The U.S. Department of Energy has announced a new

Energy Fitness Program, aimed at promoting the role of energy service companies (ESCOs) in financing and implementing energy improvements in buildings. The Program is participating, with the National Association of Energy Service Companies, in an accreditation program for qualified... Read more

is expected to rise 54% over 1995 levels by the year 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Developing nations in Asia, including China and India, will lead this growth. These developing Asian nations (which do not include Japan, Australia, and New Zealand) will surpass the U.S. in energy consumption as soon as... Read more

Our readers may be familiar with Faswall, which has been promoted in green building circles since the early ’90s (see

EBN

Vol. 1, No. 3, and the update Checking in with Faswall). We recently learned that Faswall is actually modeled on a product called Durisol, which has been made in Switzerland since the 1940s and in Mitchell,... Read more

Boulder, Colorado may be on a track to become the “greenest” city in the country, at least regarding support of green building. With the recently updated and renamed Green Points Program, Boulder now specifies a minimum number of green measures for new homes and additions as a requirement for getting a building permit. Evolving out of Boulder’s... Read more

The National Wildflower Research Center outside of Austin, Texas blends beautifully with the land on which it sits—a cluster of buildings connected by rich landscapes of native plants; rainwater harvesting to minimize depletion of the threatened Edwards Aquifer; walking paths through meadow, prairie, and woodland ecosystems; and carefully... Read more

This issue has a heavy focus on products, inspired by a rather grueling three-day traverse of the NAHB Builder’s Show this past January in Dallas. Some of the products reviewed are items that caught our attention at this massive show—some 11⁄2 acres of exhibit space. Others, such as the Waterless Urinal® (see Big Savings from Waterless Urinal... Read more

a quarterly newsletter published by the Institute for Local Self Reliance, 1313 5th Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414; 612/379-3815, 612/379-3920 (fax), www.ilsr.org; $35 per year

Concrete pier foundations offer several advantages over full-height frost walls, including greatly reduced concrete use. While most commonly used for decks, outdoor stairs, and the like, pier foundations are also sometimes used for the entire building foundation.

Now pier foundations are easier to install. F&S Manufacturing, Inc. of... Read more

After seeing the torchiere review in your November issue (EBN

Vol. 6, No. 10), I confess to cringing slightly when I saw the problems you had with the torchiere [from Energy Federation Inc.]. You were shipped one of the first production units, before we had even assembled some demo units for our lobby.

The technical staff has been notified, and will try to correct this problem.

If you have a question or comment, please send

us feedback

by the Rocky Mountain Institute, produced by CREST. Version 1.0, November 1997, Windows™ and Macintosh™ compatible. Available for $7 plus $3 shipping and handling from: Rocky Mountain Institute, 1739 Snowmass Creek Road, Snowmass, CO 81654-9199; 970/927-3851, 970/927-4178 (fax), www.rmi.org.

Green Development:... Read more

A late January meeting in Hesparia, California brought together a large and diverse group of building professionals working to remove regulatory barriers to more sustainable buildings. The “Planning Summit for Sustainable Building Codes” is an important milestone in an ongoing effort spearheaded by contractor and activist David Eisenberg,... Read more

The first load-bearing straw-bale home in the State of Washington is now offered as the prize of an essay contest by Michael and Spring Thomas of the IronStraw Group. The home, which has been monitored by Habitat for Humanity International for their research on affordable, straw-bale houses, consists of two structures situated on a seven-acre... Read more

Vol. 6, No. 10), we reported that K&M Bamboo Products, Inc. refused to provide details about their products. We have since received this communication from them, with documentation indicating that their products are indeed similar to most of the others in performance.Like the... Read more

We saw several new developments with

horizontal-axis clothes washers at the NAHB Builders Show in Dallas this January. Maytag displayed its Neptune stacking washer, which actually won’t be available until mid-year. Linda Eggers told

EBN that the company is having trouble keeping up with the tremendous demand for their non-... Read more

Soy-based adhesives are here. Adhesives made from soybean oil have been approved by the Western Wood Products Association for use in finger-jointing operations at the Willamina Lumber Company in Willamina, Oregon. In the Willamina finger-jointing process, hydrolyzed soy protein is applied to one side of the joint and conventional phenol... Read more