News Analysis
The Georgia Pacific Corporation (G-P) agreed on 18 July to a costly settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency following a long wrangle with regulators and lawmakers. The company will pay a $6 million fine and spend at least $26 million on environmental improvements under the agreement, according... Read more
News Brief
was a finalist in
Utne Reader’s 8th Annual Alternative Press Awards this year. While we were not a winner, we were pleased to be recognized in the “Service” category.
Op-Ed
You Are
Well, sort of. At least we know more about the demographics and interests of the 13% of
EBN subscribers who made it through our first-ever Reader Survey. Thanks again to those of you who took the time and returned the survey. We’ll try to keep it shorter next time. As promised, here are some highlights... Read more
Product Review
... Read more
News Brief
The city of Portland, Oregon, is doing its part to promote the use of electric vehicles by installing free charging stations in the downtown area. Two such stations have been installed in city-owned parking garages. Electric vehicle owners will have to pay the parking meter charges, but they can plug in and recharge their vehicles for free.... Read more
News Analysis
Access floors (also called
raised floors) are floor systems made of rigid panels supported by short pedestals that create an easily accessed cavity under an entire space. They are expensive and are typically made of materials such as aluminum, steel, high-strength concrete, and formaldehyde-based, medium-density... Read more
News Brief
Among the first set of fifteen grants announced by the recently created North American Fund for Environmental Cooperation (NAFEC) is an award of CAN$94,000 for a project by the International Institute for Sustainable Development of Winnipeg, Manitoba, for the evaluation of sustainable development plans in three... Read more
Op-Ed
EBN is now cosponsoring an e-mail discussion group on green building. Joining us in this effort is Iris Communications, Inc., publisher of the REDI Guide™ to green building materials. This group should be a uniquely valuable forum for discussing ideas and issues, and getting quick answers to practical questions.... Read more
News Brief
The world’s first independently certified, “well-managed” redwood lumber is now available from the Big Creek Lumber Company of Davenport, California in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Big Creek sells redwood, Monterrey pine, and Douglas fir from its 6,800 acres (2,750 ha) of forestland. The Scientific Certification Systems evaluation team called Big... Read more
Op-Ed
Congratulations on an excellent May/June 1996 issue! Very seldom do I read any magazine and find fewer things to pick at than this particular issue of
EBN. But I do have two. As we have discussed in the past, the name of CMHC, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, would seem to make more sense as the Canadian Mortgage and Housing... Read more
News Brief
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions continued to rise in 1994, totaling 1,666 million metric tonnes carbon equivalent according to the report
Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-1994 published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, November 1995 (this figure does not include the net effect of carbon “sinks” in... Read more
News Brief
When homebuilder Barbara Harwood stumbled across the quote for a new mechanical system for a grocery store owned by her husband, she knew that the loads were out of line. The quote called for a system... Read more
Op-Ed
With great interest, I read your well-researched article on cork flooring in the January/February issue (Vol. 5, No. 1). As you concluded in the article, the harvest of commercial cork from the cork oak (
Quercus suber) tree is a relatively benign extraction that is one of nature’s best examples of a renewable, non-timber forest resource... Read more
News Analysis
A primary weakness of light-gauge steel framing for houses has been its severely compromised thermal integrity. In general, the simplest way to get a steel-framed wall to perform like a 2x6 wood-stud wall is to use 2x4 steel studs and add 2” (50 mm) of insulating foam sheathing. Now, researchers at Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) are seeking a... Read more
News Brief
In an exciting breakthrough for energy conservation measures in residential development, Roger Perry has announced that all homes in his Meadowmount development in Chapel Hill, North Carolina will be built to guidelines from the Alternative Energy Corporation (AEC). The project will contain 715 houses, and total of 1298 residential units. AEC’... Read more
News Brief
Christine Hammer, editor.
To subscribe, send the message “subscribe” to greenclips@aol.com. No charge.
If you have an e-mail account and an interest in green building, you should subscribe to
Greenclips. Every two weeks, between six and ten one-paragraph summaries of articles, gleaned from over 60 different publications,... Read more
News Analysis
The Smart Wood Program of the New York City-based Rainforest Alliance recently announced a series of new partnerships and initiatives that should help make certification available to a wider range of forestry programs. In the Northeast, Smart Wood has teamed up with the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). As a member of the emerging Smart Wood... Read more
News Brief
The April 1996 issue of the well-regarded British publication
Green Building Digest reports that Malaysia—one of the world’s largest plywood exporters—now stamps all of its plywood with the label “Sustainable Timber” even though, according to the Malaysian government, the country will be a net timber importer by the end of the century... Read more
News Brief
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1996. 445 pages, hardcover, $34.95.
A handful of individuals have played truly dramatic roles in improving the relationship between our built environment and the natural environment.Near the top of that list is Ian McHarg, a Scottish war hero who went on to found the landscape architecture program... Read more
News Analysis


