Preliminary results are in, and 1998 looks like the warmest ever. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced on December 17 that global temperatures in 1998 would be the warmest since recordkeeping began in 1860. The global mean surface temperature for 1998 is estimated to be 1.4°F (0.58°C) above the... Read more

by David Lloyd Jones. The Overlook Press, Woodstock, N.Y., 1998 (distributed by Penguin Putnam, Inc.). Hardcover, 250 pages, $65. Note: Sometimes listed with the sub-title “Contemporary Green Buildings”

Several books published in the past decade have claimed to provide an overview of ecologically... Read more

Maureen McIntyre, longtime editor of the acclaimed

Solar Today magazine (the publication of the

American Solar Energy Society—ASES), has been hired by the Society to organize renewable energy policy activities at the state level. As coordinator of ASES’s “Empowering the States” program, McIntyre will help renewable... Read more

Trex Co. LLC is building a manufacturing facility in Fernley, Nevada to serve customers in the West with its recycled wood-plastic composite decking. The company plans to begin operations in the Fall of 1999, according to

Plastics News (December 14, 1998), with two around-the-clock production lines... Read more

Organizers of the annual H.O.P.E.S. Eco-Design Arts Conference (see Calendar) are sponsoring a “Design Challenge” on the theme of this year’s conference: Equity and Ecology. Entries in the form of display boards and written explanations must be received by March 26. For details, contact H.O.P.E.S. at 541/346-0719, hopes@laz.uoregon.edu, or on... Read more

The re-entry of Armstrong World Industries, Inc. into the North American linoleum market is now official—as of July 1, 1999 Armstrong will have exclusive rights to market and sell DLW Linoleum and most other DLW products. As reported in

EBN

Vol. 7, No. 9, Armstrong now owns DLW... Read more

The evidence on global warming has become increasingly hard to dispute: 20 consecutive years with above-average global temperatures, 18 consecutive months that set new all-time monthly temperature records, 1998 temperatures almost three-tenths of a degree Fahrenheit higher than the previous record (page 3). Most... Read more

As house size increases, resource use in buildings goes up, more land is occupied, there... Read more

C&A has had great success, both in terms of performance and sales, with its POWERBOND® ER3™ backing (see “New Life for Old Carpets” in

by Ray C. Anderson. The Peregrin-zilla Press, Atlanta, 1998 (distributed by Chelsea Green Publishing Co.). Paperback, 200 pages, $17.95

Owens Corning’s breakthrough binder-free fiberglass insulation, Miraflex® (see

EBN

Vol. 4, No. 1) is now available with a stapling flange for use in 2x4 and 2x6 stud walls. The new wall products were introduced in August 1998 and became available nationally in the fall. Miraflex was... Read more

by Sarah Susanka. Taunton Press, Newtown, Connecticut, 1998. Hardcover, 200 pages, $30

The Not So Big House is a gorgeous book, full of inspiring photographs and imaginative floor plans, that conveys both the how’s and the why’s of designing smaller, more compact houses. Author Sarah Susanka is principal of a 35-... Read more

Our news story in

EBN

Vol. 7, No. 9 (October 1998) on Oakes Hall at the Vermont Law School incorrectly stated the estimated cooling load benefits of the enthalpy wheel. While the article described a two-ton reduction in peak cooling load from the enthalpy wheel, engineer Marc Rosenbaum estimates the actual peak load... Read more

Architect and specifier

Dru Meadows has left her position as leader of the Green Team at BSW Architects. In that capacity she worked on the design of several high-profile eco-stores for Wal-Mart. Meadows has also been a leader in efforts to have green building practices recognized appropriately by standards organizations such as the... Read more

From an environmental standpoint, the low-slope roofing on commercial and industrial buildings is a big problem. (“Low-slope” roofing is often incorrectly called

flat roofing—it nearly always has a slight pitch). For starters, there is a lot of it. No one in the industry seems to know how much low-slope roofing exists in the United... Read more

Brave New World option.

This new resilient flooring product from the U.K. uses high-tech engineering polymer resins to provide a durable surface and sophisticated patterns similar to... Read more

In what may be one of the most significant developments in green building in recent years, the Department of the Navy has become the first Federal agency requiring all facilities and infrastructure-related design and construction to incorporate sustainable design principles. While energy efficiency and... Read more

Per Square Metre of Floor Area

This chart from a paper by Roger Baldwin of the British Research Establishment in the U.K. shows overall energy use associated with two actual office buildings, one in a... Read more

We are very excited to announce the recent addition of two outstanding people to our staff.

Dan Woodbury has joined us as our first full-time marketing director, and

Dwight Holmes is our new research associate. With their help we hope to continue serving you as the leading source of reliable green building... Read more