BuildingGreen Report

News Brief

January 1, 2001

edited by Bonnie Harper-Lore and Maggie Wilson. Island Press, Washington, DC, 2000. Softcover, 665 pages, $25

Roadside Use of Native Plants may sound somewhat obscure, but it's a gem. Originally published by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration, this book is targeted toward people involved with... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2000

In early August, the Rockville City Council in Maryland voted to

ban “big-box” retail stores. Two existing stores are grandfathered, but a proposed 128,000-square-foot (11,900 m2) Costco store has been rejected.

News Brief

November 1, 2000

by J. William Thompson and Kim Sorvig. Island Press, Washington, DC, 2000. Paperback, 350 pages, $45.

Those of us who have been promoting a stronger “sustainability agenda” within the landscape architecture profession have been anxiously awaiting this book.

Sustainable Landscape Construction provides, in one place, a thorough reference... Read more

News Analysis

November 1, 2000
Insuring the Green Premium for Electricity

A joint effort between the renewable energy industry and federal and state agencies proposes to leverage public funds to dramatically advance the generation of electricity from new renewable energy sources. The Green Power Initiative from the Renewable Energy Alliance (REA) aims to help bridge a... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2000
The

Collins Pine Company, based in Chester, California, has just harvested the two billionth board foot (4.7 million m3) of timber from its 94,000-acre (38,000 ha) Collins Almanor Forest. Harvesting activities in their northern Sierra forest began in 1941 when the company had approximately 1.5 billion board feet (3.5 million m3) of standing... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2000
Home of the Year from

Natural Home magazine’s first competition is an 800 ft2 (75 m2) home in the Arcadia cohousing community in Carrboro, North Carolina. The attached unit, including a host of environmental features, was built by architect Giles Blunden. In keeping with the tendency to recognize the value of modest size, one of the runners-up... Read more

News Analysis

November 1, 2000
Bark-Based Panel Adhesive

Supported by a $1.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (newly renamed LP) has teamed up with Ensyn Group, Inc. to develop an adhesive from tree-bark for use in OSB and plywood. LP produces about one-quarter of the OSB manufactured in the U.S. and consumes a similar... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2000
Scott Sklar

, who directed the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) in Washington for 14 years, has left to start his own strategic marketing and political consulting firm. The Stella Group, Ltd. will initially focus much of its attention on three clients: Energy Conversion Devices/Uni-Solar; Duke Solar; and STM Power Corporation. Sklar... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2000

Canada’s government is taking action to stem climate change. On October 6, Canada’s federal cabinet formally approved a $500-million, five-year

plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The plan will achieve about one-third of Canada’s greenhouse gas emission reductions called for in the Kyoto climate change treaty. Under the plan, the... Read more

News Analysis

November 1, 2000
Product Briefs

Glass manufacturer

Pilkington was awarded the 2000 Crystal Achievement Award for the Most Innovative Glazing Component by

Window & Door Magazine for the newly launched Solar E™ sun-control low-e glass. Like the company’s Energy Advantage™ glass, introduced in 1989, Solar E has a durable hard-coat (pyrolytic)... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2000
The Chicago architecture firm

Solomon Cordwell Buenz & Associates won a recent competition to design a large “sun wall” for the south-facing rear wall of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Washington headquarters. The winning design, if built, will span two-thirds of an acre (0.27 ha) (see rendering below) and generate enough electricity to... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2000
Termi-Mesh

, reviewed in the September issue of

EBN (Vol. 9, No. 9) is now available in Austin, Texas. For information, contact Manny Martinez at Termi-Mesh, LLC, a joint venture company formed per the marriage between Termi-Mesh Australia and ABC Pest & Lawn Services of Austin (512/997-0066).

News Brief

November 1, 2000

The Brookings Institute reported in August that 18 acres (7.3 ha) of open fields or woodland in North Carolina are

being developed every hour. Most of this development is occurring around the state’s seven largest metropolitan areas.

News Brief

November 1, 2000

A big water controversy is bubbling up in the community of Sandy Valley, Nevada, where the La Jolla, California-based Vidler Water Company hopes to

extract 600 million gallons (2.3 million m3) of water per year. The water would be pumped 600 miles (965 km) and across a mountain range to a cluster of condominiums near the California-... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2000

Video by Jim Hamm Productions with the National Film Board of Canada, 1999 (U.S. release: 2000). Narrated by David Suzuki. Distributed by Bullfrog Films, Inc., 610/779-8226, 800/543-3764;

www.bullfrogfilms.com. 46 minutes, $75 to rent, $250 to buy

Turning Down the Heat is a super introduction to the field of renewable energy as a... Read more

News Analysis

November 1, 2000
New York’s First Green Residential High-Rise at Battery Park City

A residential tower now being designed for the southern tip of Manhattan will be the first to implement a comprehensive set of green guidelines established for such projects by the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA). To create the building, a team led by Albanese Development... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2000
Newsbriefs

An unusual collaboration among British Columbian forest products companies and environmental groups will examine

conservation-based ecosystem management of temperate rainforests. Four of the largest timber companies in BC (Canadian Forest Products, Fletcher Challenge Canada, Western Forest Products, and Weyerhaeuser) will... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2000
Newsbriefs

For the first time ever,

a hole in the stratospheric ozone layer opened up over a populated area. During two days in early September the South Pole ozone hole extended over the Chilean city of Punta Arenas, a city of 120,000 people. Residents were exposed to very high levels of ultraviolet radiation, significantly increasing... Read more

News Analysis

November 1, 2000
Certified Hardwoods from Anderson-Tully

Back in July 1993 we wrote about the commendable forest management practices of Anderson-Tully Company (ATCO), a large privately owned producer of hardwood lumber from forests in the lower Mississippi Valley (see

EBN

Vol. 2, No. 4). In October 2000 the company completed a six-month-long... Read more

News Brief

November 1, 2000

The Worldwatch Institute Board of Directors has named

Christopher Flavin as the second president of the Institute. Flavin replaces Lester Brown, who wants to cut back on his level of activity but will remain Chairman of the environmental research and policy institute he founded in 1974. Flavin has been with Worldwatch since 1978 and is... Read more