New York and California have recently passed legislation allowing the use of unvented gas appliances, according to the November 1997 issue of

Energy Design Update (EDU). The legislation in both states has been signed by the governors, but will not go into effect until after review by the state health agencies. New York passed similar... Read more

The Turner Corporation has made a public commitment to “explore the use of sustainably harvested wood in its construction projects,” according to a November 18, 1997 announcement. Responding to an initiative from the Certified Forest Products Council, Turner has joined the approximately 140 members of the Council’s Certified Wood Buyers Group.... Read more

Thank you for recognizing the GFX drain water heat recovery system in “Recovering Heat from Wastewater” (EBN

Vol. 6, No. 8). As stated in your article, this exciting new product has the potential to improve the hot water delivery performance of domestic water heaters while reducing costs and energy use. This potential has been confirmed... Read more

Cellulose insulation should now be easier to specify in wall cavities with the release of a new “Standard Practice for the Installation of Sprayed Cellulosic Wall Cavity Insulation” from the Cellulose Industry Manufacturers Association. Until now each manufacturer had its own guidelines, varying in length and quality, according to the December... Read more

Roughly four billion pounds (1.8 billion kg) of old carpeting are landfilled each year. Comprised of different materials—nylon, polyester, latex backing, etc.—the stuff is inherently difficult to reprocess back into carpet (see EBN Vol. 6, No. 6). So how ’bout simply shredding the stuff and turning it into a fiber insulation material? That’s... Read more

Roughly four billion pounds (1.8 billion kg) of old carpeting are landfilled each year. Comprised of different materials—nylon, polyester, latex backing, etc.—the stuff is inherently difficult to reprocess back into carpet (see

EBN

Vol. 6, No. 6). So how ‘bout simply shredding the stuff and turning it into a fiber insulation... Read more

Interface, Inc., Atlanta, GA, November 1997. Copies available at no cost by contacting the company at 770/437-6810. Oversized paperback with the cover printed on a distinctive recycled banana fiber stock, 34 pages.

Interface Sustainability Report is a different type of corporate report. Much more than an environmental progress report... Read more

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), a recent

New York Times poll found that a majority of Americans believe that measures to alleviate climate change will actually help the economy and save money. This is in marked contrast to the message being delivered “by polluting energy industries and their puppets in... Read more

Long used in computer rooms, access floors are now finding their way into office buildings and other commercial space, where they can dramatically reduce renovation costs while saving energy and improving indoor air quality—especially when providing an underfloor plenum for conditioned air distribution.... Read more

Your July/August cover article (EBN

Vol. 6, No. 7), “Residential Siding Options,” characterizes vinyl siding as “inexpensive, easy to install, virtually maintenance-free, and generally quite durable.” My members, producers of vinyl siding and suppliers to our industry, are pleased that

EBN recognizes these important benefits of... Read more

The design firm Conger Fuller Architects of Aspen, Colorado has taken a unique approach to addressing resource consumption of its residential building projects. At the end of 1997 the company donated enough money to the Oregon Forest Resources Trust to replenish 6.5 acres of trees—the amount they calculated were used to build the houses they... Read more

by Jane Holtz Kay. Crown Publishers, Inc., New York, 1997. Hardback, 418 pages, $27.50.

Asphalt Nation is a powerful book—intense, eye-opening, depressing, scary. Very simply, the book is a searing indictment of the automobile. Page after page explains how automobiles are killing and maiming us, inflicting untold damage on our... Read more

Agriboard Industries’ widely publicized R-values of its compressed-straw panels—R-14 (RSI-2.5 for 43⁄8”-thick (110 mm) panels and R-28 (RSI-4.9) for its 77⁄8”-thick (200 mm) panels—are more than 55% inflated according to unpublished information EBN has obtained. In an article on straw as a building material published in May 1995 (EBN Vol. 4, No... Read more

3rd edition, by John Bower. 1997, The Healthy House Institute, 430 N. Sewall Rd., Bloomington, IN 47408. Paperback, 650 pages, $23.95.

by John and Lynn Marie Bower. 1997, The... Read more

In 1965, 54% of the world’s

registered cars were in the United States. By 1995 this number had increased by 80% to 135 million, but our share of the world’s total had dropped to 28%. Source: U.S. Department of Energy

Transportation Energy Databook, Edition 17 (August 1997).

As we note in our feature article, certification of well-managed forests and the products made from them has gone a long way towards raising the level of debate about forest management practices around the world. In terms of changes to on-the-ground practices, however, the impact of this movement is still... Read more

Third-party certification of forest operations and wood products is picking up steam. Large new tracts of land are being certified, including a number of publicly owned forests. A few forest

managers—as opposed to the lands themselves—now carry blanket certifications, covering any forests they manage. New products are carrying chain-of-... Read more

A new 20-page fact sheet on insulation, published by the U.S. Department of Energy, recommends that when steel framing is used for new construction, a layer of rigid foam sheathing be installed

in all U.S. climates. The

Insulation Fact Sheet includes a map of the U.S. showing nine different insulation zones, which factor in both... Read more

About the time you receive this, the

EBN staff will be settling into our new Brattleboro digs. We’ve outgrown the space above Alex’s garage and are moving to one of several renovated industrial buildings that once housed the world-renowned Estey Organ Company. Our corporate name has also been changed from West River... Read more