NOLS had established a base for sea kayaking and other water activities on the Baja California peninsula, in... 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

Researchers at the U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are looking into the idea of producing perlite using concentrated solar energy. Perlite is a natural volcanic rock that is expanded by rapid heating to between 870° and 1100°C. It is used as an insulation material and as a lightweight... 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

Even as environmental regulations are being widely threatened by Congressional initiatives, a broad new effort to protect the nation’s water is now underway. Sixteen months after it first convened, the National Forum on Nonpoint Source Pollution has released a report that urges new approaches for cleaning up water pollution. The general thrust... Read more

Learning from the Past

Easter Island has long mystified archaeologists. When the tiny, remote island, 2,000 miles (3,200 km) from the nearest continent, was “discovered” on Easter day in 1722, some 200 mammoth stone statues (moai) stood on the island like sentries. But there was no obvious means by which the islanders could... 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.

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

Two project are underway that may eventually provide useful environmental and cost information on building material alternatives to architects, specifiers, and others in the construction industry. A Canadian project, called

Athena™, is the outgrowth of government-sponsored work coordinated by Forintek... Read more

Regarding your article “Promoting Green Buildings in Canada,” published in the July/August issue of

Environmental Building News, I would like to clarify the relationship between the Green Building Information Council (GBIC) and the Building Environmental Performance Assessment Criteria (... 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

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

Efforts to establish a National Institute for the Environment (NIE) are proceeding in Washington, and they may even pick up speed as a way to consolidate environmental research efforts that are being handled through many different agencies. A bill to establish the Institute is expected to be introduced in... 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

Amoco Foam Products Company has added the new Amofoam-RCX™ to its existing Amofoam-RCY™ line of recycled-content extruded polystyrene insulation. The RCX products, aimed at residential markets, are laminated on both sides with a polyethylene film to protect them from damage during handling and construction, and they are configured in thinner... Read more

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) 1995 Honor Awards were presented on May 5 at the Institute’s annual convention in Atlanta. Many of the projects recognized this year exhibited a sensitivity to the environment, suggesting that environmental criteria may have carried more weight with the... Read more

The May/June issue of

Environmental Building News was of particular interest to us, with its focus on the use of straw in building. We were especially interested, of course, in your comments on Agriboard.

While we were impressed with the article’s clear, accurate and objective overview, the comments on R-... Read more

In a statement released this April, The American Physical Society argued that the electromagnetic fields (EMF) emanating from power lines and appliances do not show a consistent, significant link with cancer. APS, the world’s largest organization of physicists with over 43,000 members, argues that the... 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

With this issue we begin our fourth year of publishing EBN. The milestone gives me an opportunity to reflect back over our short history and tell you about some developments for the future. It has been a good three years—no, make that great. We’ve had our share of ups and downs and financial struggles, to be sure, but positive... Read more