeting, the Governing Board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District approved a new set of limits for volatile organic compound (VOC) levels in architectural coatings. These amendments to the District’s Rule 113... Read more

Newsbriefs

On April 6, the Canadian government announced that it is extending its

Commercial Buildings Incentive Program (CBIP) to multi-unit residential buildings. This program offers owners or developers a one-time incentive payment equal to two years’ projected energy savings for buildings that exceed the Model National Energy Code... Read more

The

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has announced yet another grant that may be of interest to

EBN readers who work in New York State. This time, $500,000 is available in awards of up to $200,000 for projects that develop, evaluate, demonstrate, or introduce green technologies for residential,... Read more

NAHB and Fannie Mae Form Green Building Partnership

On June 10, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Fannie Mae, the nation’s largest source of financing for home mortgages, announced a partnership to develop and test a menu of mortgage products based on “green building” criteria. Fannie Mae is providing $100 million for... Read more

The Green Development Services arm of the Rocky Mountain Institute received a

National Award for Sustainability from Renew America and the President’s Council on Sustainable Development at the National Town Meeting for a Sustainable America in Detroit, Michigan in early May. The award announcement cites the organization’s far-reaching... Read more

Awards & Competitions

Michael Totten, a Senior Researcher at the World Resources Institute and

EBN Advisory Board member, has received the

1999 Lewis Mumford Award for Environment from Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR). Totten was honored for his work in pioneering the use of digital tools for... Read more

Newsbriefs

Santa Monica has become the first city in the U.S. to be powered by green power. Through California’s competitive electricity market, the city decided to purchase power exclusively from geothermal sources.

New Village:

Semiannual magazine edited by Lynne Elizabeth. New Village/ADPSR, 2000 Center Street, Suite 120, Berkeley, CA 94704. Annual (2-issue) subscription is $15 for individuals, $24 for institutions.

An outgrowth of the disarmament movement of the 1970s, Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility has been a diffuse... Read more

IAQ Test Kit from Air Quality Sciences

Indoor air quality testing, as most experts will tell you, is immensely complex. Different testing procedures are required for different types of contaminants, and the equipment used for identifying and measuring biological and chemical contaminants, particularly VOCs, is very expensive. The new IAQ... Read more

In a merger approved at a combined board meeting on June 4, the

Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology (CREST) was folded into the Renewable Energy Policy Project (REPP). REPP Executive Director Roby Roberts will run the combined organization. The two entities complement each other well, as REPP develops high-quality... Read more

Two and a half months ago, a ship left Thailand loaded with Portland cement. It spent three weeks crossing the ocean and another week going through the Panama Canal before docking in New Orleans, where its cargo was transferred to barges. These barges then spent six weeks traveling up the Mississippi to Minneapolis, where the cement is now... Read more