CertainTeed Corporation, one of the big-three fiberglass insulation manufacturers, has found a supplier of consistently high-quality glass cullet for its Mountaintop, Pennsylvania plant. With the EFTEK Corporation’s recycled glass, primarily from beverage containers, CertainTeed now achieves 40% post-consumer recycled content... Read more

Arizona residents will vote on governor Jane Hull’s proposal to spend $190 million over 10 years to

preserve open space according to the May/June 1998 issue of

Common Ground. The measure would be paid for with corporate income taxes. Another ballot initiative in Arizona, this one requiring cities to adopt urban growth boundaries... Read more

Interest in environmental programs was unexpectedly high at The American Institute of Architects (AIA) convention, held May 13-17 in San Francisco. Standing-room-only crowds packed in to hear about solar-electric buildings and tools for green design. Product manufacturers seemed unprepared for... Read more

The developers of STAPLES Center sports arena in Los Angeles achieved a remarkable

98% recycling rate for demolition waste when razing the existing North Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center. More than 16,000 tons of waste were kept out of area landfills through the effort, which was done in conjunction with the City of Los Angeles... Read more

sensible heat) and they remove moisture from air, reducing its

latent heat. In some cases the relative balance between these two functions is acceptable, but there are also many applications for which... Read more

The federal government has had mixed success promoting energy conservation and renewables since the early 1970s. Some efforts have been great, such as appliance efficiency standards and EnergyGuide labels. Others have been less effective or even counter-productive. President Carter’s appeal to the American public to conserve energy by turning... Read more

August 3 is the entry deadline for

Q=E: The Patagonia International Design Competition, which seeks designs (not limited to buildings) proving that quality and environmental performance are the same. Over $35,000 in cash and merchandise will be awarded. Architect William McDonough and physicist Amory Lovins are... Read more

For years, Clivus Multrum has been the de facto standard for composting toilets in North America. Clivus was introduced in North America from Sweden during the 1970s by Abby Rockefeller. Almost single-handedly, the Clivus established composting toilets as a viable alternative to conventional flush toilets. While Clivus remains an active player... Read more

Thanks to the tireless work of Doug Patterson here at EBN and our Product Catalog partners David Johnston, Valerie Walsh, and Dan Darnell at What’s Working in Boulder, Colorado, the catalog now includes product literature from another 35 green building products—for a total of just over 100. In addition, the Product Catalog now includes listings... Read more

On May 4 President Clinton participated in launching the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH). PATH is a combined effort of several agencies, led by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Energy, with the goal of dramatically improving the energy efficiency,... Read more

The recently formed

Wisconsin Green Building Alliance (see

EBN Vol. 6, No. 8) has gotten a big boost with a $68,000 grant from the

Recycling Market Development Board. WGBA is sponsoring an impressive series of events and other initiatives, and is seeking members. Contact

WGBA director Abby Vogen at 608/280-0360... Read more

In our February 1998 news story “Federal Trade Commission Sues Maker of Ozone Generator” (

Vol. 7, No. 2, p. 4) we neglected to mention that in the 1995 consent decree between Alpine Industries and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), there was no admission of wrongdoing on the part of Alpine, nor were any penalties assessed.... Read more

Recent rains have abated

Indonesian fires that razed an estimated 620,000 acres (250,000 hectares) this year. Klaus Toepher, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), says the situation could become “one of the greatest ecological disasters of the millenium.”

The

1999... Read more

Thanks for forwarding to me your readers’ thoughtful letters on the affordable housing component of Denver Dry. First of all, a few clarifications: although at least 80% of the units must be rented to low-income residents, there are no specific units designated as affordable. Furthermore, the affordable leases must be spread amongst the unit... Read more

Software for Windows™ by Barbara Lippiatt of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Building and Fire Research Laboratory, Build-ing Environment Division. Available for $49.95 plus $6 S&H from: U.S. Green Building Council, 90 New Montgomery Street, Suite 1001, San Francisco, CA 94105; 415/543-3001, www.usgbc.org. Also... Read more

In March the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) released a long-overdue report on the possible health hazards of butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) from carpet cushions. The Commission attributed the delay to the fact that it had the initial study redone after it found “considerable... Read more

In what is, to our knowledge, a first, the

State of Vermont has exempted the sale of donated, used building materials from sales tax. Bill number H. 771, signed into law by Governor Howard Dean on April 29, 1998, officially exempts “sales of scrap materials generated in the course of construction or demolition and diverted... Read more

As usual your magazine is filled with valuable and well-presented information. But there was a sleeper in [the April] issue (

Vol. 7, No. 4, p. 9) that the text does not address: interior bedrooms. It would appear from the plan that these occur in the “affordable” apartments; I presume the corner apartments are “... Read more

The first hydrocarbon... Read more

Energy production and consumption data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy showed 1997 to be another record year.

Total U.S. energy consumption was 90.6 quads (95.6 x 10

12 MJ). While this is less than a 1% increase over 1996, it does not bode well for achieving targeted reductions in... Read more