Most builders have vaguely heard of those little metal drywall stops that can be used for supporting drywall corners, but remarkably few have ever tried them. More builders we’ve spoken with are familiar with drywall

clips, which are fitted onto the edge of the drywall as it is being installed. Many drywall crews... Read more

The

Environmental Resource Guide from the American Institute of Architects (reviewed in EBN

Vol. 1, No. 3) is now available at a lower subscription rate. The new price for one year of quarterly installments is $98 for AIA members and $165 for non-members. Call 800/365-ARCH to order.

by Paul Hawken. HarperCollins Publishers, 1993. Hardcover, 250 pages, $23.

The Ecology of Commerce argues eloquently for radical change in how business works. Hawken compares our present economic system to immature, opportunistic natural environments that grow and spread rapidly but do not last. A mature system of... Read more

Washing Machine

Number one is... Read more

Extruded polystyrene (XPS) is the insulation material of choice for many builders when it comes to below-grade applications and is used in many other ways as well. Commonly referred to by Dow Chemical Company’s tradename Styrofoam®, standard XPS insulation is manufactured in the U.S. by four... Read more

The recycled plastic and wood fiber composite lumber product (reviewed in EBN

Vol. 2, No. 2) that began as Rivenite and later became Timbrex has a new name yet again. Mobil Chemical Company’s Composite Products Division, maker of the material, is now calling it “Trex™”. The change results from a trademark conflict over the... Read more

This just in from Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory: A gas oven consumes more electricity to bake a potato than a microwave oven. That’s right, more

electricity. The glow bar ignitor, which draws 350 to 400 watts during oven start-up, continues to draw power the whole time the oven is on. To bake a moderately sized potato, LBL researcher... Read more

Cellulose Article

The reviews are in on the cellulose story in the September/October issue of EBN. The consensus of the cellulose industry: Quite possibly the best article ever written about cellulose insulation. Of course, everyone doesn’t agree with every word in the piece, but overall the industry seems to think it’s... Read more

Image Industries, Inc., formerly Image Carpets Inc., has become one of the largest recyclers of PET in the U.S. (Image Carpets has been widely promoted as the premier manufacturer of carpets from recycled plastic resin.) Carpet manufacturing may soon be taking a back seat to PET recycling at the company, which ranked 22nd in sales volume among... Read more

As an architect I see an interesting relationship between the issue of sustainability in architecture, which has the potential to help our planet, and the issue of contextualism, which, if expanded to include “nature,” has the potential to cause enormous growth in the art of architecture.

Contextualism, which... Read more

for Treating Wastewater

by Gerald Steiner, P. E. and James Watson, P. E.; 42 pages, free. Tennessee Valley Authority, May 1993. TVA, 1101 Market Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402. Fax orders: 615/751-7479.

Despite its cumbersome title, this publication will prove invaluable to anyone considering a constructed... Read more

The Canadian R-2000 energy-efficient homes program is revising and broadening its standards. The Technical Research Committee of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association has made its recommendations to Energy, Mines and Resources Canada (EMR), the government body that administers R-2000. The... Read more

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a serious threat in many homes. Approximately 300 deaths per year from non-fire-related CO poisoning make it the leading cause of death by poisoning in the U.S. In addition to death from acute exposure, many people suffer the symptoms of low-level carbon monoxide poisoning—headaches, fatigue,... Read more

Trimax plastic lumber, which was featured in the EBN article “Recycled Plastic Lumber,” (Vol. 2, No. 4) will soon be manufactured in two additional locations. Trimax’s parent company, Polymerix, Inc., has licensed Environmental Recovery Systems of Somerset Inc. to make the fiberglass-reinforced lumber in Massachusetts. In a separate deal, John... Read more

The National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Green Building Council have jointly announced a Green Building Conference for February 1994 in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The conference will cover assessment methodologies and performance criteria for rating buildings, case studies, activities of various government and independent... Read more

by National Park Service. September 1993. 118 pages. Limited copies available from the Denver Service Center, National Park Service, P.O. Box 25287, Denver, CO 80225; 303/969-2100. (No charge while initial printing lasts; then copies will be available from the Government Printing Office.)

The Cycle II™ line from the Major Paint Company (the manufacturing arm of Standard Brands Paint Co.) contains at least 12% recycled paint collected from consumers and 38% in-house waste from washing machinery. The remaining 50% is virgin material. Cycle II is available in flat, semi-gloss, and primer formulations in about a dozen colors ranging... Read more

Resource Guide

Victoria Schomer, ASID, editor. PO Box 2386, Mill Valley, CA 94942. Spiral-bound, 230 pages. $40.

If you’ve ever wanted to look through the notebooks of an experienced “green” interior designer, this is your chance. Victoria Schomer has been compiling information on healthy building materials for... Read more

Green Seal, a nonprofit environmental labeling organization, certifies products that cause significantly less harm to the environment... Read more

•urethane-reinforced... Read more