LEED in Seattle, and an Eleventh-Hour Change

I’d like to thank you for publishing such an excellent article on the LEED™ Rating System (EBN

Vol. 9, No. 6). Not only does it provide a helpful snapshot of the system’s content, but it also pointed out some of the history, challenges, and unresolved issues in the system. I need to provide a... Read more

Lighter AAC from Matrix

Matrix PAAC, LP (formerly Hebel Southeast), makers of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) block, have introduced the AAC-2.5LT. The AAC-2.5LT has the same dimensions as the standard 2.5, but is 23% less dense. Even though the block is light enough to reduce shipping costs on a full load, it is still suitable for structural... Read more

Jim Quinn

, President and CEO of Collins Companies, has announced plans to retire this fall. Under Quinn’s leadership, Collins became national leaders in Forest Stewardship Council-accredited certification of their forest lands, which include areas in northern California, southern Oregon, and (as Kane Hardwood) Pennsylvania. Quinn will be... Read more

Erie-Ellington Homes: Affordable + Green

A new affordable housing development in the Dorchester area of Boston demonstrates that affordability and green can go hand-in-hand with publicly funded housing projects.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 50-unit Erie-Ellington Homes housing project was held on June 22. The triplex units cost $94... Read more

Plum Creek Timber Company

, based in Seattle, announced on July 18 an agreement to acquire

The Timber Company—the division of Georgia-Pacific that has owned and managed all 4.4 million acres (1.8 million ha) of G-P’s timberland. The combined company, with 7.9 million acres (3.2 million ha), will be the second-largest private timberland... Read more

Re-Evaluating Stormwater:

by Bruce Ferguson, Richard Pinkham, and Timothy Collins, 1999. Rocky Mountain Institute, Snowmass, Colorado; 970/927-3851, www.rmi.org. Oversize spiral-bound, 32 pages, $24.95 (plus $5.50 shipping)

Re-Evaluating Stormwater presents the results of an intensive three-day “charrette” in 1998 by 60 local and... Read more

Sydney Olympics Walk the Talk

The Olympic Games being held later this summer in Sydney, Australia have gone further than any other modern Olympics in addressing environmental considerations—due largely to a unique collaboration.

In the early 1990s, Greenpeace International head Paul Gilding participated with environmental consulting... Read more

Not All Tax Credits Are Bad

With reference to your June 2000 (EBN Vol. 9, No. 6) editorial entitled “Perspective: Green Building Tax Credits? No, Thanks!” you are entirely correct—the last time the federal government offered tax credits for solar energy applications, they made a monumental mistake, one that almost destroyed the solar industry... Read more

Honeywell TranStar Transformer Offers Significant Savings

“Exciting transformers” might seem like an oxymoron, but Honeywell has one for you—the new dry-type, ultra-low-loss TranStar™. The iron or steel core in conventional transformers has been replaced in the TranStar by a highly efficient MetGlas® amorphous metal core.

The TranStar... Read more

Newsbriefs

In response to ongoing environmental concerns with refrigerants such as HCFCs and HFCs, a naturally occurring fluid may be making a comeback:

carbon dioxide. Although CO2 is the principal greenhouse gas, compared to most other refrigerants on a per-molecule basis it is extremely benign. According to the July 14, 2000 issue of... Read more

Fiber-Optic Daylighting

The next-generation daylight-driven fiber-optic fixture is not yet on the market, but it is already garnering honors, including a “Groundbreaking Technology” award fromBuilder magazine. Similar in function to the Himawari (see

EBN

Vol. 8, No. 10), this new device is designed to be much more... Read more

New Energy Efficiency Bill Is Performance-Based

On June 13, Senator Bob Smith (Republican–NH) introduced the Energy Efficient Buildings Incentives Act (S. 2718) to Congress. The bill would provide tax deductions for the following residential and commercial energy efficiency improvements: whole-building performance, PV systems, certified solar... Read more

More on Recycled Synthetic Roof Shingles

I am an architect interested in environmental issues.

EBN is always my first source in searching for information about environmental products because of its clear summaries and comparisons. Your “Recycled Synthetic Roofing Shingles” product review (

Vol. 9, No. 5 – May 2000) raises two... Read more

The Seattle City Council

unanimously adopted a proposal in April to meet all future electricity needs with no net emissions of greenhouse gases. The city’s municipal utility, Seattle City Light, will employ a combination of energy conservation, existing hydropower, and new renewables, including solar, wind, geothermal, and landfill gas. If... Read more

Electrolux Buys “Electrolux”

The Electrolux Group, the world’s largest home appliance manufacturer, is purchasing for $50 million the trademark and company name from Electrolux LLC, a U.S. company well known for its vacuum cleaners.

The Electrolux Group held a 38% share in the predecessors of Electrolux LLC until 1968, when it sold its... Read more

The

Arctic ice cap has thinned by 40% over the past 40 years, according to preliminary findings presented at a May meeting of the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States. Climate changes will make it difficult for native Alaskans to maintain subsistence life-styles, say researchers, because of declines in walrus seal populations... Read more

Dursban to Be Phased Out

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on June 8 an agreement to phase out chlorpyrifos, commonly sold under the trade names Dursban® and Lorsban®. Chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate that affects the nervous system and can cause a variety of neurological problems, is the most widely used household pesticide in... Read more

Perspective: Green Building Tax Credits? No, Thanks!

Call me grumpy, but I’m against this new generation of tax credits for green buildings and renewable energy systems.

Tax credit legislation supporting green buildings was recently signed into law in New York (see EBN

Vol. 9, No. 5), and the push for similar legislation seems... Read more

A study released in May by the Harvard School of Public Health links

air pollution from two coal-fired power plants—in Salem and Somerset, Massachusetts—to 43,000 asthma attacks and 159 premature deaths. More than 32 million people in New England, New York, and New Jersey are exposed to plant emissions. Both plants are owned by PG&E... Read more

The Natural House:

by Daniel D. Chiras, 2000. Chelsea Green Publishing Co., White River Jct., Vt. Paperback, 470 pages, $35.

Simply put, this is the most comprehensive and most useful introduction to natural building systems and practices available. Author Daniel Chiras is an educator and writer (his high school textbook,

... Read more