Having participated in the original “Access Flooring” article [

EBNVol. 7, No. 1, January 1998] and followed the subsequent commentaries, I found it interesting that the discussion focused on floor-to-floor heights and somewhat overlooked the impact of displacement ventilation.

From our experience, Mr.... Read more

August 3 is the entry deadline for

Q=E: The Patagonia International Design Competition, which seeks designs (not limited to buildings) proving that quality and environmental performance are the same. Over $35,000 in cash and merchandise will be awarded. Architect William McDonough and physicist Amory Lovins are... Read more

The

Kich’n Komposter, reviewed back in 1993 (EBNVol. 2, No. 3), is now available directly from the manufacturer. This device makes garbage disposals more environmentally friendly by allowing the user to divert organic solids from the drain line into a basket, which spins the water out and stores the waste for composting. Cost is about $... Read more

sensible heat) and they remove moisture from air, reducing its

latent heat. In some cases the relative balance between these two functions is acceptable, but there are also many applications for which... Read more

Plants are in trouble. The first-ever worldwide assessment of the status of vascular plants (these are the dominant land plants) does not look good. “The IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants,” published by IUCN – The World Conservation Union, shows that

one in eight

plant species is at risk of extinction. In the U.S., 4... Read more

A dozen San Francisco Bay communities, including the most recent, Windsor, have now adopted

urban growth boundaries. According to the May/June issue of

Common Ground, three city counselors who had faced recall elections because of their support of urban growth boundaries have held their seats by a wide voter margin.

Congratulations on an overall very good article on the current state of Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) [EBN

Vol. 7, No. 5, May 1998]. Well-researched articles on building systems are few and far between. I want to add some hopefully helpful thoughts on the subject.

The basic engineering premise of SIPs... Read more

For years, Clivus Multrum has been the de facto standard for composting toilets in North America. Clivus was introduced in North America from Sweden during the 1970s by Abby Rockefeller. Almost single-handedly, the Clivus established composting toilets as a viable alternative to conventional flush toilets. While Clivus remains an active player... Read more

Thanks to the tireless work of Doug Patterson here at EBN and our Product Catalog partners David Johnston, Valerie Walsh, and Dan Darnell at What’s Working in Boulder, Colorado, the catalog now includes product literature from another 35 green building products—for a total of just over 100. In addition, the Product Catalog now includes listings... Read more

Recent rains have abated

Indonesian fires that razed an estimated 620,000 acres (250,000 hectares) this year. Klaus Toepher, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), says the situation could become “one of the greatest ecological disasters of the millenium.”

The

1999... Read more

As usual your magazine is filled with valuable and well-presented information. But there was a sleeper in [the April] issue (

Vol. 7, No. 4, p. 9) that the text does not address: interior bedrooms. It would appear from the plan that these occur in the “affordable” apartments; I presume the corner apartments are “... Read more

Software for Windows™ by Barbara Lippiatt of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Building and Fire Research Laboratory, Build-ing Environment Division. Available for $49.95 plus $6 S&H from: U.S. Green Building Council, 90 New Montgomery Street, Suite 1001, San Francisco, CA 94105; 415/543-3001, www.usgbc.org. Also... Read more

EBN is proud to announce that version 2 of our popular E Build Library CD-ROM is now available, and it contains many new features.

•

More back issues. Version 2 extends the back issue collection through the end of Volume 6, a total of 37 issues in all with close to 800 pages of material from... Read more

In what is, to our knowledge, a first, the

State of Vermont has exempted the sale of donated, used building materials from sales tax. Bill number H. 771, signed into law by Governor Howard Dean on April 29, 1998, officially exempts “sales of scrap materials generated in the course of construction or demolition and diverted... Read more

Energy production and consumption data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy showed 1997 to be another record year.

Total U.S. energy consumption was 90.6 quads (95.6 x 10

12 MJ). While this is less than a 1% increase over 1996, it does not bode well for achieving targeted reductions in... Read more

On May 4 President Clinton participated in launching the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH). PATH is a combined effort of several agencies, led by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Energy, with the goal of dramatically improving the energy efficiency,... Read more

The technical staff has been notified, and will try to correct this problem.

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The first hydrocarbon... Read more

In our February 1998 news story “Federal Trade Commission Sues Maker of Ozone Generator” (

Vol. 7, No. 2, p. 4) we neglected to mention that in the 1995 consent decree between Alpine Industries and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), there was no admission of wrongdoing on the part of Alpine, nor were any penalties assessed.... Read more

Thanks for forwarding to me your readers’ thoughtful letters on the affordable housing component of Denver Dry. First of all, a few clarifications: although at least 80% of the units must be rented to low-income residents, there are no specific units designated as affordable. Furthermore, the affordable leases must be spread amongst the unit... Read more