Feature
Case Study
News Brief
by Kalin Associates, Inc., 154 Wells Avenue, Newton Center, MA 02159; 617/964-5477, 617/964-5788 (fax). Three-ring binder and diskette, 900 pages, $135 postpaid.
No, we’re not repeating ourselves here. TheGreen Spec (two words) that we reviewed last November consists of generic specification language for making greener buildings. This... Read more
News Brief
CD-ROM by ACEEE Publications, 2140 Shattuck Avenue, Suite 202, Berkeley, CA 94704; 510/549-9914, 510/549-9984 (fax), aceee@ix.netcom.com (e-mail), www.aceee.org. $150.
The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy’s biannual Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings is a unique institution. Every other year, several hundred... Read moreNews Analysis
Op-Ed
Given the alarming situation that has arisen with disposal of CCA-treated wood over the past two decades (see page 1), the editors of
Environmental Building News are taking the unusual step of proposing a phase-out of this product. This recommendation is driven not by the toxicity of CCA-treated wood in use, but by concerns relating to... Read more
News Brief
A Call for Papers has been issued for the November 1997 conference
“Environmental and Economic Balance: The 21st Century Outlook” sponsored by The American Institute of Architect’s Committee on the Environment, other AIA professional interest areas (PIAs), and the U.S. Green Building Council. Call the PIA Information Line: 800/242-3837... Read more
News Brief
by Tracy Mumma (1997). Center for Resourceful Building Technology (CRBT), P.O. Box 100, Missoula, MT 59806; 406/549-7678, www.montana.com/crbt. Paperback, 115 pages, $28 postpaid.
“It’s not often that you would want to sit down and actually read a product directory. But you just might with this.” So began our first review of theGREBE in... Read more
News Analysis
The Trane Company's Earth-Wise CenTraVac Chiller, featured in the article on refrigerants in EBN
Vol. 6, No. 2, is now the first commercial building chiller to be awarded the Green Seal of Approval. Although it uses the ozone-depleting R-123 refrigerant, Green Seal judged the unitís high efficiency, and the protections it incorporates... Read more
News Brief
has introduced the “Build a Better Kitsap” program to recognize homes built to high environmental standards. Working with consultant Kathleen O’Brien, the Builders can select from a list of 85 options to achieve a one-, two-, or three-star rating. This is the second such program... Read more
News Brief
The Alameda County Waste Management Authority in California has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for the creation of a portable
Resourceful Building Showcase. The Showcase, to be displayed at conferences and trade shows, must be made with recycled-content, reused, recyclable, and nontoxic building materials.... Read more
News Brief
by Peter Yost and Eric Lund (1997).
NAHB Research Center, 400 Prince George’s Blvd., Upper Marlboro, MD 20774; 301/249-4000, www.nahbrc.com. Paperback, 30 pages, free of charge.
The task of job-site waste management just got easier. This concise guide from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Research Center fills a big... Read moreProduct Review
EBN had an opportunity to try out the new straw-based particleboard made by PrimeBoard, Inc. in Wahpeton, North Dakota. We hired a local cabinetry firm to shop-fabricate and install a wall of modular shelving from several 5’ x 10’ (1.5 x 3 m) sheets of 3⁄4”-thick (19 mm) WheatBoard™. We wanted to find out from professional... Read more
Case Study
After all, the project has been featured in dozens of mainstream publications and a half-dozen books. John Knott, the visionary C.E.O. of Island... Read more
News Brief
An innovative
employee-satisfaction-based compensation contract for a new $40 million, 165 million square-foot (15 million m2) Ciba Geigy laboratory in Tarrytown, New York proved successful for the architecture and construction firms that risked part of their profits. Designers HLW International and contractor Sordoni Skanska agreed to... Read more
News Analysis
The Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) developed in the U.K. is now available in Canada. BREEAM is a voluntary rating system that assesses the energy and environmental performance of commercial buildings. The program has been available since 1993 in the U.K. and since... Read more
Product Review
EBN
Vol. 5, No. 5), has just introduced a line of fans combined with compact fluorescent lights.
The new WhisperLite series of 70-, 90-, and 110-cfm (33, 42, and 52 l/s) are... Read more
News Brief
of Architecture:
by Laura C. Zeiher. 1996, Whitney Library of Design (an imprint of Watson-Guptill Publications), New York. Hardcover, 270 pages, $55.
The Ecology of Architecture is a very broad work, including background theory on ecological design, profiles of practitioners, and detailed case studies of green... Read more
News Analysis
CORRECTIONS for the “Resources on Environmental Impacts of Materials” table on page 11 of our last issue:
The Green Guide to Specification is published by:GTI Specialist Publishers
6 Hithercroft Court
Lupton Road
Wallingford, OXON OX10 9BT, U.K.
+44 1 4091 826401 (fax)
And we... Read moreFeature
The internationally sanctioned phaseout of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) is causing an unprecedented pace of change and innovation in the refrigeration industry. The old standby refrigerants no longer make the grade. These ozone-depleting chemicals are now well on their way to being contained—1995 global production of CFCs was down 76% from its... Read more







