News Brief
Not a Bright Idea
Halogen torchieres, those highly popular, low-cost, dimmable, standing light fixtures that provide brilliant uplighting, have turned out to be one of the worst lighting products available. First introduced in the 1980s but only gaining widespread use in the past few years, these 300- to 600-... Read moreNews Brief
Submission deadline for the 1997
Quality Building Conference Design Competition is February 15, 1997. Prizes will be awarded to projects that incorporate cost-effective energy and resource conservation systems into their buildings. A range of categories will be judged, including both built and unbuilt projects. Awards will be presented... Read more
News Brief
Among the recipients of the first
Building Innovation in Home-ownership Awards was the Super-Insulated Straw Bale Affordable Housing Project of Tucson, Arizona. Project organizers receiving the award included Judy Knox and Matts Mhyrmann of Out On Bale, (un)Ltd., David Eisenberg of the Development Center for... Read more
News Brief
The technical staff has been notified, and will try to correct this problem.
If you have a question or comment, please send
us feedback
News Analysis
The technical staff has been notified, and will try to correct this problem.
If you have a question or comment, please send
us feedback
News Brief
The technical staff has been notified, and will try to correct this problem.
If you have a question or comment, please send
us feedback
News Analysis
A plan including photovoltaics, extensive energy conservation measures, and reduced environmental impacts helped a team led by Lend Lease Corp. Ltd. and Mirvac Ltd. win the contract to build the Olympic Village for the year 2000 Games. The Village, which will likely support the largest residential PV system... Read more
News Brief
The technical staff has been notified, and will try to correct this problem.
If you have a question or comment, please send
us feedback
News Brief
George Brewster
, a long-time advocate for environmental responsibility in the developer community, has been selected as executive director of the California Center for Land Recycling (CCLR), a new project of the Trust for Public Land. CCLR’s goal is to facilitate the redevelopment of brownfields. Brewster is cofounder of BayGroup... Read more
News Brief
The Good Wood Alliance, 289 College Street, Burlington, VT 05401; 802/862-4448, 802/658-4443 (fax); warp@together.net (e-mail), www.goodwood.org. 30 pages, $15 postpaid (free to Alliance members).
Since its founding in 1989, the Woodworkers Alliance for Rainforest Protection (WARP) has established itself as a... Read more
News Brief
The technical staff has been notified, and will try to correct this problem.
If you have a question or comment, please send
us feedback
News Brief
The
United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) is now working on promoting the use of environmentally sustainable practices, products, and technologies in building systems within the U.N. Among other initiatives, a pilot demonstration project involving the greening of UNEP’s Regional Office for North America is now underway. A... Read more
Feature
Choosing the right materials for a building is no easy task under any circumstances. Just meeting the conventional criteria, such as performance, cost, and aesthetics, can be a challenge; the addition of an environmental agenda further complicates the picture. The good news is that more tools and resources are becoming available to help... Read more
News Brief
New York City’s Tiffany Street Pier, one of the largest plastic lumber structures, was damaged by lightning recently, according to the October 14, 1996 issue of
Plastics News. About one-third of the plastic lumber deck and the gazebo were melted. Most of the plastic hardened in place, albeit in a deformed state. City officials are quite... Read more
News Analysis
Designers of the high-profile Audubon Headquarters in New York City, together with National Audubon Society scientists, took great pains to minimize the use of toxic and environmentally damaging building materials. Among the choices they made in renovating the 100-year-old building was to use undyed, 100% wool carpet throughout the space... Read more
News Brief
by The Results Center, IRT Environment, Inc. Paperback, 28 pages, $75.
Editor’s note: IRT Environment, Inc. has unfortunately discontinued operations since this review was written. This report is now available at the bargain rate of $15 from Ted Flanigan at P.O. Box 2239, Basalt, CO 82621; 970/927-3155.One recent report in IRT... Read more
News Brief
Whirlpool Corporation has suspended nationwide sales of its super-efficient “Energy-Wise” refrigerators, according to the 23 August issue of Global Environmental Change Report. This refrigerator was introduced in 1995 and is virtually identical to the “golden carrot” refrigerator developed through the utility-funded Super Efficient Refrigerator... Read more
News Analysis
Redwood lumber that has been independently certified as coming from “well-managed” forests is now available. The family-owned Big Creek Lumber Company in Davenport, California, which completed certification of its forestry operations this past April (see
EBN
Vol. 5, No. 4), has now completed “chain-of-custody” certification of... Read more
News Brief
by Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski, and John Peterson Myers. Dutton, 1996. Hardcover, 306 pages, $24.95.
We knew that this was an important book when, not long after we got a copy, a report from the right-wing Competitive Enterprise Institute attempting to discredit it arrived in theEBN mailbox. The basic thesis of
Our Stolen... Read more
News Brief
A new report by the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy quantifies the potential for energy savings in residential lighting. By replacing those incandescent lights that are used four hours per day or more with compact fluorescent lights, total annual savings in the U.S. would be 31.7 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh),... Read more
