The search is on for an American home. The goal is a home with the look and feel of a traditional suburban house, which the buying public demands, yet one that is at least twice as efficient in its use of energy and other resources. And, it must cost no more than the competition—less, if possible.

A new report by the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy quantifies the potential for energy savings in residential lighting. By replacing those incandescent lights that are used four hours per day or more with compact fluorescent lights, total annual savings in the U.S. would be 31.7 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh),... Read more

by The American Institute of Architects (AIA), the U.S. Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Produced by the Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology (CREST) and View By View, Inc., San Francisco. Available from the AIA for $24.95 ($17.45 to members) plus $5 S&... Read more

Redwood lumber that has been independently certified as coming from “well-managed” forests is now available. The family-owned Big Creek Lumber Company in Davenport, California, which completed certification of its forestry operations this past April (see

EBN

Vol. 5, No. 4), has now completed “chain-of-custody” certification of... Read more

The environmental labeling organization Green Seal is calling for comments on its proposed standards for environmentally preferable chillers. Among the criteria in the standard are choice of refrigerant, measures to limit refrigerant releases, and energy efficiency. Copies are available by calling Green Seal at 202/331-7337; the deadline for... Read more

Interior Concerns Environmental Resources, Inc., 131 W. Blithedale Avenue, Mill Valley, California 94941; 415/389-8049, vschomer@interiorconcerns.org (e-mail). 40 pages, paperback, $10 postpaid.

The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) doesn’t write building codes, but some of the group’s standards carry as much weight as codes. That is the case with ASHRAE Standard 62 on ventilation for acceptable indoor air quality. This standard is recognized in legal circles as the “standard-of-care”... Read more

is pleased to announce the addition of architect Chris Liddle to our staff. Chris has experience in passive solar and sustainable design, as well as accessible design. His initial responsibilities at

EBN will focus on increasing circulation.

by Alex Wilson and John Morrill. ACEEE, Washington, DC, 1996. Paperback, 267 pages. $7.95 in stores ($11.95 postpaid from ACEEE, 2140 Shattuck Avenue, #202, Berkeley, CA 94704; 510/549-9914).

Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings,... Read more

Asbestos fibers and lead are two very different materials that happen to have a few things in common: they are both health hazards, both were used extensively in buildings, and both have spawned whole industries for their management and removal. Now there’s another commonality: in the right circumstances, both can be managed in place by... Read more

has learned that Sierra Pine, Ltd. of Rocklin, California, is negotiating to purchase the U.S. operations of Medite Corporation, a manufacturer of formaldehyde-free medium-density fiberboard (MDF). It has been rumored for months that Medite was on the block, and

Panel World reported in their November 1996 issue that Medite’s... Read more

I’d like to clarify some of the statements made in your construction detail “Using Air to Build Rammed Earth Walls” (Vol. 5, No. 5).

Mobil Corp. has sold its Composite Products Division to Trex Company, LLC, a corporation formed by four company managers. One of the new owners, Andrew Ferrari, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, told

EBN that the company direction will not change. A fifth production line at the company’s Winchester, Virginia, plant operates around... Read more

Owens Corning announced on August 11 that its Fiberglas® insulation has been certified by Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) as having at least 30% recycled glass content. Tim Grether, Manager of Building Materials Technical Services at the company, gave

EBN a more detailed breakdown of the recycled content: 26% is post-industrial... Read more

Willamette Industries has discontinued the use of “urban wood waste” at its Eugene, Oregon medium-density fiberboard (MDF) plant. The company had pioneered the use of recycled wood from municipal solid waste collection sites starting in 1993 (see EBN Vol. 5, No. 2), when wood fiber prices were extremely high. Urban wood use at the plant peaked... Read more

The United States took a surprisingly strong position on cutting greenhouse gas emissions this summer at the Second Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP2) in Geneva. On 17 July, Undersecretary of State Timothy Wirth announced that the U.S. will seek an amendment to the existing treaty to create “binding”... Read more

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

On-site photovoltaic panels supply much of the electricity, heating loads are met in part with... Read more

Amoco Foam Products, makers of the only extruded polystyrene insulation with significant recycled content, is being purchased by Tenneco Packaging, a division of Tenneco, Inc. of Greenwich, Connecticut. Even before the purchase, through a $310 million stock acquisition, Tenneco was the largest producer of... Read more

The new Georgia Institute of Technology Aquatic Center has 2,800 solar modules generating 344.5 peak kilowatts (kW) of electricity. One section of the array, with an output of 4.5 kW, is comprised of Solarex’s new 240-watt alternating-current (AC)... Read more