InsulCot™ was a recycled cotton and polyester insulation product that was available on a limited basis since 1991. It has been temporarily discontinued but should be available much more widely this May. A major textile manufacturer is now gearing up for large-scale production. The new product (as yet unnamed) is being positioned to... Read more

1. Total Harmonic Distortion

2. Osram and Sylvania merged in 1993

3. Reflector style

4. Panasonic lamps have single tube with double fold and are enclosed in white glass bulb. Lamps available in... Read more

Building Materials in the Context of Sustainable Development, nine research reports available from Forintek Canada Corp., 800 Montreal Road, Ottawa, ON K1G 3Z5, Canada; 613/744-0963, 613/744-0903 (fax). Complete sets: CDN$600 for universities and nonprofits, CDN$900 for... Read more

The City of New York has created an Inter-Agency Environmentally Sound Building Task Force to develop, encourage, and coordinate ideas for introducing environmentally sound building into the municipal building program. The City is currently soliciting information from other municipalities, private industry, and other countries on applied... Read more

Your article titled “Should We Phase Out PVC?” was a breath of fresh air. You assumed an impartial role and presented the available information without misrepresentation, innuendo or distortion. The fact that PVC can be hazardous during its manufacture and disposal should be of concern to your readers.

... Read more

The National Appropriate Technology Assistance Service (NATAS), operated by the National Center for Appropriate Technology since 1984, has ceased operations. NATAS had offered toll-free technical assistance on issues relating to renewable energy and energy efficiency. Most information services provided by NATAS will now be available from... Read more

Washing Machine

Number one is... Read more

A lot of what we do in our research at EBN is listen to claims. We hear from one group that a particular material is great for the environment, while another group tells us just the opposite. Very often, both interest groups are right …and both are wrong. How can that be? The apparent contradiction lies in selective use of... Read more

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is planning a large-scale center for conferences, environmental education, and recreation on 1,040 acres on Mt. Greylock in Adams. The proposed $6.5 million center will feature state-of-the-art environmental technologies and design strategies. Requests for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) are available by calling... Read more

Green Builder Program, City of Austin, Environmental & Conservation Services Dept., 206 E. 9th Street, Suite 17.102, Austin, TX 78701; 512/499-3500; 512/499-2859 (fax). Three-ring binder format, 440 pages, $25 postpaid.

The Sustainable Building Sourcebook was written to provide background information for... Read more

I appreciated reading your fairly comprehensive article on environmental impacts of various heating fuel options (“Heating Fuel Choices: Weighing the Alternatives”, EBN,

Vol. 2, No. 6). You uncovered several of the complexities inherent to evaluating the costs and benefits of fuel options as determined by... Read more

The CNN Environment Unit is preparing a half-hour show on environmental home renovation featuring EBN Advisory Board members Steve Loken and Marc Rosenbaum. EBN subscribers are invited to suggest renovation ideas, materials, or techniques (for either contractors or do-it- yourselfers) for inclusion in the show, which will air in late May or... Read more

The Alcyone Light Centre is offering a three-month course in green architecture in the spring of 1994, and another in sustainable building construction in the summer. Contact Architectural Internship Director, Alcyone Light Centre, 1965 Hilt Rd., Hornbrook, CA 96044; 916/475-3310.

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

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

In 1992 The Glidden Company surprised the interior paint world by offering a latex paint without any volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs in paints have been implicated in indoor air quality (IAQ) problems and environmental illness cases. There has been a strong trend toward lower VOC formulations, spurred in part... 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

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