American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment, 1735 New York Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20006; 800/365-ARCH, 202/626-7300.

Last winter and spring the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment organized a series of three video teleconferences entitled “Building Connections.” The... 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

Recycling leftover paint is an idea whose time has come. Paint disposal is one of the biggest headaches facing contractors and municipalities nationwide, and improper disposal can cause extensive environmental harm. Several municipalities and counties have run paint collection and re-use programs, often mixing together... 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

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

Energy use is arguably the most significant environmental impact of buildings. Residential and commercial buildings in the U.S. use about 29 quads (quadrillion Btus) of energy each year, 35% of total energy consumption. That energy used for space heating and cooling in residential buildings (just over 7 quads per year) produces 420 million tons... Read more

Here at EBN, we’re as guilty of it as anyone. We’ve tended to give short shrift to energy conservation in part because there are other excellent publications that focus just on energy. But we did put energy at the top of our

Checklist for Sustainable Design and Construction. And that's... Read more

In July the Construction Specifications Institute appointed an Ad Hoc Environmental Issues Committee to promote awareness of environmental matters among CSI members and the construction industry. In its mission statement, CSI includes a commitment to “encourage the use of construction materials that will ensure the health, safety, and welfare... Read more

On August 24 the Clinton Administration announced a policy for the nation’s wetlands that aims to end years of confusion and infighting among various federal agencies with overlapping jurisdictions. Initial reaction to the plan from all sides was mixed, although most people are waiting to see how things... Read more

The world's most productive geothermal electrical generation site, Geysers geothermal field in Lake County, California, has been running out of steam. And Lake County Sanitation officials were facing expensive options for disposing of their partially treated wastewater. Now it appears that they have solved both... Read more

Pamela Winthrop Lauer, project director. 1993. Free. 36 pages. Order from: Metropolitan Council, Attn: Data Center, Mears Park Center, 230 E. Fifth St., St. Paul, MN 55101; 612/291-8140.

Although designed for use by contractors in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, this guidebook has lots of... Read more

I recently received a copy of the May/June issue of

Environmental Building News and wanted to respond to the article “Problems with PVC” that covered Greenpeace’s campaign to eliminate chlorine-based compounds, and vinyl in particular.

Although Greenpeace has alleged that vinyl presents a threat to human health... Read more

As reported in a Congressional hearing in June, the EPA has so far been unable to duplicate the results of carpet toxicity studies done by Anderson Labs of Dedham, Massachusetts (see EBN

Vol. 2, No. 2, “Mouse-Killing Carpets”). For reasons that remain unclear, the EPA used different test procedures that included percolating the exposed... Read more

I read your editorial in the recent issue [July/August ‘93] with great interest, since we too are constantly struggling to provide good information at reasonable cost, yet keep the whole operation afloat financially. It’s not easy.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched IAQ INFO, the Indoor Air Quality Information Clearinghouse. IAQ INFO has specialists who can provide information on a wide range of issues relating to indoor air quality: pollutant sources, health effects, testing, control measures, and relevant standards/guidelines. Along with answering... Read more

The Forest Information Resource System (FORIS), a database on the world’s timber resources, will be released by Tree Talk in November 1993. FORIS is intended to provide wood users with detailed information that will encourage the use of lesser-known and environmentally friendly species. Physical properties of each species, appropriate uses,... Read more