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

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

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

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

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

A major shake-up at Louisiana-Pacific Corporation this summer was brought on, in part, by allegations of falsifying pollution emission data. The entire upper management team of L-P, including Chairman and President Harry Merlo (who led the company since its split from Georgia-Pacific in 1973 and who championed L-P’s leadership role in the move... Read more

Regarding your article “Promoting Green Buildings in Canada,” published in the July/August issue of

Environmental Building News, I would like to clarify the relationship between the Green Building Information Council (GBIC) and the Building Environmental Performance Assessment Criteria (... Read more

We first learned about Icynene at the First Annual Conference on Alternatives to CFCs and Halons in November 1990. At that time it was a tiny Canadian company (founded in 1986) with a type of foam insulation that had no harmful effects on the Earth’s stratospheric ozone layer. Company founder... 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

Members of the U.S. Green Building Council have organized a non-profit Green Building Fund in the hopes of providing ongoing support for research and demonstration of environmentally sound construction projects. So far six organizations have contributed to the Fund’s initial project—a feasibility study documenting funding sources for green... Read more

Judith Kincaid, Cheryl Walker, and Greg Flynn for the Triangle J Council of Governments, PO Box 12276, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709; 919/549-0551, 919/549-9390 (fax). July 1995. Three-ring binder and diskette, 115 pages, $20 (specify diskette type when ordering).

Architects and specifiers who have... 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

GreenStone Industries, the nation’s largest producer of cellulose insulation, just announced the acquisition of Pacific Rim Recycling, a curbside recycling business in Benicia, California. Entering the recycling business is an effort to deal with the rapidly rising cost of recycled newspaper. Eric Oganesoff, chairman and CEO of GreenStone... 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

With this issue we begin our fourth year of publishing EBN. The milestone gives me an opportunity to reflect back over our short history and tell you about some developments for the future. It has been a good three years—no, make that great. We’ve had our share of ups and downs and financial struggles, to be sure, but positive... Read more

The results of the Boston Society of Architects’ 1995 Sustainable Design Awards were announced on June 17 at the Boston Area Solar Energy Association’s annual Solar Cooker Picnic. The sole award was given to Christopher Grant Kerwan, Bart S. Uchida, and Matthew Urbanski, all of Cambridge, Massachusetts, for the demolition and reconstruction of... 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

[enlarge image]Notes:

One and Two Family Dwelling Code is likely to spur adoption... Read more