BuildingGreen Report

Feature

On Using Local Materials

September 1, 1996




On Using Local Materials















An adobe house under construction in a Lakota Sioux community in South Dakota, with assistance from the Yestermorrow Design-Build School. Material for these adobe... Read more

News Brief

September 1, 1996
Awards and Competitions

Among the first set of fifteen grants announced by the recently created North American Fund for Environmental Cooperation (NAFEC) is an award of CAN$94,000 for a project by the International Institute for Sustainable Development of Winnipeg, Manitoba, for the evaluation of sustainable development plans in three... Read more

Op-Ed

September 1, 1996
Now We Know Who

You Are

Well, sort of. At least we know more about the demographics and interests of the 13% of

EBN subscribers who made it through our first-ever Reader Survey. Thanks again to those of you who took the time and returned the survey. We’ll try to keep it shorter next time. As promised, here are some highlights... Read more

News Brief

September 1, 1996

Canada’s largest energy producers have formed a nonprofit alliance, the Greenhouse Emissions Management Consortium (GEMCo), to manage the companies’ carbon emission offset activities. GEMCo president Aldyen Donnelly was quoted in the 28 June issue of

Global Environmental Change Report that the formation of GEMCo highlights a growing... Read more

News Analysis

September 1, 1996
New Urbanists Sign Charter

At the Fourth Congress for the New Urbanism, held this past May in Charleston, South Carolina, more than 200 participants signed a charter that defines, for the first time, exactly what new urbanism is. The charter was developed in part to dispel criticism that new urbanism is really just a mild form of suburban... Read more

News Brief

September 1, 1996
Newsbriefs

Stratospheric levels of chlorine should peak by the year 2000, according to the 14 June issue of

Global Environmental Change Report. Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colorado, have been measuring levels of various CFCs and HCFCs in the lower atmosphere (troposphere) since 1991 and... Read more

Op-Ed

September 1, 1996
EBN E-mail Discussion Group

EBN is now cosponsoring an e-mail discussion group on green building. Joining us in this effort is Iris Communications, Inc., publisher of the REDI Guide™ to green building materials. This group should be a uniquely valuable forum for discussing ideas and issues, and getting quick answers to practical questions.... Read more

News Brief

September 1, 1996
Quarterly Notes from Down Under

Environment Design Guide, The Royal Australian Institute of Architects. Australian$126 for four quarterly installments (approximately US$100). Order from RAIA-Environment; The Royal Australian Institute of Architects, P.O. Box 3373, Manuka ACT 263, Australia; +61 6 273 1953 (fax). Full set of 24 previously... Read more

News Brief

July 1, 1996
If this case is any indication, there is a lot that can be done to cost-effectively save energy in small retail buildings across the country.

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

News Analysis

July 1, 1996
The new 310,000 ft2 (28,800 m2) corporate headquarters for battery maker Duracell International in Bethel, Connecticut implements many green building strategies. The $70 million building was designed by Herbert S. Newman & Partners of New Haven, with green consulting support from RPM Systems, Inc. The building is heavily daylit, and materials... Read more

News Brief

July 1, 1996

In an exciting breakthrough for energy conservation measures in residential development, Roger Perry has announced that all homes in his Meadowmount development in Chapel Hill, North Carolina will be built to guidelines from the Alternative Energy Corporation (AEC). The project will contain 715 houses, and total of 1298 residential units. AEC’... Read more

Op-Ed

July 1, 1996

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

News Brief

July 1, 1996

Christine Hammer, editor.

To subscribe, send the message “subscribe” to greenclips@aol.com. No charge.

If you have an e-mail account and an interest in green building, you should subscribe to

Greenclips. Every two weeks, between six and ten one-paragraph summaries of articles, gleaned from over 60 different publications,... Read more

News Brief

July 1, 1996

The April 1996 issue of the well-regarded British publication

Green Building Digest reports that Malaysia—one of the world’s largest plywood exporters—now stamps all of its plywood with the label “Sustainable Timber” even though, according to the Malaysian government, the country will be a net timber importer by the end of the century... Read more

Op-Ed

July 1, 1996

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

News Brief

July 1, 1996

John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1996. 445 pages, hardcover, $34.95.

A handful of individuals have played truly dramatic roles in improving the relationship between our built environment and the natural environment.

Near the top of that list is Ian McHarg, a Scottish war hero who went on to found the landscape architecture program... Read more

News Brief

July 1, 1996

A one-square-foot sample of low-e glazing, representing the one billionth square foot produced, was recently presented to Christine Ervin, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy by Mike Koenig of Andersen Windows and Jim Larsen of Cardinal IG. The presentation was in recognition of ongoing support provided by DOE of window... Read more

News Analysis

July 1, 1996

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

News Brief

July 1, 1996

Schuller Corporation, a publicly traded manufacturer of fiberglass insulation based in Denver, Colorado, announced on May 17 that it is acquiring NRG Barriers of Portland, Maine, one of the nation’s leading producers of polyisocyanurate foam insulation. Both Schuller and NRG have been leaders in improving the environmental characteristics of... Read more

News Analysis

July 1, 1996

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