News Brief
A new organization entitled the Center for Ecological Building Design (CEBD) has been established in London, Ontario, Canada. CEBD defines as its primary goal: “to seek out people-friendly, earth-friendly and cost-effective residential building methods and designs.” CEBD is
developing a touring display of eco-building techniques and... Read more
Product Review
Op-Ed
I recently was provided with the January 1997 issue of EBN (Vol. 6, No. 1) and found the information
of considerable interest. However, I would like to offer a few comments on “Material Selection” and the use of a simplified life-cycle analysis (LCA).
I can relate to the statement... Read more
News Brief
David Kibbey, editor, Northern California ADPSR, P.O. Box 9126, Berkeley, CA 94709-0126; 510/273-2428. Paperback or diskette for use with Filemaker Pro, $18 each, $27 for both.
The latest green building product directory to come our way is the work of a handful of dedicated volunteers at the... Read more
Feature
Decisions about siding are consistently among the most difficult for environmentally concerned designers and builders of residential and light commercial buildings. Siding products must withstand all types of weather, look attractive both from a distance and up close, and be affordable to buy and install. With these demands in mind, which are... Read more
News Brief
by John Hermannsson, AIA. The Taunton Press, Newtown, Con-necticut, 1997. Paperback, 150 pages, $37.95.
This new title from Taunton Press, publisher ofFine Homebuilding magazine, is the latest in a series of green building product directories. It is the first, however, to be published by a mainstream publisher, and its clean styling and... Read more
Feature
Carpet & Rug Industry, 1.6 billion square yards (1.3 billion m2) of carpet were shipped in 1996, enough to cover all five New York boroughs more than one and a half times. To produce that carpet, over 2 billion pounds (900 million kg) of nylon fiber were used... Read more
Product Review
Decking Option
ChoiceDek™, manufactured by AERT (Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies, Inc.), is a 100% recycled-content, wood-plastic composite decking material distributed in some parts of the country by Weyerhaeuser. Like the better-known Trex, ChoiceDek offers an alternative to redwood, cedar, and... Read moreOp-Ed
Our decision to feature carpet recycling in this issue raises questions that have been widely debated recently about the value and importance of recycling. The broader environmental issues surrounding this debate are both complex and intriguing, and more involved than we dare get into here. An article in
... Read more
News Brief
by Ken Druse with Margaret Roach. Clark-son Potter Publishers, New York, 1994. Hardcover, 248 pages, $40.
by Carole Ottesen. Harmony Books, Crown Publishers, New York, 1995. Hardcover, 354 pages, $50.
While these two books aren’t exactly new and they certainly aren’t cheap, they provide a... Read moreNews Brief
The
Renewable Energy Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives has grown to 103 members according to the Sustain- able Energy Coalition. It is now one of the largest officially recognized Congressional Member Organizations, with surprisingly bipartisan membership: 53 Republicans; 49 Democrats, and 1 Independent. The Caucus... Read more
News Brief
A pilot project is underway to assess the possibilities for salvage and reuse of wood-framed structures at the former
Fort Ord Army Base on the central California coast. The three to eight buildings to be disassembled are representative of the 1,200 hundred structures on the site. A $200,000 grant from the
Packard Foundation is... Read more
News Brief
Interface president and CEO
Ray Anderson has been named co-chair of the
President’s Council on Sustainable Development. He replaces David Buzzelli, executive vice-president of Dow Chemical Company, and joins co-chair Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute. Along with naming Anderson to the Council,... Read more
News Analysis
CCA-treated Decks
A paper in the January 1997 issue of theBulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology reported leaching of copper, chromium, and arsenic from decks made from CCA- (chromated copper arsenate-) treated wood. In the study, Dr. David E. Stilwell and K. D. Gorny, from the... Read more
News Brief
A Journal of the Human Environment, monthly magazine from Fine Additions, Inc., 2405 Maclovia Land, Santa Fe, NM 87505; 505/471-4549. Monthly, $28/year.
Designer/builder is a low-tech, black-and-white, large-format magazine with a sharply intellectual bent. It features environmental thinking and socially progressive ideas with an eclectic... Read moreProduct Review
News Brief
Proceedings of conference held in September 1996. Forest Products Society, 2801 Marshall Court, Madison, Wisconsin 53705; 608/231-1361; 608/231-2152 (fax); www.forestprod.org. Paperback, 224 pages, $55 for non-members, plus $5 postage and handling.
The conference was excellent, called one of the best in recent years by many of the attendees... Read moreNews Brief
According to the May issue of
Builder magazine,
American consumers want to support companies that do the right thing. A consumer survey by Roper/Starch Worldwide and Cone Communications found that 76% of consumers would likely switch to companies that are associated with good causes. According to the article, Carol Cone of Cone... Read more
Product Review
Op-Ed
I saw a copy of
EBN
Vol. 6, No. 3 which focused on disposal of CCA-treated wood as a problem, but implied that there are no problems associated with this product in use. I am enclosing an article that reviews work we have done demonstrating problems caused by the wood when used in aquatic environments.... Read more





