BuildingGreen Report

Feature

March 1, 1997
There are some important benefits of treating wood, the most significant of which is increasing the life of wood that is used in locations where degradation might occur. Older preservatives, such as pentachlorophenal and creosote, pose considerable health risks to users of the wood, but new waterborne preservatives are safer. They are safer in... Read more

Case Study

March 1, 1997
As an experiment in environmental living, the Center for Regenerative Studies seeks not to sustain the current condition of the land, but to enhance it. John Tillman Lyle, professor of landscape architecture at California State Polytechnic University at Pomona, was the main visionary and driving force behind this project. Much of the theory on... Read more

News Brief

March 1, 1997

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. The

Green Spec (two words) that we reviewed last November consists of generic specification language for making greener buildings. This... Read more

News Brief

March 1, 1997

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 more

News Analysis

March 1, 1997
Given the tremendous amount of material that must be disposed of when a building is demolished, it’s not surprising that there is interest in alternatives for dealing with unwanted structures. One such alternative is careful deconstruction, or “construction in reverse.” Ideally, deconstruction allows materials to be salvaged, recycled, or... Read more

Op-Ed

March 1, 1997

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

March 1, 1997

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

March 1, 1997

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 the

GREBE in... Read more

News Analysis

March 1, 1997

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

March 1, 1997
The Home Builders Association of Kitsap County, Washington

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

March 1, 1997
Awards and Competitions

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

March 1, 1997

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 more

Product Review

March 1, 1997
Last fall,

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

February 1, 1997
Dewees Island: More Than Just a Green Development

Most people involved with environmentally responsible development have probably heard about Dewees Island somewhere along the line.

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

February 1, 1997

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

February 1, 1997
Building Rating System Reaches Canada

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

February 1, 1997
New Bath Fan/light Combo from Panasonic

Panasonic Home and Building Products, which led the pack in production of truly quiet spot ventilators (see

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

February 1, 1997
The Ecology

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

February 1, 1997

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 more

Feature

February 1, 1997

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