More than 51,000 U.S.-made geothermal heat pumps were shipped during 1996, according to the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy. Of these, 49% were shipments to the South, 23% to the Midwest, 12% to the Northeast, 7% to the West, and 8% were exported. Somewhat surprisingly, shipments have been fairly flat during... Read more

by Barbara Bannon Harwood. Hay House, Inc., Carlsbad, California, 1997. Paperback, 344 pages, $12.95.

For years, Barbara Bannon Harwood has been a thorn in the side of the National Association of Home Builders and one of the few builders of energy-efficient, passive solar houses in the Dallas area. In keeping with her track record of... Read more

As some had feared, the beginning of utility deregulation appears to be taking a toll on one of the most progressive utility programs promoting green building. Not long after Portland, Oregon’s municipal utility, Portland General Electric, was purchased by energy services giant Enron, their residential

Earth Smart program was... Read more

The

Forest Stewardship Council has been named as this year’s recipient of the J. Paul Getty Conservation Award. The award, which is administered by the World Wildlife Fund, carries a prize of US$100,000. For information, contact the U.S. office of FSC at 802/244-6257.

A lot has happened since we first reported on Faswall back in 1992 (EBN

Vol. 1, No. 3). There have been several failed licensing arrangements with other manufacturers, only one of which (Midwest Faswall) actually began producing the material. Faswall owners Hans and Leni Walter blame the failures on quality control problems with... Read more

It’s rare to find a book that is at once accessible, attractive, and technically sophisticated, but

Healthy by Design is such a book. The authors make effective use of many... Read more

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

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

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

An unusual black mold has been linked to at least 34 cases of pulmonary hemorrhage and hemosiderosis (PH/H) among infants in the Cleveland area since 1993, resulting in at least 10 deaths. The condition, which involves bleeding in the lungs, is believed to be caused by toxins produced by the mold

Stachybotrys atra (also known as

In December 1997, an Eau Claire, Wisconsin man and the company he owns were fined $1.7 million—the largest award ever in Eau Claire County—for

illegal disposal of CCA-treated wood ash. An equivalent of a 55-gallon drum of the toxic incinerator ash was generated weekly from burning treated-wood pallets at the headquarters of Menards, a... Read more

I enjoyed your article on access floors in the January issue of

EBN [Vol. 7, No. 1]. You demonstrate the wisdom of using access flooring in new office buildings, but I wonder what their applicability might be for other types of construction, including schools, libraries, and office renovations. What governs the selection?

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

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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

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