Just as certain segments of the HVAC and insulation industries have begun a widespread shift to the ozone-safe, chlorine-free hydrofluorocarbon HFC-134a, new environmental concerns have been raised about this compound. Researchers at the Cambridge, Massachusetts firm Atmospheric and Environmental Research suggested... Read more

A fire destroyed 5 million pounds of recycled PET in a warehouse belonging to Image Industries, Inc., makers of Image Carpet, according to the July 31 issue of

Plastics News. No one was injured in the blaze, and the origin is unknown. The burned material represents only a small portion of the company’s stock, and it was insured.

More recently, suburban neighborhoods and office parks began replacing farms in ever-widening circles around the cities and towns. Conventional practice is to landscape the open spaces around... Read more

Janet Marinelli and Paul Bierman-Lytle. Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1995. 272 pages. Hardcover $45; paperback $21.95.

Brand new from one of the pioneers in low-toxic, environmental architecture and one of the field’s most eloquent writers,

Your Natural Home is a superb resource for... Read more

A four-month-old initiative within the U.S. Postal Service aims to revise design guidelines and material specifications to improve environmental performance. The Washington, D.C. office of HOK, Inc. was recently retained to help develop the proposed changes, which will be presented to senior Postal Service staff for review in late October. To... Read more

I read your article “Steel or Wood Framing, Which Way Should We Go?” in the Volume 3, Number 4 issue of EBN with considerable interest and anticipation, but did not see a sufficient discussion on the major reason for building differently with steel studs: the problem of mold growth at the thermal bridge over... Read more

2 Sink?

The manufacture of portland cement... Read more

The Wild Lawn Handbook: Alternatives to the Traditional Front LawnStevie Daniels, 1995. Macmillan, 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023; 800/858-7674. Hardcover, 223 pages, $20 ($27.95 Canada).

Written for homeowners who are questioning the ecological and financial cost of maintaining a traditional lawn... Read more

The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) has announced a design competition for completed buildings north of 40 degrees north latitude. Judging criteria include energy and resource efficiency and bioregional appropriateness. There is no fee for submissions, which must be received by December 31, 1995. Contact NESEA at 413/774-6051,... Read more

In August 1994 the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) was approached by the Global Futures Foundation to help Mitsubishi respond to a boycott effort organized by Rainforest Action Network over the company’s poor logging practices in tropical rainforests. Out of that dialog have emerged two initiatives that may be... Read more

We first learned about Icynene at the First Annual Conference on Alternatives to CFCs and Halons in November 1990. At that time it was a tiny Canadian company (founded in 1986) with a type of foam insulation that had no harmful effects on the Earth’s stratospheric ozone layer. Company founder... Read more

The U.S. Department of Energy has published proposed voluntary guidelines for rating home energy performance. The guidelines were drafted by the Home Energy Rating Systems (HERS) Council for DOE and are designed to encourage uniformity among the various methods used to rate the energy efficiency of both new and existing residential buildings.... Read more

UPDATE: This keystone article was updated in 2010 to reflect changes in the industry.It is rarely possible to do everything we would like to reduce the environmental impact of building projects. It takes time to research alternative design and construction systems; new materials may not have proven track records; higher costs may be an... Read more

The visibility you gave to BLOOMS ACROSS AMERICA in your May/June 1995 issue is greatly appreciated, however; I do want to clarify a key point in order to prevent any alarm or confusion about the product. While the wildflower seed mix is not made up entirely of North American native wildflowers, it is composed of... Read more

The Passive Solar Industries Council and the American Solar Energy Society will announce the first pilot sites for their Buildings for a Sustainable America: Education Campaign at the annual ASES conference in July. The campaign hopes to demonstrate the potential of passive solar and renewable energy strategies in buildings. For... Read more

[enlarge image]Notes:

One and Two Family Dwelling Code is likely to spur adoption... Read more

Center for Resourceful Building Technology, PO Box 100, Missoula, MT 59806; 406/549-7678. 112 pages, paperback, $25.

Wesley A. Groesbeck and Jan Striefel, ALSA. Environmental Resources, Inc., 2041 E. Hollywood Ave., Salt Lake City, UT 84108-3148; 801/485-0280 (phone & fax). 368 pages, $37.50 postpaid.

... Read more

The National Material Exchange Network is now online. In May the materials exchange, which links generators of industrial “waste” with users of those materials (see EBN

Vol. 2, No. 3), became an interactive, free Web page with participation of 51 regional waste exchanges throughout North America. The Web page address is www.earthcycle.... Read more

In recent years, responsible recycling of nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cad) batteries, mercury thermostats and a few other wastes has been hampered... Read more