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

Nuclear proponents have often pointed to the low electricity prices in France as evidence that high reliance on nuclear power keeps electricity prices low. But by comparing

pre-tax electricity rates, that claim is dispelled. According to the May/June issue of

World Watch Magazine, the three European countries with the lowest pre... Read more

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

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) manufacturers representing 70% of the EPS industry recently joined together in April 1995 to form a trade organization, the EPS Molders Association, to more effectively promote their products. According to the May 1996 issue of

Energy Design Update, this development should help solve one of the biggest... Read more

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.

A newly formed organization is now developing standardized testing protocols for indoor air quality related products and materials. The Product Emissions Testing Lab (PETL) Network is bringing together representatives of academia, government, and industry to achieve consensus-based procedures and to certify laboratories to test products... 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

Now that we at

EBN have finally the caught up with the trends and have created our own website, we can slow down long enough to ask: Why are we doing this, anyway? Didn’t we have enough to do just publishing on paper? At least the courts have struck down Internet censorship, so we don’t have to worry about getting in trouble for... 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

I’ve worked the last 25 years on developing parts of what is now called “Eco-design,” under the belief that healthier buildings, lower energy use, and less ecological impact were important. This was only to discover recently that all this time I was still looking at things in isolation rather in their ecological interconnectedness!

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

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

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

The Minnesota legislature is considering a statewide carbon tax of $50 per ton on all fuels and electricity consumed in the state, according to the 8 March 1996

Global Environmental Change Report. The law, which is given little chance of passage this year, would tax nuclear-generated electricity but exempt renewable energy sources. The... 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.

As always, your dossier on windows was very informative. Below are a few other points to look for.

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