A primary weakness of light-gauge steel framing for houses has been its severely compromised thermal integrity. In general, the simplest way to get a steel-framed wall to perform like a 2x6 wood-stud wall is to use 2x4 steel studs and add 2” (50 mm) of insulating foam sheathing. Now, researchers at Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) are seeking a... Read more

by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 700 Montreal Road, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0P7, Canada. 235 pages, paperback, $29.99.

The pilot lights on gas-fired fireplaces waste a lot of energy. That’s one conclusion of a recent study by Skip Hayden of the Combustion Gas Research Laboratory of CANMET and Consumers Gas, a major Canadian gas utility. Fifty-two homes with significant use of gas fireplaces were surveyed; 38 of these had continuous pilots. In the homes with... Read more

by Eoin O. Cofaigh, John A. Olley, and J. Owen Lewis of the Energy Research Group, University College, Dublin. 1996. James & James (Science Publishers) Ltd., on behalf of the European Commission, Directorate General XII for Science Research and Development. Paperback, 160 pages, $50.00.

Congratulations on an excellent May/June 1996 issue! Very seldom do I read any magazine and find fewer things to pick at than this particular issue of

EBN. But I do have two. As we have discussed in the past, the name of CMHC, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, would seem to make more sense as the Canadian Mortgage and Housing... Read more

The Smart Wood Program of the New York City-based Rainforest Alliance recently announced a series of new partnerships and initiatives that should help make certification available to a wider range of forestry programs. In the Northeast, Smart Wood has teamed up with the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). As a member of the emerging Smart Wood... Read more

Scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, have achieved a new world record in thin-film photovoltaic cell efficiency. A record 17.7% “sunlight-to-electricity” efficiency was achieved with a compound semiconductor called copper indium gallium diselenide. While this efficiency is 60% higher than the... Read more

With great interest, I read your well-researched article on cork flooring in the January/February issue (Vol. 5, No. 1). As you concluded in the article, the harvest of commercial cork from the cork oak (

Quercus suber) tree is a relatively benign extraction that is one of nature’s best examples of a renewable, non-timber forest resource... Read more

The world’s first independently certified, “well-managed” redwood lumber is now available from the Big Creek Lumber Company of Davenport, California in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Big Creek sells redwood, Monterrey pine, and Douglas fir from its 6,800 acres (2,750 ha) of forestland. The Scientific Certification Systems evaluation team called Big... Read more

U.S. greenhouse gas emissions continued to rise in 1994, totaling 1,666 million metric tonnes carbon equivalent according to the report

Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-1994 published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, November 1995 (this figure does not include the net effect of carbon “sinks” in... Read more

castellated I-beams—essentially, regular I-beams with much... Read more

When homebuilder Barbara Harwood stumbled across the quote for a new mechanical system for a grocery store owned by her husband, she knew that the loads were out of line. The quote called for a system... Read more

A plethora of stay-in-place insulating concrete form building systems have been introduced in the last decade. Among these is the Rastra system—a European technology that is now getting established in the western United States.

The Rastra system uses 100% recycled expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam, ground into small beads and mixed with... Read more

Using the natural cycles of plant and animal life instead of chemicals and mechanical systems to process wastewater holds a great deal of attraction. Conventional sewage treatment systems already rely on bacteria to do much of the work, but these organisms perform very restricted functions within a system that is generally mechanistic.... Read more

by Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, British Columbia and Philadelphia, 1996. 160 pages; hardcover $39.95, paperback $14.95.

Energy consumption in the U.S. during 1995 totaled 87.2 quads or quadrillion Btu (92 x 1018 J), according to the March 1996

Monthly Energy Review, published by the DOE Energy Information Administration. This record level represents an increase of 1.8% over 1994 consumption.

Miraflex®, the new binderless fiberglass from Owens Corning Fiberglas (OCF), has done so well since its introduction that the company has been unable to keep up with demand and was forced late last year to curtail its distribution (see

EBN

Vol. 4, No. 1). The product should again be available nationally on May 1st. OCF plans to... Read more

ICI Paints of Cleveland, Ohio has expanded its Glidden line of zero-VOC paints with the recent availability of a full color line in the Lifemaster premium interior and Decra-Shield® exterior paints. With the introduction of solvent-free colorants, all colors are now available in VOC-free formulations. In the past, while VOCs had been eliminated... Read more

Nominal 2x4 and 2x6 TimberStrand studs are now available in both standard and custom lengths.

TimberStrand was introduced in 1992... Read more