On December 19 NASA provided the most conclusive evidence yet that chlorine molecules from CFCs are responsible for ozone destruction in the stratosphere. Mark Schoeberl, project scientist with NASA’s Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, was quoted in the 23 December 1994

Global Environmental Change... Read more

The Harmony resort on Maho Bay in the U.S. Virgin Islands National Park won the 1994 Grand Award for Environmental Technology from

Popular Science magazine. The resort’s cabins are fully solar-powered and energy-independent, and were built with a minimum of disturbance to the site using many recycled materials. An interactive computer... Read more

An ironic side effect of cleaning up the water in America’s harbors over the last two decades has been an increase in the population of marine borers. These small animals bore into and destroy any submerged wood and are undeterred by chemical wood treatments. As a result, ports are forced to replace their pilings... Read more

by Michael J. Crosbie. The American Institute of Architects Press, Washington, D.C., 1994. Hardcover, 192 pages, $39.95.

Contrary to its subtitle,

Green Architecture is more a gallery of environmentally sensitive design than a guide. This elegant, large-format book contains photos and... Read more

A number of home rating and home certification programs for environmentally sound construction are now in place across the country. The City of Austin’s Green Builder Program and the Good Cents Environmental Homes program were described in previous issues of EBN. New to the field are the E Seal program from... Read more

Produced and directed by Claude Beller, running time 28 minutes. Available from the National Audubon Society, 700 Broadway, NY, NY 10003; 212/979-3000.

This high-quality, fast-moving video is clearly aimed at the general public. The video succinctly spells out the problems with conventional buildings... Read more

Decisions about insulation are among the most important you will make relative to the environmental impact of buildings. Because insulation reduces the energy consumption, it provides ongoing environmental benefits throughout a building’s life. However, not all insulation materials are equal environmentally.

In assessing the... Read more

by Peter Katz. McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York, 1994. Hardcover, 288 pages, $49.95.

The New Urbanism is one of the most important books to have appeared on what is emerging as a new paradigm in land-use planning and community design. Sometimes referred to as “neotraditional town planning,” this school of... Read more

Tree Talk has lowered the price of the

Woods of the World computer database to $149. The CD-ROM-based database was reviewed in EBN (

Vol. 3, No. 4) and is continually being improved, according to Berne Broudy of Tree Talk.

Inventor Day Chahroudi of Suntek was one of the key developers of low-emissivity (low-e) coatings for window glazings in the 1970s. Since 1980 he has focused much of his creative energy on a radically new energy-control glazing system: Cloud Gel™. Cloud Gel is normally clear with high solar transmittance, but when warmed up or exposed to... Read more

Gridcore Systems International dedicated the world’s first full-scale production facility for Gridcore on November 1, 1994, in Long Beach, California. The plant, which has been in production since April, employs 30 workers and produces a structural building panel out of recycled fiber—primarily cardboard, newsprint, and urban wood waste (see... Read more

It is now possible for environmentally concerned architects and builders to specify and buy framing lumber, white cedar shingles, and hardwood flooring that have been independently certified to be from well-managed forests. The Seven Islands Land Company, headquartered in Bangor, Maine, has just... Read more

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has completed a nationwide county-by-county survey of radon in buildings and produced a map showing relative risk. The study found the highest radon levels in the western mountain states, upper Midwest, Appalachian Mountain states, and Maine. The Southeast across to Texas and Pacific Northwest... Read more

According to a new report by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration, energy demand in the commercial building sector grew by 1.0% per year during the 1980s, second only to transportation, which grew at 1.4% per year. In 1989, commercial buildings consumed 5.8 quads of energy... Read more

The wood industry has launched a major advertising campaign aimed at promoting environmental advantages of wood as a building or manufacturing material. The Wood Works™ campaign promotes wood as a renewable resource that is energy efficient and results in little pollution during processing. With a budget of nearly $300,000, the campaign is... Read more

Fortunately, I can tell them we are not as pessimistic in... Read more

The aptly named privy works exactly like the company’s well-known composting toilets that convert human wastes into a nutritive... Read more

A calendar describing the history and importance of the once-vast longleaf pine forests in the southeastern United States has been put together by Carol Goodwin and Julie Moore in Gainesville, Florida.

Longleaf Legacies is a well-illustrated, informational calendar designed to help the user understand the ecology of this species, the... Read more

The National Audubon Society headquarters building in New York City was received the Governor’s Award for Energy Excellence this past October. The building was originally constructed in the 1890s, and an extensive renovation by Audubon was completed in 1992. Today, the building is a showcase of environmentally responsible commercial building... Read more

for the Sky

Bioclimatic Skyscrapers by Ken Yeang, 1994. Artemis London Limited, England (North American distribution by Scovill Petterson Inc., 141 Fifth Ave. New York, NY 10010; 212/673-6090, 212/673-6603–fax). 150 pages, $39.95.

An ecological skyscraper may seem like an oxymoron, but Ken Yeang hasn’t... Read more