News Analysis
News Brief
A Call for Papers has been issued for the November 1997 conference
“Environmental and Economic Balance: The 21st Century Outlook” sponsored by The American Institute of Architect’s Committee on the Environment, other AIA professional interest areas (PIAs), and the U.S. Green Building Council. Call the PIA Information Line: 800/242-3837... Read more
News Brief
by Tracy Mumma (1997). Center for Resourceful Building Technology (CRBT), P.O. Box 100, Missoula, MT 59806; 406/549-7678, www.montana.com/crbt. Paperback, 115 pages, $28 postpaid.
“It’s not often that you would want to sit down and actually read a product directory. But you just might with this.” So began our first review of theGREBE in... Read more
News Analysis
The Trane Company's Earth-Wise CenTraVac Chiller, featured in the article on refrigerants in EBN
Vol. 6, No. 2, is now the first commercial building chiller to be awarded the Green Seal of Approval. Although it uses the ozone-depleting R-123 refrigerant, Green Seal judged the unitís high efficiency, and the protections it incorporates... Read more
News Brief
has introduced the “Build a Better Kitsap” program to recognize homes built to high environmental standards. Working with consultant Kathleen O’Brien, the Builders can select from a list of 85 options to achieve a one-, two-, or three-star rating. This is the second such program... Read more
News Brief
The Alameda County Waste Management Authority in California has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for the creation of a portable
Resourceful Building Showcase. The Showcase, to be displayed at conferences and trade shows, must be made with recycled-content, reused, recyclable, and nontoxic building materials.... Read more
Op-Ed
EBN (
Vol. 6, No. 1).
I realize that space was limited, but I would like to point out that the Ridgehaven project was also a team effort. Below are the project team members who were instrumental in... Read more
News Brief
by Peter Yost and Eric Lund (1997).
NAHB Research Center, 400 Prince George’s Blvd., Upper Marlboro, MD 20774; 301/249-4000, www.nahbrc.com. Paperback, 30 pages, free of charge.
The task of job-site waste management just got easier. This concise guide from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Research Center fills a big... Read moreNews Brief
by Wesley A. Groesbeck and Jan Striefel, ASLA. Environmental Resources, Inc., 2041 E. Hollywood Avenue, Salt Lake City, UT 84108-3148; 801/485-0280. Paperback, 486 pages, $35 postpaid.
This directory is a bare-bones, no-frills production. The 2,100 listings are printed in a plain database output format on recycled newsprint. But the content... Read moreNews Brief
Forintek Canada Corp.’s Sustainable Materials Pro-ject, a leading source of life-cycle information on building materials, has just been incorporated as the not-for-profit
Athena Sustainable Materials Institute (ASMI). The Institute should help address perceptions that the life-cycle data from the project is biased by its... Read more
News Analysis
EBN
Vol. 2, No. 5, the company has been expanding, both in market share and vertical integration within their product area.... Read more
News Brief
The third annual
International Design Resource Awards for recycled and renewable materials and products includes categories for “Built Environments” and “Building Materials” along with five others. Winning this competition is reportedly a great way to find a manufacturer for your design. Entry fee is $30; deadline for submissions is... Read more
Product Review
EBN had an opportunity to try out the new straw-based particleboard made by PrimeBoard, Inc. in Wahpeton, North Dakota. We hired a local cabinetry firm to shop-fabricate and install a wall of modular shelving from several 5’ x 10’ (1.5 x 3 m) sheets of 3⁄4”-thick (19 mm) WheatBoard™. We wanted to find out from professional... Read more
News Brief
An innovative
employee-satisfaction-based compensation contract for a new $40 million, 165 million square-foot (15 million m2) Ciba Geigy laboratory in Tarrytown, New York proved successful for the architecture and construction firms that risked part of their profits. Designers HLW International and contractor Sordoni Skanska agreed to... Read more
News Analysis
The Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) developed in the U.K. is now available in Canada. BREEAM is a voluntary rating system that assesses the energy and environmental performance of commercial buildings. The program has been available since 1993 in the U.K. and since... Read more
News Brief
of Architecture:
by Laura C. Zeiher. 1996, Whitney Library of Design (an imprint of Watson-Guptill Publications), New York. Hardcover, 270 pages, $55.
The Ecology of Architecture is a very broad work, including background theory on ecological design, profiles of practitioners, and detailed case studies of green... Read more
News Analysis
CORRECTIONS for the “Resources on Environmental Impacts of Materials” table on page 11 of our last issue:
The Green Guide to Specification is published by:GTI Specialist Publishers
6 Hithercroft Court
Lupton Road
Wallingford, OXON OX10 9BT, U.K.
+44 1 4091 826401 (fax)
And we... Read moreProduct Review
EBN
Vol. 5, No. 5), has just introduced a line of fans combined with compact fluorescent lights.
The new WhisperLite series of 70-, 90-, and 110-cfm (33, 42, and 52 l/s) are... Read more
Feature
The internationally sanctioned phaseout of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) is causing an unprecedented pace of change and innovation in the refrigeration industry. The old standby refrigerants no longer make the grade. These ozone-depleting chemicals are now well on their way to being contained—1995 global production of CFCs was down 76% from its... Read more
News Analysis
An Idaho sawmill began producing 11⁄4”-thick (32 mm) 2x4 and 2x6 studs two years... Read more





