BuildingGreen Report

News Brief

July 1, 1997
E Source Technology

Atlas Series

from E Source, Inc., 1033 Walnut Street, Boulder, CO 80302; 303/440-8500, 303/440-8502 (fax), esource@esource.com (e-mail), www.esource.com/atlas. Five-volume paper-back set or CD-ROM for Windows or Macintosh. 1,700 pages, $750 for either format, or $950 for both.

It’s not often that we’ll label... Read more

Op-Ed

July 1, 1997
Defending Redwood Harvests

Concerning “More on the Redwood Boycott” in your May issue (EBN

Vol. 6, No. 5), I would like to address several inconsistencies in Mr. Platt’s observations.

The Pacific Lumber Company has been in continuous operation on the same contiguous timberland in Humboldt County, California for the last 128 years... Read more

News Analysis

July 1, 1997
One Million Electricity-Generating Roofs

One of the last comments in President Clinton’s June 26 address to the United Nations “Five Years from Rio” Conference contained a commitment solar energy advocates were hoping for: to help establish the conditions that will lead to photovoltaic (PV) generation on a million buildings within the next... Read more

News Brief

July 1, 1997

AURA vacuum panel insulation, reviewed in EBN

Vol. 4, No. 1, has been mothballed by manufacturer Owens Corning. A press release from the company blames a lack of interest from refrigerator manufacturers, after they succeeded in postponing new energy standards from 1998 to July 2001. The AURA panel was used in the freezer compartment of... Read more

Op-Ed

July 1, 1997
Challenging the Simplified Life-Cycle Analysis

I recently was provided with the January 1997 issue of EBN (Vol. 6, No. 1) and found the information

of considerable interest. However, I would like to offer a few comments on “Material Selection” and the use of a simplified life-cycle analysis (LCA).

I can relate to the statement... Read more

Feature

July 1, 1997

Decisions about siding are consistently among the most difficult for environmentally concerned designers and builders of residential and light commercial buildings. Siding products must withstand all types of weather, look attractive both from a distance and up close, and be affordable to buy and install. With these demands in mind, which are... Read more

News Brief

June 1, 1997

Proceedings of conference held in September 1996. Forest Products Society, 2801 Marshall Court, Madison, Wisconsin 53705; 608/231-1361; 608/231-2152 (fax); www.forestprod.org. Paperback, 224 pages, $55 for non-members, plus $5 postage and handling.

The conference was excellent, called one of the best in recent years by many of the attendees... Read more

News Brief

June 1, 1997

According to the May issue of

Builder magazine,

American consumers want to support companies that do the right thing. A consumer survey by Roper/Starch Worldwide and Cone Communications found that 76% of consumers would likely switch to companies that are associated with good causes. According to the article, Carol Cone of Cone... Read more

Op-Ed

June 1, 1997
Carpet Recycling in Perspective

Our decision to feature carpet recycling in this issue raises questions that have been widely debated recently about the value and importance of recycling. The broader environmental issues surrounding this debate are both complex and intriguing, and more involved than we dare get into here. An article in

... Read more

News Brief

June 1, 1997

by John Hermannsson, AIA. The Taunton Press, Newtown, Con-necticut, 1997. Paperback, 150 pages, $37.95.

This new title from Taunton Press, publisher of

Fine Homebuilding magazine, is the latest in a series of green building product directories. It is the first, however, to be published by a mainstream publisher, and its clean styling and... Read more

Feature

June 1, 1997
The American carpet industry continues to grow. According to the trade publication

Carpet & Rug Industry, 1.6 billion square yards (1.3 billion m2) of carpet were shipped in 1996, enough to cover all five New York boroughs more than one and a half times. To produce that carpet, over 2 billion pounds (900 million kg) of nylon fiber were used... Read more

News Brief

June 1, 1997
Two Great Books on Native Landscaping

by Ken Druse with Margaret Roach. Clark-son Potter Publishers, New York, 1994. Hardcover, 248 pages, $40.

by Carole Ottesen. Harmony Books, Crown Publishers, New York, 1995. Hardcover, 354 pages, $50.

While these two books aren’t exactly new and they certainly aren’t cheap, they provide a... Read more

Product Review

June 1, 1997
Sisal Wallcovering

Thick, woven wallcoverings made from coarse natural fibers have long been popular in high-wear institutional settings. One such product, the sisal wallcovering from Design Materials, Inc., has been on the market now for 20 years, selling to clients including the military, various universities, churches, and medical... Read more

News Brief

June 1, 1997
Newsbriefs

The

Renewable Energy Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives has grown to 103 members according to the Sustain- able Energy Coalition. It is now one of the largest officially recognized Congressional Member Organizations, with surprisingly bipartisan membership: 53 Republicans; 49 Democrats, and 1 Independent. The Caucus... Read more

News Analysis

June 1, 1997
New Evidence of Leaching from

CCA-treated Decks

A paper in the January 1997 issue of the

Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology reported leaching of copper, chromium, and arsenic from decks made from CCA- (chromated copper arsenate-) treated wood. In the study, Dr. David E. Stilwell and K. D. Gorny, from the... Read more

News Brief

June 1, 1997

A pilot project is underway to assess the possibilities for salvage and reuse of wood-framed structures at the former

Fort Ord Army Base on the central California coast. The three to eight buildings to be disassembled are representative of the 1,200 hundred structures on the site. A $200,000 grant from the

Packard Foundation is... Read more

News Brief

June 1, 1997
Newsbriefs

Interface president and CEO

Ray Anderson has been named co-chair of the

President’s Council on Sustainable Development. He replaces David Buzzelli, executive vice-president of Dow Chemical Company, and joins co-chair Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute. Along with naming Anderson to the Council,... Read more

News Brief

June 1, 1997

A Journal of the Human Environment, monthly magazine from Fine Additions, Inc., 2405 Maclovia Land, Santa Fe, NM 87505; 505/471-4549. Monthly, $28/year.

Designer/builder is a low-tech, black-and-white, large-format magazine with a sharply intellectual bent. It features environmental thinking and socially progressive ideas with an eclectic... Read more

Product Review

June 1, 1997
Another Great

Decking Option

ChoiceDek™, manufactured by AERT (Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies, Inc.), is a 100% recycled-content, wood-plastic composite decking material distributed in some parts of the country by Weyerhaeuser. Like the better-known Trex, ChoiceDek offers an alternative to redwood, cedar, and... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 1997

by Joe Lstiburek, P.E.; published by Building Science Corporation, 70 Main Street, Westford, MA 01886; 508/589-5100, 508/589-5103 (fax); with the Energy Efficient Building Association and Shelter Source. 1997, spiral-bound, 270 pages, $40 + $3 S&H.

Joe Lstiburek (pronounced

stee-bu-rek) has achieved an amazing feat with this book. He... Read more