Newsbriefs

A last-minute deal

saved over 100 community gardens in New York City from being auctioned off to developers in May. The City had been planning to sell the lots for development, claiming that they were unused and unwanted, in spite of the fact that some have been thriving gardens for decades. The deal involved sales of the... Read more

On June 28, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued

a new rule regarding the disposal of fluorescent lamps. Under the new rule, fluorescent lamps will be treated as “universal waste,” a designation that will reduce the regulatory burden on businesses that generate such wastes. EPA issued the first universal waste rule in 1995 to... Read more

San Francisco Promotes Green Buildings, Dioxin Awareness

On July 3, 1999 the City of San Francisco became one of the nation’s first municipalities to have a green building ordinance on the books for City-owned projects. The additions to the San Francisco Municipal Code, known as the Resource Efficient Building Ordinance, consists of two... Read more

On June 21, U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson announced a goal of meeting 5% of the nation’s electricity needs with

wind energy by 2020. The target calls for 5,000 MW of wind power capacity to be installed by 2005, and 10,000 MW to be installed by 2010. “Wind energy has been the fastest growing source of energy in the world during... Read more

Isobord Straw Particleboard

Technical Properties of Isobord (avg. density 40 lbs.)

Source: Isobord Enterprises

Isobord Enterprises, Inc., a Toronto, Canada-based company with a sales office in Portland, Oregon, has dramatically increased the availability of straw particleboard in North America. Like the WheatBoard™ product made... Read more

According to the 22 May 1999 issue of the

Global Environmental Change Report,

AlliedSignal is seeking EPA approval for a new hydrofluorocarbon used in foam insulation production.

HFC-245fa has been in development since 1994 as a blowing agent for polyurethane and polyisocyanurate foam. This non-ozone-depleting foaming... Read more

Two and a half months ago, a ship left Thailand loaded with Portland cement. It spent three weeks crossing the ocean and another week going through the Panama Canal before docking in New Orleans, where its cargo was transferred to barges. These barges then spent six weeks traveling up the Mississippi to Minneapolis, where the cement is now... Read more

Pedal Controls Save Water, Time

“What’s up with your faucet?” is a typical question from friends who are visiting for the first time since our Pedalworks™ faucet control was installed. When an uninitiated person tries to turn on the kitchen faucet, they get the impression that our water has been shut off. Once we show them the pedal and... Read more

Video, 28 minutes. Produced by the Environmental Fund of Pennsylvania for the “GreenWorks for Pennsylvania” television show. Available on the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Web site.

This new video tells the story of creating the new South Central Office Building in Pennsylvania, a privately owned, 73,000-square-... Read more

Executive Order on Green-ing Federal Facilities

On June 3, President Clinton released an Executive Order on “Greening the Government Through Efficient Energy Management.” Recognizing that with more than 500,000 buildings the Federal Government is the nation’s largest energy consumer—roughly $8 billion per year—the Executive Order calls for... Read more

The Dumont Residence in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan took top honors in the Residential Buildings category of Canada’s 1999 National Energy Efficiency Awards on May 19. The home features extremely high insulation levels, heat-recovery ventilation, passive solar orientation, and a large active solar hot water system, which also contributes to space... Read more

Newsbriefs

On April 6, the Canadian government announced that it is extending its

Commercial Buildings Incentive Program (CBIP) to multi-unit residential buildings. This program offers owners or developers a one-time incentive payment equal to two years’ projected energy savings for buildings that exceed the Model National Energy Code... Read more

The

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has announced yet another grant that may be of interest to

EBN readers who work in New York State. This time, $500,000 is available in awards of up to $200,000 for projects that develop, evaluate, demonstrate, or introduce green technologies for residential,... Read more

The Green Development Services arm of the Rocky Mountain Institute received a

National Award for Sustainability from Renew America and the President’s Council on Sustainable Development at the National Town Meeting for a Sustainable America in Detroit, Michigan in early May. The award announcement cites the organization’s far-reaching... Read more

IAQ Test Kit from Air Quality Sciences

Indoor air quality testing, as most experts will tell you, is immensely complex. Different testing procedures are required for different types of contaminants, and the equipment used for identifying and measuring biological and chemical contaminants, particularly VOCs, is very expensive. The new IAQ... Read more

Awards & Competitions

Michael Totten, a Senior Researcher at the World Resources Institute and

EBN Advisory Board member, has received the

1999 Lewis Mumford Award for Environment from Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR). Totten was honored for his work in pioneering the use of digital tools for... Read more

New VOC Limits for Coatings in Southern California

New VOC Emission Limits (grams per liter)

At its May 14 meeting, the Governing Board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District approved a new set of limits for volatile organic compound (VOC) levels in architectural coatings. These amendments to the District’s Rule 113... Read more

Newsbriefs

Santa Monica has become the first city in the U.S. to be powered by green power. Through California’s competitive electricity market, the city decided to purchase power exclusively from geothermal sources.

New Village:

Semiannual magazine edited by Lynne Elizabeth. New Village/ADPSR, 2000 Center Street, Suite 120, Berkeley, CA 94704. Annual (2-issue) subscription is $15 for individuals, $24 for institutions.

An outgrowth of the disarmament movement of the 1970s, Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility has been a diffuse... Read more

NAHB and Fannie Mae Form Green Building Partnership

On June 10, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Fannie Mae, the nation’s largest source of financing for home mortgages, announced a partnership to develop and test a menu of mortgage products based on “green building” criteria. Fannie Mae is providing $100 million for... Read more