Op-Ed
I just ran across your Web site during research on oriented-strand board (OSB) mills and was dismayed to see how you’ve succumbed to the green-washing of engineered lumber companies. There is a forest feeding frenzy playing out in the eastern U.S. as industries rush back to remow the native forest after a 70-year... Read more
News Brief
The Alternative Energy Corporation, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, has a new name: Advanced Energy. The nonprofit AEC was established in 1980 by the North Carolina Utilities Commission and has been a valuable resource for technical support and training related to energy efficiency in buildings, among other areas. Advanced Energy can be... Read more
Op-Ed
Vol. 1, No. 1 through
Vol. 6, No. 4. The CD-ROM format allows us to make back issues available at a very reasonable price, and adds the capability of full-text... Read more
News Analysis
Supporters of tropical forest conservation were optimistic at the recent biennial meeting of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) but were disappointed as delegates failed to restrict mahogany trade for the third consecutive meeting. The 10th... Read more
Feature
Decisions about siding are consistently among the most difficult for environmentally concerned designers and builders of residential and light commercial buildings. Siding products must withstand all types of weather, look attractive both from a distance and up close, and be affordable to buy and install. With these demands in mind, which are... Read more
News Brief
Proceedings of conference held in September 1996. Forest Products Society, 2801 Marshall Court, Madison, Wisconsin 53705; 608/231-1361; 608/231-2152 (fax); www.forestprod.org. Paperback, 224 pages, $55 for non-members, plus $5 postage and handling.
The conference was excellent, called one of the best in recent years by many of the attendees... Read moreNews Brief
According to the May issue of
Builder magazine,
American consumers want to support companies that do the right thing. A consumer survey by Roper/Starch Worldwide and Cone Communications found that 76% of consumers would likely switch to companies that are associated with good causes. According to the article, Carol Cone of Cone... Read more
Product Review
Decking Option
ChoiceDek™, manufactured by AERT (Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies, Inc.), is a 100% recycled-content, wood-plastic composite decking material distributed in some parts of the country by Weyerhaeuser. Like the better-known Trex, ChoiceDek offers an alternative to redwood, cedar, and... Read moreNews Brief
by John Hermannsson, AIA. The Taunton Press, Newtown, Con-necticut, 1997. Paperback, 150 pages, $37.95.
This new title from Taunton Press, publisher ofFine Homebuilding magazine, is the latest in a series of green building product directories. It is the first, however, to be published by a mainstream publisher, and its clean styling and... Read more
News Analysis
CCA-treated Decks
A paper in the January 1997 issue of theBulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology reported leaching of copper, chromium, and arsenic from decks made from CCA- (chromated copper arsenate-) treated wood. In the study, Dr. David E. Stilwell and K. D. Gorny, from the... Read more
News Brief
by Ken Druse with Margaret Roach. Clark-son Potter Publishers, New York, 1994. Hardcover, 248 pages, $40.
by Carole Ottesen. Harmony Books, Crown Publishers, New York, 1995. Hardcover, 354 pages, $50.
While these two books aren’t exactly new and they certainly aren’t cheap, they provide a... Read moreNews Brief
The
Renewable Energy Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives has grown to 103 members according to the Sustain- able Energy Coalition. It is now one of the largest officially recognized Congressional Member Organizations, with surprisingly bipartisan membership: 53 Republicans; 49 Democrats, and 1 Independent. The Caucus... Read more
News Brief
A pilot project is underway to assess the possibilities for salvage and reuse of wood-framed structures at the former
Fort Ord Army Base on the central California coast. The three to eight buildings to be disassembled are representative of the 1,200 hundred structures on the site. A $200,000 grant from the
Packard Foundation is... Read more
Product Review
Op-Ed
Our decision to feature carpet recycling in this issue raises questions that have been widely debated recently about the value and importance of recycling. The broader environmental issues surrounding this debate are both complex and intriguing, and more involved than we dare get into here. An article in
... Read more
News Brief
Interface president and CEO
Ray Anderson has been named co-chair of the
President’s Council on Sustainable Development. He replaces David Buzzelli, executive vice-president of Dow Chemical Company, and joins co-chair Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute. Along with naming Anderson to the Council,... Read more
Feature
Carpet & Rug Industry, 1.6 billion square yards (1.3 billion m2) of carpet were shipped in 1996, enough to cover all five New York boroughs more than one and a half times. To produce that carpet, over 2 billion pounds (900 million kg) of nylon fiber were used... Read more
News Brief
A Journal of the Human Environment, monthly magazine from Fine Additions, Inc., 2405 Maclovia Land, Santa Fe, NM 87505; 505/471-4549. Monthly, $28/year.
Designer/builder is a low-tech, black-and-white, large-format magazine with a sharply intellectual bent. It features environmental thinking and socially progressive ideas with an eclectic... Read moreProduct Review
News Brief
The California Integrated Waste Management Board has announced its fifth annual Waste Reduction Awards Program (WRAP), designed to recognize California businesses making outstanding efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste, and to use recycled materials. Winners receive a certificate and statewide publicity for... Read more




