A fire destroyed 5 million pounds of recycled PET in a warehouse belonging to Image Industries, Inc., makers of Image Carpet, according to the July 31 issue of

Plastics News. No one was injured in the blaze, and the origin is unknown. The burned material represents only a small portion of the company’s stock, and it was insured.

Fluorescent lighting was introduced in the 1920s as a more energy-efficient alternative to incandescent lighting. Over the past two decades, technology improvements have gradually increased the acceptability of fluorescent lamps for many more applications. Light quality was dramatically improved with triphosphor... Read more

Janet Marinelli and Paul Bierman-Lytle. Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1995. 272 pages. Hardcover $45; paperback $21.95.

Brand new from one of the pioneers in low-toxic, environmental architecture and one of the field’s most eloquent writers,

Your Natural Home is a superb resource for... Read more

A four-month-old initiative within the U.S. Postal Service aims to revise design guidelines and material specifications to improve environmental performance. The Washington, D.C. office of HOK, Inc. was recently retained to help develop the proposed changes, which will be presented to senior Postal Service staff for review in late October. To... Read more

The Wild Lawn Handbook: Alternatives to the Traditional Front LawnStevie Daniels, 1995. Macmillan, 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023; 800/858-7674. Hardcover, 223 pages, $20 ($27.95 Canada).

Written for homeowners who are questioning the ecological and financial cost of maintaining a traditional lawn... Read more

Just as certain segments of the HVAC and insulation industries have begun a widespread shift to the ozone-safe, chlorine-free hydrofluorocarbon HFC-134a, new environmental concerns have been raised about this compound. Researchers at the Cambridge, Massachusetts firm Atmospheric and Environmental Research suggested... Read more

NOLS had established a base for sea kayaking and other water activities on the Baja California peninsula, in... Read more

The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) has announced a design competition for completed buildings north of 40 degrees north latitude. Judging criteria include energy and resource efficiency and bioregional appropriateness. There is no fee for submissions, which must be received by December 31, 1995. Contact NESEA at 413/774-6051,... Read more

Learning from the Past

Easter Island has long mystified archaeologists. When the tiny, remote island, 2,000 miles (3,200 km) from the nearest continent, was “discovered” on Easter day in 1722, some 200 mammoth stone statues (moai) stood on the island like sentries. But there was no obvious means by which the islanders could... Read more

More recently, suburban neighborhoods and office parks began replacing farms in ever-widening circles around the cities and towns. Conventional practice is to landscape the open spaces around... Read more

The U.S. Department of Energy has published proposed voluntary guidelines for rating home energy performance. The guidelines were drafted by the Home Energy Rating Systems (HERS) Council for DOE and are designed to encourage uniformity among the various methods used to rate the energy efficiency of both new and existing residential buildings.... Read more

2 Sink?

The manufacture of portland cement... Read more

UPDATE: This keystone article was updated in 2010 to reflect changes in the industry.It is rarely possible to do everything we would like to reduce the environmental impact of building projects. It takes time to research alternative design and construction systems; new materials may not have proven track records; higher costs may be an... Read more

Canada’s Green Building Information Council (GBIC) was inaugurated in July of 1994 in Toronto. Coordinated by University of British Columbia School of Architecture Professor Dr. Raymond Cole, the Council is dedicated to stimulating public and private efforts to “advance the energy and environmental... Read more

The Passive Solar Industries Council and the American Solar Energy Society will announce the first pilot sites for their Buildings for a Sustainable America: Education Campaign at the annual ASES conference in July. The campaign hopes to demonstrate the potential of passive solar and renewable energy strategies in buildings. For... Read more

Regarding your article entitled “Steelcase Providing Detailed Emissions Data,” published in the May/June 1995 issue of

Environmental Building News: I first want to commend you on the article and discussion regarding Steelcase’s efforts to reduce emission of VOCs and formaldehyde from its products. I also want to... Read more

Center for Resourceful Building Technology, PO Box 100, Missoula, MT 59806; 406/549-7678. 112 pages, paperback, $25.

Wesley A. Groesbeck and Jan Striefel, ALSA. Environmental Resources, Inc., 2041 E. Hollywood Ave., Salt Lake City, UT 84108-3148; 801/485-0280 (phone & fax). 368 pages, $37.50 postpaid.

... Read more

An ironic turn of events has resulted in a lobbying battle among two of the largest U.S. wood products companies. An in-depth article in

The

New York Times (May 21, 1995) reports that Weyer­haeuser is lobbying Washington policy makers to retain tight air pollution regulations,... Read more

The National Material Exchange Network is now online. In May the materials exchange, which links generators of industrial “waste” with users of those materials (see EBN

Vol. 2, No. 3), became an interactive, free Web page with participation of 51 regional waste exchanges throughout North America. The Web page address is www.earthcycle.... Read more

The May/June issue of

Environmental Building News was of particular interest to us, with its focus on the use of straw in building. We were especially interested, of course, in your comments on Agriboard.

While we were impressed with the article’s clear, accurate and objective overview, the comments on R-... Read more