Mid-Course Correction

by Ray C. Anderson. The Peregrin-zilla Press, Atlanta, 1998 (distributed by Chelsea Green Publishing Co.). Paperback, 200 pages, $17.95

Mid-Course Correction is a very important book. Author Ray Anderson, CEO of the carpet company Interface, Inc., has for several years been inspiring audiences with his personal... Read more

River Salvage Legalized in Florida

The practice of salvaging sinker logs from river bottoms in Florida is legal again—for the first time since 1974. Governor Childs of Florida and his cabinet approved an interim policy that allows and regulates this form of salvage on December 7, 1998. After one year, the program will be carefully... Read more

Small House, Big View

When most highly successful corporate executives set out to build a new home, it is pretty much a given that the house will be over 10,000 square feet (929 m2). The operative questions might be whether a four-car garage is big enough, how many guest suites to include, and whether the master bedroom suite should be its... Read more

The Not So Big House

by Sarah Susanka. Taunton Press, Newtown, Connecticut, 1998. Hardcover, 200 pages, $30

The Not So Big House is a gorgeous book, full of inspiring photographs and imaginative floor plans, that conveys both the how’s and the why’s of designing smaller, more compact houses. Author Sarah Susanka is principal of a 35-... Read more

Wood-Plastic Composite Lumber Expands

Trex Co. LLC is building a manufacturing facility in Fernley, Nevada to serve customers in the West with its recycled wood-plastic composite decking. The company plans to begin operations in the Fall of 1999, according to

Plastics News (December 14, 1998), with two around-the-clock production lines... Read more

Awards & Competitions

Fred Keller of the Carrier Corporation was a recipient of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s

1998 Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award for his leadership in the use of ozone-friendly refrigerants in residential products. Keller, vice president of engineering for Carrier’s Residential and Light... Read more

Time to Act on Global Warming

The evidence on global warming has become increasingly hard to dispute: 20 consecutive years with above-average global temperatures, 18 consecutive months that set new all-time monthly temperature records, 1998 temperatures almost three-tenths of a degree Fahrenheit higher than the previous record (page 3). Most... Read more

Professional Builder magazine awarded a

1998 Professional Achievement Award to developer

John Kurowski, owner of Kurowski Development Co. of Littleton, Colorado, for his leadership in the creation of the Green Builder Program of Colorado. As president of the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver, Kurowski helped launch a $1 million... Read more

Armstrong to Distribute DLW Linoleum

The re-entry of Armstrong World Industries, Inc. into the North American linoleum market is now official—as of July 1, 1999 Armstrong will have exclusive rights to market and sell DLW Linoleum and most other DLW products. As reported in

EBN

Vol. 7, No. 9, Armstrong now owns DLW... Read more

Since 1950, the average house size in the United States has more than doubled, even while the average family size has steadily shrunk. We’re providing more square footage per family member than ever before, and projections are that the trend will continue.

As house size increases, resource use in buildings goes up, more land is occupied, there... Read more

C&A Goes with Recycled Backing Only

On November 10, 1998 Collins & Aikman Floorcoverings (C&A) ended 29 years of use of virgin materials in the backing of its modular carpet tile.

C&A has had great success, both in terms of performance and sales, with its POWERBOND® ER3™ backing (see “New Life for Old Carpets” in

... Read more

Architecture and the Environment

by David Lloyd Jones. The Overlook Press, Woodstock, N.Y., 1998 (distributed by Penguin Putnam, Inc.). Hardcover, 250 pages, $65. Note: Sometimes listed with the sub-title “Contemporary Green Buildings”

Several books published in the past decade have claimed to provide an overview of ecologically... Read more

Correction:

Our news story in

EBN

Vol. 7, No. 9 (October 1998) on Oakes Hall at the Vermont Law School incorrectly stated the estimated cooling load benefits of the enthalpy wheel. While the article described a two-ton reduction in peak cooling load from the enthalpy wheel, engineer Marc Rosenbaum estimates the actual peak load... Read more

In recognition of the large energy penalty associated with leaky ducts, the

California Energy Commission (CEC) has voted to provide a credit for high-quality ducts in the State’s residential energy code. To qualify for the credit, the home’s duct system must be certified by the installer, and the builder must have an independent party... Read more

The

American Institute of Architects New York Chapter’s Committee on the Environment has organized a panel discussion at which the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority will address their role in administering up to $6 million per year in grants for design professionals and building owners. Set for 8:00 a.m. on... Read more

From an environmental standpoint, the low-slope roofing on commercial and industrial buildings is a big problem. (“Low-slope” roofing is often incorrectly called

flat roofing—it nearly always has a slight pitch). For starters, there is a lot of it. No one in the industry seems to know how much low-slope roofing exists in the United... Read more

A New Chlorine-free Competitor to Vinyl Flooring

If linoleum represents the “back-to-nature” alternative to vinyl flooring, then Stratica is the

Brave New World option.

This new resilient flooring product from the U.K. uses high-tech engineering polymer resins to provide a durable surface and sophisticated patterns similar to... Read more

Navy at the Leading Edge of Green Design

In what may be one of the most significant developments in green building in recent years, the Department of the Navy has become the first Federal agency requiring all facilities and infrastructure-related design and construction to incorporate sustainable design principles. While energy efficiency and... Read more

New Staff at EBN

We are very excited to announce the recent addition of two outstanding people to our staff.

Dan Woodbury has joined us as our first full-time marketing director, and

Dwight Holmes is our new research associate. With their help we hope to continue serving you as the leading source of reliable green building... Read more

Everyone Wins the Green Building Challenge

Figure 1 – Annualised Life-Cycle Energy Components

Per Square Metre of Floor Area

This chart from a paper by Roger Baldwin of the British Research Establishment in the U.K. shows overall energy use associated with two actual office buildings, one in a... Read more