BuildingGreen Report

News Brief

May 1, 1997

by Joe Lstiburek, P.E.; published by Building Science Corporation, 70 Main Street, Westford, MA 01886; 508/589-5100, 508/589-5103 (fax); with the Energy Efficient Building Association and Shelter Source. 1997, spiral-bound, 270 pages, $40 + $3 S&H.

Joe Lstiburek (pronounced

stee-bu-rek) has achieved an amazing feat with this book. He... Read more

News Analysis

May 1, 1997
New Refrigerator Standards

The U.S. Department of Energy has finalized new energy efficiency standards for refrigerators and freezers that will take effect on July 1, 2001. The new standards will mandate approximately a 30% reduction in energy consumption for the most common types of refrigerators compared to the 1993 standards that are... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 1997
Awards & Competitions

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

Op-Ed

May 1, 1997
More on the Redwood Boycott

I read with interest

EBN’s April article on our campaign to end the use of old-growth redwood. I think your analysis of the situation is very valuable, especially your discussion of how to identify “old-growth” on the shelf at your local building materials store. There are several points in your article I... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 1997
Newsbriefs

Canadian expertise on ventilation system design and equipment installation is becoming available in the United States. The Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Institute of Canada (HRAI) has begun offering residential ventilation training workshops for contractors, builders, and engineers in the northeastern U.S. Upcoming... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 1997

by Reid Ewing with MaryBeth DeAnna, Christine C. Heflin, and Douglas R. Porter; published by Planners Press, American Planning Association, 122 South Michigan Avenue, Suite 1600, Chicago, IL 60603. 1996, paperback, 178 pages, $42.95 + $8 S&H.

Best Development Practices provides the best in ideas about what makes communities work,... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 1997

by Andrew N. Davis, Ph.D., Esq. and Paul E. Schaffman, P.E.; pub-lished by Owl Books, Henry Holt and Company, New York. 1996, paperback, 372 pages, $19.95.

This is a brilliant and much-needed book. It addresses 50 potential environmental hazards found either on-site (lead paint, biological con- taminants, buried heating oil storage tanks,... Read more

Product Review

May 1, 1997
Ozone-friendly Insulated Composite Doors

Most manufactured exterior doors have a core of polyurethane insulation, which is made with ozone-depleting HCFC-141b. Of those that use ozone-safe expanded polystyrene (EPS), most are steel, which works all right but can be limiting in terms of design flexibility. A new line of exterior doors from... Read more

News Analysis

May 1, 1997
Product Brief

The Livos line of German nontoxic paints, finishes, and other products has a new North American distributor. Livos Phytochemistry of America, Inc. (LPA) has just been formed in Mashpee, Massachusetts. Established over 25 years ago, Livos produces more than 1,200 environmentally responsible products, though LPA plans to focus... Read more

Op-Ed

May 1, 1997
CCA-Treated Wood Toxic

I saw a copy of

EBN

Vol. 6, No. 3 which focused on disposal of CCA-treated wood as a problem, but implied that there are no problems associated with this product in use. I am enclosing an article that reviews work we have done demonstrating problems caused by the wood when used in aquatic environments.... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 1997

Bimonthly Newsletter Covering Traditional Town Planning and Development. Robert Steuteville, Editor and Publisher, P.O. Box 157, Emmaus, PA 18049; 610/965-4623; 610/966-3434 (fax); newurban@aol.com (e-mail). $59 per year.

New Urban News has become the voice of the young but rapidly growing neo-traditional or New Urbanist movement of land-... Read more

Feature

May 1, 1997

The idea of collecting and storing rainwater for use is hardly new. It has been relied upon for centuries—even millennia—in many parts of the world. Rainwater is used extensively today in Australia, Bermuda, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Hawaii. Even skyscrapers in Hong Kong are collecting and using rainwater. Is this practice a good idea? Is it... Read more

Product Review

We take a look at Demilec's spray-in-foam

May 1, 1997

There is a new kid on the block in the spray-in foam insulation business. Demilec, Inc., Canada’s largest manufacturer of polyurethane, is going head-to-head with Icynene (see EBN Vol. 4, No. 5) in the low-density, open-cell polyurethane foam industry. The company introduced its Sealection 500 product in the Spring of 1996 in Canada and quickly... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 1997
Newsbriefs

According to a new report by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE), investments in energy efficiency improvements in the three states of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania could generate 164,000 jobs by the year 2010 and save more than $150 billion, while reducing air pollution emissions by 24%. The 130-... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 1997

U.S. dependence on imported petroleum is nearing an all-time high. According to the DOE Energy Information Administration, total average petroleum imports in 1996 reached 9.4 million barrels per day (1.5 billion l/d), or 51.5% of total consumption. While total imports (both actual and percentage basis) were the highest ever, the

net... Read more

Op-Ed

April 1, 1997
Deregulation: Work to Make it Work!

Environmentalists and other advocates of energy efficiency are justifiably nervous about a deregulated electric utility industry. Under the existing (regulated) system, we as a society have the right, at least in principle, to require that electric power providers act in our common interest. The free-market... Read more

Product Review

April 1, 1997
Recycled-PET Workstation Fabric from DesignTex

This March, DesignTex, Inc., a commercial textile manufacturer based in New York City, introduced a polyester workstation panel fabric made of 100% recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) from soda bottles.

This fabric, called

Play it Again Sam, is woven from Fortrel® Ecospun™... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 1997

The U.S. team entered in the Green Building Challenge ’98 (GBC ’98), an international project to develop assessment methods for environmentally responsible buildings, is looking for buildings in the United States to assess for energy and environmental performance. Nominated projects must be elementary schools, medium to large office buildings,... Read more

Op-Ed

April 1, 1997

I have read your article in the March 1997 issue of Environmental Building News, concerning CCA-treated wood and its disposal at the end of its service life. I have also read the letter to you written by Mr. Gene S. Bartlow, President and CEO of American Wood Preservers Institute (AWPI).

Chemical Specialties, Inc. has been a member and... Read more

News Brief

April 1, 1997

The American Institute of Architects/Portland (AIA/Portland) now has entry packets available for the 1997 Architecture + Energy Awards: Building Excellence in the Northwest. Any new construction and renovation projects in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, or Washington that are completed at the time of entry are eligible. Jurors for this fifth annual... Read more